Socio-Psychological Dimensions of Major Characters in Three of John

Socio-psychological Dimensions of Major Characters in Three of John Osborne’s Plays By: Amal Mohamed Osman El Mahdi B.A (Honours) in English Language Faculty of Education-Hantoub University of Gezira(2008) A Dissertation Submitted to the University of Gezira in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Arts in English Language Teaching (ELT)

Department of English Faculty of Education - Hantoub University of Gezira October - 2013

Socio-psychological Dimensions Of Major Characters in Three of Osborne’s Plays

Amal Mohamed Osman El Mahdi

Supervision Committee:

Name Position Signature

Dr. Lubab El Tayeb El Mikashfi Main-Supervisor

…………..….

Dr. Awatif El Amin Satti Co-Supervisor ..……………..

Date of Examination: 8 /10/2013

Socio-psychological Dimensions Of Major Characters in Three of Osborne’s Plays

Amal Mohamed Osman El Mahdi

Examination Committee:

Name Position Signature

Dr. Lubab El Tayeb El Mikashfi Chairperson

……………..

Dr. Salwa ELTayeb Bakeet External Examiner

……………..

Dr. Zahir Abu Obieda Ahmed Internal Examiner

………………

Date of Examination : 8 /10/2013

Dedication

I dedicate this study To Dr. Lubab El Tayeb El Mikashfi . To my caring husband To my sons and my lovely daughter for her continuous help and support. To my loving parents and my sisters and to my friends. To all my teachers in the English Department Faculty of Education – Hantoub.

Acknowledgements

All praise and thanks are due to Almighty Allah, for all His gifts. I am deeply indebted and faithful to my main supervisor Dr. Lubab El Tayeb El Mikashfi for her continuous help and support and her endless patience and encouragement.

My dainty thanks are to Dr. Awatif El Amin Satti for her useful advice and valuable suggestions and information that help me during writing this study.

Many thanks are due to Dr. Zahir Abu Obida who inspired me the idea of this research.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to the staff of the

English Department and the library staff in the Faculty of

Education-Huntoub.

Socio-psychological Dimensions of Major Characters in Three of John Osborne’s Plays

Amal Mohamed Osman El Mahadi Abstract

Literary characterization through plays is an interesting way of writing that adds more depth and insight into literary genres. This study aimed at investigating critically Osborne’s use of socio-psychological dimensions in his literary work by analyzing three of his plays, namely, (Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence). The main objectives of the study were to analyse the major characters in the three plays mentioned above by applying socio-psychological method and to and to explore the author’s socio-psychological background which was reflected in them. The researcher also aimed at drawing more attention to the areas of sociology and psychology in literature. The study followed the critical analytical method. The main findings of the study are as follows: The social and psychological dimensions of Osborne’s own life in the above stated three plays of this study deepen the knowledge of readers and audience. Osborne’s manages to mix between British social and psychological before and after world war II. The social and psychological dimensions of Osborne’s own life in the plays help to furnish a comprehensive deep social reading of British life after world war II. The study recommends the following: readers and audience of Osborne’s plays must be well-acquainted with the main characteristics of sociology and psychology in literature, department of Foreign Languages both at secondary and university levels should encourage students to read and research in British literature in all its genres, and, more British novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists and their social and psychological works should be embedded in the courses of faculties of Arts and Education for students who study English instead of depending on two or three British literary writers to enlarge the students’ not only their social and psychological background in the field of literature but also to enrich them thoroughly in all its aspects.

األبعاد اإلجتماعية والنفسية لدى الشخصيات الرئيسة يف ثالث من مسرحيات جون

أوسبورن

آمال حممد عثمان املهدي ملخص الدراسة

إن تحليل الشخصيات المسرحية أسلوب مشوق يضفي مزيداً من العمق للكتابات األدبية. فكرة هذه الدراسة هي محاولة للدراسة النقدية التحليلية للشخصيات الرئيسة في ثالث من مسرحيات جون اوسبورن. إعتمدت هذه الدراسة بشكل أساسي على اآلبعاد اإلجتماعية والنفسية للشخصيات األساسية في مسرحيات جون أوسبورن الرئيسة. هدفت الدراسة إلى معرفة كيفية إستخدام جون أوسبورن لآلبعاد اإلجتماعية والنفسية في تشكيل شخصياته عن طريق التحليل النقدي لثالث من مسرحياته وهي " النظر إلى الماضي بغضب " و "المغني" و " الدليل غير المقبول" . كما هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى التحليل النقدي للشخصيات الرئيسة في ثالث من مسرحيات أوسبورن آنفة الذكر من خالل إستخدام المنهج التحليلي

النقدي، كما تركز أيضاً على الخلفية اإلجتماعية والنفسية للكاتب نفسه والتي قام بعكسها في مسرحياته الثالث. كما هدفت هذه الد ارسة إلى إعطاء مزيداً من اإلهتمام إلى كيفية إستخدام األبعاد اإلجتماعية و النفسية في كتابات جون اوسبورن. وقد إتبع الباحث في تحليل هذه المسرحيات المنهج التحليلي النقدي. توصلت الدراسة إلى النتائج اآلتية: قام الكاتب بعكس األبعاد المتعلقة بالخلفية اإلجتماعية والنفسية لحياته في مسرحياته الثالث مما مهد للفهم العميق والتعرف على نوع الحياة في بريطانيا بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية ، كما أن األبعاد اإلجتماعية والنفسية لحياة الكاتب ساعدت على تعميق معرفة القراء والمشاهدين بالمجتمع البريطاني خالل تلك الفترة. قام الكاتب بتناول األبعاد اإلجتماعية والنفسية للمجتمع البريطاني قبل وبعد الحرب العالمية الثانية وآثر هذه الحرب على النسيج اإلجتماعي والنفسي في بريطانيا. توصى هذه الدراسة باآلتي: يجب على قراء ومشاهدي مسرحيات جون أوسبورن اإللمام الجيد بالخصائص األساسية لعلم اإلجتماع وعلم النفس في الدراسات األدبية. على أقسام اللغة اإلنجليزية على المستويين الثانوي والجامعي تشجيع الطالب للقراءة والبحث في شتى ضروب األدب اإلنجليزي. هذا

بجانب إدخال مزيداً من ال ُكتاب الروائيين والشع ارء وُكتاب المقاالت األدبية في مقر ارت طالب كليات التربية واآلداب قسم اللغة اإلنجليزية. وتوصي الدراسة أيضاً بإضافة مزيداً من ال ُكتاب واألدباء وأعمالهم الدرامية وتحليلها في نطاق السمات اإلجتماعية والنفسية بدالً عن اإلعتماد على إثنان أو ثالثه من األدباء وال ُكتاب اإلنجليز.

Table of Contents

Subjects Page Dedication iii Acknowledgments iv Abstract (English) v Abstract (Arabic) vi Table of contents vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Statement of the problem 1 1.2 Objectives of the study 1 1.3 Questions of the study 2 1.4 Hypotheses of the study 2 1.5 Significance of the study 3 1.6 Methodology of the study 3 1.7 Limits of the study 3 CHAPTER TWO BACKGROUND 2.0 Background 4 2.1 Osborne’s Works 8 2.2 Angry Young Men 10 2.3 Concept of Drama 10 2.4 Elements of a Play 11 2.4.1 Characters 12 2.4.1.1 Types of characters in Literature 12 A\ Protagonist character 13 B\ Antagonist character 13 C\ Foil character 13 D\ Stereotype or stock character 13

E\ Leading man and leading lady 14 F\ Chorus 14 2.4.3 Plot 15 2.4.3.1 Open conflict plays 15 2.4.3.2 Dramatic thesis 15 2.4.3.3 Coincidence 15 2.4.3.4 Dramatic irony 15 2.4.4 Themes 15 2.5 Definition of Psychology 16 2.5.1 Early Psychology 17 2.5.2 Psychology Today 17 2.6 Identifying Sociology 18 2.7 History of Socio-Psychological Writing in Literature 20 2.8 The Early Process of Discovery in the Filed of Psychology 21 2.9 Trends of Socio-Psycho in Literature 22 2.9.1 The Anthropological Trend 22 2.9.2 The Archetypal Trend 22 2.9.3 The Biographical Trend 23 2.10 Previous Studies 23 CHAPTER THREE ANALYSIS of OSBORNE’S MAIN CHARACTERS AND DISCUSSION OF PLOTS AND THEMES 3.0 Introduction 25 3.1 Plot of Look Back in Anger 27 3.2 Analysis of the Main Characters in the Play Look Back in Anger 28 3.2.1 Jimmy Porter and His Wife Alison 28 3.2.2 Helena and Cliff 29 A\ Colonel Redfern 32 B\ Mrs. Tanner 32 3.3 Themes of Look Back in Anger 33 3.4 Plot of The Entertainer 34 3.5 Analysis of the Main Characters in the Play the Entertainer 38 3.5.1 Billy Rice and Archie Rice 38 3.5.2 Phoebe and Jean 39 3.6 Themes of The Entertainer 40 3.7 Plot of Inadmissible Evidence 40

3.8 Analysis of the Main Characters in the Play Inadmissible Evidence 43 3.8.1 Bill Maitland and Hudson 43 3.8.2 Jones and Shirley 43 3.9 Themes of Inadmissible Evidence 44 3.10 Summary of the Chapter 44 CHAPTER FOUR SOCIAL AND PSYCOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS IN OSBORNE’S PLAYS LOOK BACK IN ANGER, THE ENTERTAINER AND INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE 4.0 Introduction 47 4.1 Social Dimensions in the Three Plays of the Study 47 4.2 Psychological Dimensions in the Three Plays 55 4.3Discussion of Results in Relation to the Questions and 61 Hypotheses of the Study 4.3.1 Hypothesis One 61 4.3.2 Hypothesis Two 61 4.3.3 Hypothesis Three 62 4.3.4 Hypothesis Four 62 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.0 Conclusion 63 5.1 Findings 63 5.2 Recommendations 64 References 66 Website 68

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction

The researcher has a great interest in literature, because literature is like a mirror which reflects the life and period of its people, their customs, values and beliefs. In fact, literal characterization represents one of the elements that appeals to the researcher. The researcher has also chosen this topic as a result of interest in sociology and psychology and their great influence on human beings.

The researcher has always been aware of the role of literature and its benefits for the readers and students besides the lessons which people obtain from others’ experience. Actually, literature represents the most important part of writings that discusses human beings experience, affairs and cultural implications.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

The study is an attempt at a critical analytical study of the major characters of John Osborne famous plays. In this study the researcher concentrates mainly on the socio-psychological dimensions of the main characters. The researcher also traces both the sociological and psychological background of the author to see if they have any effect on his literary works as a writer.

1.2. Objectives of the Study

1. To analyse the major characters in three of John Osborne’s plays from the social and psychological view points .

2. To probe into the writer's socio-psychological background that has its impact on his characters. 3. To find out if there are obvious autobiographical elements in John Osborne's major plays. 1.3 Questions of the Study

1. What are the social and psychological factors that affect John Osborne's major characters? 2. To what extent are the major characters' lives affected by the experiences during their childhood? 3. How does the writer reflect his own life experience on his major characters? 4. What is the impact of the socio-psychological background of the author on his characters? 5. What are the autobiographical elements that are expected to be found in John Osborne's plays? 1.4 Hypotheses of the Study

1. Certain social and psychological factors affect John Osborne's major characters. 2. The experiences that the major characters suffered from during their childhood have influenced their whole lives and personalities. 3. The plays of John Osborne reflect part of his life. 4. The socio-psychological background of the writer has its effect on his major characters. 5. Autobiographical elements are expected to be found in John Osborne's plays.

