The Role and Character of Judge Brack

             Brack is a judge of relatively inferior rank.  He is a friend of both Tesman and Hedda, and he visits their house regularly. He has connections around the city, and is often the first to give Tesman information about alterations in the possibility of his professorship. He seems to enjoy meddling in other people's affairs. He is a worldly and cynical man. On certain occasions he seems to represent the whole society of the time, his opportunism, meanness, and blackmailing and lusty love aspiration make him an epitome of society.

Brack strikes as a very immoral man from the very beginning, due to the aplenty advances he made towards Hedda. He had always subtlety hinted that he thought that Hedda might like “a new responsibility” and most importantly, that he will “fight for the end, for the “triangle” to be “fortified and defended by mutual consent.”

To flirt with an unwed lady is one thing. But to be thoroughly suggestive of certain immoral acts to a legally wed lady would seem to be a moral crime. A crime, which would deem Brack as an immoral judge, which is juxtaposition in the phrase itself. The depraved misdeed was too much to expect from a judge, much less to say the way that he had insinuated himself into the household of a married couple.

Brack’s manipulative nature can perhaps be considered the most powerful tool that he has, to be able to control people at his beck and call. The way he withholds his information, only to disseminate it at an ‘appropriate’ time, when it will hit the victim the hardest, shows how well he can play the psychological game. He was apparently so good at calculating his steps that he was able to have Hedda exclaim with pain that she is “in your powers, Mr. Brack. From now on, I’m at your mercy.” He played his last hand of  the pack very well, henceforth gaining control over Hedda almost at once, after we have seen her authoritative throughout the plot. The unexpected twist of events, definitely illustrates an element of surprise for the reader.

Nothing much can be mentioned or commented about Brack, except that he seems to be a guru at the game at which both he and Hedda seemed to be indulged in. His callous ways together with his tricky language have caused the one all mighty Hedda to fall prey to him, exposing the extent of his scheming nature to the reader. It certainly allows the reader to realize his true nature and to confirm the suspicions of Brack’s ulterior motives.

The presence of Brack alone is enough to allow Tesman appear trivial and ridiculous. His language as compared to Tesman seemed to have many underlying meanings, while Tesman’s, for an academic, seems rather superficial. Tesman, being a worrywart, starts to fret like a young lady when informed that his appointment might not come. He “clasps his hands together” and “flings his arms about” asking his “dearest Hedda, how can you (she) take it all so calmly.” Brack on the other hand, being the surely and confident self tries to comfort him by telling him that he will “most probably get it” but “only after a bit of competition”. Brack’s calm composure and surely words certainly outweigh Tesman’s unnecessary gestures and fretful language.

The vulnerability of Tesman and Hedda’s marriage has also clearly been brought out by the intrusion of Brack. The fact that Hedda would “clasp her hand at the back of her neck, lean back in the chair and look at him” indicates how comfortable she feels with Brack. The stichomythia in their speeches also brings out the level of intimacy the both of them share as seen by the quote “ Brack: A trusted and sympathetic friend… Hedda: …who can converse on all manners of lively topics… Brack:… and who’s not in the least academic” It shows how well they complement each other, finishing  each other’s thoughts as though they were in a relationship themselves. As Hedda could easily pour out her woes to a man other than her husband gives an indication of how sterile her marriage with Tesman was. So unfruitful that they had absolutely no proper communications between husband and wife that Hedda was glad to have a friend who could converse with her.