The Little Foxes: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Little Foxes" is a Southern Gothic play by Lillian Hellman that explores themes of greed, morality, and family betrayal through its complex characters. Central to the narrative is Regina Giddens, a manipulative and ambitious woman intent on securing her share of profits from a cotton mill venture. Her character embodies ruthlessness, as she goes to extreme lengths, including withholding her ill husband Horace's medicine, to achieve her goals. Horace Giddens, her husband, represents the moral counterpoint—honest yet vulnerable, he refuses to invest in the mill and is ultimately betrayed by his own family. Regina's brothers, Benjamin and Oscar Hubbard, are equally unscrupulous, attempting to coerce Horace into financing their scheme and resorting to theft when he declines. Alexandra, the couple's daughter, becomes disillusioned by her family's actions and distances herself after her father's tragic death. Birdie Hubbard, Oscar's wife, adds depth to the narrative with her nostalgia for a more dignified past, while Leo, their son, is complicit in his family's deceit. The interplay among these characters highlights the destructive nature of ambition and the moral decay within familial relationships.
The Little Foxes: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Lillian Hellman
First published: 1939
Genre: Play
Locale: The Deep South
Plot: Social realism
Time: 1900
Regina Giddens, a conniving and grasping woman. Eager for her share in the profits of a proposed cotton mill, she contrives to get her fatally ill husband, Horace, home from the hospital to be worked on by her family to supply her share of the needed investment. When he refuses to have anything to do with the project, she cruelly taunts him with her contempt and refuses him his medicine when he feels the onset of a fatal attack.
Benjamin and Oscar Hubbard, Regina Giddens' conniving and grasping brothers. Lacking Regina's share of the investment needed for the construction of the cotton mill, they descend on the fatally ill Horace Giddens in an attempt to persuade him to put up the money. When he refuses to have anything to do with the venture, they “borrow” his bonds and go off to complete the deal.
Horace Giddens, Regina Giddens' honest, fatally ill husband. Sick of his scheming wife and her grasping family, he refuses to invest in the projected cotton mill. When he learns of the theft of his bonds by Benjamin and Oscar Hubbard, he ties Regina's hands by planning a will that makes her the beneficiary of the bonds. He dies when she deprives him of his medicine.
Alexandra, the daughter of Regina and Horace Giddens. Sickened by the treatment given her father by her mother and her uncles, she leaves Regina and the Hubbards after Horace's death.
Birdie Hubbard, Oscar Hubbard's wife, who longs for a return to the refinements of a bygone day.
Leo Hubbard, Oscar Hubbard's son, an ally in the theft of Horace Giddens' bonds.