Courtship LAURA
Courtship by Horton Foote
LAURA
Courtship is a mosaic of conversations and encounters that occur during a party at the home of a well-to-do family in Harrison, Texas in 1914. The Vaughns are substantial, God-fearing folk who expect their children to accept their standards, which sometimes seem unreasonable and oppressive to their lovely, romantically inclined daughters, Elizabeth and Laura.
Oh, my God! That worries me so. Suppose I think I’m in love with a man and I marry him and it turns out I’m not in love with him. What does being in love mean? I wish I didn’t think so much. I wish to heaven I didn’t. Everything bad that happens to a girl I begin to worry it will happen to me. All night I’ve been worrying. Part of the time I’ve been worrying that I’d end an old maid like Aunt Sarah, and part of the time I worry that I’ll fall in love with someone like Syd and defy Papa and run off with him and then realize I made a mistake and part of the time I worry… that what happened to Sibyl Thomas will happen to me and.. .(A pause) Could what happened to Sibyl Thomas ever happen to you? I don’t mean the dying part. I know we all have to die. I mean the other part - having a baby before she was married. How do you think it happened to her? Do you think he loved her? Do you think it was the only time she did? You know… (A pause.) Old, common, Anna Landry said in the girls’ room at school, she did it whenever she wanted to, with whomever she wanted to and nothing ever happened to her. And if it did she would get rid of it. How do women do that? I don’t trust Anna Landry and I don’t know who else to ask. Can you imagine the expression on Mama’s face, or Aunt Lucy’s or Mrs. Cookenboo’s if I asked them something like that? (A pause.) Anyway, even if I knew I would be afraid to do something like that before I got married for fear God would strike me dead. (A pause.) Aunt Sarah said that Sibyl’s baby dying was God’s punishment of her sin. Aunt Lucy said if
LAURA
Courtship is a mosaic of conversations and encounters that occur during a party at the home of a well-to-do family in Harrison, Texas in 1914. The Vaughns are substantial, God-fearing folk who expect their children to accept their standards, which sometimes seem unreasonable and oppressive to their lovely, romantically inclined daughters, Elizabeth and Laura.
Oh, my God! That worries me so. Suppose I think I’m in love with a man and I marry him and it turns out I’m not in love with him. What does being in love mean? I wish I didn’t think so much. I wish to heaven I didn’t. Everything bad that happens to a girl I begin to worry it will happen to me. All night I’ve been worrying. Part of the time I’ve been worrying that I’d end an old maid like Aunt Sarah, and part of the time I worry that I’ll fall in love with someone like Syd and defy Papa and run off with him and then realize I made a mistake and part of the time I worry… that what happened to Sibyl Thomas will happen to me and.. .(A pause) Could what happened to Sibyl Thomas ever happen to you? I don’t mean the dying part. I know we all have to die. I mean the other part - having a baby before she was married. How do you think it happened to her? Do you think he loved her? Do you think it was the only time she did? You know… (A pause.) Old, common, Anna Landry said in the girls’ room at school, she did it whenever she wanted to, with whomever she wanted to and nothing ever happened to her. And if it did she would get rid of it. How do women do that? I don’t trust Anna Landry and I don’t know who else to ask. Can you imagine the expression on Mama’s face, or Aunt Lucy’s or Mrs. Cookenboo’s if I asked them something like that? (A pause.) Anyway, even if I knew I would be afraid to do something like that before I got married for fear God would strike me dead. (A pause.) Aunt Sarah said that Sibyl’s baby dying was God’s punishment of her sin. Aunt Lucy said if