Previous
Act 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Homecoming, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Resentment
Meaning, Control, and Agency
Power
Sex and Gender Roles
Summary
Analysis
It’s afternoon. Max, Teddy, Lenny, and Sam are sitting in the main room smoking cigars. Joey walks in with a coffee tray. Ruth follows Joey into the room and then passes around coffee to all the men. She turns to Max and compliments him on the lunch he prepared. Max is pleased and compliments Ruth on the coffee. He adds that she must be quite the cook herself. She says she’s “not bad,” and Teddy confirms it.
The cigars the men smoke symbolize their shared sense of (conventional) masculinity. Max and Ruth’s exchange of compliments may stand out to readers as shockingly kind and normal, compared to how the characters have interacted with one another up to this point. Max’s polite demeanor here may have to do with Ruth’s compliment of his cooking—it makes him feel good about himself (and thus less resentful toward everyone else) to feel that he is still useful and appreciated despite his age.
Themes
After a pause, Max remarks on how long it’s been since the whole family has been together like this. He’s only sorry that Teddy and Ruth’s children and his late wife Jessie couldn’t be here: Jessie would have been so happy to tend to her grandchildren. Max sings Jessie’s praises, promising Ruth that Jessie taught his boys everything they know. She held down the fort while Max was away at the butcher’s shop all day, working to support the family. Reminiscing about his time as a butcher, he recalls an opportunity he once had to go into business with a group of world-class butchers. It would have made the family rich. Ruth asks what happened to the men. “They turned out to be a bunch of criminals like everyone else,” Max replies, agitated. He stubs out his cigar, which he’s decided is “lousy.”
Max’s good mood persists. Feeling respected and validated in this moment rather than resentful, he sings his family’s praises instead of insulting or assaulting them, as he has done for practically the entire play thus far. Notably, his praise relies heavily on stereotypically imagery of domestic life, with Jessie playing the role of the ideal mother who takes charge of domestic responsibilities inside the home while Max plays the role of the ideal father who works hard outside the home to provide for his family. But Max’s good mood immediately darkens when Ruth’s innocent question about the business deal forces Max to admit failure, humiliating him. Just like that, he becomes agitated and resentful once more. When Max stubs out his cigar, deeming it “lousy,” it symbolizes his sense of his diminished masculine power.
Themes
Max turns to Sam and asks when he’s leaving for work—Sam has a job this afternoon, and he’ll be late if he doesn’t leave soon. Furious now, Max accuses Sam of trying to humiliate him. Then he goes off on an angry rant about how he’s had to work all his life to support his family. Max complains that his brothers were “all invalids” and his mother was ill, so it fell to Max to make ends meet. “A crippled family, three bastard sons, a slutbitch of a wife,” he rages. Sam tries to defend himself, insisting that his customers give him rave reviews. Max is doubtful—and even if it’s true, anyone could do Sam’s work. Sam tells Max that “MacGregor was a driver,” a remark that propels Max to point his cane at Sam. They argue some more, and then Sam leaves, shaking Ruth’s hand on his way out.
Predictably, Max continues to project his feelings of resentment and humiliation onto his family, berating Sam for supposedly trying to humiliate Max by showing up late to work, and repeating all his usual grievances about all his hard work and dedication to his family going unappreciated. It’s not clear what Sam means when he cryptically remarks that “MacGregor was a driver,” but the fact that it elicits such an immediate, violent reaction from Max suggests that there’s more to the story than the audience yet knows.
Themes
Max directs his attention toward Teddy now, insisting how great it is to have him home. He only wishes Teddy had told him he was getting married—he would have sent him a gift. Teddy says it’s not a big deal, but Max continues to sing Teddy’s praises. “How many other houses in the district have got a Doctor of Philosophy sitting down drinking a cup of coffee?” asks Max proudly. No one responds. Max shifts his focus to Ruth, declaring her “a charming woman.” After a pause, Ruth says she was “different” when she first met Teddy. Max says that’s not a big deal and that everyone should just “live in the present.”
Max’s mood swings inexplicably back to happy and agreeable as he praises Teddy and reminds him how great it is to have him back. Max’s extreme, sudden mood swings reinforce how in this household, chaos and uncertainty are the default state. It was just this morning that Max admonished Teddy for bringing a “tart” into the house, and yet now he switches course to praise Teddy for his academic prowess and Ruth for her “charming” character. Ruth’s cryptic remark about being “different” now from how she was when she met Teddie perhaps suggests that she is unhappy or unfulfilled in the marriage, though it’s not clear exactly what she means.
