The Struggle for Independence

The play’s main narrative line and several of its secondary ones all explore its overall thematic interest in the struggle of an individual to achieve independence. In terms of the former, the play’s trial of Miss Benare is, essentially, a trial of her right to live an independent life. While the main questions raised in the trial are about her morality, those questions, are raised within the context of Miss Benare having made her own independent decisions about her own morality, as opposed to defining herself by what other people say she should believe and/or how she should act. Technically, the trial is on some level not a real one, or at least not an officially legal one, but it is, however, a “trial” based on very real public opinion and cultural judgement. Both are put in motion as a...