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Philip da CostaTheatre Topics DR202Dr. Rosalind Flynn4/9/2014

Lying in American Drama

American actor and acting teacher Stanford Meisner is famously quoted as saying,

“Acting is living truthfully in imaginary circumstances,” and many actors today live by

that philosophy. But, what about cases where acting is lying? As we explore American

drama, we’ve seen several examples of the entire plot resting on a pivotal lie. The power

of liars to manipulate their victims kills and controls entire casts of characters. Even

refusal to tell the truth, withholding vital information from their fellows, leads the

characters of these plays to despair. Information is power, and in a gambit for control of

that power we find a certain side of the human condition, which is so visceral within the

characters of these American dramas: The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman, All My

Sons by Arthur Miller, and The Shadow Box by Michael Cristofer.

The youngest of the liars in these contemporary plays is Mary Tilford from Lillian

Hellman's The Children's Hour (1934). Lying for Mary seems to be a compulsion that

she cannot escape. She is a pathological liar, to say the least. Mary creates stories

throughout the play and vehemently defends her creations.

KAREN: Why, for example, do you find it necessary to lie to us so often? MARY: I’m not lying […] you never believe me. You believe everybody but me. It’s always like that. 1

Mary’s most pivotal lie comes at the expense of the life of her teacher Martha Dobie. But

why does a girl of her age lie so often? While there is a valid argument to be made on

behalf of ‘just being a kid,’ psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut takes the analysis of Mary to a

1 Hellman, Lillian. The Children's Hour. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1981. Print. Page 14

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whole new level. “For Mary, creating rumors, gossip and scandal through lying […]

serves as an exercise in self-aggrandizement that compensates for her vulnerability,

insecurity, lack of adult guidance, apparent inferiority complex, and low self-esteem.”2

It becomes apparent in the examination of Mary’s upbringing that her lies aren’t

out of the realm of reasonable behavior for her circumstances. The early death of her

father, and the subsequent coddling by her grandmother, has led Mary to expect a certain

level of entitlement. According to Joe Cardin, one of the prominent characters of

Hellman’s work, Mary “[has] always been a honey […] Her grandmother’s spoiling

hasn’t helped any, either. Her father was Aunt Amelia’s favorite son.”3

Joe explains away Mary’s tendency to act up and even attributes her bout of

fainting early in the first act as a part of an elaborate ploy for the attention Mary has

become accustomed to. And to be certain, Joe lets Mary know that he’s not buying her

act: “You’ve been unpleasant enough to Miss Wright.” He says, “ Lie here until you’ve

stopped working yourself into a fit. Come over to the office one day. I’ll show you how

to do a good faint.”4 Even her fellow students have come to recognize this quality in

Mary. Rosalie, one her classmates says, “Mary always makes up things about me and

everybody else. Everyone in school knows that.”5

However, Mary truly underestimates the serious power of her lies. Fast forward to

the next act where Mary runs home to her grandmother who has a past history of

supporting her beyond reasonable cause, and the trouble begins to develop. This time,

Mary’s highly elaborate plot for revenge on her schoolteachers quickly spirals out of her

2 Tunc, Tanfer Emin. "Rumors, gossip and lies: social anxiety and the evil child in Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour" The Free Library 01 September 2012. 11 February 20143 Hellman Pg. 224 Hellman Pg. 245 Hellman Pg. 53

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control. “Everybody is yelling at me. I don’t know what I’m saying with everybody

mixing me all up,”6 Mary cries in the end of the second act. She becomes caught up in

her lie, which propels the school and her teachers into serious disarray.

