In Persuasion by Jane Austen, Lady Russell convinces Anne not to marry Frederick Wentworth because she finds him unworthy of Anne. Similarly, in Hedda Gabler, Hedda herself hides her knowledge and destroys Eilert's manuscript in order to end her relationship with Thea. Getting involved in other people's affairs can satisfy one's desire for control. However, this behavior is often symptomatic of a disconnection between personal consciousness and the personal and collective unconscious. Henrik Ibsen masterfully uses Tesman's piano to symbolize Hedda's unconscious personal and collective desire for control while acting as a vehicle to show his reconciliation with both at the end. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Ibsen's play, and particularly its symbolism, can be understood by referring to the psychology of Carl Jung, who divides the psyche into three main areas: analysis: the personal conscious, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. Jung attributes the creation of “personality” to personal consciousness. Character encompasses the constructed external appearance that we show to the world. While Jung recognizes only one consciousness (the personal), he differentiates unconsciousness between the personal and the collective. The personal unconscious differs within individuals, while the collective unconscious remains the same for each person due to the uniformity of the human psyche. The personal unconscious holds the “shadow”. The shadow encompasses the darkest and most shameful impulses that one feels personally but does not consciously recognize. The collective unconscious houses the “animus/anima” archetype. The animus refers to masculine traits in women that can either balance their femininity or master it. Anima refers to feminine traits in men. Jung believes that to achieve individuation, one must reconcile the character with the shadow and recognize its archetype. Individuation is the process of recognizing one's unconscious nature and incorporating it into consciousness. The appearance of the piano at the beginning of Act 1 shows the pressure that others place on Hedda to diminish her masculine desire for control to which she attempts to give in but ultimately fails. has. Although it is not explicitly dictated to her, Hedda feels immense pressure from society and family to have a child. The expectation remains clear when Aunt Juliana jokes with Tesman that he will “find a use for them [two empty rooms] – in time.” (Ibsen 24). The pressure manifests itself physically on the piano when Berta places Aunt Juliana's bouquet on the piano and Hedda removes it. However, Hedda succumbs to softening her unconscious stubbornness in certain situations, such as when she agrees to refer to Aunt Juliana as "aunt" to appease Tesman. (38). She shows a certain compromise when she says: “I only look at my old piano. It doesn't go well at all with all the other things... Suppose we put it there, in the inner room..." (39). By placing the piano, a symbol of her masculine need for control, deeper in the house, she represses this feeling rather than giving it up. Hedda's piano playing at the beginning of Act IV reveals how her control over Eilert satisfied her desire for control over the period. After the dramatic end of Act III, Hedda plays the piano for the first time in the play, which the stage directions describe as "a few chords" (174). At this point in the play, Hedda has effectively destroyed Eilert and Thea's relationship by hiding her knowledge of the manuscript and then cremating it..