¶ … role of Martha Dobie in Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour, I read the play in its entirety to better recognize my character's role within it, how she is perceived by others, and her manner of speaking. This general overview reading was helpful, but I needed to learn more about my character specifically to really understand what motivated her and why she acts the way she does. After re-reading some of the main scenes that featured my character, especially the scene that comes in the final act of the play, I then researched literary and popular criticism of the play. My research provided a broader sociological perspective and analysis of the play in general and the way my character reacted to the situation she was in. I learned about prevailing norms about gender and sexuality during the time that Hellman wrote the play, which depicted an era in which being accused of being a "lesbian" was considered an insult. Martha at first takes the accusation as an insult and then later becomes probably the only character in the play that shifts her point-of-view. I appreciated this about Martha, because none of the other characters have the courage or the ability to question the prevailing "morality" of human sexuality. Only Martha is willing to confront the fact that it is possible to develop strong emotional connections with someone of the same gender, and that those feelings are not "bad" or "wrong." Yet Martha's voice is silenced, not just by those who had slandered her throughout the ordeal but also by those who care about her and love her. I needed to know why she would have committed suicide before portraying Martha on stage.

Gaining a sociological perspective of my character helped me to get into her psyche more, to understand her motives, aspirations, and dreams -- what makes Martha "tick." I found it tremendously helpful to view Martha in as broad a context as possible. Yes, Martha is motivated by the desire to help children and to use the vehicle of education as a means of doing so. There is a lot more to Martha, I learned. Unlike Karen, Martha was not engaged to be married and does not speak much about the heteronormative yearnings of her colleagues. She simply performs...

She is strong-willed, evidenced by her interactions with her aunt Lily. I used this information to guide my understanding of how Martha ended up taking on an untraditional role as an independent woman rather than becoming dependent upon men for financial or social support.
Martha and Karen starting a boarding school from scratch and relying only on financial support from other women makes a powerful statement. It is important to realize that Martha and Karen restored the farmhouse themselves, started the school and designed its curriculum themselves, and did all this outside of the confines of a church, which would typically be the rubric under which headmistresses of that day and age would have worked.

After understanding the depth of Martha's independence, I went on to examine her emotional life and her sexuality. I concluded that Martha had never before given thought to her sexuality, which is why the final scene becomes as tense as it is. She had never been given the opportunity to even ask the question of whether she feels "love" for her friend as a friend or "love" for her friend as a lover. When the lesbian "accusations" come into play, Martha is forced to confront this issue perhaps for the first time in her life. She therefore learns a great deal about herself during the course of the play. I prepared to act in the role of someone who changes from Act I to Act III, and started to rehearse different mannerisms, tones of voice, and ways of comporting myself.

I gained tremendous insight into Martha's character by contemplating the ways she changes. The trial defeats her and drains Martha of all her energy. She has nothing left, and therefore feels capable of starting her whole life from scratch. That is when the realization dawns on her that she has feelings for Karen. More importantly, Martha becomes willing to actually tell Karen that she does feel this way about her. The courage that confession takes was tremendous then, as it remains today for many people.

The most difficult part of preparing for this role was how to deal with the final scene. Martha is overcome…