Responding to Dr. Fletcher's prompt on Overtones by Alice Gerstenberg

In my opinion, Overtones was a comic relief of a play. I thought the playwright Alice Gerstenberg was very clever in her choice of portraying the "inner self" in human form. The characters Harriet and Hattie were very intriguing when first introduced on stage. The first scene shows Harriet and Hattie talking about the arrival of a long lost friend. The odd part about connection between the two characters was that Harriet seemed to be looking away or talking to inanimate objects rather than the human figure of her "inner self" named Hattie. Further on in the first scene just before their visitor arrives Harriet does make physical contact with Hattie by draping a veil across her face. I did not understand this part of the play because I assumed that Harriet was always talking to her real "inner self" and not the character who plays that role. When Margaret and Maggie are introduced in the play I caught on quickly that these ladies had deep opinions spoken through their "inner selves". My favorite part of the play would be the close end of the play when the "inner selves" Maggie and Hattie are yelling and clawing at each other while the real characters Margaret and Harriet politely say goodbye.  Seeing the "inner" reactions of the ladies made me wonder how it would have played out differently if there were not human forms to give us a perspective. I give my compliments to Gerstenberg for her dramatic irony of this play. Seeing the "inner self" is most enjoyable and helps the audience to understand what each woman is thinking. This setting of the play also helps describe a certain era of women's rights. This play sets the time in the present; but the habits and manner of how the women act portray a time in the past. The ladies Harriet and Margaret are very cordial and have polite manners. In today's society women have adjusted to speak their mind rather than 'grin and bare it'.