Overtones

     In Alice Gerstenberg's one act entitled Overtones, I do believe that the "inner selves" of Harriet and Margaret do see and hear each other. While the levels of interaction grow from the beginning to the climax of the play, there are always subtle hints that the primitive selves are aware of and can hear/see each other. 
     When Harriet and Margaret are first seen together, we as readers only get to witness the inner selves talking to their physical forms. As the conversation starts to open up and formalities are gone, Margaret's motive for coming allows the inner selves to start to interact. The way the physical selves communicate reminds me of swelling waves. They start out calm, then the inner selves begin to talk to the physical selves (Hetty to Harriet and Maggie to Margaret), and as the conversation starts to escalate and enter a more sensitive, personal subject matter, or motive, the inner selves begin to communicate with each other. There are multiple conversational "bouts" that take place throughout the play, and after the small goal is achieved, whether it be Margaret sneaking cream into her tea or Harriet getting Margaret to ask her to pose for a painting, the inner selves become subdued and resort to talking to their counterparts again. 
     The majority of the play follows this pattern of conversational bouts - the inner selves beginning to see/hear each other as the dialogue heats up, and then fade as the heat dies down. 
     As readers, we gain insight into Gerstenberg's concept by her stage directions. We are able to see when an inner self is talking to its physical self or the other woman's inner self. An audience, however, does not benefit from seeing who's supposed to be talking to who. It is then up to the actor to convey through emotion and physical movement who they're talking to. Gerstenberg sometimes puts emphasis on what an inner self is saying to their physical self by either mimicking what the physical self is doing (when Maggie anxiously reaches for a tea cake as Margaret delicately takes a cake) or by obviously talking directly to a physical self (when Hetty leans in and whispers in Harriet's ear). With these two techniques an audience would have no confusion over who is talking to who. 
     The pattern above is briefly broken at the very end of the play, when Hetty and Maggie have their final confrontation. At this point I think all four characters can hear and see each other at the same time. At this moment Harriet and Margaret really reveal themselves and who they are, and the subtleties that previously existed are extinguished. Both women's true motives are revealed: Harriet's lust for Margaret's husband and Margaret's want of Harriet's money. Although the inner selves are speaking here, it's obvious that these statements aren't just inner thoughts.