New Woman "Aurora Leigh" (1856), which explored a woman's plight between conventional marriage and the radical possibility that a woman could become an independent artist. In drama, the late nineteenth century saw such "New Woman" plays as Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" (1879) and "Hedda Gabler" (1890), Henry Arthur Jones's play "The Case of Rebellious Susan" (1894) and George Bernard Shaw's controversial "Mrs. Warren's Profession" (1893) and "Candida" (1898). According to a joke by Max Beerbohm (1872–1956), "The New Woman sprang fully armed from Ibsen's brain" (an allusion to the birth of Athena). Bram Stoker's Dracula makes prominent mention of the New
Hedda Gabler disarray. Eilert, a writer, is also a recovered alcoholic who has wasted his talent until now. Thanks to a relationship with Hedda's old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted (who has left her husband for him), Eilert shows signs of rehabilitation and has just published a bestseller in the same field as George. When Hedda and Eilert talk privately together, it becomes apparent that they are former lovers. The critical success of his recently published work makes Eilert a threat to George, as Eilert is now a competitor for the university professorship George had been counting on. George and Hedda are financially overstretched,