Essay Questions

Why does Lisette claim that Silvia’s belief that money and looks do not matter in a happy relationship are a modern idea?

In the time when the action of the play was set, nothing was of greater importance than money, especially for women who were not expected to work. In fact, if a woman came from a well off family, it was seen as something shameful if she wanted to work and earn some money on her own. The only way through which a woman could have money was either through her father or through her husband. Silvia claims that for her, it is not important if the man she will marry will have a lot of money or not, most likely thinking that she will earn money as well through work. In this sense, Silvia’s way of thinking is modern because she does not expect to be a kept woman but would rather prefer to earn her own money and to help her husband succeed in life.

Why did the maid claim it was hard to find a man willing to properly court a woman?

The allusion made by the maid here is extremely important because it reveals how women and men were supposed to behave in the beginning of the 20th century. Marriages were still arranged by the parents of the young men and women still unmarried and the main purpose of a marriage was to create a financial union between two wealthy families. Women were pressured to remain virgins until their marriage and if there were concerns regarding the purity of a woman, it could often mean that no suitable man would be willing to marry the woman in question. Still, the same principles did not apply to males. The young men of the time were relatively free to have as many lovers as they wanted, even after they got married. Some pressured women into having sex with them, often promising to marry them after a while but more than often those promises never materialized. It was common knowledge among women that men were not subject to the same rules they were but because of the society they lived in, they were powerless and could not change anything. The only thing they could do was make sure they remained virgins until a suitable partner would come along.

What is a charade?

A charade is defined in the dictionary as being a farce or ‘’an absurd pretense intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance’’. The motif of the charade was quite common in the time when the play was written and it is often used as the device to uncover the truth and to show a person’s true personality and intentions. This is also the case in the play analyzed, the two main characters each having the same plan, namely to impersonate their servants, so they could be free to watch the person they were supposed to get married and make their own mind about them. The charade did not had the purpose of humiliating a person but rather it was a device used to help the characters take an important decision.