1.5 Significance of the Study The study will raise and answer a question which may be of interest to those who are interested in the critical and analytical literary studies. The study is hoped to add to the knowledge of the authorities and those who are interested in this area. The study is also expected to increase teachers awareness of the influence of socio-psychological factors on human beings so as to put much focus on these factors and to take them into consideration while dealing with characterization in literary works.

1.6 Methodology of the Study The analytical critical approach will be followed so as to analyse autobiographically Osborne’s plays of this study with the purpose of exploring the author`s social and psychological dimensions that shaped his own life.

1.7 Limits of the study The plays selected for analysis to serve the purpose of the study are: Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence. In the next chapter, entitled “Background” the researcher will discuss the life and works of John Osborne, the angry young men as a movement, the history of socio-psychology in literature, what is meant by drama, elements of a play, characters in literature and what is psychology and sociology.

CHAPTER TWO

BACKGROUND

2.0 Background

John Osborne was born in December 1929 in London, the son of Thomas Godfrey Osborne, a commercial artist and advertising copywriter and Nallie Beatrice, a cockney barmaid. He adored his father and hated his mother, whom he later wrote that she taught him" The fatality of hatred. . . she is my disease, an invitation to my sickroom". He also described her as " hypocritical, self-absorbed, calculating and indifferent".

Thomas Godfery Osborne died in 1940 when the boy John was hardly twelve and when World War II was gaining still greater momentum. The boy spent the remaining years of the war with his mother in London. His father died leaving him an insurance settlement which he used to finance a private education at Belmont College, a minor public school in Devon. Osborne entered the school in 1943, a third rate public school where he declares that he was very unhappy. This sense, that is to say, he was unhappy, created Osborne's background and qualified him to understand the sense of drifting and uncertainty which characterized the period of the early fifties, and drew him into sympathy with characters whose sense of themselves was at variance with the role they were called upon to play in their society and time.

In 1945 John Osborne was expelled of school in the summer term after hitting the headmaster, who had struck him for listening to a forbidden broadcast by Frank Sinatra.. School certificate was the only formal qualification he acquired, but he possessed a native intelligence.

After school, Osborne went home to his mother in London and briefly tried trade Journalism. The company of junior actors introduced him to the theatre. He soon became involved as a stage manager and an actor, joining Anthony Creighton's provincial touring company. Osborne tried his hand at writing plays, co-writing his first play "The Devil Inside Him" with his mentor Stella Linden. His second play "Personal Enemy" was written with Anthony Creighton, with whom he also wrote " Epitaph for Dillon", after that he submitted “Look Back in Anger" which was largely autobiographical based on his time living and time rowing.

Because of "Look Back in Anger" and some other plays, he became widely known as an " angry young man". Osborne remained angry until the end of his life. Many women seemed to have found his anger attractive, he had more than fair share of lovers in addition to wives. John is much married man, he married five times. The first four ended in divorce and the fifth in his death. His first marriage to actress Pamela Lane was in 1951. in Volume I of his autobiography "A Better Class of Person" (1991:16), Osborne describes his feeling, an immediate and intense attraction towards his first wife. The pair were both members of an acting troupe in Bridgewater

" She had just recently shorn her hair down to a defiant auburn stubble and I was impressed by the hostility she had created by this self-isolating act… her huge green eyes which mock or plead affection, preferably both, at least… she startled and confused me.. There was no calculation in my instant obsession"

The couple married in secret in nearby Wells and then left Bridgewater the following Sunday amidst an uneasy truce with Lane's

parents. (Osborne's hated mother was not aware of the union until the couple were divorcing).

The two lived a fairly itinerant and reasonably happy married existence at first, living at a number of digs around London and finding work in London at first, touring then in Osborne's case Kidderminster and Lane's Derby. Lane's acting career flourished in Derby while Osborne's floundered and she began an affair with a rich dentist. This was in the summer of 1955 and Osborne spent much of the next two years before their divorce hoping they would reconcile. In 1956, after " Look Back in Anger" had opened, Osborne met her at the railway station in York, at which meeting she told him of her recent abortion and enquired after his relationship with Mary Ure, of which she was aware. In April of 1957, Osborne was granted a divorce from Lane, on the grounds of his adultery.

Osborne began a relationship with Mary Ure shortly after meeting her when she was casting as Alison in Look Back in Anger in 1956. The affair swiftly progressed and the two moved together in Woodfool Road, Chelsea, as this is stated in by Faber and Faber, (1991:26)

"Mary was one of those unguarded souls who can make themselves understood by penguins or the wildest dervishes.. I was not in love. There was fondness and pleasure, but no groping expectations, just a feeling of fleeting heart's ease. For the present we were both content enough"

Contentment, in Osborne's case, grows into jealousy and slight contempt for Ure's stable family background and banalities of her communication with them and somewhat withering regard for her acting abilities.

There is infidelity on both sides and after an affair with Robert Webber, Ure ultimately leaves Osborne for Robert Shaw. His second marriage dissolved in 1963, in the same year he met his third wife the journalist Penelope Gilliatt, initially through social connections and she then interviewed him. Despite her being married and Osborne knowing her husband, Gilliatt set out to seduce him and succeeded in doing so. Osborne and Gilliatt were married for five years( together for seven), in which time she bore him his only natural daughter, Nolan. Osborne had an abusive relationship with his daughter: he cast her out of his house when she was seventeen, they never spoke again. Osborne and Gilliatt's marriage suffered through what Osborne perceived to be an unnecessarily obsession on her part with her work, writing film reviews for the Observer. He also observed in her a growing pretentiousness. In this autobiography "Almost A Gentle Man" (1981:26) Osborne remarks: " She was to become increasingly obsessed with fripperies and titles.. she took to calling herself Professor Gilliatt"

Strains in the marriage, exacerbated by Gilliatt's alcoholism and what Osborne felt was malignant behaviour, led to Osborne conducting an affair, swiftly followed by marriage with Jill Bennett in 1968. Osborne endured a turbulent nine years marriage with Bennett. Their marriage degenerated into mutual abuse and insult and ended in 1977. Then the fifth marriage was in 1978 when he married a former arts journalist and critic for the Observer, Helen Dawson. This final marriage of Osborne's, which lasted until his death, seemed to have been Osborne's first happy union. Until her death in 2004, Dawson worked tirelessly to preserve and promote Osborne's legacy. In later years, this legacy included claims that Osborne had a homosexual affair with collaborator Anthony Creighton.

Osborne died deeply in debt, his final words to Dawson was: ‘sorry’. After her death in 2004, Dawson was buried next to Osborne.

After a serious liver crisis in 1987, Osborne became a diabetic, injecting twice a day. He died from complications from his Diabetes at the age of 65 at his home in Clunton, near Craven Arms, Shropshire. He is buried in St. George's churchyard, Clun, Shropshire.

2.1 Osborne’s Works

John Osborne started writing plays while working as a repertory actor in the 1950s. He first gained international fame in 1956 when “Look back in Anger” was presented at the Royal Court Theatre, London, Osborne was twenty six when he wrote this play and submitted it to the English Stage company. Surely, the play did not immediately establish itself as a hit, but soon its author was recognized as a promising dramatist.

Osborne continued his career as an actor in " Don Juan" and in "The Good Woman of Satznan". The plays he wrote during the ten years following the first publication of “Look Back in Anger”, are “The Entertainer” in 1957 about an ambitious satirical musician, then “The World of Paul Slickey” in 1959 about a gossip columnist with a dual personality, then a two historical plays" A Subject of Scandal and Concern" in 1960 and "Luther" in 1961 an epic drama. Then " The Blood of Bambenages" in 1963 which was a feeble satire about a royal wedding, and in the same year "Under Plain Cover" a story of a married couple who turn out to be brother and sister. In 1964 he wrote "Inadmissible Evidence" which is a story of a drunken, disreputed lawyer who finds that the world has ceased to listen to him, that his tirades, brilliant though they are, move no one and change nothing." Inadmissible Evidence" started a

period of great fertility to Osborne's work. The next year, another major play, " A Portrait for Me". It tells the history of the homosexual double agent and his spying activities for both the Australians and the Russians in the years preceding the First World War. In 1966, Osborne adapted a play by Lope de Vega, giving it the title" A Bond Honored", but it proved a failure. In 1968 came two more plays" Time Present " which was Osborne's first play to have a female protagonist, and " The Hotel in Amsterdam" which an ensemble play with several characters of almost equal weight all of them refugees from the unseen presence of the dreaded film producer around whom, in one fashion or another, all their lives revolve. Osborne has wrote a series of major television plays including " The Right Prospectus" in 1968 a wildly comic story of school life and two studies of a new topic, the problems of fame and distinction and how the famous and distinguished deal with them, in " Very Like a Whale" in 1970 and “The Gift of Friendship" in 1971. Osborne progressed in his own life from being an angry unknown to a being an angry middle-aged institution, his interest and sympathies shifted more towards the problem of middle age, of fame and money and power. " West of Suez" which he published in 1971 was perhaps the most substantial of Osborne's later stage-plays, is a muddled panorama of family life in an outpost of the collapsing British Empire in which the older characters seem to have most of the author's sympathy. Other plays by Osborne, such as "A sense of Detachment" in 1972, and " The End of Me Cigar" in 1975 are satirical charades.

In the year 1978 Osborne appeared as an actor in "Tomorrow Never Comes" and in1980 in " Flash Gordon". Through the 1980s Osborne played the role of Shropshire Square with great pleasure and heavy dose of irony, he wrote a diary for the Spectator. In the last decade

of his life he published two volumes of autobiography," A Better Class of Person" in 1981, and "Almost a Gentleman" in1991. He also collected various newspaper and magazine writings together in 1994 under the title" Damn You, England" . His last play was " Déjà vu" in 1991 a sequel to " Look Back in Anger".

2.2 Angry Young Men

" Angry Young Men" is a group of various British novelists and playwrights, who emerged in the 1950s, and expressed scorn and disaffection with the established sociopolitical order of their country. Their impatience and resentment were especially aroused by what they perceived as the hypocrisy and mediocrity of the upper and middle classes. The angry young men were a new breed of intellectuals, the group leaders included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis.

The phrase" Angry Young Man" was firstly invented by George Fearon, apart-time press officer at the royal Court Theatre, to promote John Osborne’s "Look Back in Anger". It is thought to be derived from the autobiography of Leslie Paul, founder of the Woodcraft Folk, whose " Angry Young Man" was published in 1951 following the success of the play, the label was later applied by British newspaper to describe young British writers who were characterized by a disillusionment with traditional English society. The term, always imprecise, began to have less meaning over the years as the writers to whom it was originally applied became more divergent and dismissed the label as useless.

2.3 Concept of Drama

According to Styan, (1960:97) drama is defined as:

"A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action, and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result. It is commonly designed to be spoken and represented by actors on the stage.

What specifies drama is that its mode of fiction represented in performance. It is worth mentioning that the term drama comes from the Greek word meaning "action” which is derived from "to do" or "to act". The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a collective form of reception. The structure of dramatic texts, unlike other forms of literature, is directly influenced by this collaborative production and collective reception.

Drama is classified according to either to be comedy or tragedy play to be performed on stage . Not only this, but drama is broaden to have a greater sense in the field of film, radio and television industries, therefore, film studies adopted to describe "drama" as a genre within their respective media.

2.4 Elements of a Play

Generally speaking, a play has many conventions that build its body. Because this research is limited to three of these conventions, namely, characters, themes and plots of three of Osborne’s plays: Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence, only these elements will be precisely considered in the following sections:

2.4.1Characters

Most simply a character in literature is one of the persons who appear in the play. In other sense of the term, the treatment of the character is the basic part of the playwright's work. Conventions of the period and the author's personal vision will affect the treatment of character. Styan,( 1960: 102) mentions that

Most plays contain major characters and minor characters. The delineation and development of major characters is essential to the play; the conflict between Hamlet and Claudius depends upon the character of each. A minor character like Marcellus serves a specific function, to inform Hamlet of the appearance of his father's ghost. Once, that is done, he can depart in peace, for we need not know what sort of person he is or what happens to him. The distinction between major and minor characters is one of degree, as the character of Horatio might illustrate.