Themes
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Teddy declares how happy he and Ruth are. He has a great job teaching at a university, Ruth is well-liked among his colleagues, and his family has everything they want. After a pause, he adds, “We have three boys, you know.” Max is delighted, and he happily suggests that Joey can teach his three nephews boxing. Joey turns to Ruth, clarifying that he trains at boxing at night but works in demolition during the day. Max turns to Lenny and points out how “easily” Joey speaks to his sister-in-law. Max attributes this to Ruth’s character, declaring her “an intelligent and sympathetic woman.” He asks if the children miss their mother, and Teddy says of course they do—they love her.
Teddy either hasn’t noticed Ruth’s discontent or else has chosen to ignore it for the sake of keeping up appearances, and so he effusively describes how happy he and Ruth are together and in life in general. His pause and subsequent admission that he and Ruth have three boys seems calculated and intentional—he has correctly gauged that Max, the family patriarch, will be immensely pleased to know that his eldest son has fathered three male offspring to continue the family legacy and that this will give him an upper hand relative to his younger brothers. Max’s delight shows that Teddy’s calculated power play is indeed a success, and his suggestion that Joey teach the boys to box grounds Max’s joy in his sexist preference for male grandchildren.
Themes
Lenny turns to Teddy and points out that Teddy’s cigar has gone out. He offers Teddy a light, but Teddy declines it. After a pause, Lenny asks Teddy what subject he teaches. When Teddy answers “Philosophy,” Lenny asks if it would be alright if he asked Teddy some questions. Lenny hardly waits for Teddy to respond before he lays out a hypothetical scenario about selling a pub table, ostensibly to pose deeper questions about meaning, interpretation, and certainty.
Max has implicitly validated Teddy and Joey’s manhood with his praise of Teddy for having fathered male offspring and with his recognition of Joey’s athleticism. When Lenny points out that Teddy’s cigar—a (suggestive) symbol of Teddy’s masculinity—has gone out, he is attempting to emasculate Teddy and bring him down to his level. Similarly, Lenny’s sudden interest in Teddy’s academic pursuits may be read as an attempt to diminish Teddy’s accomplishments—he’s perhaps implying that what Teddy does can’t be so impressive or remarkable if an average Joe like Lenny can engage in them with no formal training.
Themes
Ruth interjects, derailing the discussion with her own hypothetical, which suggestively draws attention to her body. “I move my leg,” she says, gesturing to her leg. “That’s all it is. But I wear…underwear…which moves with me…it…captures your attention. Perhaps you misinterpret.” No one responds. Teddy stands, then Max does, too. Max tells Joey it’s time to leave for the gym. Lenny says he’ll go too. Joey remains seated as he stares at Ruth, then he stands too. Joey, Lenny, and Max leave.
Ruth’s leggy stunt is absurd and baffling (which is to say: characteristic of Pinter’s work). She poses her hypothetical to make a valid point about meaning and interpretation—a seemingly innocent action like moving one’s leg can provoke unintended interpretations when one observes the action through the lens of social norms, cultural contexts, and so on. Ruth is just moving her leg, but if the men focus on her leg and can think only of her undergarments moving with it, they might think she’s trying to seduce them. Perhaps, given her bizarre interaction with Lenny in the previous scene, that is exactly what she aims to do.
Themes
Teddy sits down next to Ruth and takes her hand. He suggests they go home now, after all. “Why?” Ruth asks. “Don’t you like your family?” Teddy claims he does. Still, he tries to persuade Ruth that they should cut their trip short, insisting that the boys must surely miss her. “It’s so clean there,” he adds. Ruth asks if it’s “dirty here,” and Teddy assures her it isn’t—it’s just not as clean as it is back home. Ruth is silent. Teddy tells her to rest while he packs. He’s decided it’s time they head home.
Teddy’s sudden change of heart seems like a reaction to the bizarre sexual tension that has reached new heights with her leg hypothetical. Critically, though, he doesn’t communicate this outright—instead of admitting that his family or Ruth (or perhaps all of them) have made him feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in his childhood home, he instead suggests vaguely that their children must miss them and that it’s too “dirty” to stay here much longer, the latter being an implicit nod to the heightened sexual tension.
