Machinal Summary
Sophie Treadwell

Everything you need to understand or teach Machinal by Sophie Treadwell.

  • Machinal Summary & Study Guide

Machinal Summary

The play's title means "automatic" or "mechanical" in French. Sophie Treadwell wrote the play based loosely on the murder trial of Ruth Snyder and her lover, Judd Gray, who together murdered Snyder's husband. Convicted of murdering her husband, Snyder later received the electric chair. Out of this event came the powerful, demanding drama, Machinal.

A woman's role during this era in history is confined and regimented to wife, mother, housekeeper, and sexual partner...

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