Hedda's desire for beauty was more complex than it seemed; she wanted the things in life that money couldn't give her, like enlightenment and truth. Hedda wanted to have power over words in perspective because she had no other power in society. However, she eventually retreated into silence, as did other women of late 19th century Europe. Hedda's suicide can be considered beautiful because it is her last act of freedom. By killing herself, she takes back all the power that the chauvinistic society had over her. It can also be said that women watching this play in 19th century European society may have felt so connected to her because they realized that they too could be liberated from the society that had forced them to live.