A Matter of Husband by Ferenc Molnar | Summary and Question Answer

Summary

‘A Matter of Husbands’ is a one act play written by the most widely regarded as Hungary’s most celebrated and controversial playwright, Ferenc Molnar. There are three main characters in this play. Earnest Young woman is the wife of Alfred, a lawyer by profession, Sara (the famous and most beautiful actress) and Alfred (a lawyer and husband of Earnest Young Woman). This play is a twisted play which depicts the story a normal woman, Earnest Young Woman whose husband is professionally attached to the theatre. Through the play, the playwright has presented a common issue of the society in which husband’s character is often questionable in the case of post marriage relationship.

The play shows the fanciful roles of the theatre actors on the stage and their real life and how much they are capable of keeping the viewers in an illusion. Initially the young woman approaches the famous actress angrily, requesting for husband’s return who is suspected to have been in the love with her. The famous actress denies stealing her husband. The famous actress, Sara claims that he was awarded a contract for a case once and she claims to know him from that time. The famous actress asks that what makes her believe that Alfred is in love with her. The young woman claims that her husband has been sending flowers and writing love letters to her. Amidst, the young woman reads her husband’s love letter to the actress aloud.

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After hearing this, the actress blushes on shame and continues to deny any flowers or letters from him. The actress reads the psychology of the innocent young woman and asks her if she and her husband have any misunderstanding. The young woman accepts that there is a misunderstanding between them. The famous actress convinces that her husband is playing with her to make her jealous and gain her attention and love back. All that her husband is doing is to make her more jealous to get her love back. The actress convinces the young lady that all that she has heard is quite fake. Then, the young innocent lady realizes her mistake and begs for her apology. As soon as the young lady goes out, Alfred is called out from the bedroom of the famous actress.

Understanding the text 

Answer the following questions. 

a. What favour does Earnest Young Woman ask from The Famous Actress? 

Ans- Earnest Young Woman is innocent, straightforward and easily convincing woman. She favours for the return of her husband, Alfred from the love of the famous actress. She loves her husband very much more than anything and anyone.

b. What, according to The Earnest Young Woman, are the indications that her husband has fallen in love with Famous Actress? 

Ans- According to the Earnest Young Woman, her husband sends the famous actress flowers which she came to know from the florist and her husband also writes love letters to the famous actress because she herself has found a love letter on the table.

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c. Is Earnest Young Woman convinced by the argument of Famous Actress? How? 

Ans- As the Earnest Young Woman accuses the famous actress to be in love with her husband, the famous actress convinces telling her that her husband has shown his love affair with the famous actress in order to get her love and attention. If he does this, she grows her jealousy and regains her love to him. The famous actress convinces her that it’s just a propaganda to get her love back. She also adds that many actresses accept the proposals like her husband for the reunion of the family. After hearing this all, the Earnest Young Woman is fully convinced to get her husband back from the love with the famous actress.

d. Where is the Earnest Young Woman’s husband hiding himself as they are talking about him? 

Ans- The husband of the Earnest Young Woman is in the love affair with the famous actress as he is found to be hiding in the boudoir during the time his wife is there and he appears at the end of the play when the actress calls him out. 

e. When do you feel that Famous Actress is really good at acting? 

Ans- The play is a full of suspense. The famous actress hides Alfred in her boudoir when Earnest Young Woman comes at the famous actress. I feel the famous actress is definitely perfect at acting when she tells the Earnest Young Woman that her husband has just pretended to love her to regain her love and attention back making her more jealous.

f. How do we come to know that Famous Actress and the husband of Earnest Young Woman are in love? 

Ans- Despite the convince of the famous actress, we can say that the husband of the Earnest Young Woman is still in love with the actress because Alfred is found to have hidden during the time his wife comes there and when she goes out at the end of the play, he appears from the boudoir of the famous actress. From this situation, we can say that they still have a love affair.

g. Write down the plot of the play in a paragraph.

