Summary “The Profession of Mrs. Warren” Show
Action first
Vivi Warren is twenty-two years old. She is alive, determined, self-confident, cold-blooded. Growing up far from her mother who lived all her life in Brussels and then in Vienna and never let her daughter come to her, Vivi never knew anything about anything: the owner of the brothels, Mrs. Warren, never stinted in the means of maintaining and educating her daughter. And now, having received an education in Cambridge, Vivi does not clog her head with romantic nonsense, like most girls of her age. Element Vivi calculations – for engineers, electricians, insurance companies. Sent by the mother for a month and a half to London for visits to museums and theaters, she preferred to spend all the time in the office of Honoria Fraser at Chancery Lane, helping with the calculations and conduct of business. Her main virtue is practicality, she “loves to work, loves to get paid for her work”.
And now, returning to the cottage of Mrs. Warren in Surrey
Finally, Mrs. Warren appears – a prominent, clamorously dressed woman of about forty-five, vulgar, “orderly spoiled and domineering… but, in general, a very respectable and good-natured old swindler.” Together with Mrs. Warren comes her companion, 47-year-old Baronet Sir George Crofts, a tall, powerful man who is “a wonderful combination of the lowest-grade varieties of the businessman, athlete and secular man.” From the very first acquaintance, he, heard about the successes of Vivi, falls under her charm, conscious at the same time of all the unordinary nature of her character. Pride warns Mrs. Warren
In a private conversation Crofts confesses to Preid, that his strange way attracts to Vivi. In addition, he wants to know who the girl’s father is, and he urges Pride to ask if Mrs. Warren mentioned someone’s name. After all, he himself could be the father of Vivi, however, he admits to Preid, Mrs. Warren, firmly decided not to share her daughter with anyone, and all his inquiries have so far remained fruitless. The conversation is interrupted: Mrs. Warren is calling everyone in the house to drink tea.
Among the invited is also Frank Gardner, a twenty-year-old young man of pleasant appearance, the son of a local pastor. From the very first enthusiastic words it becomes obvious that he is not indifferent to Vivi; more than that, he is sure that she is reciprocating with him. He is cheerful and careless. Haughtily referring to his parent, the “Pope of Rome,” Pastor Samuel Gardner, he makes fun of his father in every way, not embarrassed by the audience.
Pastor for fifty years, this “pretentious, noisy, annoying person,” unable to inspire respect for himself in the role of head of the family, nor in the role of a clergyman. Reverend Gardner, on the contrary, is not enthusiastic about Vivi: since her arrival, she has never visited the church. The son petitions his father, quoting him as saying that his son, in the absence of intelligence and money, should take advantage of his beauty and marry some person who has enough of both. In response, the pastor expresses doubt that the girl has as much money as his prodigal son needs. Frustrated by his father’s malice, Frank hints at the past “feats” of the pastor, in which he himself confessed to him, so that the son does not repeat the errors of his father. In particular, he mentions that,
The conversation between father and son is interrupted by the appearance of Vivi, which Frank represents the pastor. With exclamations “Why, it’s Sam Gardner! Tell me please, he became a pastor!” and “I still have a stack of your letters” also includes Mrs. Warren. The pastor is ready to fall through the earth with shame.
The second action
The second action opens with a discussion between Mrs. Warren, Frank, the pastor and Crofts. Mrs. Warren announces her reluctance to see how a “dissolute boy” who does not have the means to support his wife flirts with her daughter. She is echoed by Crofts, clearly pursuing her own goals, as well as a pastor, tormented by vague suspicions. Frank pitifully begs everyone not to be so mercantile and let him take care of Vivi. After all, they love each other, and Miss Warren will not marry by calculation, but only for love.
However, Vivi herself can stand up for herself. Left alone with Frank, she agrees with him in his unflattering reviews of Mrs. Warren. However, in response to his sarcastic attacks against the whole company and, in particular, Crofts, she pulls out the arrogant young man: “Do you think that in old age you will be better than Crofts, if you do not take the case?”.
At the same time, Crofts and Mrs. Warren are talking privately. Crofts invites her to consider the possibility of his marriage to Vivi. Why not? After all, he has the title of Baronet, he is rich, he will die before, and Vivi will remain “an effective widow with a round capitol”. Mrs. Warren responds only with indignation: “One little finger of my daughter is more dear to me than you with all your guts.”
The man’s part of the company is spent with the pastor Gardner. Left alone, mother and daughter can not restrain mutual disagreement: Mrs. Warren claims that the daughter must live with her and lead her way of life, including tolerating her companion Crofts. Vivi defends the right to lead his life. “My reputation, my social status and the profession I have chosen for myself are known to everyone, and I do not know anything about you.” What kind of lifestyle do you invite me to share with you and Sir George Crofts, please tell me? ” she throws to her mother, demanding that she open her father’s name. She threatens to leave her mother forever, if she does not respond to her request. “How can I be sure that the poisoned blood of this burner of life does not flow in my veins?” she says, referring to the baronet.
Mrs. Warren is desperate. After all, it was she who helped her daughter to get up, to become a man, and now she “lifts her nose in front of her.” No, no, she can not stand this. And Mrs. Warren tells her daughter about her difficult childhood and youth, full of hardships, with her mother and three sisters. One of the sisters died of a disease received in a factory of lead whites, another languished in poverty with three children and an alcoholic husband. Mrs. Warren-Kitty-and her sister Lizzie, both prominent, dreaming of being like a lady, went to church school until Lizzy, smart and enterprising, left home to never return.
