Overtones

This play's theatrical world is a very interesting one where two of the characters on stage are the primal parts of the other two characters. This outward personification of our inner truths complicates blocking and dialogue logistics on stage. How real are these two people? Do they have any limits? We discover as we read the play that both Hettie and Maggie, who are Harriet and Margaret's counterparts, can be both heard and seen as normal characters. However, it appears to be dangerous to be seen so they cover themselves in one way or another. The stage directions stage a thin cloth, but it could be anything from a mask to a cloak. In my opinion, as long as there faces are covered they are safe from being detected. The dialogue states that Hettie must be covered so the stage directions are not necessary to discover this. Furthermore, we learn that these inner selves can talk to their outward selves AND the others respective inner self. This bothered me at first because I did not understand why they could talk to one part of the other person and not the other. What I ended up deciding is that they were having conversations through body language that may have differed from what the refined self was actually saying. In our world this contradiction happens all the time and primal selves love to point it out. I felt like the play handled these characters their rules to being on stage well. I did not think they were broken at any point because they were never specifically outlined fully at any point. Their language on stage made the play both humorous and a more poignant commentary on interactions at this time, and even on interactions still today.