Ans- The play written by the most celebrated and controversial Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar is a suspenseful play. The Earnest Young Woman is very furious with the famous actress because her husband is found to be in love affair with the actress. She goes to the famous actress to get her husband back. The Earnest Yung Woman asks the famous actress to return her husband. She has found some evidences of love affair with her like he regularly sends her flowers and writes love letters to the famous actress.  The famous actress denies of stealing her husband, she, then, weaves a plot that if she and her husband has a misunderstanding. The Earnest Young Woman accepts that they have misunderstanding. 

The famous actress fools the Earnest Young woman by saying that he is playing with her to get her love back. The innocent realizes her misdeeds and is convinced. As soon as she leaves the place, Alfred comes out of the boudoir of the actress that makes the viewer understand that they still have a love affair.

Reference to the Context

a. Sketch the character of Famous Actress.

Ans- The young actress of the play ‘A Matter of Husband’ is very young, beautiful, talented and famous. Her beauty is a matter of jealous to a normal woman. She seems very straightforward and innocent from outside but she is equally cunning and wicked inside in her behaviour. She is bold in acting as she can fool anyone easily by her incredible way of acting. She is expert in weaving a false story. She tried to find out the weak point of the Earnest Young Woman rather than denying stealing of her husband. She has an ability to strike at the point where she finds weakness. As she knows about the misunderstand between the Earnest Young Woman and her husband, she fools her saying that her husband is playing with her to gain her love towards her. From her characterless behaviour we can say that she lives an immoral and unethical life who has frequent love affairs. 

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b. Shed light on the difference between an ordinary woman and an actress. 

Ans- The Earnest Young Woman is simple-minded, and easily convincing and straightforward, but the famous actress is cunning and wicked and perfect performer. The Earnest Young Woman easily manipulated by the fabricated false story of the actress. The actress is characteristically weak as she is ready to make affairs and even ready to have physical relationship but the Earnest Young Woman is morally sound and trustworthy to her husband. The Young Woman is timid but the actress is bold and beautiful.

c. According to Famous Actress, men associated with theatre use the theatre actresses to make their estranged wives jealous so as to woo them back. Do you agree with her argument? Why? Why not? 

Ans- . According to Famous Actress, men associated with theatre use the theatre actresses to make their estranged wives jealous so as to woo them back. I don’t with this statement. Not all the actresses of theatre are ready to make false relationship to make their male counterparts’ wives jealous so as to woo them back. It is the matter of belief. People don’t like to loosen their character and prestige. The male characters of the theatre may have better relationship. The theatre is world of fantasy where everything loses its naturality. Moreover, no one easily tries to lose their character to make others happy and reunited. But this play has proved that the theatre actresses are more cunning than they look from outside.

d. How does Famous Actress make a fool of Earnest Young Woman? 

Ans- The famous actress makes the Earnest Woman fool by plotting a false story. She asks her if she and her husband have any misunderstanding for some days back. The simple-minded woman says that they have misunderstanding. It is the point from where the famous actress weaves a fake story. She falsely tells her that her husband is sending flowers and writing love letters so as to make her more jealous in order to regain her love and attention back. The Earnest Young Woman easily believes the fabricated story of the famous actress and is fully convinced that what the Earnest Young Woman has heard is totally baseless. 

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e. The conversation between the two women takes place on the stage of the theatre. What role does the theatre house as a part of setting play in A Matter for Husband? 

Ans- The theatre is a place where illusions are made real. The conversation between the Earnest young woman and the famous actress takes place at the theatre. On the theatre, the actress or actor tries to show the real incidents but there is an illusion which affects the viewers in their interpretation. The role of the stage of the theatre house is quite influencing to the viewers who think that what the actress is saying is believable. 

f. What do you think about the ending of the play?

Ans- The play has a twisted ending. It ends with a great surprise. The audience don’t expect that it ends so surprisingly. It is quite unbelievable. Earnest young woman who has gone to claim for the return of her husband from the love grip of the famous actress is easily convinced by the tactful act of the famous actress. It is the dramatic skill of the playwright who doesn’t give any clue about the ending. The viewers are quite confused to how the play ends. The ending is unexpected.