he play, during their self-searching journeys, and at the end of the play one can understand how the two plays can be considered similar great pieces of literature.
             At the beginning of Hedda Gabler and Oedipus the King, both Hedda and Oedipus can be described as confident and proud. Ibsen establishes this by allowing Hedda�s pride and influence to be implied before the audience even meets her. In just the second line of the play, Berta, the Tesman�s maid, exclaims about the amount of belongings that Hedda had to unpack, implying her influence, at least as a woman of wealth. This first conversation between Hedda�s new aunt-in-law and her new maid continues to suggest Hedda�s pride and influence. The pair talk about the amount of flowers that have arrived at the new home, the majesty of her heredity, and the fact that she is �particular,� so much so that the maid is afraid that she will not be able to please her. In fact, Mrs. Tesman goes so far as to claim that she had purchased her hat, the hat that would later cause a rift between Hedda and the older woman, because she did not want Hedda to be ashamed of her if they were to be seen together (Ibsen 221-224). Thus, before the audience even meets Hedda Gabler they become aware of her superiority, her confidence, her influence and her pride. She is the woman whose wealth of packages is a legitimate excuse for being unable to give an older woman a ride home (Ibsen 224). She is the daughter of General Gabler, whose air of superiority requires the purchase of new hats.
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