2.4.1.1 Types of Characters in Literature

Most simply a character is one of the persons who appears in the play. In another sense of the term, the treatment of the character is the basic part of the playwright's work. Conventions of the period and the author's personal vision will affect the treatment of character.

Styan (1960: 102) mentions that

Marcellus serves a specific function, to inform Hamlet of the appearance of his father's ghost. Once, that is done, he can depart in peace, for we need not know what sort of person he is or what happens to him. The distinction between major and minor characters is one of degree, as the character of Horatio might illustrate.

Below are the most important types of characters in drama:

A\ Protagonist character

Etymologically, it means the first contestant. In the Greek drama, where the term arose, all the parts were played by one, two, or three actors. Ideally, the term protagonist should be used only for the principal character. Several other characters can be defined by their relation to the protagonist. The protagonist is also known as the person whose will sustain the dramatic action.

B\ Antagonist character

The antagonist as Manfred (1977:216) is the principal rival in the conflict set forth in the play. The antagonist is a character who defines certain characteristics in the protagonist by exhibiting opposite traits or the same traits in a greater or lesser degree. Therefore, the antagonist role is to oppose the protagonist.

C\ Foil character

A character that is used to enhance and other character thorough contrast>

D\ Stereotype or stock character:

A character who reappears in various forms in many plays. A stock character as Styan (1960:112) from another genre is the revenger of

Renaissance tragedy. The role of Hamlet demonstrates how such a stereotype is modified by an author to create a great role, combining the stock elements with individual ones.

E\ leading man and leading lady:

Sometimes group of actors work together over a long period in relatively stable companies. In such a situation, individual members of the group develop expertise in roles of a certain type, such as leading man and leading lady (those who play the principal parts), juveniles or ingénues of both sexes (those who specialize as young people), character actors (those who perform mature or eccentric types), and heavies or villains.

F\ Chorus:

Manfred (1977:219) states that chorus is a group of actors who function as a unit. This type of a character was a characteristic feature of the Greek tragedy. Generally, the members of the chorus shared a common identity.

There are many other terms that are used to classify characters. Forster

(1974:37) introduces two terms in discriminating between them: “a flat character is built around a single idea or quality and is presented in outline and without much individualizing detail, and so can easily be described in a single phrase or sentence.”

On the other hand as Forster (1974:38) says, “ a round character is a complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity; round character is difficult to describe and is capable of surprising either the readers or audience.”

2.4.3 Plot

Styan, (1960:138) mentions that “ The interest generated by the plot varies for different kinds of plays. The plot is usually structured with acts and scenes”. The following sections can be considered when dealing with the plot:

2.4.3.1 Open conflict plays

Rely on the suspense of a struggle in which the hero, though perhaps fight against all odds, is not doomed.

2.4.3.2 Dramatic thesis

Foreshadowing, in the form of ominous hints or symbolic incidents, conditions the audience to expect certain logical developments.

2.4.3.3 Coincidence

Sudden reversal of fortune plays depict climatic ironies or misunderstandings.

2.4.3.4 Dramatic irony

The fulfillment of a plan, action, or expectation in a surprising way, often opposite of what was intended.

2.4.4 Theme

The plot has been called the body of a play and the theme has been called its soul. Most plays have a conflict of some kind between individuals, between man and society, man and some superior force or man and himself.

Wright, (1969: 156) states that

“The events that this conflict provokes make up the plot. One of the first items of interest is the playwright

requotes treatment of the plot and what he would draw from it. The same plots have been and will be used many times; it is the treatment that supplies each effort with originality or artistic worth. Shakespeare is said to have borrowed all but one of his stories, but he presented them so much better than any of the previous authors that he is not seriously criticized for the borrowing. The treatment of theme is equally varied”. The same theme or story may be given a very serious or a very light touch. It may be a severe indictment. It could point up a great lesson or show the same situation as a handicap to progress. The personality, background and social or artistic temperament of the playwright are responsible for the treatment that he gives to his story or theme.

2.5 Definition of Psychology

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedia Dictionary (1992:724)defines psychology as" Science or study of the mind and how it functions". Whereas the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of current

English (1996:210) defines psychology as " a Study of mind and human and animal behaviour". Another definition is the Cambridge Dictionary of

American English( 2000:686) which defines psychology as, " the scientific study of how the mind works and how it influences behaviour, or the influence of a particular person's character on his behaviour, it is the study of mind and its processes".

Psychology is both an applied and academic field that studies the human mind and behaviour. Research in psychology seeks to understand and explain thought, emotion, and behaviour. Applications of psychology

include mental health treatment, performance enhancement, self-help, ergonomics, and many other areas affecting health and daily life.

2.5.1 Early Psychology

Psychology evolved out of both philosophy and biology. Such discussions of the two subjects date as far back as the early Greek thinkers such as Aristotle and Socrates. The word psychology is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning' soul' or 'mind' .

The field and study of psychology was truly born when Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab(1973) in Leipzig, Germany. Wundt's research utilized a school of thought known as Structuralism, which involves describing the structure that composes the mind. This perspective relied heavily on the analysis of sensations and feelings through the use of introspection, a highly subjective process. Wundt believed that properly trained individuals would be able to accurately identify the mental processes that accompanied feelings, sensations and thoughts.

Throughout psychology's history, a number of different schools of thought have formed to explain human thought and behaviour. These schools of thought often rise to dominance for a period of time. While these schools of thought are sometimes perceived as competing forces, each perspective has contributed to the understanding of psychology.

2.5.2 Psychology Today

Today psychologists prefer to use more objective scientific methods to understand, explain, and predict human behaviour. Psychological studies are highly structured, beginning with the hypothesis that is then empirically tested. Psychology has two major

areas of focus: academic psychology and applied psychology. Academic psychology focuses on the study of different –sub-topics within psychology including personality psychology, social psychology, and developmental psychology. These psychologists conduct basic research that seeks to expand theoretical knowledge, while other researchers conduct applied research that seeks to solve everyday problems.

2.6 Identifying Sociology

According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary (1992:865) "Sociology is the scientific study of the nature and development of society and social behaviour" . As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities: economic, social, political and religious. Sociologists study such areas of community as deviant behaviour, family, public opinion, social change, social mobility, social stratification, and such specific problems as crime, divorce, child abuse, and substance addiction. So sociology tries to determine the laws governing human behaviour in social context.

Philips, (1979:5) states that the term sociology was conined by the French philosopher Auguste Comte(1798-1857). It is the science of society. In the eighteenth century, thinkers like Locke, Voltaire, Comte and others dreamed of achieving a society based on human reason. Because most of the problems are produced by human beings, it seems that the human mind could learn to overcome these problems. Comte conceived of a new discipline employing some of the methods of the physical sciences to explain events in society. That discipline, sociology would apply the scientific method to the study of the human social behaviour.

Hess,et al,(1985:3) remarks that "Sociology is the study of both the outside forces and the ways in which experience is given meaning by people in interaction with others". This means that the individual is not the appropriate unit of analysis for understanding behaviour, because human beings do not and cannot exist in isolation from one another. They are bound to one another by ties of feelings and obligations. When people interact with others, they create a new level of reality. The group has a particular size, patterns of expectations, rules, division of labour , a way of maintaining order, and of dealing with conflicts.

Sociologists are also concerned with how people define their own behaviour. From the sociological point of view, every aspect of the individual's behaviour and his mind is influenced by his group membership, in the society, in a specific family, friendship circles, religious community, race and nationality grouping and even the college that the individual is currently attending.

People are able to feel secure through the group membership, and thereby experience a sense of stability in daily life. Studying social life is so difficult because at the same time that people belong to their society, they also act in a way that brings change to their social contexts. In other words social structure is always, evolving and is modified by people experiences in it.

Sociology is the only one of several social sciences as, Worsley, (1984:28) points out, which emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. It is a type of human social behaviour as conditioned by his membership of social groups. Sociology is also concerned with socio-cultural behaviour that is built into the individual is subjected to, because he lives in his society and because he is not an isolated entity who simply behaves

in response to internal or external physical stimuli of psychological drives. Eventually, psychology is the study of behaviour in individuals, whereas sociology is the study of behaviour within the groups.

2.7 History of Socio-psychological Writing in Literature

The field of socio-psychology is a modern trend in the field of literary writing. the scientific study of socio-psychology deals with how the personality and the behaviour of an individual are affected by the surrounding environment; it also deals with the same phase in the field of literary writing. Therefore, both sociology and psychology have become a fertile aspect that novelists, playwright, poets and essayists write on . Historically, as Sandor, (1958:27) states socio-psycho writing in literature has been applied since a century before Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), the father of psychoanalysis, formulated his psychoanalytic developmental theory, the English poet William Wordsworth wrote about nature , "The Child is father of the Man." It is a common sense as Sandor, (1955:37) states in the following quotation:

“knowledge that from birth on the child undergoes physical maturation, for example, sexual maturation, and the development of body, mind, and character, for example, psychological growth, social interaction, and adaptation. Freud's developmental psychology grew out of his method of psychoanalytic investigation of adult emotional disorders and his readings in the medical sexology that preceded him”.

2.8 The Early Process of Discovery in the Field of Psychology

Freud first discovered that adult neurotic disorders, specifically hysteria, were caused by psychic shock, or trauma, which he saw as a three-part process: one, a traumatizing event, an actual assault or injury, happened, which, two, the victim experienced and perceived as traumatic or stressful, and to which, three, the person reacted to with psychological defense, such as dynamic (active) forgetting or repression. The repressed memory and the accompanying emotions would then result in the various manifest symptoms of an emotional disorder. The traumas were of both a nonsexual and sexual kind and the emotional component was the paramount factor. As he delved into the history of sexual traumas, Freud became "drawn further and further back into the past; one hoped at last to be able to stop at puberty … but the tracks led still further back into childhood and into its earlier years" (Freud 1953 [1914]:17). As far as childhood goes, Freud's predominant interest was in sexual traumas and emotions; he postulated the sexual emotions as the primary ones. Freud says that (1962:166-167): “Posthumous operation of a sexual trauma in childhood. esexual immaturity and the memory of it is aroused during or after maturity, then the memory will have a far stronger excitatory effect than the experience did at the time it happened; and this is because in the meantime puberty has immensely increased the capacity of the sexual apparatus for reaction. The traumas of childhood operate in a deferred fashion as though they were fresh experiences; but they do so unconsciously.”

2.9 Trends of Socio-psychology in Literature

Below are the most important trends that coloured the concept of socio- psycho in literature. These trends can be summed up as follows:

2.9.1 The Anthropological Trend

This trend of socio-psycho, that is to say, the anthropological one tends to focus on aspects of everyday life in various cultures such as folklore and ritual. Some writers manipulate the above mentioned trend in their writing whether English writers or others who are descended from other nationalities such as the African ones, particularly the dramatic and the narrative writings.

2.9.2 The Archetypal Trend

The trend of archetypal in literature relates to Psychoanalytical Criticism in some ways. It is developed by Carl Jung. This approach accepts the idea of the unconscious mind. However, unlike Sigmund

Freud and other critics, Jungians argues that it is “part of the unconscious is shared by all people”. From this perspective the term collective unconscious developed, a term representing the memories of human products and activities that are found in myths, symbols, rituals, literatures and reproduced as archetypes.

