Act I, Scene 3 through Act I, Scene 5 Summary

In the third scene, Wendla and her friends, Thea and Martha, are walking together. They talk about how Martha's parents beat her. Her strict parents force her to wear her hair in braids, and when they discovered Martha wearing a ribbon in her nightdress, tore off her nightdress. Martha ran outside into the night, naked, but it was too cold. She came back in the house and spent the night on the floor in a sack. The other girls pity Martha for her abusive, controlling parents. The girls all want to have sons someday, and they talk about how attractive Melchior is.

The boys are gathered in front of the school in the fourth scene, and Melchior asks his friends if they've seen Moritz. The boys say that Moritz is in...