The lies of Mary Tilford, however, pale in comparison to those of the Keller

family in All My Sons by Arthur Miller. In this contemporary drama, Miller details the

life of the seemingly normal Keller family. But like all middle class American families,

the Kellers have their own skeletons in the closet. Lying has taken its toll on patriarch Joe

Keller, a retired factory worker who was exonerated after being charged with criminal

negligence. After his factory sends damaged parts for aircrafts to men in WWII and

causes 21 deaths, Keller lies and thrusts the blame onto his former business partner Steve

Deever. “So [Steve] takes out his tools and he … covers over the cracks,” explains Keller

to his son Chris and his love interest Anne Deever. “All right… that’s bad, it’s wrong, but

that’s what a little man does. If I could have gone in that day I’d a told him- junk ‘em

Steve, we can afford it.”7 He tells this lie with such ease, to the daughter of Steve Deever

no less, that one wonders if the lie has become so much a part of Keller that he has

literally deceived himself.

In a defense of Keller’s lies, Arthur Miller has been a staunch defender of the idea

that “the justification that Joe Keller makes is that . . . you do what you have to do in

order to survive’, a defense which is ‘always understandable and always unacceptable’.”8

6 Hellman Pg. 527 Miller, Arthur. All My Sons: Drama in Three Acts. New York: Dramatist Play Service, 1974. Page 28. Print.

8 Hooti, Noorbakhsh, and Saba Habibi. "The Nature of Guilt in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons." Studies in Literature and Language 3.1 (2011): 11-16. CSCanada. Web.

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But Joe’s dishonesty is only the tip of the iceberg. His family has also suffered

from the repercussions of lying. Keller and Chris have both allowed Kate to continue her

illusion that their son, Chris’s brother, will eventually return from the war after being

missing in action for several years. It is interesting that Joe Keller’s larger lie doesn’t

disturb him, yet this slight untruth makes Keller’s son Chris truly uncomfortable.

CHRIS: I know one thing, Dad. We’ve made a terrible mistake with mother.KELLER: What?CHRIS: Being dishonest with her. That kind of thing always pays off, and now it’s paying off.9

This process of ignoring problems and covering concerns with an altered reality

has become the norm for Joe Keller. His family continues to suffer from the effects, but

Joe doesn’t seem to acknowledge anything but his deformed sense of the truth. And when

he is finally forced to come to terms with his deceit, the reality of the situation is so

painful that Joe Keller takes his own life. He is simply unwilling to admit to himself that

his nature is not what he or his family wants it to be. “KELLER: (as though throwing his

whole nature open before CHRIS) How Could I kill anybody? […] I didn’t kill

anybody!”10 But it is his denial that really clues the reader into the regret and guilt that

plagues Keller as his lies ultimately come back to destroy him.

The last liar in this look at American plays is in a completely different category

all together. Where as Mary Tilford’s and Joe Keller’s lies covered acts of atrocity or

caused serious devastation, Agnes from Michael Christofer’s The Shadow Box (1977) has

been lying to her mother for all the ‘right’ reasons. Agnes is the daughter/caretaker for

her mother Felicity, who is suffering from a terminal illness that has her at odds with

reality. In a conversation with the Interviewer Agnes reveals “she has actually been

9 Miller pg. 1310 Miller pg. 58

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humoring her mother by writing letters to her. Agnes composes and signs the letters as if

they are actually from Claire [her sister], who has, at this point, been dead for several

years.”11

Unlike her predecessors Agnes’ lie has a serious ulterior motive, keeping her sick

mother happy. It’s a very simple white lie, though it requires a bit of work to maintain.

Agnes even seems to find some comfort in the conversations that she creates for her

mother as it allows her to talk with her otherwise distracted mother. “So I write the

letters. I don’t mind” she says, “It’s not difficult. I read little things in books and

newspapers and I make up what’s happening […] Mama doesn’t really listen to them

anymore. She used to. It used to be the only time I could talk to her.” 12 For such a simple

act, the small lie that Agnes has told seems like a way for Felicity to grasp at reality and

be present with her daughter, which has become a struggle in the decline of her health.

