In their conversation at the end of Act II, Mrs. Warren tells Vivie, "Women have to pretend to feel a great deal that they don't feel." How do the two women differ in their enactment of this ideal?

Mrs. Warren, who works as a prostitute and brothel owner, still pretends to adhere to certain conventions. Throughout the play, she pretends to feel motherly protection toward Vivie and to know her daughter better than she actually does. She also never speaks frankly of her work, pretending to feel ashamed of it because that is the polite thing to do. In contrast, Vivie refuses to pretend to feel anything. Rather, she avoids sentimentality and speaks frankly with women and men alike.