The Children's Hour
Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour is a controversial play for its time. Mary accuses her schoolteachers of lesbianism. As a result, her grandmother removes Mary from school and encourages the other parents to do the same with their children. Mary’s lie is the driving force of this play; she refuses to speak the truth, even if it means ruining the lives of her teachers. William Wyler directed the film adaptation of The Children’s Hour, and in the film, the way Mary accuses her teachers differs from the play as well as Martha’s confession. There is almost a 30-year gap between the play and the film, and the playwright and director make creative alterations to the story in order to comply with its period of time and to provide more drama to
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The way they said I loved you.” (Hellman 3.1.66). Martha then commits suicide, “There is no sound in the house, until, a few moments after Martha’s exit, a shot is heard.” (Hellman 3.1.67). Her confession in the play simply revolves around the love she has for Karen. In the film, Martha makes her love confession, but her speech is extended and it includes more guilt and shame; Marta says, “I am guilty” as she cries to Karen. There is an exaggeration in her confession to Karen. Director Wyler perhaps chooses to extend Martha’s confession to add more drama to this already melodramatic play. The difference this creative alteration made in my understanding of the play is that her confession is full of guilt and shame, when in the play is simply about her love for Karen. Martha, later on commits suicide, after Tilford comes to exonerate the women and Karen offers to go away with her. It seems that there is no reason to die; the suicide seems to stem from self-loathing. The scenes before are quite sad and to me show Martha hating herself. The decision of Wyler to have Martha hang herself seem more like a punishment for her feelings than anything else. This decision adds a negative connotation to lesbianism and to me this did not work well, as the play is now associated with more hatred, shame and
The way they said I loved you.” (Hellman 3.1.66). Martha then commits suicide, “There is no sound in the house, until, a few moments after Martha’s exit, a shot is heard.” (Hellman 3.1.67). Her confession in the play simply revolves around the love she has for Karen. In the film, Martha makes her love confession, but her speech is extended and it includes more guilt and shame; Marta says, “I am guilty” as she cries to Karen. There is an exaggeration in her confession to Karen. Director Wyler perhaps chooses to extend Martha’s confession to add more drama to this already melodramatic play. The difference this creative alteration made in my understanding of the play is that her confession is full of guilt and shame, when in the play is simply about her love for Karen. Martha, later on commits suicide, after Tilford comes to exonerate the women and Karen offers to go away with her. It seems that there is no reason to die; the suicide seems to stem from self-loathing. The scenes before are quite sad and to me show Martha hating herself. The decision of Wyler to have Martha hang herself seem more like a punishment for her feelings than anything else. This decision adds a negative connotation to lesbianism and to me this did not work well, as the play is now associated with more hatred, shame and