Themes
Teddy heads upstairs to pack. Ruth has only just closed her eyes when Lenny reappears and takes a seat next to Ruth. She opens her eyes. Lenny makes idle small talk about the approaching winter, noting how it’ll soon be time to get new clothes. Ruth agrees. She asks Lenny if he likes her shoes, and he says he does. Ruth complains about not being able to find the clothes she likes in the U.S. After a pause, she adds that she used to be a model back before she married Teddy—“A photographic model for the body.” Lenny asks, “Indoor work,” and Ruth replies “No, not always indoors.” After a pause, Ruth recalls how she and the other models would take the train to a country house. There was a cold buffet there. They’d walk down to a nearby lake and do their modelling there.
Lenny’s talk of clothes might be a subtle callback to Ruth’s leg hypothetical, in which she described her image of her underwear moving under her clothing as she moves her leg. When Lenny mentions clothes, then, it’s a subtle attempt to seduce Ruth (which, by extension, is a subtle power play against Teddy, as Ruth’s husband). Ruth’s suggestive mention of having once been a model is her coded, affirmative response to Lenny’s attempt at seduction. She’s showing him that she’s game.
Themes
Teddy reappears just then, his and Ruth’s suitcases in hand. He hands Ruth her coat as Lenny walks to the radiogram and puts on a jazz record. He asks Ruth for a dance before she goes. Teddy insists it’s time to go, but Ruth accepts Lenny’s hand when he offers it, and the two of them start to dance slowly, their bodies close. Max and Joey enter the room just as Lenny leans in close and kisses Ruth. “Christ, she’s wide open,” Joey cries. “Old Lenny’s got a tart in here.” Joey approaches Lenny and Ruth. Smiling at Lenny, Joey takes Ruth’s arm and leads her to the couch, where the two of them begin to kiss. Ruth lies down beneath Joey as he caresses her hair.
In his most extreme powerplay against Teddy yet, Lenny thwarts Teddy’s plans to leave, blatantly pulling Ruth into a sultry dance—and then openly kissing her—in order to shift the power back into his own hands. Teddy, absurdly, passively stands by and lets it happen. With Joey’s cry that “Old Lenny’s got a tart in here,” the plot comes full-circle with a self-fulfilling prophecy that reveals Max’s earlier characterization of Ruth to have been true all along.
Themes
Max sees the suitcases and asks Teddy if he’s leaving already. When Teddy doesn’t respond, Max reminds him to reach out in advance next time—“I’ll always be glad to meet the wife,” he promises Teddy. Teddy says nothing. Meanwhile, Joey remains on top of Ruth on the couch. Lenny approaches and starts to caress her hair. Max tells Teddy he knows now why Teddy didn’t mention anything about being married—he was “ashamed” to have “married a woman beneath [him].” Max looks at Ruth on the couch and again declares what a “lovely girl” and “beautiful woman” she is—and a mother of three sons, too. Max reaffirms how “proud” Teddy has made him.
Ironically, it’s when Ruth openly engages in intimate behavior with her husband’s own brothers that Max refrains from overtly spewing misogynistic insults at her, whereas he called her a “tart” in Act 1 when she’d done nothing wrong. His insistence that he’ll “always be happy to meet the wife” seems to suggest his assumption that Teddy will leave Ruth, “a woman beneath [him],” in response to this blatant act of betrayal with Lenny. Max’s behavior in this passage is bizarre—why all this sudden praise for Teddy, and why under such tense and unusual circumstances? One interpretation is that Max is being so kind now as a paradoxical attempt to make Teddy feel even more miserable about his wife and family’s betrayal of him.
Themes
Joey rolls Ruth off the couch and onto the floor, where they continue to make out. Lenny approaches. Standing over Ruth and Joey, he gingerly nudges Ruth with his foot—and then Ruth abruptly pushes Joey away. Addressing Lenny now, she tells him she’d like something to eat and drink. Lenny leaves and returns with a glass of whiskey. Ruth demands that he transfer the whiskey to a tumbler. Lenny obliges. When Joey gets up, Ruth demands that he turn the record off. Joey does so. He asks what Ruth would like to eat, but Ruth ignores him. Instead, she turns to Teddy and asks if his family has read his “critical works.” Max says no. Teddy goes off on a long, frustrated tangent about how his family “wouldn’t understand” his works or his serious intellectual pursuits as the scene fades to black.
