If you were to take “The Women” by Clare Boothe “straight up”, one would probably get out of it a story of 21 socialites; snobby women who stab each other in the back, and yet swear that they love each other. One would see Sylvia as the temptress, evil head of the pack who only wants disaster to fall on all of her friends. The reader would view Mary as the innocent, frail wife who loves her husband with all her heart and only wants to care for him and raise her daughter to be a delightful young woman. If one digs deeper, however, they will find that in reality, Mary has been the conniving backstabber who had made plans to have everyone suffer all along, while Sylvia is just your typical naïve woman who really wants the best for her “crew”.

In examining the author’s preface of “The Women”, there is a list of names that critics called the characters of the play. Among them, “Stalking hussies”, “Spiteful”, “sinister”, “Meddlers”, “Remorseless”, and “Two-faced” were amongst the most vivid descriptions of the various 21 socialites. According to Clare Boothe, these are overstatements. “Characters like Sylvia and Edith can breed no

When it comes to love and compassion, Sylvia is the one that cared enough about her friend to kindly and carefully hint to her of her unfaithful husband and continue to stick with her through the hard times as she went through her divorce and many periods of loneliness. Sylvia is simply naïve to her own problems, and even seeks professional help to better herself with a psycho analyst. In the end of the play, even when Mary has treated Sylvia so badly, Sylvia rushes to her friends side to support her when she fights back for her mediocre husband. Mary on the other hand, hides her coyness and finally allows it to peak through when it is evident she is set on getting her husband back. She is faking, making the reader think that she is but naïve and motherly, when in fact she is simply training her daughter to become just like the rest of the people she despises: herself. At the end of the play, she notes to Sylvia that she has “jungle red claws” just like the rest of the women, making her no different than any other backstabbing, phony woman of the high society life. When it comes right down to it, the only woman who showed to be genuine about her friendship was Sylvia, and Mary only turned to be the cold herated malicious woman she was determined to seek revenge upon… turns out she had “jungle red claws” all along.

Sylvia: “If only there were some way to warn her..

Mary: (coldly) I’m terribly sorry, Sylvia.

This is not exactly a caring way to treat a friend. Mary allowed for Sylvia to take a serious beating after hearing possible the worst news of her life of the tragic end to her marriage, and then Mary simply throws her out, wanting nothing to do with her. This clearly shows the scheming and cold nature of Mary; of all times, when her best friend need her the most. At the end of the play, she tells off Crystal Allen, telling her that she is nothing but a tramp and smugly goes to her ex-husband when the servant calls for the “Mrs. Stephen Haines”. Her self-righteous and arrogant attitude shows a mean-hearted woman who had only planned for that day since first hearing the new about the affair of her husband.

Mary: (bitterly) Im not grateful… Get out of here!! (Boothe, 132)

Some topics in this essay:
Crystal Sylvia, Clare Boothe, Stephen Haines”, Mary Haines, Scene II, Saccharine Encarta, Obviously Sylvia’s, Mary’s Encarta, Crystal Allen, Ernst Prelinger, friend mary, “the women”, clare boothe, little mary, “jungle red claws”, crystal allen, crystal sylvia, red claws”, simply naïve, play mary, “jungle red, sylvia simply naïve, act iii scene, affair woman lower, woman lower class,