35 pages • 1 hour read
Sarah RuhlIn the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Research the medical practice of using sexual stimulation to treat the antiquated diagnosis of hysteria in women. Do you think the play represents this practice accurately? Why or why not? What statement does the play make about the subject?
After Sabrina and Annie kiss, Sabrina tells Annie that they can’t see each other again and leaves. What do you think happens next for Sabrina? Why? Use evidence from the text to support your response.
When Elizabeth quits, Catherine says that she understands why her husband wouldn’t want her to stay, and Elizabeth tells Catherine that she doesn’t understand. What do you think this means? Why do you think Elizabeth doesn’t believe Catherine can understand?
Sarah Ruhl wrote In the Next Room over a hundred years after the historical period in which the play is set. What do you think the play says today? How does it connect to current issues?
What is the significance of electricity in the play? What do you think the play is saying about the way electricity changed the way society functions?
Leo calls Elizabeth “A Madonna for our times. A Madonna after the Civil War” (85). What does this mean? How does this statement characterize the way Leo understands Elizabeth? Do you think this statement is a compliment? Why or why not?
How does the play bring up the issue of gender roles in Victorian society? What traits are supposed to be masculine and feminine in the play? How are these gender roles understood differently or similarly today?
Why do you think Catherine wants to go outside in the snow at the end of the play? What is the significance of the snow and the garden in this moment?
Catherine has several moments of discovery in the play that change the way she understands herself and the world around her. What are three of those discoveries? How do they demonstrate a shift in Catherine as a character? What do you think is the significance of the way Catherine changes over the course of the play?
