Alice Gerstenberg -- "Overtones"

The structure of Overtones and the very idea of calling the 'educated' version of each woman their 'overtones' speaks largely to how women relate to each other even to this day. Nice-on-the-outside is still a well-honed skill in many women's repertoire. The first scene sets up the relationship of Harriet and Hattie as two sides of the same coin, or perhaps the wrapper and the sweet. However, as the play progresses Hattie and Maggie take on larger and more complex roles towards their 'overtones', and even break from previous patterns to speak directly to each other after the mention of Turkey. In that exchange, the 'undertones' understand and respond to one another, but do not respond to each other even when their veils are dropped and they are yelling at each other directly. I believe this choice by Alice Gerstenberg was not to confuse the audience, but rather to make the most sense to the intended audience for this play: women. 

Though all the social niceties are present throughout the play, women communicate amongst each other (based on my own experience) largely with what remains unspoken, with carefully chosen words, and especially with tone. Therefore, what makes the most sense to me is that the 'undertones' are able to communicate to each other through the women's unspoken signals when in the context of a relatively inconsequential bit of information, but cannot understand each others' deeper, ulterior motives. Margaret's tone, word choice, or even body language could have given away her lie about Turkey, which Hattie of course jumped on, and which Maggie would suspect she would; given the tense nature of their relationship and a person's natural self-doubt when trying to pass off a lie as truth. However, the 'undertones' remain deaf to the final expressions of each woman's true intentions towards each other because, sadly, even a woman's intuition has a limit.