In Sophie Treadwell’s expressionistic play Machinal the audience is taken through the journey of the life of a young woman named Helen. The main character lives in a machine-like world. Everything and everyone runs like a machine. They all follow a basic plan and routine. The difference between the rest of the world and the main character is that she does not want to follow the same plan as everyone else. She wants to branch out and find her path. As the audience goes through each scene, they begin to learn more and more about Helen and her dreams. Each scene is a pivotal point in Helen’s journey, because they all set up the route to her downfall. Each moment the audience sees leads Helen one step closer to death.Treadwell chooses to depict
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She is still stuck in a dead end marriage, and she has lost the man that she truly loves. Her husband’s constant business talk is driving her crazy. She eventually kills him. It isn’t until later on in episode eight that we discover what happened to her husband. In this scene, she is sitting in a courtroom, claiming that she had a happy marriage with her husband. Little did she know that the man she truly loves would be the one to turn her in. Mr. Roe sends in a subpoena claiming to have had sexual relations with Helen and that she is guilty. Helen cannot withstand to hear the details of the letter and she confesses. Helen is sent to be …show more content…
Little did she know that in doing so, her life would cease to exist. The message that Sophie Treadwell is trying to get across is to live life the way you want to. Do not let the standards of society and others hold you back from true happiness. Otherwise you’ll be miserable. Treadwell takes the audience through these nine specific scenes throughout Helen’s life to show her struggle, and to show the audience the difference between how she feels, acts, and lives, compared to the other characters who are stuck in a machine-like world. Helen wanted to break away from the others, but she got stuck living in a woman versus machine
She is still stuck in a dead end marriage, and she has lost the man that she truly loves. Her husband’s constant business talk is driving her crazy. She eventually kills him. It isn’t until later on in episode eight that we discover what happened to her husband. In this scene, she is sitting in a courtroom, claiming that she had a happy marriage with her husband. Little did she know that the man she truly loves would be the one to turn her in. Mr. Roe sends in a subpoena claiming to have had sexual relations with Helen and that she is guilty. Helen cannot withstand to hear the details of the letter and she confesses. Helen is sent to be …show more content…
Little did she know that in doing so, her life would cease to exist. The message that Sophie Treadwell is trying to get across is to live life the way you want to. Do not let the standards of society and others hold you back from true happiness. Otherwise you’ll be miserable. Treadwell takes the audience through these nine specific scenes throughout Helen’s life to show her struggle, and to show the audience the difference between how she feels, acts, and lives, compared to the other characters who are stuck in a machine-like world. Helen wanted to break away from the others, but she got stuck living in a woman versus machine