The Maids by SparkNotes

Author:SparkNotes [SparkNotes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part Three: From Monsieur's telephone call until the doorbell rings

Summary

Claire picks up the telephone; Solange tries to listen in, but is pushed away. Claire learns from Monsieur that he has been freed from prison—the judge let him out on bail—and she promises to tell Madame. Trembling, she is unable to hang up the phone. Solange insincerely congratulates Claire on the fine job she did with the letters, and suggests they may event recognize her handwriting. Claire says Solange should have finished off Madame when she had the chance, and points out that their game, which leaves traces each time the Madame catches, endangers them. She accuses Solange of being weak, getting flustered even at the thought of Mario, but Solange defends herself—she couldn't murder her because she was so close to Madame in her sleep. Claire says she could have done it, and will.

After Solange tries to calm her, Claire maintains she is fed up, and Solange tries to assuage both their anxieties. She recognizes that she disgusts Claire, since Claire disgusts her, and concludes, "When slaves love one another, it's not love." Claire agrees, and pronounces herself ready. She will have her "crown" tonight. She says it is her turn to dominate Solange, and gives her a number of household orders. She synopsizes a few stories they have read, all about women who poisoned other people, and says that Solange will help her escape—they will be the "eternal couple of the criminal and the saint." She falls on to Madame's bed, and tells Solange to turn out the light. Solange removes Claire's shoes, kisses her feet, and caresses her. Claire says she is ashamed, but Solange hushes her and says she will put her to sleep. Claire compliments Solange's hair in sleepy murmurs, but before she drifts off, she gets up, declaring "No weakness!" She says they must eat, to be strong, and mentions the Phenobarbital, a sedative. Gaining energy, she encourages Solange to sing and laugh, then tells her to shut the window, at which points she says murder is "unspeakable." Solange fantasizes about how they will kill Madame. The doorbell rings.

Analysis

In his introduction to the play, French Existentialist philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre argues that both maids are "Others," figures who are defined by their opposition to the status quo. Otherness is a term now frequently used in post-colonial theory and Queer theory, for instance. Part of this otherness, he claims, is that each sister plays the role of the other sister, that each is so defined by her sister that she assumes her identity as well. The logic of this identity-absorption does not mean that the maids become the same person, but that each follows the other in a circular "whirligig," to use Sartre's word. Just as Claire is disgusted by Solange's mixing her hairpins with hers—mixing their "muck" together—Genet mixes the sisters' personalities, making it unclear where the boundaries Solange spoke of before stand. They flip-flop their attitudes constantly: before, Solange despised filth and especially filth spread between them, but now Claire does.

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