Even though her cause seems just, we still see the pangs of guilt ravage Agnes as

she lies to her mother over and over again. As writing the letters became part of her care

routine, the glamour of the connection with her mother has seemingly worn off. In the

second act Cristofer treats us to a description of Agnes’ pain by means of stage direction:

FELICITY: Did we get any mail today, Agnes?AGNES: (Every word of this lie now more and more unbearable) Yes mama…

we did…13

It seems that the act of lying, even when trying to do some good, has a debilitating effect

on the liar. Which begets the question- is lying to her mother really worth the cost? In

writing these letters, Agnes is ignoring her own real relationship with her mother and

11 Kryhoski, Laura. "Critical Essay on The Shadow Box." Drama for Students 15 (2002): Literature Resource Center. Web.12 Cristofer, Michael. The Shadow Box. New York: Drama Book Specialists, 1977. Print.Page 6013 Cristofer 82

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replacing it with the fictional connection of her choosing. All this lying comes at a price

according to Kryhoski, “In engaging in this activity, Agnes is avoiding the opportunity to

resolve her relationship with Felicity.”14

Even though Agnes’ intentions may have seemed pure, the interviewer also raises

the point that as much as these letters are for Felicity, they might be for Agnes too.

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER: What about you, Agnes?AGNES: Me?VOICE OF INTERVIEWER: Does [writing the letters] make you happy?AGNES: Me? […] Please, I … should be getting back.15

Perhaps the lie that is eating away at Agnes’ conscience is the one she is telling herself.

She cannot come to admit that her letters probably have no effect on her mother, and that

the letter writing is a self-indulgent method for her to cope with the loss of her mother’s

sanity.

Even though Mary Tilford of The Children’s Hour, Joe Keller of All My Sons, and

Agnes from The Shadow Box are all experiencing vastly different things in their lives,

they all have one thing in common: they are liars. The similarities among the three are

startling to say the least. They are all haunted by their deceptions, even when their

intention is to protect those they love. For all of them, the reveal of their secret is utterly

traumatic and certainly devastating.

For Mary, of The Children’s Hour, it is the realization that she’s gone to far and

that the lie has spiraled out of her control. Mary’s grandmother, who until this turning

point in the play has been on Mary’s side, begins to question her and before Mary can

process a response she is completely defeated. In that moment Mary seems beaten and

Hellman treats us to a description of the girl utterly overwhelmed, “MRS. TILFORD:

14 Kryhoski15 Cristofer 61

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(MARY gets up, head down, still crying hysterically. MRS. TILFORD crosses to her.) I

want the truth.”16

For Joe Keller, of All My Sons, he is haunted to the point of no return, even taking

his own life as his lie becomes revealed. He realizes in his final moments that his family

believes he really is to blame, and his self-deception comes crashing down around him.

He is forced to confront his worst nightmare, “Sure he was my son. But I think to him

they were all my sons. And I guess they were. I guess they were. I’ll be right down.”17 In

his last line of the play Keller confronts the idea that he really killed all of those soldiers.

He is also responsible, by extension, for the death of his own son.

Lastly, For Agnes, of The Shadow Box, reading her last and final letter to her

mother proves too much. Discovering her self-deception has made the act completely

unbearable. Agnes literally cannot continue her lie and Cristofer gives us a description of

her final difficulty as she struggles to read a letter she has written. “(AGNES breaks down

and can’t go any further.)”18

Each of these three characters lies for different reasons. Mary lies for vengeance,

Joe for his family, and Agnes for herself. But we see in all three cases, lying eats away at

the strength of a character till they are left with absolutely nothing. Yet, there is poetic

beauty in the sense that all of these characters are forced to come to terms with the

consequences of their lies. Lying and the related guilt is such a part of the human

condition that it makes all of these characters tragic in their own way. Whether one

believes them to be misunderstood, deserving, or simply unaware of the possible

outcomes of their actions, it can be agreed that all three have deep development of

16 Hellman 5217 Miller 6818 Christofer 83

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character. They share, perhaps most importantly, a sense of humanness that makes them

an integral part of these three American dramas.