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294:. In her article titled "Domestic Conspiracy: Class Conflict and Performance in Louisa May Alcott's 'Behind a Mask,'" Elizabeth Schewe discusses the significance of the main character being a governess, a character who embodies class conflict in nineteenth-century literature. She points out that the governess (a lower-class individual) is teaching Bella, the young lady of the house (an upper-class individual.) In itself, this is a subversion of the social hierarchy.
301:. Sara Hackenberg suggests that Jean Muir actually adopts the authorship of her own life by assuming many roles: the governess, the teacher, the mesmerizer, the master plotter, and, finally, the surrogate fiction author. Using fiction (or deception) to manipulate "characters" (the Coventry family), Jean creates her own story in which she is both the antagonist and the protagonist.
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Acting the part of a harmless governess, Jean slowly but surely weasels her way into the hearts of the
Coventry family. Eventually, all the male characters fall in love with her: first Ned, the youngest, followed by the skeptic Gerald, and gradually the unassuming uncle, John. She uses the love they
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Set in the
Coventry Mansion during the Victorian era, the wealthy family hires a young woman named Jean Muir to be the governess of sixteen-year-old Bella. When she first meets the Coventry family, Jean succeeds in charming Bella, Ned and Mrs. Coventry by having a fainting spell. However, Gerald and
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One of the dominant themes in the novella is the positive treatment of actresses, acting, and theatre, much more positive than contemporary works. Doyle describes such positive treatments of acting as "highlighting Alcott's longtime interest in the theatre. She acted in community groups wrote plays
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actually combines the characters, making Jean Muir both the "Beauty" and the "Beast". According to
Butterworth-McDermott, the story is a criticism on the common literary trope of a woman spending her life healing a “Beast.” According to her argument, Alcott defies this literary trope by creating a
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between Jean Muir and Alcott. According to her reading, Alcott wrote this story to subvert the fantasy of the perfect, "little woman". Cheri Louise Ross provides another feminist reading in her scholarly article in which she points out that Alcott created dangerous, independent, and intelligent
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Lucia, son of the estate and cousin to the
Coventry family, remain suspicious. They are skeptical with good reason, for when Jean retires to her own bedroom, she removes her costume (a wig and some fake teeth) to reveal that she is actually an actress of at least thirty years of age.
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republished the story under Alcott's name with a collection of her other pieces. The republication of the work engendered new interest among literary critics; according to
Christine Doyle Francis, it "stimulated the reconsideration of career" in the period since.
330:, a well-known scholar on the works of Louisa May Alcott, argues that Alcott's motivation for writing the book was because she was stifled by the constraints society set on women during the nineteenth century. Fetterley sees a direct, perhaps even
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In Feb. 1983 a dramatic adaptation of Behind a Mask by Karen L. Lewis, directed by Amie
Brockway, premiered Off-Broadway at Theater of the Open Eye in NYC. NY Magazine 2/14/1983. In 2000, the story was adapted as a musical, titled
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Many literary critics have taken interest in the novella because its material was controversial for its time. One such literary critic is
Christine Butterworth-McDermott, who sees this story as a transfiguring of the classic
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in 1975, the novel has become important in critical reinterpretation of Alcott's corpus of works and literary importance. Many literary critics treat the novel; for example, one critic treated the novel as a version of the
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Jean Muir: an actress at least thirty years of age who disguises herself as a young, demure governess. Doyle describes the activeness and determination of Jean as following similar character
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bestow upon her to turn them against each other and eventually to secure the
Coventry estate for herself. By the end of the story, Jean Muir has married John to become Lady Coventry.
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189:. In this light, Jean Muir becomes a subversion of the classic governess character in protest to the British class system and in praise of America as a "land of opportunity".
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of the narrative. Alcott's treatment of themes like acting, social class, and the struggle for agency all inform these larger discussions by critics.