The family’s behavior rises to laughably inappropriate extremes as Joey rolls Ruth onto the floor—the audience could plausibly fear that the couple will soon start engaging in full-on sex. Perhaps more bizarre is Teddy’s passivity toward the whole thing. He doesn’t try to stop it and even refrains from expressing outrage. When Ruth pulls away from the brothers after Lenny nudges her—and then commands him to fix her a drink—it signals to everyone in the room that she is running the show here, not them. She continues to assert her dominance by implicitly pushing Teddy to stick up for himself, bringing up the subject of his critical works to goad Teddy into insulting his brothers’ and father’s intelligence.
Themes
It’s nighttime now, and Sam has returned. He asks Teddy if he remembers MacGregor. Teddy says yes, adding that he quite liked MacGregor. Sam says that Teddy was always his favorite of all the sons. He remembers being so happy when Teddy wrote him from America. After a pause, he quietly adds that Teddy was Jessie’s favorite, too. Sam insists that Teddy stay a few more weeks. But before Teddy can answer, Lenny reenters the room, bringing the conversation to a halt. “Still here, Ted?” Lenny asks. “You’ll be late for your first seminar.”
The context in which Sam mentions MacGregor (and then Jessie) to Teddy (after Teddy’s brothers have just blatantly engaged in sexual activity with Teddy’s wife right in front of him) may be another hint about MacGregor’s potential affair with Jessie. Lenny’s remark that Teddy will “be late for [his] first seminar” comes off as mockery, given what Teddy has just experienced. It’s yet another powerplay intended to put Teddy—the wealthy, successful family man and intellectual—in his place.
Themes
Lenny walks to the sideboard, searching for the cheese-roll he prepared earlier. Teddy confirms that he ate it. When Lenny accuses him of being careless, Teddy corrects him: he intentionally ate the cheese-roll knowing it would upset Lenny. Lenny, irate, can’t understand why Teddy would be so “vindictive against [his] own brother.” He goes off on a long tangent about how “sulky” and “inner” and pretentious Teddy has become over the last several years.
Teddy’s purposeful eating of Lenny’s cheese-roll is Teddy’s own act of retaliation against Lenny. The extreme asymmetry between what Lenny did to wrong Teddy and Teddy’s act of retribution is played for comedy: intentionally eating your brother’s snack is hardly on par with seducing your brother’s wife. Lenny’s exaggerated outrage adds to the scene’s absurdly comedic tone.
Themes
Joey enters the room, newspaper in hand. Lenny asks him how he “got on.” After some prodding from Lenny, Joey admits that he “didn’t get all the way,” even though he and Ruth were going at it for two hours. Lenny declares Ruth a “tease,” though Joey insists he doesn’t agree with this assessment. He negs Teddy, who suggests, “Perhaps [Joey] hasn’t got the right touch.” Lenny thinks this is impossible, as Joey is very popular with the ladies. He urges Joey to tell Teddy about the “last bird” he had.
As the play’s narrative tension heightens, so too does its level of absurdity. Not only has Ruth made out with Lenny and rolled around on the floor with Joey, but now she’s gone to bed with Joey (though apparently they don’t go so far as having sex, or if they do, Joey isn’t able to “get all the way” to completion). Teddy’s suggestion that Joey wasn’t able to go all the way with Ruth because he “hasn’t got the right touch” is another powerplay on Teddy’s part—he’s trying to insult Joey’s masculinity and sexual prowess—but yet again, his attempt at retaliation is shockingly, comedically understated, given that Joey has just tried to have sex with Teddy’s wife.
Themes
Joey awkwardly starts to describe being out with Lenny up near the Scrubs and stumbling upon two “girls” and “their escorts.” Lenny eagerly describes how they got the escorts to leave, then they brought the girls to a secluded spot. “Well…you know…then we had them,” Joey concludes, awkwardly. Lenny interjects, insisting that Joey left out “the best bit.” Then Lenny backs up, excitedly explaining that Joey’s girl insisted he use protection, but Joey said no—then made her have sex with him anyway. Laughing, Lenny insists this is proof that it’s Ruth’s fault that Joey didn’t go all the way. Joey meekly adds, “Sometimes…you can be happy…and not go the whole hog.” Lenny just stares at him.
