Machinal Episode summaries

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To Business (1)

  • Helen is at the office where she works. The other characters are Telephone Girl, Stenographer, Filing Clerk, Adding Clerk and Jones. The other women in the office are jealous of the attention Helen gets from her boss, who wants to marry her. Helen does not want to marry him, but feels she must as she needs to provide for her mother
  • Helen is feeling anxious, stressed, upset and nervous during this scene.
  • Expressionism is shown through the language of the other characters, such as by repeating and echoing some of Helen's words. The other characters exaggerate their words and use sarcasm and caricature to describe her.  Helen's last monologue also shows us her inner feelings towards Jones
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At Home (2)

  • Helen is at home with her ailing mother, who is trying to get her to eat. She asks her mother if a woman must get married and what her marriage was like, and her mother tells her that it does not matter about love. Helen finally agrees to marry Jones. 
  • Helen is feeling upset and angry in this scene as she argues with her mother. She also feels remorse for getting angry.
  • In this episode, expressionism is shown by the outside characters conversations, such as those between the boy and girl, mother and son and a married couple. This shows the progression of love throughout life and how it changes. It also illustrates how Helen feels, as in every outside scene there seems to be some unrequited love between the characters. 
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Honeymoon (3)

  • Helen and Jones have married and are now on their honeymoon. He is anxious to consummate the marriage with his new wife, but Helen does not want to, as she does not love him. She wants to undress privately but he disagrees, and when she returns she is dreadfully upset at the prospect of having sex with her husband. 
  • In this scene, Helen feels anxious, upset, alone (as she calls for "somebody, somebody" and her mother) and distressed. 
  • Expressionism is shown through Helen's language, as most of her lines are said in an exclamatory way (showing she is uncomfortable and begging), and are short sentenced which must show her desperation. Her speech allows us to understand how she feels about the marriage. 
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Maternal (4)

  • Helen is in the hospital after giving birth to her daughter. She is suffering from PND or post-partum psychosis. She is visited by her husband who she is sick at the sight of. She has a long monologue which is graphic and is clearly a breakdown.
  • Helen is feeling sick, alone, distressed and disgusted. She does not want a baby, especially a daughter, as she will have to suffer the same fate as Helen did. 
  • Expressionism is shown through the sounds of the machine, and the lack of Helen speaking. She is even too unwell to say anything except from a few words, and mostly communicates through shaking or nodding her head. Her final monologue has graphic themes about death and religion. 
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Prohibited (5)

  • Helen and the Telephone Girl from episode 1 are at an illegal speakeasy. They are on a double date, which is illicit as Helen and the Telephone Girl's date are both married. Helen's date tells her of how he killed two Mexicans to be "free". At the end of the scene, they go to his rooms together. 
  • Helen feels liberated and at ease for the first time in the play, as she is away from her husband. She seems infatuated with the other man but  a little uncomfortable at times. 
  • Expressionism is shown in this scene through the other characters in the scene who are all talking about illegal things. Helen's emotions are obvious and clear, unlike in Maternal. The language is expressive and often exaggerated by the other characters. 
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Intimate (6)

  • Helen is with her Lover. She talks about angels and fate, but he says he cannot stay for too long.  He gives her a lotus flower in a glass bowl with pebbles as a parting gift. 
  • Helen is infatuated with him, but he is indifferent towards her. She wants a future with this man but knows she cannot as she is married. 
  • Expressionism is clear through Helen's body language. She is carefree and we can tell she is truly happy for once in her life. 
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Domestic (7)

  • Helen is at home with her Husband. They are both reading the newspaper but the stories are different. Her Husband has just sealed a large business deal which he is ecstatic about. Helen becomes distressed towards the end of the scene and hears the voice of her lover. She then, off stage, kills her Husband using the stones in the lotus bowl given to her. 
  • Helen feels trapped once again here, and shows a desire to be back with her Lover. She is disinterested in her Husband's business and flinches at his touch. She is clearly uncomfortable. 
  • Expressionism is shown through the contrast of their newspaper headlines and through the voices of the Lover and others willing Helen to murder her husband, which shows her what is occuring inside her head. 
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The Law (8)

  • Helen is on trial. There are reporters who are commenting on the case - one is in Helen's favour, whereas the other is critical of her. At first, Helen is composed and defensive, however she is rattled after a letter from her Lover incriminates her. 
  • Helen is feeling is at first feeling calm and cool, but is quickly distressed and confused, giving contradictory evidence and testimony while on the stand. 
  • Expressionism is shown in this scene through Helen's change of body language as she admits guilt, and her woeful sounds as she knows she is a condemned woman. 
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A Machine (9)

  • Helen is about to be put to death. A black man is singing, and there is a priest chanting. She does not like to hear the priest but likes the condemned and oppressed man singing. Her mother visits her but she does not recognise her, she thinks she is a stranger. At the end, Helen is taken away to the electric chair and her voice is cut off by the machine and the priest's incantations. 
  • Helen's feelings in this scene are at first calm, but grow increasingly more volatile as the moment of her death draws nearer. 
  • Expressionism is shown in this scene through the identification with black man. Furthermore, her mother being seen as a stranger has connotations of how estranged Helen feels from how she should have acted as a Woman in the 1920s.
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