In Act II of Arsenic and Old
Lace, Dr. Einstein discovers twelve dead bodies in the cellar. The aunts
refuse to let Jonathan bury a stranger with their friends. Angered that his relatives
have managed to kill as many as he without even leaving their home, an enraged and
insane Jonathan vows to kill a thirteenth. In the meantime, the doctor has followed the
descriptions of Mortimer who ridicules the murder dramas he criticizes and ties and gags
the equally unsuspecting Mortimer. The doctor and Jonathan are ready to drink a toast to
each other with the elderberry wine when Officer Hardy knocks on the door in response to
complaints of Uncle Teddy's loud blowing of his bugle. When the policman notices the
gagged Mortimer, the doctor explains that Mortimer has merely been dramatizing one of
the plays he has criticized. O'Hara begins to describe a play he himself is
writing; fortunately, however, Officer Brophy enters and becomes aware that Mortimer is
choking. When he loosens the restrains upon Mortimer, Jonathan tells the policeman not
to listen to Mortimer because he is dangerous:
readability="7">JONATHAN That's why we had to tie him up. He's
the lowest kind of person in the whole world.O"HARA
A dramatic
critic?When
Jonathan tries to tell the police that the aunts are murderers, O'Hara recognizes
Jonathan as the murderer who looks like Boris Karloff; Jonathan then tries to choke him
to death. But, Brophy clubs him over the head, and they start to drag him to the patrol
car, but O'Hara asks, "What about the bodies?" Brophy replies that this statement of
Jonathan just shows how crazy he is. Mortimer reminds the policemen of Dr. Einstein who
is probably fleeing.In the meantime, Dr. Witherspoon from
the mental asylum, Happy Dale, arrives to pick up Uncle Teddy. Mortimer has arranged
for his aunts to accompany Teddy so they can "be close to him." At this news, the aunts
are elated, offering Mortimer the house since he is going to marry Elaine. Remembering
Elaine is outside, he runs to tell her that insanity runs in his family and he cannot
marry her. Just then, Witherspoon notices the elderberry wine; the aunts offer him some
and the curtain falls.
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