Beth Helen's crime of the heart narrates the story of three Magrath girls, Babe, Meg, and Lenny. The story is surrounded by a sad aura, which forces the sisters to depict their complicated relationship of love and resentment. The plot is based on the sisters showing love, conflict, and reconciliation with each other given the circumstances each of them finds themselves. At the beginning of the play, Meg has just shot her husband, and Lenny celebrates her thirtieth birthday alone in the kitchen with a candle and a cookie. Meg is also seen making many wishes about her aspiration to enter the Hollywood stars . Lenny, the eldest sister and the underdog in the family tend to their grandfather, and this role makes her appear as an unmarried woman. The reunion of the three sisters, forced by Babe shooting her husband raises a lot of emotion among the sisters.
Turing to the character of the characters in the play, Lenny MaGrath is seen to be frustrated and sad. After many years looking after her sisters, she is still looking after them even in their adulthood. She carries their burdens, as she had to be called in to help her younger sister who just shot her husband. She is also the one who tends to their grandfather as the rest whine of their problems. However, Lenny loves them as she does not tire of caring for her family. Meg has a strange character and to begin with; she is morbid after being the first witness of her mother's body; her mother committed suicide. For instance, she leaves her boyfriend Doc, after he is left injured by a horrible hurricane. The action also portrays her as an irresponsible person. She even lies to her grandfather that she left Doc to attend to professional duties. To Lenny and Babe, Meg is a spoilt 27-year old woman.
Babe, the 24-year-old sister, is deceitful and unfaithful. She first lies of the reason why she murdered her husband by stating that she resented his bad looks. It is later revealed that Babe was cheating on him with a young African American. She continues to be treacherous as at the end of the play she attempts to hang herself only to be saved by Meg. Another major character in the play, Barnett Lloyd, Babe's lawyer is ambitious. She is on a revenge path against Babe's husband who had stood between her becoming a successful lawyer.
Helen's play depicts the miserable lives of three Southern sisters. The rhythm of the play shows that they have been through pain and misery for most of their lives. Towards the end of the play, they are confronted with understanding why their mother had committed suicide and killed their cat too. From their language, it is clear that they are in sorrow and fear that their lives have been haunted by the actions of their mother . At some point, Babe contemplates that she would rather die with her sisters, whom she loves, as her mother had died with her beloved cat.
The three sisters are each lost in their misery. As such, they find it hard to rekindle the love they once shared as children. At their old age, they have mixed feeling about each other. Absorbed in their problems, they even forget to celebrate their sister's birthday. However, there is a ray of hope at the end of the play as the sisters sit and reminisce of their childhood relationship and hope they can reignite their love.
Work Cited
Henley, Beth. Crimes of the Heart. New York: Dramatists Play Service Inc, 1982.
