31 Plays in 31 Days: #26 - "Pounding Against the Bars"

[breakinglight11]

I have been imagining a character to include in the Mrs. Hawking universe that was a childhood friend of hers, who served as a sort of foil for her during her formative years. Much later, this character would reappear as a villain of the story. I don't know what she would be up to, but I really like that reversal, and the kind of conflict it could bring.

Day #26 - "Pounding Against the Bars"

VICTORIA HAWKING, avenger of downtrodden women
ELIZABETH FROST, her childhood friend, now a supervillain
~~~

MRS. FROST: It’s no use, Victoria. I know you’re in here somewhere.

(MR. HAWKING emerges from the canopy on the balcony door and land catlike on the floor.)

MRS. FROST: Hmm. The canopy, very cunning. I would have guessed you’d be clinging to the transom.

MRS. HAWKING: It’s been a long time, Elizabeth.

MRS. FROST: Yes, it has. But some things never change.

MRS. HAWKING: I had wondered what become of you after that Frost man took you away. I never suspected this.

MRS. FROST: You make your own way in the world, and I make mine.

MRS. HAWKING: On the backs of helpless women?

MRS. FROST: You never did grasp how the world works, Victoria.

MRS. HAWKING: Oh, I grasp it. I just refuse to be complicit in it.

MRS. FROST: Complicit? No, not you, never you. You’ve never gone along with anything in your life when you could wage all-out war on it instead.

MRS. HAWKING: A world and a system I have spent my life defending helpless women against, you manipulate and exploit to your own advantage.

MRS. FROST: Oh, spare me your righteous wrath, darling.

MRS. HAWKING: You are as bad as any of them!

MRS. FROST: And you are hero, is that it? You are a beast in a menagerie pounding against the bars of your cage! For all your work and all your heroics, what have you done? So you pulled a few petty bacons from the fire. Nothing has changed, the world still traps us and uses us and batters us down! Do you honestly believe you can put an end to all that on your own?

Comments

[crearespero.livejournal.com]

ooh, I like!

[staystrong62805.livejournal.com]

I really like seeing Mrs. Hawking up against someone who can meet her on even footing. Seeing her actually sort of lose her cool and lose that sort of detached mentor-ish tone she always has with Mary (and, to a slightly lesser extent, the nephew), is refreshing. I like that Frost gets her worked up, gets inside her guard and gets to her in a way we really never have seen anything else do.

I especially like that Frost sort of clucks her tongue and shakes her head and looks down on Hawking, who is always so aloof and above it all. There's condescension and even, or at least how it reads to me (and how I would read it), a touch of pity. And not because of how she was forced into a life she rejected. Not for what was done to her. But rather for what and who she is.

I like Frost. I think she's awesome and I'd love to see more of her.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

The fact that you could get all that from a piece this short makes me SO HAPPY. That's exactly what I was going for! I'm so glad you like Mrs. Frost. :-) Thanks!