One day, barely able to stand by overwork waitresses in a bar on Vaterlooskom station, Kitty met Lizzy, dressed in furs, with a whole bunch of gold in a purse. She taught Kitty wits, and seeing that his sister grew up a beauty, offered to do crafts together and accumulate on the institution in Brussels. After reflecting and deciding that the brothel is a place for a woman more suitable than the factory where the sister died, Kitty accepts her sister’s offer. After all, it is only by such a craft, and not by a miserable penny, earned by a heavy humiliating labor, one can earn on one’s own business.
Vivi agrees that the mother acted quite practical, sharing the craft with her sister. Practically, although, of course, “every woman should just be disgusted to make money in this way.” Well, yes, it’s disgusting. However, in her position it was the most profitable business, Mrs. Warren objected. “The only way for a woman to decently provide herself,” she says to her daughter, “is to have a man who can keep a mistress with funds.” The girl is fascinated by the mother’s story, her directness and the absence of such habitual hypocrisy. Mother and daughter part friends for the night.
Action third
The next morning, in a conversation with Frank Vivi, she is gentle and peaceful. Now she no longer shares his views on the mother – because she did so out of desperation, despair. Idyll is disturbed by the appearance of Crofts, who wants to exchange a couple of words with Vivi alone. As expected, Crofts offers the girl a hand and a heart. Of course, he is not young, but he has a status, social status and title. And what can the boy Gardner give her? Vivi, however, flatly refuses to even discuss his proposal.
Exhortations do not give any result, and only when Crofts reports the money that she gave and loaned to her mother (“There are few people who would support her, like I. I have invested at least forty thousand pounds”). Vivi is perplexed: “Do you mean to say that you were my mother’s companion?”. It seemed to her that the matter was sold, and the capital was put in the bank. Crofts is dumbfounded: “Eliminate the case, which gives thirty-five percent of profits in the worst year! With what reason?”.
The girl starts to worry guesses. The mother’s companion confirms her fears: “Your mother is an excellent organizer, we have two boarding houses in Brussels, one in Ostend, one in Vienna and two in Budapest.” Of course, other than us participate, but in our hands most of the capital, and your mother is irreplaceable as a director of the enterprise. “
Vivi is upset – and this in the matter of such a property she is invited to participate! Crofts comforts her: “You will participate in them no more than always participated” – “I participated? What do you want to say?” “Only that you lived on this money, that money was paid for your education and for the dress that you are wearing.” Vivi is justified: she did not know where the money came from, but she felt disgusted. The proposal for marriage, she still rejects.
Crofts can not restrain anger and seeing Frank come up with the words: “Mr. Frank, let me introduce you to your half-sister, the daughter of the venerable Samuel Gardner.” Miss Vivi is your stepbrother, “he leaves. Vivi is killed, everything seems disgusting to her. She tells Frank about her firm and final decision to go to London, to Honoria Fraser, to Chancery Lane.
Step Four
The fourth action takes place in the said office, where Frank waits for the tea that has come out to drink Vivi. He won a handful of gold poker, and now invites her to dinner and have fun in the music hall. He admits that he can not live without Vivi, explaining that what Croft said can not be true, because he has sisters, and he feels far less to them than to her. Vivi’s answer is sarcastic: is not that “the feeling, Frank, that brought your father to the feet of my mother?”. She is sure that the relationship between a brother and a sister is the most suitable for them, and only she cherishes such relations.
Pride enters – he went to say goodbye before leaving for Italy. He persuades Vivi to go with him to “be imbued with beauty and romance”, but in vain – for her in life there is no beauty and romance. Life for Vivi is life, and she accepts her as she is. She discovers Preyda a terrible secret – he does not know what her mother is doing. Pride is amazed, but despite everything he is ready to keep brotherly relations with Vivi.
There is a knock on the door – it’s Mrs. Warren. She is crying: her daughter fled to London, and she would like to return her. She came in spite of the fact that Crofts did not let her in, though she does not know what he was afraid of. When Vivi enters, the mother hands her a leaf: “I got it from the bank this morning.” What does that mean? “. “This is my money for a month,” the girl explains, “I was sent to them the other day, as always, I just sent them back and asked them to transfer to your account and send the receipt to you. She tells her mother that Crofts told her everything. “You explained only what led to your profession, but they did not say anything about the fact that you have not abandoned it to this day.”
In vain are the exhortations of the mother, Vivi is determined to reject capital acquired in this way. She can not understand why her mother will not give up her craft now that she does not depend on him. Mrs. Warren makes excuses as she can: die with boredom, that’s what she’s afraid of, because she’s no good for any other life. And then it is profitable, but she likes to make money. She agrees to everything, she promises not to bother her daughter, because constant travel and will not allow them to stay together for a long time. And when she dies, her daughter will finally get rid of her annoyed mother.
However, despite all the tears of Mrs. Warren, Vivi is adamant – she has other work and another way. The mother’s argument that she also wanted to become a decent girl and mother, but she was not allowed by circumstances, produces the opposite effect – now Vivi accuses the mother of hypocrisy: she herself would only lead the life that she considers to be right. Perhaps she is cruel, but no one has the right to appeal to her daughter or any other duty. She refuses the mother and her money. She refuses Frank, from all her past life.
When the door closes for Mrs. Warren, Vivi sighs with relief. She resolutely pushes a pile of papers over to her and finds a note from Frank. With the words “Farewell and you, Frank” she decisively tears the note and plunges into the calculation with her head.
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