Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour takes place in an all-girl boarding school. The play was written and produced in the early 20th century and takes place either then or within a few generations earlier. Two friends, Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, have poured their life's energy and savings in to a rural farmhouse, converted into an all-girls' boarding school they have named the Wright-Dobie School.
Clearly, Martha and Karen enjoy what they do and do it for the love of the children and passion for teaching, as opposed to doing it for financial gain, political status, or even to spread a particular type of religious propaganda as the school is secular and not sponsored by a religious organization. The school is moderately successful and they retain a good number of girls, but as expected in any school, Karen and Martha eventually contend with students with behavioral problems like Mary Tilford. Mary acts out in class and outside class, beyond what would normally be considered innocent "mischief." She is spoiled, starts to get her schoolmates in trouble, has no respect for authority or discipline, and compulsively lies. Karen and Martha struggle with disciplining Mary.
One day, Mary claims to be ill and sees the local doctor Joe, who happens to be Karen's fiance. While the doctor examines Mary, Martha and her aunt Lily, described as a "plump, florid woman of forty-five with obviously touched-up hair" and clothes that are "too fancy for a classroom," get into a petty argument revealing the underlying tension between the two related to their finances and different points-of-view (I, i). As headmistresses and sole teachers in the small school, Karen and Martha depend on a few relatives for financial support including Martha's aunt Lily, as well as Mary's grandmother and caregiver, Amelia. The relationship between Martha and Lily is apparently strained, with the latter revealing a strong narcissistic streak throughout the play.
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She asks her grandmother directly if she can avoid going back, but Amelia refuses. Not taking "no" for an answer, Mary spins a web of lies that ends up destroying the lives of almost all those around her. In short, Mary tells her grandmother that Karen and Martha are having a lesbian affair. They do not use the word "lesbian" when they speak, but it is clear what Mary refers to when she describes Martha and Karen's relationship to her grandmother. Mary has recently become aware that lesbianism is taboo, based on a book she and her friends have been reading secretively in school. The girl knows that spreading this
lie in particular will cause moral outrage in her grandmother, thereby causing her grandmother to pull her from the school.
Mary's hunches were correct; her grandmother is livid at hearing Mary's story. Amelia's prejudices and homophobia bubble to the surface, leading her to believe her granddaughter in spite of Mary's
history of compulsive lying. The removal of Mary from the school then kick starts a wave of slander, as Amelia's gossipy and busybody nature leads her to phone every
parent she can to spread the gossip and encourage the
parents to pull their students too. Within a day, almost all the girls have been pulled from the school and Martha and Karen face total financial and social ruin. They vehemently deny the accusations, although they do not deny the efficacy of homophobia itself. In fact, in their firm denial of the accusations, Martha and Karen are complicit in the perpetuation of heteronormativity.
In the meantime, Mary has befriended Rosalie, a "fattish girl with glasses," who is meek and socially weak (I, i). Rosalie has no
family to stay with and so she stays with Mary, who manipulates and bosses Rosalie into lying for her and covering for Mary's lies too. Karen and Martha eventually decide to sue Amelia, having discovered holes in Mary's story. With Lily out of the country, Karen and Martha have no supporting testimony and no one to back up their side of the story. They lose the case.
Joe, Karen's fiance, tells both Karen and Martha they should leave the boarding school behind and move with him. Karen instead breaks up with him, claiming to be under too much
stress after the…