Archetypes, as Jefferson and Robey, state (1985:73), are figures or patterns recurring in works of the imagination, and can be divided into three categories. Archetypal characters include the hero, the villain, the outcast, the femme fatale, and the star-crossed lovers. On the other hand, archetypal situations include the quest, the journal, death and rebirth, and the task, whereas the archetypal symbols and associations include

polarities which are light, dark, water, desert, height, depth, and, spring and winter.

From the above stated trend in socio-psycho, it is important to note two things: firstly, works may contain multiple archetypes. Secondly, not everything is an archetype.

2.9.3 The Biographical Trend

This trend, that is to say, the biographical one, allows one to better understand elements within a work, as well as to relate works to authorial intention and audience. This trend is the backbone of this study as the researcher is intended to analyse autobiographically three of Osborne’s plays, namely, Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence.

2.10 Previous Studies

The researcher has scanned a number of Sudanese Universities libraries, in order to find previous studies related to this topic but was unable to find a research of similar dimensions save for two researches, the first entitled “The Social Dimensions in Charles Dickens Novels” by AbduRahman Omer at Wad Medani ALAhlia University. In his research he concentrates manly on the social dimensions which affect the main characters in the three novels under discussion. One of his objectives is to show how the social dimensions help in the technical development of the character.

The second research which is entitled “The Socio-psychological Dimensions in Thomas Hardy’s and D.H. Lawrence’s Major characters” by Sayda Abd ELhaleem Babiker at University of Gezira. Sayda’s research is a comparative study between two writers Thomas Hardy and

David Herbert Lawrence. The researcher concentrates mainly on the socio-psychological dimensions of the major characters in some of their novels. It is a contrastive comparative study. It aims to focus on the similarities and differences between the two novelists as far as the characters are concerned.

The results of the study as the researcher shows, that the two writers benefited a lot from their own life experiences in producing works that reflect life in different facets as truly human life.

Also the researcher comes to the fact that the two writers’ characters are similar in traits and qualities. The study also comes to the result that the two writers have similar attitudes towards issues and demands that concern women.

On the other hand the researcher own study is a critical analytical study which concentrates mainly on the main characters of three of John Osborne’s play and the social and psychological factors which affect these characters.

The social factors that affect Osborne’s characters differ from those factors which affect Dickens’s characters. At the same time the socio- psychological factors which affect Osborne’s characters are quite different from those factors which affect Thomas Hardy’s and D.H. Lawrence’s characters.

The following chapter discusses the analysis of Osborne’s main characters, plots and themes of the three plays.

CHAPTER THREE

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF OSBORNE'S MAIN CHARACTERS AND DISCUSSION OF PLOTS AND THEMES.

3.0 Introduction

The Angry Young Men were commonly associated with left-wing aspirations. In their works they implicitly accused the former political and social situation of Britain, a state being ruled by the Conservative Party. Writers as Amis, Braine, Wain and Osborne were generally identified with Leftist views. Their works were affluent bearers of social criticism. Their protest was headed against the rigid pattern of class stratification. Most of the heroes in the above mentioned works were educated for roles which transcend their class identity as Kroll, (1979:556) says "they are displaced persons in English society, belonging to no one, yet wanting to have an acceptable identity compatible with their self-realization”. Jimmy Porter, Bill Maitland and Archie Rice who are the main characters of the plays of this study are plain examples of this kind of hero. In their protest, the Angry Young Men dismissed formal institutional ties and relationships. The writers showed signs of the reasons for their anger as Kroll, (1979: 556) states that they depicted economic uncertainty, money problems and a strong dissatisfaction with the present.

The works of the Angry Young Men had a rebellious character. Their heroes rejected anything that would hold back their growth as individuals. Kroll, (1979:557) mentions “they will not accept anything that dulls the intensity of feeling, the proclivity to act and react to their environment. They refuse to join a society that will deny them anything because it is „out of their class.”. Some critics confused their longing for individual development

with a total rejection of society. Actually, as Young, (1973:123-124) maintains that the heroes rebellion is rather quiet .They do not reject all society; none of the heroes leaves England. They dissent; they run away from what they do not like, detach, but do not destroy. If necessary, escape from an impossible situation and find one's own comfortable niche. The escapism of the heroes as Brooke, (2000:773) states is not even that surprising if it is considered that in the 1950s the lower classes no longer have a distinctive ideology in conflict with the ethos of society .The unity and coherence of working class identity had blurred on account of the improved working class living standards there was more employment and wide-ranging welfare provision. The divergence in the working classes made an actual collective battle against the official institutions barely impossible. Flee from reality probably would have seemed an easier way to revolt against society .

Generally speaking, Osborne's plays revolve around one message that he wants to convey. Faber & Faber, (1991: 97) say that he was simply a rebel with a strong personality, who had lived in a family in which there was an everlasting conflict with parents and who had struggled against British Institutions using a new language for the theatre, the language of the young generation of his age crying for a better future. He recreated the inflection of contemporary English and used the new jargon and the fashionable expressions of his age. The theme of the struggling against Institutions is Osborne’s main theme. All of his plays are pleas for justice, freedom and tolerance. They all, with the exception of The Entertainer, deal with social indignation and the plight of the individual as a victim of his society.

Osborne's characters are the devices that are used to serve his plays' themes. All his characters are Osborne’s voice. They are given

dramatically effective long speeches to voice Osborne’s sense of frustration. They appear disorganized, restless, drifting and frustrated, but they all struggle against the status quo and the apathy of institutions. In the coming section, the researcher intends to give space to the analyses of the main characters, plots and the themes of the three plays of this study. 3.1 Plot of Look Back in Anger “Look Back in Anger” concerns a group of young people living in Midlands town in the mid of 1950. The husband Jimmy Porter is a university graduate how has married a wife from a class higher than his own. They share their flat with a young, uneducated friend, Cliff, who helps Jimmy runs a sweet-stall which business he has been set up by the mother of a friend of his, Hugh Tanner. The play began by a description of the flat as a one-room flat, a fairly large attic-room, at the top of a large Victorian house. The celling slopes down quite sharply from left to right with two small windows and a simple and rather old furniture. The description gives us a clear picture about the people who live in this flat. A working class people with low income earned from the sweet-stall. Most of the play is occupied by the long tirades of abuse which Jimmy heaps on his society, its abuse of values and its hypocrisy. Much of this abuse spells over into scathing. It is clear that Jimmy blames Alison for her origins and cannot find away to reconcile the hatred which engenders with the love and attraction for her which he also feels. The arrival of Alison’s friend Helena causes Alison to decide to leave him because of his treatment so Helena advised her to leave him. Alison returned home with her father, she was pregnant without Jimmy’s knowing. Jimmy has a brief, unsatisfactory affair with Helena. In the

mean time Alison has lost her baby and when she returned, broken and in pain as Jimmy had hoped she would, Helena leaves to allow them to take up the threads of a relationship which can survive only by a process of fantasying against the dreadful of reality of their situation. At the end of the play they are left clinging together in tender and resigned despair. 3.2 Analysis of the Main Characters in The Play “Look Back in Anger”

The analysis of the main characters in the plays of this study will be dealt with by means of pairing, that is to say, the researcher is going to consider them by tackling them in two at a time because the role of each character completes the other. 3.2.1 Jimmy Porter and His Wife Alison

Jimmy Porter epitomized the angry and the rebellious nature of the youth of the times. He is the angry young man who is keenly dissatisfied with life in general and who is unable to reconcile himself to his environment and to the people around him. Interestingly, in all the varied responses to the play, too much attention was paid to Jimmy’s anger and as a result Alison’s stance was more or less lost in the din. If viewed from this angle, the central dynamics of action is the gender battle with all the attacks virtually under the belt and one way. Alison represents the traditional woman. Here the power of masculine domination in gender formation is evident. Alison has moulded herself according to her husband’s needs and effaced her identity completely. But she is still not absorbed and remains the ‘other’. Jimmy is a raging pugnacious bore. But patriarchy allows him to stand on a higher pedestal. In such a sexist society the female, half of the populace, is dominated and oppressed by the male. This play reveals that aspect of traditional marriage, where the

wife is never treated as an equal partner. Patriarchy has always been associated with force. Women who violate patriarchal taboos have always been punished severely. Rape, wife beating, trading and enslaving women, child marriage and prostitution are some of the devices. Alison’s return is a case in point. She returns to the husband- a poor, lost, suffering woman and worst of all begs forgiveness. Jimmy is seen as a rebel and therefore gets all the attention, but then so is Alison. She has revolted against her parents to marry a person from the lower strata of society. But since the narrated psyche at the centre is structurally male, Alison is not followed off stage. The woman here is completely marginalized. Jimmy, in Look Back in Anger is shown as if he is a supernatural character, that is to say capable of anything now as Osborne shows (1956: 53) "I’ve got every right. That old bitch should be dead! …] I said she’s an old bitch, and should be dead! What’s the matter with you". On the other hand, Alison is getting desperate during Jimmy's outrage as Osborne, portraits this (16) “God help me, if he doesn't stop, I'll go out of my mind in a minute” . There are no serious motives for his excessive outbursts towards Alison mentioned in the play, as Weiss, (1987:287) states “What crimes, real or imagined, has she committed during their years of marriage to warrant Jimmy's cruel hostility and raw-nerved suspicion? Why, and how, has communication collapsed between them? We are perplexed”

Actually, Alison does not really know why she married Jimmy but the anger of her family urged her to marry him.

3.2.2 Helena and Cliff

According to the researcher's views, both Helena and Cliff might be considered as flat characters. This is because they are not given a

sufficient room by Osborne to express themselves as Jimmy and Alison do. Nevertheless, both Helena and Cliff are indispensable figures in the play.

Helena's appearance in the play is preceded by a telephone call for Alison from her friend Helena Charles who is an actress. Helena informs Alison on the telephone that she is coming to this town for a theatrical engagement and that she will be staying with Alison. On learning about the impending visit of Helena, Jimmy again loses his temper because he has never liked Helena and because he regards her as one of his natural enemies. Jimmy makes many mocking and disparaging comments on Helena. When Helena says that he deserves to be slapped for talking in that unpleasant manner, Jimmy says that, if she slaps him, he will not hesitate to slap her in return. Helena cannot tolerate the kind of treatment that Alison is receiving from Jimmy. She therefore secretly sends a telegram to Alison’s father to come and take away Alison. However, she soon reveals to Alison what she has done, and she obtains Alison’s consent that Alison will leave Jimmy and go away with her father.

Jimmy was in a furious mood. He had sat by Mrs. Tanner’s bed-side for eleven hours, and Mrs. Tanner had then died. Helena now gives Jimmy the note which Alison had left for him. Jimmy reads out the note in which Alison has written that she is going because she is desperately in need of peace and that she will always have a deep, loving need of Jimmy. Jimmy then asks Helena what she is doing here. Helena, instead of answering this question, reveals to him the fact of his wife’s pregnancy of which he was unaware. But Jimmy does not react to this information excitedly or jubilantly. On the contrary, he says that he does not care if his wife is going to have a baby. He then begins to talk about Mrs. Tanner’s death, and feels sorry that his wife will not even send a bunch of

flowers to be placed on Mrs. Tanner’s coffin. Jimmy then seizes Helena by her shoulder and, in a threatening manner, asks her to get out of his house. At this, Helena slaps his face savagely. But the very next moment Helena suddenly kisses him passionately and pulls him down beside her.

