Gerstenburg states in the stage
directions in the beginning that Harriet and Margaret were never meant to speak
directly to their personified consciences; Hetty and Maggie. She implies that
she wants the character to be able to converse with their counterpart, but
never have direct eye contact. They may sometimes gesture in the direction of
their “primitive selves,” but they should never look at each other in the eyes.
The idea is that each woman can communicate with two people, their peer and
their other self. I think that Gerstenburg chose to have Hetty and Maggie on
stage to represent the internal thoughts and conflicts that each character had.
It was interesting to me that where some plays have lots of subtext, this play
doesn’t require much because their counterpart is pronouncing the women’s inner
thoughts. Such a technique was utilized in Shakespeare's plays as asides and soliloquies.
Later in the play, the two conciouses start to address each other,
and are a much more honest yet catty version of their “trained selves” Most of
the communication between Hetty and Maggie happens only after Harriet and Margaret
speak to convey the real way in which have interpreted what the other is
saying. Their thoughts seek to manipulate what will be said. What would have ordinarily been a mild and civil conversation takes on a much darker tone when the truths start to spill out, such as poverty and unhappiness in relationships. The audience can
see the mounting tensions towards the end of the play. The “primitive selves”
even fill what would have been in real life complete silence with loud arguing.
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