Betrayal and Persecution in Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour

Abstract

       Persecution is the systematic abuse by one person or group of people against another. The most common forms of persecution are religious persecution, racism and political persecution, although of course there is some overlap between these terms. Many factors lead to persecution and can ruin the lives of the persecuted by causing suffering, harassment, imprisonment, arrest, fear or suffering. Moreover, the persecuted is considered oppressed socially, politically, and culturally, and this may lead to taking an incorrect action or judgment against the persecutor person and cause destruction of his being, life, reputation, and future.

       So persecution is a campaign to harm people and destroy their life in various aspects depending on the mood of the oppressed subjugates people. Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religion, race, ethnicity, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and many other factors. Also, it is the harassment or oppression of a person or group of people, especially because of who they are.

      This paper attempts to analyze persecution, namely knows also as injustice or oppression, depicted in Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour (1934), analysing them depending on Socrates' ethical theory. Socrates' theory of ethics is a preeminent moral theory that can be used as an analytical tool to analyze the social and cultural factors that some people may be offended by engaging in deviant behavior that causes harm to others. The oppression of the main characters is analyzed to show how this is done.

      Hellman shows the teacher as a person who is oppressed by others, which is are represented by, the two headmistress who were accused of lesbianism by their students in Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. Consequently, this paper aims to analyze the personality of the teacher as a person who was wronged by his students and by the community despite his honesty and work with sincerity and respect to serving the society and its students, but he was rewarded with accusations and lies that led to the destruction of his life  as well as his reputation.