Then the passing of the play’s events shows that Alison’s personal belongings in the house have been replaced by Helena’s. Helena has been living as Jimmy’s mistress, and there seems to be a perfect understanding between the two of them. Helena has become accustomed even to Jimmy’s smoking his pipe which Cliff still hates. Helena then says that her affair with Jimmy must come to an end, and that she would get out of this place. Neither Jimmy nor any one else can make her believe that she had been right in living with Jimmy as his mistress. Besides, there is a basic difference between her and Jimmy. Jimmy wants one kind of world, while she believes in another. On the other hand, Cliff is shown by Osborne as the spot where Jimmy throws his anger on. Cliff is dissatisfied with the routine kind of life which he has to lead, and with the behaviour of his friend, referring to him as devoid of any enthusiasm for anything. Cliff now decides to leave the sweet-stall and try his hand at something else. He also decides to leave his present abode and start living separately somewhere, because he would now like to get married and settle down. He tells his plans to Jimmy and Helena both of whom feel sorry that he will be leaving them. Jimmy expresses to Helena his great appreciation of Cliff as a loyal, generous, and good friend.

There are other characters that reflected serious roles in the play Look Back in Anger, but, indeed against Jimmy’s life style. These characters are in the few lines analysed below:

A\ Colonel Redfern Colonel Redfern is Alison’s father. His serious role is shown when he arrives in response to Helena’s telegram. Colonel Redfern is not happy to learn that Alison wants to leave Jimmy. In fact, he says that it was wrong on his part and on the part of Alison’s mother to have opposed Alison’s marriage to Jimmy. The Colonel even admits that there is much truth in Jimmy’s description of him (1956:62) as “just one of those sturdy old plants left over from the Edwardian Wilderness that cannot understand why the sun is not shining any more”.

The Colonel explains to his daughter why he feels that the sun does not shine for him any more. After having held a high position of authority in India till the year 1947, he now feels absolutely unimportant and unwanted. His life in India seems to have vanished like a dream. He would have been very happy if that kind of life had gone on for ever.

B\ Mrs. Tanner Mrs Tanner is the only character in the play whom Jimmy shows a little respect to. She helped him to open a sweet – stall, she also compensated him for the absence of his mother with her help and support. When Jimmy receives a telephonic message that Mrs. Tanner has suffered a stroke and has been admitted to a London hospital in a serious condition. Jimmy gets ready to go to London in order to see Mrs. Tanner. He would like Alison to go with him, but Alison refuses.

To sum up, the characters of the play, Look Back in Anger depict what can be called a socio-psychological dimension of this play, that is to say Look Back in Anger. This socio-psychological dimension will be dealt with fully in the next chapter.

3.3 Themes of Look Back in Anger

The play look Back in Anger has a cluster of themes that are focusing on the concept of anger and the hatred of the society as a whole. Below are the main themes that Osborne depicts in the play. 1\ the main theme of the play is the struggling against institutions. It develops through the widespread uneasiness of the young generation who are bored with the social injustice and the persistence of rigid class privileges and were dissatisfied with the stagnation of the economic and intellectual life in Britain. Osborne expresses his admiration for the rich humanity of the working class which contrasts the insensitivity and lack of value of the upper class.

2\ In the play, Osborne criticised the hypocrisy of the lower middle class with his excoriating but witty use of the language. This social factor, that is to say, hypocrisy is reflected by Osborne in this play in the characters such as Mrs. Drury the woman that they hire their flat from, also Jimmy’s mother and Alison’s brother Nigel and her mother Mrs Redfern are clear evidence of this hypocrisy. Thus, hypocrisy is one theme that has to be considered.

3\. The protests of a generation seething with dissatisfaction. The so- called angry young men felt there were no good causes left to die for. This theme of dissatisfaction is carried out by Osborne so as to cope with the motto of the angry young men.

4\ There is also the theme of, as Ratcliffe, (1956–1958:86) points out, the generation gap between young people and adults. 5\ The play has also the theme of the pain of being alive.

To sum up, John Osborne’s themes in the play Look Back in Anger evoked diverse responses from critics and Osborne’s protagonist Jimmy Porter epitomized the angry and the rebellious nature of the youth of the times. It deserves mentioning that in all the varied responses to the play, too much attention was paid to Jimmy’s anger and as a result the other characters' voices in the play rarely existed.

3.4 Plot of ‘The Entertainer’

The above play is in three acts, sub-divided into thirteen scenes. Some are set in the Rice family's house, and others show Archie Rice on stage at the music hall. The events of the play begin with Billy Rice who is a retired music-hall star, settles down at home and is annoyed by the quarrel of his Irish neighbours. Then, he was interrupted again by the arrival of his granddaughter, Jean. as Osborne shows, (1983:16):

Billy: No, well she didn't say anything. So I wasn't

expecting a knock on the door.

Jean: I only decided to come up this morning.

Then the events of the play show a talk between Billy and Jean about Archie Billy's son, and Jean's father and Phoebe, Archie's second wife, Jean's stepmother. Billy speaks negatively of them and of modern society in general. When the play's events move to the music hall, there, Archie opens the show with a short would-be comic patter and a brief song and dance routine. The song is called "Why should I care?" and ends, "If they see that you're blue, they'll look down on you. So why should I bother to care?" At the house, on the other hand, Billy, Phoebe and Jean drink and talk. Jean explains she had a disagreement with Graham, her fiancé,

breaking their engagement. They also discuss Archie's sons, Mick and Frank. Mick is in the army, fighting overseas, but Frank refused to be conscripted and served a six-month jail sentence in consequence. Whereas at the music hall, Archie delivers further ingratiating comic patter and sings a jingoistic song in praise of the British Empire and personal selfishness "Number one's the only one for me!") When the events of the play move again to Billy's house, they show Archie returning from the theatre to find his daughter Jean visiting. He tells them that his show did not go well, and makes some casually bigoted remarks about race and sexuality. He proposes a toast to the twentieth anniversary of his not paying income tax. Billy is unimpressed. Archie learns of Jean's broken engagement but appears unconcerned. Phoebe drinks too much and becomes emotional and retires to bed. Billy also turns in, leaving Archie and Jean alone. He reveals that Mick has been taken as a prisoner. The next day at the house, the rest of the family find out from the newspaper that Mick is a prisoner of war. They take comfort from the report which says he will be sent back home. Billy and Phoebe talk about Archie's lack of understanding. Billy talks about the good old days and snaps at Phoebe for talking too much. Phoebe talks about Bill, Archie's brother, and how he bailed Archie out of a lot of trouble and has treated Phoebe kindly. Frank and Archie come home. Archie agrees Bill has been good to them. Frank wants to celebrate Jean's visit and Mick's homecoming. Archie gives a monologue (1983:54-55) about how crazy the family is and how it is hard for Jean to understand them well since she is the sensible one. Billy comes in from the kitchen and Phoebe finds that he has been eating the cake she has bought to welcome Mick back home. She becomes hysterical and Archie tries to calm the family down.

Then, Frank starts a sing-song; three generations of the Rice family join in singing a song entitled The Absent Minded Beggar (1983:64-65):

When you've shouted Rule Britannia

When you've sung God Save the Queen,

When you've Finished killing Kruger with your

mouth,

Will you kindly drop a shilling in my little

tambourine

For a gentleman in khaki ordered south.

He's an absent-minded beggar, and his weaknesses

are great

But we informers take him as we find him,

For he's out on active service, wiping something

off a slate

And he's left a lot little things behind him.

Cook's son, duck's, son of belted earl____

Fifty thousands horses and foot ordered to Table

Bay.

Each of 'em's doing his country's work______

And who's to look after the girl?

Pass the hat for your credit's sake, and pay,

pay, pay

When Frank ends up the song, the atmosphere is happy. After that Phoebe shows Jean a letter from her brother's daughter. It is about her brother's business in Canada. She is thinking of having the family move to Canada to help the business. Archie dismisses the idea. Left alone with Jean, he says that behind his eyes he is dead and nothing touches him any more. He tells her that his affections have moved from Phoebe to a much younger woman. Phoebe comes back and says the police are at the door. Archie assumes it is the income tax man. Frank comes in and announces that Mick has been killed. In the last act, Frank is shown alone at the piano, he sings sadly about bringing Mick's body back while Billy reminisces nostalgically. Archie says he does not care about emotions. Jean criticises him bitterly and Phoebe tries to defend him against her accusations. Jean tells Frank about Archie's love affair. Archie tries to bring Billy out of retirement to give the music hall show a boost. Jean disapproves because Billy is too old and frail. Archie tells Jean that Billy has sabotaged Archie's affair with the young woman by seeking her parents out and telling them that Archie is married. At the music hall, Archie announces that Billy will not appear tonight or ever again. He exits, and the scene fades into an image of Billy's funeral cortège. Two separate conversations take place between Jean and her boyfriend Graham on the one hand and Archie and his successful brother Bill on the

other. Jean refuses to come back to Graham and insists that her place must be with Phoebe. Archie refuses to join Bill in Canada, though recognising that ruin and jail await him if he stays in England. The last part of the play is performed at the music hall by Archie who does not give his usual slick patter but discourses philosophically, and after a reprise of Why should I care he leaves the stage in darkness. Osborne portrays this scene (1983:88-89):

Why should I care

Why should I let it touch me,

Why should I sit down and cry

To let it pass over me?

3.5 Analysis of the Main Characters in the Play “ The Entertainer” 3.4.1 Billy Rice and Archie Rice

Billy is Archie’s Rice father who dominates entirely all the play. The first character to be in the scene is Billy. In the play, Billy is shown as an old man in his seventies but with great physical pride, as described by

Osborne, (1983:13) “ a life-time of being admired as a fine figure of man”. As Jimmy controls the events of the play Look Back in Anger, Billy, likewise, does the same in the play The Entertainer. Bill sometimes is shown as an unkind man who hates all those who are around him, particularly his Irish neighbour when saying (1983 : 13) “Bloody Poles and

Irish” . within the events of the play, one feels that this old man, Billy, hates even his son Archie and Archie’s wife Phoebe. On the contrary, one feels that Billy has a great heart inside him. This can be felt in the

conversations that take place between him and his granddaughter Jean whom he exceptionally loves.

It is worth mentioning that the hatred of Billy to those who are around him, particularly his son Archie is a psychological one. This aspect of hatred will be fully dealt with in the next chapter.

On the other hand, Archie is the main character of the play, and, is Billy’s son and both Jean, Frank and Mick’s father. He is shown by Osborne, (1983:33) as a man of fifty year-old. Thus, by Archie’s age Osborne wants to deliver the voice of the middle-aged people during the last century. Archie’s first appearance is reflected by Osborne, (1983:33) “His hair is brushed flat, almost grey. He wears glasses and has a slight stop…Landladies adore cosset him because he is so friendly, and obviously such a gentleman”. As a matter of fact, Archie is the core of the play as he owns all the threats of the play from one hand, and from the other hand, he represents the socio-psychological dimension of the play. The socio- psychological dimension that Archie plays in the play The Entertainer will be considered in the next chapter. 3.5.2 Phoebe and Jean

Phoebe and Jean are the only motioned female characters in the play. They both belong to the Rice. Considering Phoebe, she is Archie’s wife. She is shown in the play as Osborne, describes her (1983:25) “is about sixty, with fair hair that was attractive once, and still has a great deal of care spent on it”. From the first conversation that she participates in, she can be seen as a woman of great pride and power that makes others afraid of being in serious matters with her. Phoebe is also a good-hearted woman who likes being on the side of her step-children, Jean and Mick. Jean is the second character to appear in the scene of the play after Billy. Osborne, (1956:15) describes her “She is about twenty-two, dark, with

slightly protruding teeth and bad eyesight. She is what most people would call plain, but already humor and tenderness have begun to stake their small claims around her nose and eyes. Her mouth is large, generous”

