House of Virtue: a Domestic Tragedy

A great paradox is man whose reason and conscience apprehend and pursue a set of moral laws that aim at harmony and decency whilst his soul harbors a volcano of disruptive passions which yearn for satisfactions that produce abominations and discord This excerpt from the preface to the play House of Virtue sums up the moral and emotional contradictions in the life of a high-standing government official, moralist, and disciplinarian-an ombudsman. When, as the aggressive spearhead of the Crusade for Social Morality (the strict movement against all forms of social indecencies and immorality including the sexual abuse of children), the Ombudsman is accused by his son-in-law of the crime of abusing his own daughter sexually, suspense builds up as to the outcome of the accusation, not only in the family of the ombudsman but also among theater audiences. House of Virtue, as a piece of social criticism, not only foregrounds moral education as one of the fundamental functions of theater. It treats with naturalistic candor one of the basic passions of human nature and some of the archetypal issues of individual and family life that make a theatrical piece transcend the boundaries of time, space, and national culture.