Joey’s fumbling as he tells this horrific story at Lenny’s prompting suggests that he’s not quite as lecherous or misogynistic as Lenny is—though, of course, he is implicitly admitting that he forced a woman to have sex with him against her wishes. This horrific display of misogyny strikes an absurd and ironic when one considers that Teddy assured Ruth in Act 1 that his brothers and father aren’t “ogres.” Joey’s feeble insistence that “you can be happy…and not go the whole hog”—meaning a person (in this context, a man) can enjoy sexual activity even if it’s not full-on sexual intercourse—is met with a bald stare from Lenny because it deviates from the toxic, hypermasculine script Lenny (and Max) has been been following. Lenny’s silence suggests that he doesn’t know what to do or think if he doesn’t have a prescribed script or social norm to instruct him in how to be.
Themes
Max and Sam enter the room, and Max demands to know where “the whore” is. Lenny tells him all about what a “tease” Ruth was with Joey. Max is outraged at how Ruth has treated his youngest son. He asks if Ruth does this to Teddy, too. Teddy says no. “He gets the gravy,” Lenny adds. Joey, suddenly irate, insists this isn’t true. “I’ll kill the next man who says he gets the gravy,” he adds.
Max’s misplaced outrage—under normal circumstances, he should be appalled at the entire situation with Lenny, Joey, and Ruth, not just with Ruth for being a “tease” with Joey—reinforces his character’s general misogyny and adds to the play’s absurd tone overall. Lenny and Joey’s squabble about “gravy” adds yet more absurdity, albeit with a touch more humor.
Themes
After a pause, Max wonders aloud whether it might actually be a good idea to have a woman in the house. He thinks they should ask Ruth if she wants to stay. Teddy insists that this won’t work—he and Ruth are married, and Ruth needs to come home to her kids. Max ignores Teddy, pacing around the room as he talks through his plan. Ruth can stay here, but they’ll have to give her an allowance—she’ll need her own pocket money if she’s to stay here. Lenny points out that keeping Ruth around will mean another mouth to feed, and none of them has all that much money.
Max’s speculation that it might be good to have a woman in the house again grounds the plot in convention. Throughout the play, Ruth’s role has alternated between mother and seductress, polar opposite expressions of femininity according to conventional gender norms. When Max suggests that Ruth stay here, he’s implicitly indicating his desire for a return to the sort of balance the house had when Jessie was alive—that is, when a woman was the metaphorical heart of the home. That Max’s ridiculous suggestion goes unchallenged (by everyone but Teddy, at least) adds to the play’s absurdity, but it also reinforces how deeply the other characters share Max’s embrace of the safety and consistency found in social norms and patterns.
Themes
Lenny has a better idea: he can take Ruth up to Greek Street and get her started in a flat he has. She won’t have to work too much—just four hours a night. Lenny is even willing to “share her” with Joey and Max, too. Teddy can help attract clientele, passing along Lenny’s business card to colleagues of his who plan to travel to Europe. And no one has to know that Ruth is his wife—when she’s working, she can go by a stage name, like Dolores. “Or Spanish Jacky,” offers Max. By this point, Lenny has gotten everyone on board with his plan. Even Teddy tentatively agrees to it.
Whereas Max’s idea placed Ruth as the maternal heart of the household—the archetypal “Madonna”—then Lenny’s suggestion that they send Ruth out to work at one of his flats (apartments) on Greek Street makes her into the archetypal “whore.” Thus far, what Lenny does for work has remained something of a mystery, but here he heavily hints (though still does not say outright) that he is a pimp. He’s suggesting that they set Ruth up as a sex worker to pay her dues—and also that he, Joey, Max, and Sam can “share her” as their own personal sex toy of sorts. Max’s ridiculous suggestion that they call Ruth “Spanish Jacky” adds to the absurd, comedic tone, as does Teddy’s inexplicable acceptance of the plan.
Themes
Ruth comes downstairs just then, smiling as she sits down. Teddy explains to her the offer his family has made her. Ruth agrees it’s very “nice” and “sweet” of them, though she worries it will be too much trouble. Max assures her it’s no trouble at all—it’s been ages since they’ve had a woman in the house. And Ruth is “kin”—she “belong[s] here.” Lenny adds that they’d get her a flat. Ruth agrees—on the condition that the flat has three rooms and a bathroom and that it’s nicely furnished. Lenny is initially taken aback by Ruth’s request, and he demands that Ruth pay them back for fixing up a flat for her. Ruth refuses, insisting that Lenny regard the costs of fixing up a flat “as a capital investment.” After a pause, Lenny agrees to Ruth’s conditions, including that they all sign a contract.