3.6 Themes of The Entertainer

The play as Faber and Faber, (1957:14) state is one of the most outstanding plays that has ever been written. This is because of the themes they enrich it as well as its messages that the play intends to convey. The most important themes of the play The Entertainer can be summarised in the points below: 1\ The main theme that Osborne tackles in the play is the failing comedian and the falling music-hall as metaphors for the decline of Britain. 2\ The theme of bickering in the Rice household is a clear theme that the play centered on. 3\ the pathetic nostalgia for the past is one of the play's themes. 4\ the theme of not to be reconciled with others. The theme is obvious when Jean refuses to be reconciled with her boyfriend, Graham; Archie's proposal to re-introduce Billy on to the music-hall stage is vetoed by Jean and Archie refusal to go to his brother Bill in Canada. 5\ The theme of demoralizing exists in the play and it is prominent when Archie's music-hall activities are over. 3.7 Plot of ‘Inadmissible Evidence’

The play Inadmissible Evidence is a play in two acts which opens with a dream sequence in a solicitor’s office, involving the main character, Bill Maitland, and his trial for having (1965:9-20) "unlawfully and wickedly published . . . a wicked, bawdy and scandalous object. . . . Intending to vitiate and 50

corrupt the morals of the liege subjects of our Lady the Queen…”. Then the moving of the trial shows that Bill pleads not guilty and insists that since he is a lawyer, he will defend himself. He tries to begin his defense, but random thoughts keep breaking in, and he ultimately admits that (1965:19) “I had a sort of making decisions.” Then, the session is interrupted again by Bill searching for his tranquilizers, noting that he has a headache brought on by too much drinking the night before. Bill then begins a brief summary of his personal history, ending with his admission that he is irredeemably mediocre. After losing his train of thought, he thinks he sees his ex-wife, his father, and daughter, all there in the room. He then offers a character analysis of himself, ending with his assertion that he has never wanted anything more than good friendship and the love of women but has failed in both. The light then fades as Osborne(1964:21), moves to another scene showing that the judge becomes Hudson Bill’s managing clerk, and the court clerk becomes Jones, Bill’s clerk as Bill emerges from the dream into reality. In the next scene in Bill’s law office, Hudson and Jones chat about the latter’s upcoming marriage as Bill arrives. Bill criticises Shirley, his secretary (1964:22) for not wearing any makeup and makes lewd comments about her fiancé, which she throws right back at him. Jones announces that Shirley is going to quit her job because she’s fed up with the place and especially with Bill, who insists on saying “I haven’t touched that girl for months.” Bill, then begins another series of lewd comments directed toward Jones, concerning his fiancée Shirley, which embarrasses the clerk. Later, he criticises Shirley’s fiancé and Jones, insisting that they are too cautious and boring. Another secretary, Joy, brings Bill a glass of water after Shirley ignores his request, and he flirts with her as Hudson tries to focus Bill’s attention on a client’s divorce case. Bill admits that something

seems a bit odd this morning; he was not able to get a taxi and now he cannot concentrate on his cases. Again Bill complains of his headache, brought on by too much drinking the previous night, and searches for his pills. He tells Hudson that he needs to get out of a weekend planned by his wife, Anna, to celebrate their daughter’s birthday so that he can spend the time instead with Liz, his current mistress. Bill believes that Anna planned the weekend because she discovered his arrangement with Liz. As he discusses with Hudson the juggling he must accomplish with his wife and mistress, Bill wonders whether his sexual escapades are worth the trouble and admits that he has never found anything that gives him a sense of meaning. Hudson tells him that the key is not to expect too much out of life. The two talk about Mrs. Garnsey’s divorce case, Bill’s recent inability to remember anything, and his marital situation until they are interrupted by a phone call from Anna. Bill tries to get out of the weekend, but the situation is left unresolved. Later, Shirley tells Bill she is pregnant and she has to leave work. Bill tries hard to change Shirley's mind, but in vain. Act two begins with a telephone call as Osborne, (1964: 59) says that it resembles the feeling of dream and unreality of Bill's giving evidence at the beginning of act one. It is a telephone conversation between Bill and Liz, his girlfriend where Liz has no actual part in it. Another telephone conversation dream takes place between Bill and his daughter Jane in which he promises her to spend the weekends with her. Then there is a conversation between Hudson and Bill where Hudson advises Bill to have the day off but the latter refuses saying that he has a lot to do. Then Jones appears in the scene and the three, Bill, Hudson and Jones have a conversation about Shirley Jones's fiancée, who later appears announcing that he has broken up with her.

3.8 Analysis of the Main Characters in the play ‘Inadmissible Evidence’ 3.8.1 Bill Maitland and Hudson

Maitland is an alcoholic, a serial adulterer and an absent father who works as a solicitor. His marriage is disintegrating, his legal practices are of dubious legality and his sense of self is in tatters. Life is a vicious circle of guilt and distraction that here catches up with him. For a man whose idea of a to-do list is a role-call of his secretaries, the future always arrives too quickly and it terrifies him. No calm sniper, Maitland is a blunderbuss taking pot-shots in the dark. Always on the cusp of hyperventilation, he bats away oncoming problems with forced charm and puerile humour.

On the other hand, Hudson is reflected by Osborne as a judge who always does his best to lead Bill to the right thing to be done. He also appears in the play as a man of wisdom and high politeness who does not like harming people verbally nor implicationally. Thus, Hudson plays a social role in the play Inadmissible Evidence as will be proved in the next chapter.

3.8.2 Jones and Shirley

Jones in the play acted as a clerk at Maitland office. He always receives unreasonable orders as well as speech from Bill Maitland as Cliff’s role in Look Back in Anger. He is affected psychologically as well as socially from his employer Bill Maitland. He is in love with Shirley and wants to marry her. On the other side, Shirley is one of Maitland secretaries who has a suspected affair with her employer Maitland. Shirley, too receives unreasonable orders as well as speech from Bill Maitland. As her fiancé Jones suffer from Maitland socially and psychologically, Shirley too receives the same suffering from the same man, Maitland.

3.9 Themes of Inadmissible Evidence

Osborn's Inadmissible Evidence has the same thematic features of his play ‘Look Back in Anger’. The themes of the play Inadmissible Evidence can be seen in the points below: 1\ Inadmissible Evidence main theme is the agony of the middle-aged chaotic and splenetic solicitor, Bill Maitland who leads an insecure and is a bottled expression of emotional state. The famous theme, that is to say, anger remains, but it is turned inwards in self-loathing. Maitland recognises that he is the root cause of his own problems, but can not get a decent foothold on life to turn things around. 2\ The theme of an alcoholic, a serial adulterer and an absent father is another theme that the play revolves around. 3\ The theme of disintegrating marriage is also there in the play. 4\ Osborne also depicts the theme of the legal practices which are of dubious legality and of sense of tatters. 5\ Life is shown in the play as a vicious circle of guilt and distraction that catches up the middle-aged of that era. Thus, meaningless life is another thematic feature of the play. 6\ Theme of embittered depressive life can also be felt in that Maitland always shows in the play. To sum up, Inadmissible Evidence has themes that are found within the life of all generations. Therefore, the play Inadmissible Evidence is a play of all times and ages , particularly for middle-aged men. 3.10 Summary of the Chapter

Jimmy Porter was the 'angry young man' in Osborne's much-publicised “Look Back in Anger” (1956). Archie Rice in his next play, 'The

Entertainer',(1957) was an illustration of an angry man in his middle-age, failing music-hall entertainer. Archie's comic patter with a brief song and dance in the music-hall does not go well; at home, Archie's daughter Jean reveals to her grandfather, Billy, the tragedy of her broken engagement; one of Archie's sons, Mick, fighting overseas, has been taken a prisoner; the other son, Frank, was served with a jail sentence; Archie's second wife, Phoebe, drinks a lot and turns emotional; Billy and Phoebe talk about Archie's lack of concern and understanding; Billy, a retired music-hall star, talks about the good old days. Osborne uses the failing comedian and the falling music-hall as metaphors for the decline of Britain. The bickerings in the Rice household, Archie's feeling that he is dead behind his eyes, the pathetic nostalgia for the Edwardian past comprise the critique of modern life that Osborne professed to aim at. Mick is killed in the battle; Jean refuses to be reconciled with her boyfriend, Graham; Archie's proposal to re- introduce Billy on to the music-hall stage is vetoed by Jean; Archie refuses to go to his brother Bill in Canada; Archie's music-hall activities are over. Maitland of Inadmissible Evidence as Trussler, points out (1969: 27) is another portray of disorganized man, The protagonist of the play is William Maitland, a middle-aged English solicitor who has come to hate his entire life. Much of the play consists of lengthy monologues in which Maitland tells the audience about his life, a life he now regards as an utter failure. He readily acknowledges that he is bored with his wife and children, and just as bored by the petty, meaningless love affairs he has been carrying on with other women. His career revolves around sordid divorce cases, and he has come to despise both his clients and his

colleagues. Maitland drinks heavily, and enjoys bullying and insulting everyone he comes into contact with. In the following chapter, the social and psychological dimension in Osborne’s plays will be discussed in relation to the hypotheses of the study.

CHAPTER FOUR SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS IN OSBORNE’S PLAYS LOOK BACK IN ANGER, THE ENTERTAINER AND INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE 4.0 Introduction

Many literary critics agreed upon the critical vision that Osborne's plays are a matter of self portray of his own psychological and social lives. Therefore, the researcher intends to treat in depth three of Osborne's plays, namely, Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence, to check the rightness of those critics who presented the plays of this study as autobiographical pieces based on Osborne's life. Osborne uses his own psychological and social emotion, that is to say, anger to create three highly effective protagonists. He primarily established his successful use of the emotion in Look Back in Anger in the character of Jimmy Porter and he uses the same basic emotion in the creation of his other protagonists, only with some slight variations; so that Archie Rice in The Entertainer, Bill Maitland in Inadmissible Evidence, are matters of his own anger. 4.1 Social Dimensions in the Three Plays of the Study

One can say that one of Osborne's favourite themes is the class system in Britain before and after the two world wars.. This can be felt in Osborne’s three plays of this study. With reference to Look Back in Anger, this social system is clear in how Porter becomes a socially displaced citizen because of his education. The same is true, to a certain extent, of Archie Rice of the play The Entertainer even though this educational factor does not form as an integral part of The Entertainer as

it does of Look Back in Anger. Still, Archie was equipped like his brother, Bill, by his educational upbringing for a middle-class existence, but he chose a career for which he was thoroughly unsuited. He did not have the talent to be a successful music hall artist. This caused his descent in the world. Through Phoebe, his wife, the researcher knew the facts of Archie's downfall, she complained to Jean about the terrible life she had with him, and at the same time holds Brother Bill up as their saviour in times of distress Osborne, says (1957:50) “We'd always be living in some bloody digs somewhere, and I didn't like him coming. . . . “ The settings in Osborne's plays in this study are important parts of the anger context. In Look Back in Anger, Osborne makes use of a drab, cluttered-up setting to emphasise the theme of anger. In this play, the disarray in the stage setting is symptomatic of the mental condition of his protagonist. In The Entertainer, the general setting of the play sets its overall, hard, angry tone. The action takes place in a large coastal resort. The house where the Rice family lives is one of those ugly monuments built by a prosperous businessman at the beginning of the century. Only twenty-five minutes in the brougham to the front. Now trolley buses hum past the front drive, full of workers from the small factories that have grown up round about. This is part of the town that holiday makers never miss.

