A Matter of Husbands by Ferenc Molnar
About the Playwright
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Ferenc Molnar was born in 1878 and died in 1953.
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Regarded as Hungary’s most celebrated and controversial playwright
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Entertain by transforming his personal experiences into literary works of
art
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utilize the precepts of naturalism, Neo-Romanticism, Expressionism
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Immigrated to the US to escape the persecution of Hungarian Jews
• Malnar's plays are still performed all over the world
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A matter of husband makes the audience heedless and makes them believe in
an illusion.
Setting
Time is late noon; the location is in the drawing room of the Hungarian actress, which has a curtained door that leads to the actress' boudoir.
Characters
The three main characters are Earnest Young woman, a Famous Actress, and a Lawyer or the husband of Earnest young woman named Alfred who is a passive character.
Famous Actress: A young, renowned, and beautiful actress who is envied by ordinary women. On the outside, she looks innocent and harmless but in reality, she is mean and wicked, who is cunning and deceitful as well as very smart and manipulative. The way she concocted and told the story of how the woman's husband was trying to secure her love while he was in her boudoir at that moment reveals that she is two-faced. Using her acting skill and illusion she fooled the wife in such a conceivable way that she will not doubt again. This play beautifully portrays how good some of the actors are in their field of profession.
Earnest Young Woman: Portrays an ordinary woman who loves her husband unconditionally. She is a good-hearted and kind and emotional woman who is gullible and easily fooled by the skillful actress. The way she believed everything the famous actress said shows her love for her husband and also shows how an emotional person can be fooled.
Alfred: A lawyer who is cheating on her wife with an actress, all the time when a young woman and actress were arguing he was hiding in the actress’s boudoir.
Plot
The core cast of A Matter of Husband consists of three individuals: a devout young woman, a blonde lawyer who is married to a devout young woman, and a Hungarian actress named. A young, woman with good intentions understood Alfred's requests for flowers and a love letter for the actress. The young woman is convinced that her husband is having an extramarital affair, but the actress denies getting any letters or flowers or luring Alfred.
Rising action
The actress attempts to convince the young woman that this is actually all a charade played out by Alfred to recuperate their interest in each other by creating fake evidence of an affair. This initiates a feeling of jealousy to recover their good relationship which had been getting frostier. The actress with her skill convinces the young woman that a lawyer would never do such stupid things. Sara the actress mentions how playwrights, authors, composers, and other people use actresses like her to invent a fake love affair.
Climax
The earnest young woman is convinced by Sara's reasoning and now believes that Alfred had simply orchestrated this charade to make her jealous. She tells the actress about how stupid and foolish she feels and asks her not to mention their meeting to her husband. The actress advises the young woman to not fall for any other "evidence" she may find; handkerchiefs, pictures, letters, or other items. The young woman agrees, then departs.
Falling Action
When the earnest young woman finally departs, Sara the actress goes near the door of her boudoir and calls out to Alfred to come out now that his wife is gone. This all but confirms that Alfred had indeed been cheating on his wife. Sara had deceitfully created an incredible lie to not only throw the young woman off the trail of truth but also to warrant the security of Alfred's affair for the future.
Summary
The twisted act depicts the story of an earnest young woman who is married to a lawyer named Alfred. The earnest young woman comes to the famous actress asking her husband back. She believes that her husband is having an extra marital affair with the famous actress. The wife starts showing proof that her husband is cheating on her but the famous actress weaves a tale. She explains how it is a cleverly staged act where the man is attempting to trick his wife to get more affection from her. When the famous actress finally convinces the earnest young woman to create an illusion, we find out that the husband was hiding in the boudoir the whole time.
Critical Thinking
The play explains the condition of an ordinary uneducated woman of the 20th century who could be easily fooled which is about the mindset of a famous person in an ordinary person. The play discusses the reasons for divorce and betrayal that explain how minutely girls examine a person. The frequent crying of a young woman explains how emotionally weak women are. The play also says how brave can women be to keep things they are attached to.