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Document Type
Thesis - University Access Only
Award Date
1990
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department / School
English
First Advisor
Lou Williams
Abstract
Lillian Hellman, one of America's foremost 20th century playwrights, wrote eight original plays with women as the central characters. These plays include The Children's Hour. Pays to Come. The Little Foxes. Watch on the Rhine. The Searching Wind. Another Part of the Forest. The Autumn Garden. and Toys in the Attic. Hellman's female characters fall into three basic categories · centered on their economic status: women with money and power, women trying to obtain money so they can have control over their own lives, and women without money who are usually ignored by other characters in the plays because of their lack of power. In her plays Hellman appears to state that women need money to be autonomous individuals, and although. she did not embrace feminism, the model for her characters is Hellman herself.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984 -- Characters -- Women
Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984 -- Criticism and interpretation
Women in literature
Format
application/pdf
Number of Pages
85
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Gigstad, Susan, "Images of Women in Lillian Hellman's Eight Original Plays" (1990). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5344.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/5344