What is evident here is the ugly aspect of neglect. There is nothing prettified about Osborne's setting. He brings to the audience, with shocking recognition, those aspects of society they will prefer to leave uninvestigated. This kind of editorial comment is more proper to the novelist than the dramatist. Throughout The Entertainer and indeed all of the plays under discussion in this study, Osborne attempts to ensure the emotional involvement of the audience who read his plays. The story of

the Rice in The Entertainer is one that the delicate sensibilities of an English audience will find distasteful. The story is one in which Osborne, more than in Look Back in Anger; truly depicted the texture of ordinary despair. He strips his characters bare, since in keeping with his avowed aim of making people feel, he wants to call attention to those quarters of society that many people prefer not to think about. Set against this background, the anger of Archie Rice is more deep-seated than that of Porter. Archie Rice himself describes the type of people the Rice as Peter, (1984:36) states they are dead beat and down and outs. They are drunks, maniacs, they are crazy, they are bonkers, the whole flaming bunch of them. Why, they have problems that nobody has ever heard of, they are characters out of something that nobody believes in. They are something that people make jokes about, because they are so remote from the rest of ordinary, everyday, human experience. But they are not really funny. They are too boring. Simply because they are not like anybody who ever lived. They do not get on with anything… do not ever succeed in anything. They are a nuisance, they do nothing but make God Almighty fuss about anything … All the time they are trying to draw someone's attention to their nasty, sordid, unlikely little problems.

Allsop, (1958:107) says that characters such as Jimmy Porter, Archie Rice and Maitland are not socially ordinary, in that they "could hardly be represented as a couple of typical post-war Britons." In fact, it is their ordinariness which make them extraordinary. Archie's burst of sarcasm is an indication that their problems are considered too commonplace to merit attention. Again, when Phoebe insists on telling the story of the various financial ruts they were in, Archie shrugs it off as Osborne, states (1957:53) "This is a welfare state, my darling heart. Nobody wants, nobody goes without, all are provided for". Spender, adequately analyzes the Osborne-

Porter (1979) anger in this respect. He said that in The Entertainer, Osborne is denouncing the hypocrisy of welfare state uncharitableness, the idea that today the poor are looked after from cradle to grave.... Jimmy Porter and Archie Rice are people who statistically and officially are not supposed to exist in the society, unless, perhaps by an oversight. The reaction of many of the critics to these plays is that they are not, they cannot be about real. They should be left alone to stew in their own self pity. In Look Back in Anger it is clear that Jimmy Porter is angry because he cared too much. He deplores society's lack of care about suffering humanity. According to Porter then, to be angry means to care. What Spender, (1979) refers to as "our personal love for our neighbour" is what Porter meant by caring. The main thrust of anger in the play though is expressed through the personality of the protagonist an important clue to Archie's anger lies in the stage setting of his shows which comprises

"ordinary, tatty backcloth and draw tabs. In the note which introduces the play Osborne writes (1957) "The music hall is dying, and with it, a significant part of England. Some of the heart of England has gone; something that once belonged to everyone, for this was truly folk art.”

The trouble with Archie Rice is that he refuses to recognize the fact that the music hall is dying. Porter, because he has no world of his own, found it rather pleasant to regret the passing of the bright, well-ordered world of the Edwardians. Archie Rice's world is dead. As Billy said in the play as Osborne shows this (1975:18) ". . . I keep telling him—it's dead already. Has been for years. It's all over, finished, when I got out of it". Archie clings tenaciously to the raggedy pieces of the music hall, hoping to recreate a Utopia out of this dead past, and while he is in the process of doing so, he becomes a hollow man. As Trussler, writes(67):

". . . his life is spent on an evasive attempt to stitch up his own little corner of a disintegrating social fabric. It is, of course, doomed to fail. His parent finds comfort in resignation, his daughter in active rebellion: he alone is of a lost generation, caught at the turn of history's tide."

The basic source of Archie’s anger is that he is a failure as an entertainer. He wants to be as successful as his father was in his vocation, and he cannot. As a result, he wears a persona which has complete control over him. Carter, says (1971:64) Archie Rice "has left anger long behind, only ironic detachment remains, his professional mask hides his bitterness—he is beyond reach." Jimmy Porter, Archie Rice and Bill Maitland can be considered as a mouthpiece of their creator, their ideas are what Osborne wanted to say, so as Jimmy in Lock Back in Anger criticises he represents Osborne’s ideas on the middle class. He is full of rage, so in the person of Jimmy Osborne sends his message. Jimmy criticises the existing class division, he focuses on the middle class, for him it is the enemy, the hated class. At first he began to attack the whole middle class, then moved to attack Alison’s family, her mother whom he called (.. a pitch) her brother Nigel (1956:14) “the straight backed, chinless wonder from Sandhurst .. He asked me to step outside when I told his mother she was evil minded…. The Platitude from Outer Space… The only thing he can do seeing sanctuary in his own stupidity.” Jimmy also criticises Alison very harshly, calling her

“pusillanimous, … puzy” and in spite of his passion towards her, he sometimes thinks that she is a hostage from a hated class. Jimmy also attacks his mother because she also belongs to the middle class people and because she left her husband suffering until death in hospital with his

young son Jimmy, who was only ten years old at that time. The same experience which Osborne came through at the same age before the death of his father Thomas Godfrey Osborne. Osborne has a jealousy and slight contempt for his second wife Mary Ure for her stable family background and the banalities of her communication with them. The same thing is very clear in Jimmy Porter relationship with Alison’s family.

Madeline in “Look Back in Anger” (1956:12), “Jimmy’s mistress when he was fourteen” the lost love Jimmy pines for is based on Stella Linden, an older actress who first encouraged Osborne to write. So it is clear that Look Back in Anger is largely autobiographical based on Osborne’s time living, rowing and his unhappy marriage with Pamela Lane who betrayed him with a local dentist in Derby. On the other hand, socially, Maitland’s malaise of the play Inadmissible Evidence is more akin as critics likened him to Hamlet's, at once of his own and of all times. For Bill Maitland’s goes to spiritual seed in every period, drifting into dissociation with their age and ultimately with reality itself. Tracing the social dimensions of Osborne’s life, several features are common to his protagonists which in their turn are autobiographical aspects of Osborne’s himself, such as the social isolation. Isolation is the social dimension that Osborne suffered from in his own social life. Thus, the characters that Osborne tackles, that is to say, Jimmy Porter of Look Back in Anger, and Archie Rice of The Entertainer take the form of a social displacement. But Maitland's isolation of Inadmissible Evidence, goes beyond mere social displacement; Maitland stands isolated from human 1ove because the society has long lost the means of communicating such love.

The theme of isolation is linked with those feeling of nostalgia. The protagonists all look back longingly to a time when possibly better communication existed between human beings. Jimmy Porter of Look Back in Anger tries good old Edwardian era, Archie Rice The Entertainer to the days of the Music Hall and Maitland of Inadmissible Evidence to the youth he never had. Feeling can only be transmitted. This is clear when Archie Rice becomes a hollow man because he cannot communicate artistically as shown by Osborne (1958:35) “he has ceased to feel a thing”. Whereas it is clear when Jimmy Porter of Look Back in Anger rails at the upper-classes because they do not care, and according to him caring is being human. Osborne's plays are an indictment, of a society which cannot accommodate the individual who does not give in to the conformity of the masses, his angry protagonists give out this message repeatedly.

The isolation in the play Inadmissible Evidence (1965) is represented by Maitland who lives in his own and to his own among his wine and his pills. In the play, that is to say, Inadmissible Evidence, Maitland surrounds himself with unreal life which is full of illusions and people that he speaks with through the telephone to break his loneliness and isolation. Osborne’s reflects this experience through his main character Jimmy Porter in “Look Back in Anger”. This is depicted when Jimmy talks to Helena, (1956:52) “Anyone who’s never watched somebody die suffering from bad case of virginity…for twelve Months I watched my father dying –when I was Ten yeas old....but you see I am the only one who Cared… every time I sat on the edge of his bed To

listen to him talking or reading, I had to fight Back my tears. At the end of twelve month I was a veteran.. I learnt at an early age what it was to be angry and helpless”.

The sense of betrayal and adultery also shows that Osborne reflects some of his own life aspects when shaping his characters, the affair between Jimmy and Helena in “Look Back in Anger”, Archie Rice and his relationship with an other woman in “The Entertainer”. And Bill Mitalnd and his mistresses in “Inadmissible Evidence”, all these affairs are clear evidence that Osborne poured his own life style upon his characters. Concerning the play “The Entertainer”, the three generations of the Rice family represents Osborne’s own family. The conflict and bickering among it is members is similar to that of Osborne’s own family. American critics were lukewarm in their reception of Osborne's play (1964) Inadmissible Evidence. John Simon said: as usual with Osborne, there are two deficiencies: lack of sufficient form and lack of wholly convincing motivation. It is as though neurosis were its own begetter, its own sustenance, and its own final cause; it is not to be questioned any more than arrested, its reasons and consequences, the unshakable doneness of the protagonist's life. Can it be that this is as it should be: is the case history of Bill Maitland really the case of Maitland vs. Maitland, or of Maitland vs. Everything? Is what required not psychological analysis but litigation? John McCarten, (1996:25) writing in the New Yorker said that his reaction to Inadmissible Evidence was

"negative". The protagonist is a "compulsive talker" who "is much too flaccid to skirmish with the Establishment." Further, "his doings both private and professional appear to have been singularly dismal." In Mc Carten's opinion,

Maitland is a victim of "logorrhea who is afflicted with satyriasis."

Two of the most favourable comments came from the English critics

Simon Trussler and Ronald Bryden. Trussler, said : “Of all Osborne's lessons in feeling, Inadmissible Evidence has so far been the most impressive.”. The mind and the feelings of Osborne's central character, and here the centrality has a particularly precise sense, are probed with an insight that is compassionate yet unyielding. To sum up, from the above stated social dimension in the plays of this study, it is clear that Osborne does not speak to represent his own social life but he speaks on the tongue of the generation after the world war two. 4.2 Psychological Dimensions in the Three Plays

Another autobiographical dimension that is considered by the researcher is Osborne’s psychological life.

In The Entertainer Jean is the one whose anger most resembles that of Jimmy Porter. They belong to the same generation and social ills affect her in the same manner in which they affected Porter. Furthermore, like him, she chooses to ally herself with the working-class, although she had the choice of a pretty comfortable middle-class existence through marriage to Graham Dodd. There exists a generation gap between Archie and Jean which the former is not able to bridge. This could only be crossed by communication between the two. When they are alone on stage, Archie cannot bring himself to talk with her fruitfully, even though he expresses a desire for such communication at the end of Act One and again towards the end of Act Two. His attempts at serious communication with Jean take the form of nostalgia which afflicts the older generation of The Rice. And Archie does much of his reminiscing in the repetitive style of his music hall patter. Osborne, reflects this (1957:42) as follows:

“Did I ever tell you the greatest compliment I had paid to me—the greatest compliment I always treasure? I was walking along the front somewhere. . . . Well I was walking along the front, to meet what I think we used to call a piece of crackling. Or perhaps it was a bit of fluff. . . . But the point is I was walking along the front, minding my own business, (Pause) and two nuns came towards me—(Pause) two nuns”