Ruth’s assessment of the plan as “nice” and “sweet” heightens the absurdity of the situation. Being coerced into sex work by one’s in-laws is hardly a welcome situation to find oneself in. Max’s insistence that Ruth is “kin” and therefore “belong[s] here” reads as genuine, however absurd and inappropriate that might seem given the context in which he says it (as explanation for his son essentially trafficking said kin). It is absurd for Max to say something so wholesome and conventional about family as a justification for trafficking Ruth for sex work, yet his overreliance on social norms leaves him with no other real way to think about the situation.
Themes
Sam steps forward just then and declares, “MacGregor had Jessie in the back of my cab as I drove them along”—then he gasps, collapsing onto the floor. Max asks if Sam is dead, and Lenny confirms it. Appalled, Max demands that someone remove the “corpse” from his floor. Joey leans over Sam and announces that he’s not actually dead. Lenny admits that Sam does seem to be breathing still. Max, outraged, declares that Sam has “[a] diseased imagination.”
At last, Sam confirms what he has been hinting at all along: MacGregor did have an affair with Jessie, and Sam knows about it because it happened in the back of his cab as he was driving them around. His immediate collapse suggests a great weight has been lifted from his shoulders—the guilt of keeping this great secret from his brother has been weighing on him, and now he can let it go. Sam’s guilt indicates his deep affection for his brother despite their highly dysfunctional relationship. If MacGregor did have sex with Jessie, it leaves open the question of whether one of Max’s sons is actually MacGregor’s. Lenny’s confirmation that Sam is dead when he is in fact alive might hint that Lenny is the so-called illegitimate son: perhaps he merely wishes Sam were dead because he intuits that Sam, in confessing this secret, has just revealed a truth about Lenny’s parentage Lenny has long suspected but now must accept.
Themes
Teddy stands awkwardly to the side. He planned to ask Sam for a ride to the airport, but he supposes he can just take the Underground. He bids his father and brothers goodbye. Max tells Teddy it’s been great to see him. Then he opens his wallet, removes a photo of himself, and hands it to Teddy to give to Teddy’s children. Teddy turns to leave. “Eddie,” Ruth says, addressing Teddy. Teddy turns around to face Ruth, who asks him not to “become a stranger.” Teddy says nothing. He turns and walks out the door.
Ruth’s addressing Teddy by the wrong name, “Eddie,” is ironic, given her request that he not “become a stranger.” It would seem as though Teddy has always been a stranger to her: she doesn’t even know his name. Ruth’s bizarre unfamiliarity with her husband, a person she ought to know well, continues the play’s pattern of destabilizing accepted social norms surrounding intimate and familial relationships.
Themes
Max, Joey, and Lenny stand around Ruth, who remains seated in a chair. Joey approaches Ruth and lays his head down in her lap. Max wonders aloud if Ruth thinks he’s too old to be with her. When Ruth says nothing in response, Max grows irritated and begins to rant and rave, stumbling over his words as he warns that Ruth will “use” them and will “do the dirty on [them].” He falls to his knees and begins to wail. “I’m not an old man,” he cries, looking up at Ruth. “Kiss me,” he says as Ruth lightly caresses Joey’s head and as Lenny looks on.
Ruth has alternated between playing the part of the mother and the seductress, leveraging both roles to her advantage to gain control of the various absurd situations she has found herself in with her in-laws. Now, seated in a chair and with her in-laws gathered around her, she resumes the role of mother of this house, taking over the role Jessie left empty with her death. Her position relative to the men—she is seated at the center and looks down on them—solidifies her as the winner of the play’s long, absurd battle for control over the household. Max’s pathetic whimpering, which goes unanswered, makes clear that the house’s aged patriarch has fallen from power, replaced by the matriarch Ruth. Alternatively weaponizing her maternal warmth and seductive charm, Ruth has dominated the men who have attempted to dominate and belittle her. Perhaps ironically, she defies them without wandering beyond the constraints of gender norms.
Themes
