Homosexuality In 'The Children's Hour'

Thesis: Despite Martha Dobie’s confession to lesbian in The Children’s Hour, her moment of coming out before her suicide was not sincere but solely triggered by circumstantial influence and her internalization of the external conflict.

Martha Dobie and Karen Wright’s school for girls is sabotaged when Martha is accused of lesbianism. In the pivotal last act of the play, which can be defined as the “coming out scene”, she confesses that Mary’s accusation is true, though no other signs of homosexuality in the play appear before the allegations. In order to understand why Martha falsely confessed lesbianism, it is essential to understand that Mary, who accused her, had no truth to her claims.

Mary, a student at Martha and Karen’s school for girls,

Homophobia was a way of society, and Mary understands that when one goes against social values and expected morals, they are condemned, as she was for lying. Mary understands the social norms of the time, as heterosexuality being the only approved relationship she would have witnessed during this time, and understands that accusing someone of homosexuality will lead to condemnation. In Timothy Wiles’ analysis of The Children’s Hour, the author discusses the way in which American culture associates sexual expression with sin and corruption, as well as the desire to merge social approval and success with free expression of one’s identity. The idea of sexual expression equating to sin and corruption is a good explanation of Mary’s use of lesbianism as a lie. Mary is looked after by her grandmother, who is a very traditional woman. Mary is shown to understand the idea of good versus evil, as she has a grandmother who is quick to express her opinion of wrong versus right. Mary understands that using something that is “wrong” (lesbianism) as her lie against her teachers will cause fear among the other students and parents, and therefore uses homosexuality for this reason. The sole reason she used this lie is because she knows that it relates to corruption, and her two female teachers would be hard to frame in any other