Intimate Apparel

When Esther moves to New York, Mrs. Dickson, her landlady, becomes like a surrogate mother. Esther becomes frustrated with her for meddling, but Mrs. Dickson has the life experience that Esther lacks in terms of love and marriage. When Mrs. Dickson married, she did it to advance her station in life, to give her the opportunity to become a landlady instead of laboring like her parents. Esther romanticizes marriage, but Mrs. Dickson knows that the reality is nothing like the fantasy, especially during a time period before women even had the right to vote. Mrs. Dickson sees the warning signs in George of someone who is going to take advantage of Esther and mistreat her. At the end of the play, Mrs. Dickson welcomes Esther back without asking questions because she already knows why Esther’s marriage didn’t last. Mrs. Dickson recognizes what Esther’s talent as a seamstress is worth as Esther’s ticket to independence and self-sufficiency—something that Mrs. Dickson took a lifetime and a difficult marriage to earn. She sees Esther’s insecurities about her appearance, but understands that beauty may bring a woman attention, but it does not bring love. 

Mrs. Van Buren is a wealthy white woman who is married but is as lonely as Esther. She is bound by the social conventions of the elite and cannot speak to the women around her about her possible infertility, her husband’s cruelty, or her yearning for love. Mrs. Van Buren is out of place, having moved to New York from the South. She has been reduced to her ability (or lack thereof) to breed and discarded when she does not conceive. She is also trapped, because it would be socially unacceptable for her to divorce her husband. Mrs. Van Buren lives vicariously through Esther, enacting her own romantic fantasies in the letters to George.

She latches onto Esther because Esther is safe and imagines that they have a legitimate friendship because she cannot see all of the ways in which they are on unequal ground. She also lets Esther have access to her vulnerabilities on an intimate level. When Esther asserts that their inequalities mean that they aren’t friends, Mrs. Van Buren is stunned because Esther is the only person she has ever allowed into her boudoir. It isn’t clear whether Mrs. Van Buren is attracted to women, or if she only kisses Esther because she mistakes Esther’s gentle touch and subservience for intimacy. Mrs. Van Buren serves to demonstrate the need for women’s rights, and that even whiteness or marrying into financial privilege didn’t protect women from abuse and oppression.

Mr. Marks is the man who Esther truly loves. They connect over their love and sincere appreciation for fabric. When we first meet Mr. Marks, his suit jacket is missing a button, showing that he needs Esther. They complement each other. Mr. Marks provides unique fabrics and Esther turns them into beautiful things. Mr. Marks is a Romanian Orthodox Jew and is beholden to the traditions of his family and his religion. He is betrothed to a woman in his home country who he has never met, an engagement arranged by his family. Marriage is a religious obligation. Racially, the identification of Jewish people as white or non-white was in flux at the turn of the century, making Mr. Marks a racialized outsider—similar to, but not on the same level as Esther. He continues to wear his father’s old suit even as it becomes worn out and practices centuries-old religious traditions that no longer serve his evolving needs. He is literally and figuratively untouchable to Esther until the end of the play, when he changes his old coat for the smoking jacket and allows Esther to touch him.

Mayme is Esther’s beautiful friend who makes her living as a sex worker. She is a talented pianist and composer, but men only value her for her body. Her frankness about sex and sexuality make Mayme seem pragmatic, but she confesses to harboring a secret dream to become a concert pianist and imagines that her job gives her the exposure to transition into other kinds of entertainment. As a sex worker, Mayme has seen the true potential of men to be abusive and cruel to women. Sex has never been intimate for Mayme and she no longer even remembers her first time. With Esther, she is skeptical about love. When Esther mentions Mr. Marks, Mayme urges Esther to have sex with him without understanding the nuanced intimacy between them. While Esther is writing to George, Mayme scoffs because she doesn’t see a non-physical relationship as real. But when George shows Mayme affection and intimacy, she falls in love with him and shows that she has been longing for love as much as Esther. Mayme illustrates that as much as Esther wishes she were as pretty as her friend, beauty does not protect a woman or bring her real love.