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for such groups and attended many performances in Boston". Doyle describes this treatment similar to the treatment of acting in the short stories "
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of the wealthy
Coventry family. With expert manipulation, Jean Muir obtains the love, respect, and eventually the fortune of the Coventry family.
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Hackenberg, Sara (2008). "Plots and
Counterplots: The Defense of Sensational Fiction in Louisa May Alcott's "Behind a Mask"".
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character that is both beauty and beastly: Jean plays the role of a "Beauty" in order to hide her true nature as a "Beast".
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Gaul, Theresa Strouth (2003). "Trance-Formations: Mesmerism and "A Woman's Power" in Louisa May Alcott's Behind a Mask".
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Schewe, Elizabeth (2008). "Domestic Conspiracy: Class Conflict and Performance in Louisa May Alcott's "Behind a Mask"".
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Ross, Cheri-Louise (2005). "Louisa May Alcott's (Con)Temporary Periodical Fiction: The Thrillers Live On".
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Fetterley, Judith (1983). "Impersonating "Little Women": The Radicalism of Alcott's "Behind a Mask"".
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This story belongs with many other thrillers and mysteries that Alcott published under the
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with book, music and lyrics by Polly Pen. It premiered at Princeton's McCarter Theatre.
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Eiselein, Gregory; Phillips, Anne K. (2001). "Behind A Mask or, A Woman's Power".
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Francis, Christine Doyle (2000). "Behind a Mask". In Abby H.P. Werlock (ed.).
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Gerald Coventry: the idle, condescending oldest son of the Coventry family
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female characters to subvert the patriarchal society in which they live.
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Edward Coventry (Ned): the younger, more naive son of the Coventry family
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John Coventry: the elderly uncle of Gerald, Edward, and Bella
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The attainment of agency also claims thematic precedence in
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https://archive.org/details/oxfordencycloped0000unse_o5w8
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The Facts on File companion to the American short story
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Britain, the story follows Jean Muir, the deceitful
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1219:Works published under a pseudonym
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16:1866 novella by Louisa May Alcott
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566:(1): 25–48. Archived from
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917:Eight Cousins, or The Aunt-Hill
640:"Review: 'The Night Governess'"
261:V.V.: or Plots and Counterplots
949:Jack and Jill: A Village Story
701:Dawson, Melanie (March 1997).
436:. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
413:. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc
322:The novel frequently receives
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597:10.1080/00497878.1983.9978576
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145:was originally published in
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19:For the album by Louna, see
1204:Novels by Louisa May Alcott
1112:Abigail May Alcott Nieriker
909:Work: A Story of Experience
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270:Work: A Story of Experience
228:Work: A Story of Experience
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613:Journal of Popular Culture
39:(writing as A. M. Barnard)
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314:" story. She argues that
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151:in 1866. Later, in 1975,
1031:Transcendental Wild Oats
225:and Christie Devon from
1106:Elizabeth Sewall Alcott
933:A Modern Mephistopheles
877:A Long Fatal Love Chase
713:(1): 19. Archived from
491:Unger, Leonard (1979).
411:Encyclopædia Britannica
183:and William Thackery's
130:, while others provide
1067:Hillside (The Wayside)
283:is the scene with the
1209:Novels set in England
893:An Old-Fashioned Girl
206:Character - Character
148:The Flag of Our Union
103:The Flag of Our Union
21:Behind a Mask (album)
1214:1866 American novels
1072:Thoreau–Alcott House
753:Stojanovic, Nevena.
719:on 12 November 2014.
667:Encyclopedic entries
620:(5): 911–923.
572:on 12 November 2014.
312:Beauty and the Beast
124:Beauty and the Beast
1162:Henry David Thoreau
1157:Nathaniel Hawthorne
1147:Ralph Waldo Emerson
1100:Anna Bronson Alcott
1088:Amos Bronson Alcott
543:(2): 435–451.
524:(4): 577–592.
407:"Louisa May Alcott"
346:The Night Governess
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305:Critical reception
153:Madeleine B. Stern
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