Gossip in a Dramatic World, Essay Example

Gossip becomes quite a common factor with regards to women.  Played out in literature for centuries and extending to technological fronts today, gossip remains a prominent theme in society.  “The Children’s Hour” and “The Women” are certainly no exception to the role of gossip in the past and present.

“The Women”

“The Women” was produced in 1936 on Broadway, written by Clare Booth Luce.  It examines the lives of socialites in Manhattan.  The work revolves around the gossip that damages relationship and lives of the characters.

With regards to the gossip in the work, gossip is presented in prominence within the women’s lives.  Its destruction is also eminent in regards to the information that is learned through the women, which takes on toxic forms.  This seeks to give insight into the lives of the socialites, who spend social time gossiping about the lives of others.

Mary’s friends illustrate the turmoil that occurs in gossip within the work.  In fact, her servants even gossip about her marital difficulties.  Learning of Stephen’s infidelity through someone who doesn’t recognize Mary, she finds out that his affair is published in a newspaper.  Trapped in the web of gossip, she chooses not to become engaged in it.  However, she later undertakes gossip to get back Stephen.

This characterizes the potentially devastating nature of gossip.  Utilized in the work in this manner, the reader is able to see the way it can transform different kinds of relationships.  It certainly is displayed by Luce through the use of those who surround Mary, including her friends, servants, and Stephen.  It is also one of the major themes that fuels and affects the relationship between Mary and Stephen.  Although it is outside of the present analysis to examine, it has a profound influence on the character of Mary.

The Children’s Hour

“The Children’s Hour” was written shortly before “The Women,” in 1934, by Lillian Hellman.  This work examines the impact of a lesbian affair in an all-girls boarding school, between Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, who run the school.  Similar to the other work, the gossip surrounding this event transforms, and more particularly destroys, the relationship of the two women, along with their careers and lives in general.

The story revolves around the accusation of the lesbian affair.  A student at the school, Mary Tilford, proceeds to inform her grandmother of the affair after she has information of the situation.  As fallout from the information, the initial gossip spreads to destroy the lives of the two women involved in the affair.

The work also includes gossip from the society.  Unlike the first work, which included a small group of women, this story presents a community’s willingness to get involved in the gossip regarding the prominent story.  It also sees gossip within the female gender prominently, as Mary’s grandmother becomes involved, and of course in the characters at the all-girls boarding school.

The destruction of gossip plays a prominent role within this work.  Lives are ruined by the accusations that are involved in the affair.  Lily’s niece commits suicide from the complications of the situation as well.  Additionally, a community is brought together in the gossip that causes this destruction.  This adds to the force and unfortunate nature of gossip as presented in the work.

This work similarly ties in the major components of gossip in the lives of women.  It displays the prominence of gossip within many contexts, such as the school and the community.  It also demonstrates the vast effect gossip has on the community and the lives of the women.

Gossip in Women

Both works portray the role gossip plays in the lives of women.  Both stories see gossip as the foundation to the destruction of lives and relationships.  On a deeper level, they seek to reveal the nature of gossip within the social lives of women.

Both plays were written in the early 20^th century.  Existing within literature in other constructs well before this time, to at least that of the Bible (as gossip is listed with other sins), gossip has been portrayed negatively.  In these and other works the negative topic of gossip is displayed significantly.

The social lives of women are unraveled with the topic of gossip.  Playing as a central importance to the lives of women, such activities seek to characterize the thoughts and status of women.  For instance, even other topics such as standards of beauty in “The Women” are prominently displayed with women.  Women are presented as caring significantly about social status, to which gossip can alter the perceived status of an individual.

This is carried out even further.  For instance, in “The Women,” women are portrayed with the advantages of higher socioeconomic status.  Here the attempts of women to look beautiful and to act in a certain way, which includes gossiping about others to fit in, rise above individuals, and obtain a higher social class, are justified within the work.  The supplementary themes to gossip portray the effects of gossip, extenuating the inner and outward lives of women within society.  In other words, women suffer from these “lesser” standards, which certainly include gossip.

Modern Gossip

Today, modern gossip occurs on new fronts.  Websites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as other social networks, in relationship to gossip: “now spread literally like wildfire (Space War).”  With new ways to keep in touch with others, such as seen in regards to social networks, gossip takes on a whole new dimension.

It remains to be seen how dramatic the effects of gossip can be in this new era.  This raises some new questions that cannot be answered completely.  It remains to be seen how vast social networks over the Internet, and more ways to keep up with “published gossip” such as in regards to celebrities, can grow and affect the prominence of gossip in societ.

It is important to note that not all gossip is bad.  According to researchers at the Santa Fe Institute, “gossip destroys clustering in weakly clustered networks and increases cliquishness in networks with already high clustering,” in their analysis of gossip over social and other technological networks (Brooks).  While it is not always negative, however, ethical, moral, and religious standards could be generally seen against gossip, although this is a comprehensive discussion in itself.

Conclusion

The role of gossip in women, and both genders, can be seen from the past to the present, and most certainly in the future.  While not all gossip is not negative, two plays demonstrate the toxicity of gossip and the nature of gossip in its prominence in some women’s lives.  These lessons extend in relevance to modern times in the rise of enhanced communication.

Works Cited

Brooks, Dave, Roozbeh Daneshvar, Allison Shaw, Milena Tsvetkova, and Chang Yu. “The Effect of Gossip on Social Networks.” Santa Fe Institute. Web. May 1, 2010.

Hellman, Lillian. The Children’s Hour. New York: Kessinger Publishing, 2005.

Luce, Clare Boothe. The Women. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1998.

Space War. “Mathmateical Models Key to Tracking Gossip, Terrists.” Space War, December 10, 2009. Web. May 1, 2010.