"Monsieur is a man of business, -- Madame is a lady of fashion. Monsieur make de money,-- Madame spent it. Monsieur nobody at all,-- Madame everybody altogether. Ah! Monsieur Zeke, de money is all dat is necessaire in dis country to make on lady of fashion. Oh! It is quite anoder ting in la belle France!" (Mowatt 313)
How does Millinette characterize her employers in this passage? How does she define them as particularly American characters types? How does this first assessment compare to the way the characterization of the couple unfolds through Act III? What does Millinette's characterization of these two show the audience about her own character?
2. Mrs. Tiffany's obsession with fashion places her in a vulnerable position. To whose manipulation is she vulnerable and why? Who controls the knowledge she desires, and who evaluates her success at performing fashionably in society? Can you point to places in the text where she believes she is behaving fashionably, but it really being made a fool of? On a larger scale, why does Mowatt propose this as a problematic path for the American upwardly mobile to pursue?
No comments:
Post a Comment