Dec 21, 2009

The Verge | Susan Glaspell’s The Verge: A Socratic Quest to Reinvent Form and Escape Plato’s Cave

In the following essay excerpt, Galbus examines elements of The Verge within the context of Socratic and Platonic influences.

Susan Glaspell’s play The Verge (1921) depicts the story of Claire Archer, who attempts to breed a unique plant while her husband, sister, daughter and friends worry that her obsessive quest is driving her mad and vainly attempt to divert her attention. Glaspell refers to Plato in the first stage direction, asserting that a winter storm outside Claire’s greenhouse would reveal the inherent Platonic forms of nature on the frost patterns of the glass. From that moment forward, ‘‘form’’ becomes the pivotal term of the drama. Claire tends her horticultural experiments and...