Diana

Diana is an offstage yet crucial character in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler — known as the "red-haired singer," she represents a world of pleasure, with her establishment serving as the backdrop for Eilert Lövborg's downfall. Though she never appears in the action, her influence is felt through the accounts of other characters, making her role in the story both catalytic and undeniable.

Her importance becomes clear in Act III. It is at her party that Lövborg, after breaking his long period of sobriety, loses the manuscript of his life's work — the book that Thea Elvsted helped him create, which Hedda Gabler sees as a threat to her own influence. Initially, Lövborg accuses Diana of stealing the manuscript, leading to a violent confrontation and his arrest. Judge Brack gleefully informs Hedda of these events, using them to tighten his grip over her.

Diana's house acts as a moral underworld that consumes Lövborg. She represents the "disreputable" world from which Thea had worked so hard to save him, and to which Hedda's manipulations ultimately send him back. Although Diana does not have a voice in the play, she unwittingly becomes a tool for Hedda's plan — giving Lövborg the pistol and encouraging him towards a "beautiful" death. Her presence emphasizes Ibsen's critique of a society that restricts respectable women like Hedda while pushing others entirely into the shadows.