Fragmentation and Expressionism Theme Analysis

Machinal is an example of Expressionist theater, a style of performance that aligns itself with the modernist artistic concept of Expressionism, which sought to represent not tangible, external reality, but rather the inner and subjective world of emotions and personal experience. In keeping with this, Treadwell imbues her scenes with disorder and chaos, qualities often invoked by the use of everyday sounds, needless repetitions of speech, and exaggerated linguistic clichés. In fact, she takes these elements to extreme heights by giving Helen long and nearly dissociative monologues in which the she almost nonsensically regurgitates common turns of phrase, repeating them time and again in a way that lends pathos to her words. By using fragmentation and the emotional distortions of Expressionism, then, Treadwell is able to use language to vividly represent Helen’s attempts to liberate herself from the oppressive structures surrounding her.

Helen’s tendency to repeat ideas and phrases she has heard throughout daily life indicates just how much of the surrounding discourse she absorbs and subsequently struggles with internally. This private battle against what other people tell her is apparent in her very first monologue, when she thinks aloud to herself in the office, speaking fervently amidst the “subdued accompaniment of the office sounds and voices.” In this monologue, Helen voices complaints, saying, “don’t touch me” and “no—I can’t” when George makes advances in her imagination (or perhaps in her memory). As in real life, however, these small protests get lost amidst the babble of other peoples’ words; thus, even in her own head, Helen can’t escape George H. Jones and his commanding name, his commanding title. She even evokes the company’s name, inserting “George H. Jones and Company” into her thoughts about marriage. This aligns with her mother’s eventual assertion that Mr. Jones must be a “decent man” because he’s the Vice-President of a successful company. Indeed, it’s clear that Helen has internalized the fragmentary bits of advice and opinion forced upon her by everyone she encounters. Treadwell projects these internalizations outward, creating a cascade of disconnected speech that reveals to the audience just how many thoughts Helen is dealing with—a stark contrast to George’s calm, one-track mind.

While Helen’s thought patterns anxiously reflect the chaos of the world around her, George seems to only ever think about business and about how he wants his wife to behave around him. It is perhaps because of this discrepancy that their conversations are themselves so fragmented. On the night Helen kills George, they pass the time in a sitting room, both lounging and reading newspapers. As they sit, they read out various lines from the news that strike their interest, creating a mosaic of the outside world that highlights the differences between them. George reads aloud the phrases, “Record production,” “Sale hits a million,” “Market trend steady,” and “Owns a life interest.” Helen, on the other hand, quotes, “Girl turns on gas,” “Woman leaves all for love,” and “Young wife disappears.” In this way Treadwell emphasizes the couple’s conflicting interests. Moreover, she highlights how fragmented conversation—nonlinear dialogue that doesn’t connect one idea to the next—allows Helen to hide her worries in plain sight. Busy vocalizing the financial stories that draw his interest, George doesn’t pick up on the fact that his wife is clearly preoccupied by morbid stories of death, loneliness, and forbidden love.

Even when George stops reading the newspaper and listens to his wife, he doesn’t understand the implications of what she says. To him, her fragmentary way of speaking denotes nothing more than unsubstantiated anxiety. His misogyny comes into play here, as he discounts her strange and random declarations—which hint heavily at her macabre intentions—as silly and childish. When she reads aloud a piece of news about “jewels and precious stones,” she worriedly puts her hand to her throat. “I feel as though I were drowning ... with stones around my neck,” she says. In response, he merely says, “You just imagine that,” to which she says only one word: “Stifling.” Thinking he can easily solve this strange line of thought—which is far more complicated than he cares to believe—he says, “You don’t breathe deep enough—breathe now—look at me.” The problem with his dismissive attitude is that it allows him to ignore the true import of what Helen is saying—namely, that she is “stifl[ed]” by the lavish life she leads with him at her side. After all, the mere idea of pearls leads her to think about death. Because she vocalizes these feelings without fully explaining how they connect to her broader thoughts and emotions, though, George patronizingly ignores her, brushing all concerns away by telling her that the source of her discontent comes solely from her imagination. Using fragmentation, then, Helen voices her tormented thoughts while simultaneously obscuring them from her husband.

Fragmentation is also used in Machinal in a purely auditory sense to achieve moments of heightened emotion and pathos. This occurs most prevalently right before Helen kills George. After having read in the newspaper about “jewels and precious stones” and having a disconnected conversation with George about stones in general, Helen suddenly hears the voice of the man with whom she’s been having an affair (“I filled an empty bottle with small stones,” his voice says). Echoing this line, a chorus of voices chants, “Stones—stones—precious stones—millstones—stones—stones—millstones.” In this way, Treadwell connects Helen’s previous meditation on “jewels” with the lurking idea of murder, reminding the audience of the weapon Helen’s lover used against the Mexican bandits. As such, Helen’s fragmentary thought process brings her to a point of action, and the audience tracks her developing emotions in a nonlinear way that mirrors her desperation. In turn, Treadwell’s expressionist technique of creating a fractal narrative about Helen’s internal world allows audience members to better relate to her plight as an oppressed woman. That is, through the use of fragmentary voices and narration, Treadwell invites the audience to actually experience Helen’s emotions. Ultimately, this makes Helen a sympathetic character rather than a cold-blooded psychotic killer—a dynamic that’s important to the play’s feminist and anti-establishment values, since for Treadwell to entirely condemn Helen would be equivalent to condemning her struggle against oppression.