Characters From The 20th Century
The social, cultural and political circumstances of the twentieth century came with the World War aftermath, the Welfare State, the status of women, and class changes. The Second World War devastated Britain, however, economists believed that the Labor Party (1945) would eliminate poverty and inequality while promising the Welfare State.
Eventually, in 1951 society became affluent and capitalism took over. Additionally, the Angry Young Men movement later came into view because it felt as if the era provided technology in domestic chores which allowed women a fashionable and snobbish attitude as women became bolder which in turn gave rise to the New Woman movement.
In addition to the class divisions in society that resulted from the Industrial Revolution that gave birth to the working class of which most only had elementary education which did not allow for a decent and respectable job, while the middle and upper classes got sound education and in turn pursued positions in life which contradicted the egalitarian aspect as ushered by the Welfare State and in 1950 there was a cold war: a long period of tension between the democracy of the Western World, led by the United States, and the communist countries of Eastern Europe, led by the Soviet Union, starting.
Accordingly, many playwrights attempted to reflect the age of change through their plays such as John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, and T.S. Eliot’s The Family Reunion. Noteworthy, each playwright conveyed a specific aspect impeded within the morally psychologically complex characters. Specifically, Osborne conveyed ‘The Angry Young Man’ movement in his play Look Back in Anger, while Pinter was concerned with the ‘The Theatre of Absurd’ in his play The Caretaker, and Eliot concentrated on ‘verse drama’ in his play The Family Reunion.
This paper will investigate the complexity of Alison from Look Back in Anger by Osborne, Aston from The Caretaker by Pinter, and Harry from The Family Reunion by Eliot in relation to the changes of the modern age. The 20th century was full of changes that inspired playwrights to create plays which reflected upon the complexity of the age with characters that drew different interpretations from the audience.
Modern Playwrights & Their Plays
John Osborne (1929–1994), born in London, wrote the play Look Back in Anger, first performed in The Royal Court Theatre in 1956 which marked the birth of the new drama in Britain’s theatre. The play goes about Jimmy Porter, an articulated well-read man, who is living with his upper-class wife and he spends his time beating her and the world, but Alison, his wife, gradually grows tired and leaves Jimmy to have an affair with her friend, Helena, however, Alison is back after suffering a miscarriage to reconcile with Jimmy. Evidently, the anger of the protagonist, Jimmy Porter, reflected the condition of Britain’s lower class in 1950.
On the other hand, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), born in London, wrote The Caretaker which is set in a house in west London about a tramp, Davies, and two brothers, Aston and Mick, as Aston saves Davies from a fight and brings him home, although Davies seems grateful at first, eventually, he turns out to be a liar and tries to manipulate the situation as best as he could. Evidently, Pinter is considered the leading absurdist playwright as The Theatre of Absurd resulted from World War II. Whereas, playwrights abandoned rational plot development, significant dialogues, and relatable characters that reflect the human’s despair, confusion, and alienation.
Finally, Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965), born in St. Louis, Missouri, wrote The Family Reunion, first produced in 1939, tells the story of a mother, Amy Monchensey, who aims to make her son, Harry, in charge of the estate, Wishwood, which is located in north England and the family gathers for Amy’s birthday, but when Harry arrives, he keeps reminiscing about his childhood and late wife, eventually, he leaves and Amy dies. Notably, the play is written in blank verse, whereas Eliot wrote verse plays as the thirties witnessed the revival of verse drama.
Evidently, the playwrights of the twentieth century were inspired to create characters that evoked different reviews from the audience as we will investigate ‘Alison’ in Look Back in Anger, ‘Aston’ in The Caretaker, and ‘Harry’ in The Family Reunion.
Analysis
‘Alison’ in Look Back in Anger
Jimmy is tormenting Alison throughout the play as critic Taylor suggests:
“The Principal sufferer from all this is his wife Alison,
whom he cannot forgive for her upper- middle class
background and whom he constantly torments in
order to extract some reaction from her…” (Taylor 41)
Eventually, Alison detaches herself and becomes indifferent. Moreover, Alison is perceptive enough to realize that her husband resents everything about her because of their social differences, but she loves him truly and that is why she decided to conceal her feelings and remain silent instead of going back to her family.
However, with a little push from her childhood friend, Helena, who later is realized to have had ulterior motives of wanting to take Alison’s place, Alison goes back to her family having been pushed to her limit and feeling she is no match for Jimmy’s anger:
“I don’t feel very brave. (tears harshening her voice) I really don’t, Cliff. I don’t think I can take much more.” (Osborne 46)
As critic Mander suggested;
“Jimmy is presented as a fighter, and one would expect him to relish a fight with someone of his own caliber” (5).
