- All's Well That Ends Well
- Antony and Cleopatra
- As You Like It
- The Comedy of Errors
- Coriolanus
- Cymbeline
- Hamlet
- Henry IV, Part 1
- Henry IV, Part 2
- Henry V
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Henry VI, Part 2
- Henry VI, Part 3
- Henry VIII
- Julius Caesar
- King John
- King Lear
- Love's Labor's Lost
- A Lover's Complaint
- Macbeth
- Measure for Measure
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Othello
- Pericles
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Richard II
- Richard III
- Romeo and Juliet
- Shakespeare's Sonnets
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
- Troilus and Cressida
- Twelfth Night
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Venus and Adonis
- The Winter's Tale
Ruth has just suffered a seizure in front of Madam. Madam believes that epilepsy is a sign of demonic possession or a curse, so she insists that her husband must sell Ruth.
While it’s important to consider that Madam’s viewpoint here was common for millennia (and people with epilepsy still suffer some stigma today), her beliefs and her desire to sell Ruth are still dehumanizing. As Isabel points out, Ruth is only a small child—she’s five years old, too young to be able to easily adapt to being separated from her big sister. For Madam, though, this isn’t a concern…