Who is Sophie Treadwell?

Sophie Treadwell, author of the play Machinal, was also a journalist.  Before writing the play, she worked as a journalist in New York, where she focused on the feminist movement (including the fight for Women’s Suffrage and legalizing birth control.) The Women’s Suffrage movement was an inspiration for the writing of Machinal. Treadwell noted that her main character Helen Jones “could be anyone.” Her struggle was one many/any women face.

 

Library of Congress

 

What is the Suffrage Movement?

The Women’s Suffrage Movement (1848) was a 50-year battle to educate the public about the importance of giving women the right to vote and passing a Constitutional Amendment to enfranchise women. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and many more were the pioneers of this movement. These women wanted to pass a reform legislation, but no politician would listen to them. That led to the realization that in order to achieve reform, they need the right to vote. Two organizations were created in support of this movement, The National American Woman Suffrage Association and The National Woman’s Party. In 1920, the 19^th Amendment was passed, and women were granted the right to vote. “It was the single largest extension in democratic voting rights in our nation’s history, and it was achieved peacefully, through democratic processes.”

 

 

Machinal, directed by Jonathan Fox. Courtesy of Two River Theatre.

 

How is this related to Machinal?

Although Machinal is not about the Suffrage Movement, the inspiration of the Suffrage Movement is the same inspiration for Treadwell’s writing—the struggles and confinement the patriarchy forces upon women. The Suffrage Movement was a fight against those struggles and confinements. Treadwell, who covered the suffrage movement as a journalist, wrote Machinal as her way to fight and protest in solidarity with her fellow women.

The Suffrage Movement was all about giving Women the right to vote and make their own decisions. Treadwell used Machinal to show people how difficult it is for women to live in a society where everything is forced upon or decided for them. How suffocating it is, and the harm it causes. Machinal is Treadwell’s way of proving the importance of the Suffrage Movement—giving women a voice. It prevents people from ending up just like Helen Jones.

 

• “Sophie Treadwell.” The Norton Anthology of Drama, by J. Ellen Gainor et al., W.W. Norton & Company, 2018, pp. 573–578.
• “The Woman Suffrage Movement.” National Women’s History Museum, www.nwhm.org/resources/general/woman-suffrage-movement.