Whereas, Alison is “a mild woman unworthy of his fighting” (Haque 67). Furthermore, Jimmy makes communication impossible and prefers staying silent rather than comforting his wife leaving her with silence and ironing as her only protection. Eventually, “… in the end, she accepts her role as the dominated partner… crawling” (Carnal 130).
‘Aston’ in The Caretaker
A reading by Warchus investigates the reason for bringing the tramp, Davis, home and suggests that Aston merely wanted to add to his peculiar collection of ‘junk’:
“I picked it up. Just keeping it here for the time being. Thought it might come in handy.” (Pinter 88).
As he was keeping Davis for the time being thinking he might come in handy. However, Davis kept answering Aston’s attempts of kindness, such as giving him tobacco, finding shoes for him, providing him with a place to sleep, and replacing his stolen bag with complaints. Additionally, Davis showed he cannot be trusted by his constant emphasis on going down to get his identification papers: “I got plenty of references. All I got to do is to go down to Sidcup tomorrow. I got all references I want down there.” (Pinter 143), but tomorrow never comes as well as exploiting Aston’s confession: “He’s nutty!” (Pinter 175) to attempt and manipulate Mick into hiring him as a Caretaker.
Accordingly, Aston’s opinion of people is blurred by his feelings of alienation and the need to chase a dream: “I want to build that shed out in the garden” (Pinter 152) which never seems to be attained as well. However, Aston’s soliloquy fronts the stage as he confessed to undergoing psychiatric treatment:
“The trouble was, I used to have kind of hallucinations. They weren’t hallucinations, they … I used to get the feeling I could see things… very clearly… everything… was so clear… everything used… everything used to get very quiet… and… this clear sight… it was… but maybe I was wrong.” (Pinter 148–149)
This soliloquy brings the audience to tears as Aston is generous, calm, and gentle trying to help Davis however he can while bearing with Davis’ constant complaining, but eventually Aston is fed up with Davis and demands he leaves: “I… I think it’s about time you found somewhere else. I don’t think we’re hitting it off.” (Pinter 168), turning his back on him after Davis’s letdowns and attempts of manipulation.
‘Harry’ in The Family Reunion
Harry is seen feeling guilty for killing his wife as he confessed during the birthday party: “When I pushed her over.” (Eliot 1. 1. 338), but he is still in denial and he is chased by Eumenides, a Greek ghost who haunts murders:
“Why do you show yourselves now for the first time?
When I knew her I was not the same person. Nothing that I did
Has to do with me. The accident of a dreaming moment,
Of a dreaming age, when I was someone else” (Eliot 1. 2. 307–310)
Eventually, Harry accepts his sin, walks the path of redemption, and leaves Wishwood. However, Edward Lobb argues that Harry is in fact forced to confront the realities of his childhood and come to terms with his true self as Agatha, Harry’s aunt, from The Family Reunion explains:
“It is going to be rather painful for Harry
After eight years and all that has happened
To come back to Wishwood.” (Eliot 1. 1. 109–111)
Nevertheless, the family did not understand Agatha’s words, so she elaborates:
“I mean painful, because everything is irrevocable,
Because the past is irremediable,” (Eliot 1. 1. 114–115)
Those words, later, Harry echoes in his, what seems to be, attempt of coming in terms with his sin:
“Murder was there. Your ordinary murderer
Regards himself as an innocent victim.
To himself he is still what he used to be
Or what he would be. He cannot realise
That everything is irrevocable,
The past unredeemable.” (Eliot 1. 1. 69–74)
Notably, Lobb concludes that the self-knowledge we avoid is one of the chances missed in life as we hold on to our limited points of view. Accordingly, Eliot commented on The Family Reunion saying he saw the portrayal of Harry’s self-absorption and its effects on his family as an achievement.
Finally, it may be concluded that the twentieth century was an age full of political, social, and cultural changes. Furthermore, that age of change paved the way for many movements, such as The Angry Young Men and The New Woman as well as inspired many playwrights, such as John Osborne, Harold Pinter, and T. S. Eliot to reflect the age and feelings evoked through their plays. Eventually, the plays created received different reviews as people interpreted the characters differently.
Moreover, those characters were morally and psychologically complex in order to reflect the era. Notably, we investigated Alison from Look Back in Anger by Osborne, Aston from The Caretaker by Pinter, and Harry from The Family Reunion by Eliot.