All the major aspects of the Osborne-Porter anger which the dramatist touched on in Look Back in Anger find full dramatic expression in The Entertainer. Nostalgia or the theme of "looking back" is more strongly dealt with and much more adequately handled here than in Look Back in Anger. Archie Rice's atavism and his refusal to face reality squarely are the main causes of his anger. Another strong feature of the Osborne-Porter anger is futility. In Look Back in Anger, it is clear that Jimmy Porter was angry because he could not change the course of events to suit himself. Because of this inability to alter the course of events, the protagonist yearned after a style of living which he admired or which resembled the one he envisaged for himself. In this way, futility is closely bound up with nostalgia. In the person of Archie Rice, these two qualities combine to produce a protagonist whose anger is much more seasoned than that of Porter's. With Archie, futility has progressed a stage further to outright failure, and so his anger is more deep-seated than that of Porter. Where in Look Back in Anger Osborne depended heavily on flamboyant language for the communication of feeling, in The Entertainer, there is nothing comparable to Porter's shocking speeches; yet one feels that here,

the communication of feeling is more complex and more subtle than in Look Back in Anger, because the tone is quieter and the effect is more penetrating. The Entertainer also contains a follow-up of the social and psychological themes which Osborne introduced in Look Back in Anger; but there is this essential difference: whereas Porter in Look Back in Anger criticized social institutions helter-skelter and deplored society's lack of care about the poorer classes, Archie's anger has turned to hatred against a society which has caused his failure as an entertainer. And so, he bears a "couldn't-care-less" attitude towards this society. It might be appropriate at this stage to examine the type of people Osborne dealt with in The Entertainer. In most of his work he never ceases to question, as Jean does in the play: "Who are my people?" Usually, they are the people whom the pressures of life have pushed way down the social scale, but whose family-tree has middle-class branches. In keeping with the tendency to look back, it might be helpful to delve again into Osborne's past in order to understand who the Rice are, and why the dramatist strips them as bare as he does to view in the play. In his article in Declaration. They Call it Cricket (1969), he talks intimately and warmly about his own family, and the passage is worth quoting fairly fully, so that readers can catch the intimacy, even the sentimentality, Osborne felt towards them and the kind of people they represent:

“My mother's parents were publicans—to be accurate, they managed a succession of pubs in London—until my grandfather 'lost it all'. My mother has worked behind the bar most of her life. She still does because she likes to 'be with other people'. Her own mother who is now eighty-four, retired a few

years ago on a small pension from Woolworth's. . . . as bank managers and poets"

Osborne has gathered English terrors a psychological aspect as Bryden, (1964:68) in Maitland's image and purged them pitiably and terribly. He has not written everybody's tragedy but the tragedy of everyone. Even though Bryden pinpointed the appropriate state of mind with which one must approach the character of Bill Maitland that he is an angry young man growing old. With Maitland, Osborne struck once more a familiar chord in the breasts of many Englishmen, this time those who are between the ages of thirty-five and forty. Bryden,(1964:68) stated:

“ they are the ones now in power in Britain, and they are the ones who are dehumanized by the technological and social progress of the sixties. The play is a protest against such a process of dehumanization. It is "a protest of things which cannot be helped,"-' as evidenced in the life of Bill Maitland, where Osborne probed the doldrums of futility. In the play, Liz, Maitland's mistress, diagnoses such futility as a state of catatonic immobility”

To understand the protagonist Bill Maitland better, one must see him as the most extreme product so far of the Osborne-Porter anger, whose main features were established in the character of Jimmy Porter Look Back in Anger. One must also not view him as a product of the fifties as Porter and Archie Rice were, but he is characteristically a product of his own time, the sixties. The comments of Ronald Bryden

(1994) in his article entitled "Every Osborne", will help to place the Osborne- Porter anger in the perspective of the sixties. The anxieties of Maitland who is a national dread is mixed with his sense of failure to cope with the world. He believes, like the posh papers he reads, in planning, automation, social engineering, to deal with the challenge of the future. He is no longer confident that the outside world knows or cares about his existence: he only knows it is too much for him. Bill Maitland’s psychological anger comes from the fact that his situation, cannot cope with the problem of human existence in a society which has long left behind it the basically human value of love, and has replaced it with other less important values such as technological progress. Because of the complete breakdown of communication between himself and members of his family and staff, despairs of all hope. Maitland's anger is basically the same Osborne-Porter anger, depicted in far less fiery shades than in Look Back in Anger, so much that it caused some critics to question its existence in Inadmissible Evidence. During the course of the play the reader learns that Bill Maitland is thirty-nine years old and that he is a solicitor who worked "in the service of the law" for nearly twenty-five years. He started work in his profession when he was at least fifteen years old, and can remember himself as being always "tolerably bright." He complained about the long, hard climb to the top as Osborne shows (1956:17):

“I knew that in order to become even a small market place solicitor, as distinct even from a first rate managing clerk with a big substantial firm, I should have to study very hard indeed for my, oh for my Law Society examinations all the while I was

picking up probate and convincing, running out for jugs o tea, packets of fags for the other clerks and calling in the chemist for the telephonist”

Bill Maitland is an angry protagonist, who like Archie Rice, has lapsed into apathy. He is so far gone, he is almost beyond anger. His feelings have retracted and only occasionally does Maitland lash out in a manner reminiscent of Porter, and then only when his position is threatened: He could not care less about Britain's position in the world. His anger is one that causes little offence. Bill Maitland in deploring the trivial materialistic ends of most of his contemporaries is making a last stand against an insensitive society. He sarcastically ridicules them. He also attacks the dumb conformity of the mass mind. Social and technological progress is responsible for these transformation. Inadmissible Evidence is increasingly impressionistic in form in the second act, where various telephone conversations and Maitland's conversations with his clients take place. These all show Bill's diminishing sense of human contact. Osborne explains this effect in his stage directions at the beginning of Act II (1965:11-59), this telephone conversation and the ones that follow it and some of the dialogues should progressively resemble the feeling of dream and the unreality of Bill's giving evidence at the beginning of Act I. Some of the time it should all seem actually taking place at the particular moment, naturally, casual, lucid, unclouded. At others the grip of the dream grows tighter . . . the presence of the person on the other end should be made very real indeed, but sometimes it should trail off into a feeling of doubt as to whether there is anyone to speak to at all.

The beginning of Act Two further expands on the notion of "embryonic helplessness" which the dramatist introduced at the beginning

of the play. His stage directions indicate the helplessness of the individual when deprived of the means of adequate communication.

4.3 Discussion of Results in Relation to the Questions and Hypotheses of the Study

4.3.1 Hypothesis One (Certain social and psychological factors affect John Osborne's major characters) and question one (What are the social and psychological factors that affect John Osborne's major characters?) . It is clear from the roles that the main characters that Osborne manipulate in the three plays of this study that they do reflect certain social and psychological factors such as the social factor “isolation” and the psychological one “anger”. The social factor mentioned above, that is to say, “isolation” is a social element which is passively affect Osborne’s life since he was a child, because he lost his father when he was only ten. Not only this but even he suffered psychologically because he was the only one to attend his father’s death. So, seeing someone dies, particularly for a child is a hard experience to come through. Osborne reflects this experience through his main character Jimmy Porter in the play Look Back in Anger.

This is depicted when Jimmy talks to Helena (1956:52): “Anyone who’s never watched somebody die suffering from bad case of virginity….” 4.3.2 Hypothesis Two (The experiences that the major characters suffered from during their childhood have influenced their whole lives and personalities) and the second question (To what extent are the major characters' lives affected by the experiences during their childhood?). From the psychological aspects of the main characters that Osborne portraits in the three plays of this study, it is prominent that the suffering that these characters led

during their childhood have influenced their lives later and led them to feel that they are being betrayed, an element which by itself leads to dissatisfaction and bitterness is an aspect which exists in the three plays of the study. Personally, Osborne himself felt that he was betrayed by his family when he was a little child. This because no one cared about him after his father’s death even his mother. Thus, in the three plays of this study betrayal which leads to dissatisfaction as well as bitterness is found. 4.3.3 Hypothesis Three (The plays of John Osborne reflect part of his life), and question three (How does the writer reflect his own life experience on his major characters?). According to the analysis of the main characters in the plays of this study and with reference to Osborne’s own autobiography, it is clear that Osborne narrates part of his own life socially and psychologically by using these characters as tools to communicate this universally. 4.3.4 Hypothesis Four (The socio-psychological background of the writer has its effect on his major characters), and the fourth question (What is the impact of the socio-psychological background of the author on his characters?).With reference to the social and psychological themes as well as the analysis of the main characters of the three plays of this study, it is obvious that Osborne’s own socio-psychological background does affect his major characters. Conclusion, findings and recommendations will be presented in the next chapter.

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5-0 Conclusion The researcher chose this topic of study, socio-psychological Dimensions of Major Characters in Three of John Osborne’s Plays because it is a modern trend in the field of literary writing. The main aims of this study are : to analyse the major characters in three of Osborne’s plays by applying socio-psychological approach , and to trace the author’s own life experience which is reflected on drawing his characters. To carry out this study, the researcher analysed the socio-psychological dimensions of Osborne’s main characters of the plays Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence On the basis of the social and psychological dimensions of Osborne’s own life with reference to three of his plays Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence, the researcher has come out with the following findings: 5.1 Findings 1\ The social and psychological dimensions of Osborne’s own life in the above stated three plays of this study help to furnish a comprehensive deep social and psychological reading of British life after World War II. 2\ Osborne manages to mix both British social and psychological dimensions before and after World War II. 3\ Osborne possesses the talent to write about social and Psychological life in a dramatic style.

4\ John Osborn’s plays, Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence focus on the main characters with the purpose of evaluating how they demonstrate the social and psychological aspects of their societies, their perceptions of good and evil, likes and dislikes. 5\ Revolutions against citizenship and its obligation is a prominent aspect in Osborne’s plays of this study. 6\ The use of anger, illusions, dissatisfaction, isolation and loneliness is integral to the way Osborne’s characters communicate with one another. 7\ Osborne’s plays Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence, can be considered as an autobiography of the writer’s own life. 8\ It is clear from Osborne’s long speeches in the three plays of this study that he possesses strong feeling of sadness and bitterness which result from deep anger that leads him to be separated socially and living alone. 9\ It is a fact that most of the passively psychological and social tragic events that one experiences during childhood contributed negatively in the person’s future life. 5.2 Recommendations The researcher recommends the following: 1\ Psychology and sociology is a new and fertile trend in the field of world’s literature, therefore, it is a good chance for researchers in the field of literature to consider this newly trend of literary writing. 2\ Readers of Osborne’s plays must be well-acquainted with the main characteristics of sociology and psychology in literature. 3\ English Departments both at secondary and university levels should encourage students to read and research in British literature in all its genres.

4\ More works of English dramatist and their social and psychological works should be embedded in the courses of faculties of Arts and Education for students who study English. 5\ Instead of depending on two or three British literary writers and to enlarge the students’ social and psychological background in the field of literature, more writers have to be considered.

References

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Carl. J. (1983). Literature and Psychology. Oxford University Press.

Forster,E (1974), Aspects of the Novels. Cambridge, UK

Hess, etal (1985). Myth and Reality in the theatre of Revolt. 11T

Khapure.

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Current English. Oxford University Press, fifth edition.

Jefferson and Robey(1985). Elements of Drama. Panjabi Press.

Kroll. S.(1979). Socio-Psycho and Literature. Longman Press. UK

Nirmala. A .(1985). The Language of John Osborne. Madurai Press.

Osborne. J.( 2004) Look Back in Anger. Rama Brothers INDIA

PVT.LTD.

Osborne. J. (1983) The Entertainer. Whitstable Litho Ltd Whitstable

Kent.

Osborne. J. (1965). Inadmissible Evidence. Latimer Trend & Co Ltd

Plymouth.

Osborne. J. (1991). Almost A Gentle Man. Clays Ltd. St Ives plc.

Philips (1979). The Plays of John Osborne .London Press. UK

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Biography, Oxford University Press.

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Osborne. Gorakhpur.

Websites http://www.answers.com/topic/john-osborne#ixzz1i0YO19cc www.unc.edu/~egatti/IDS30/Handouts/What_is_Theatre.doc http//www.enotes.com

www.unc.edu/~egatti/IDS30/Handouts/What_is_Theatre.doc

Theatre – The Basic Elements

1. Where theatre may come from

ritual – a prescribed procedure to achieve a desired effect

2. The Meaning of Theatre

1. The Place where it happens

2. the activity that occurs in the space – made up of 3 elements

a. what is performed

b. the performance

c. the audience

3. The Purpose of theatre as an activity - to entertain; entertain comes from a Latin word “tenbir” meaning to “hold between,” i.e. to hold the minds of the audience

Theatre is a shared experience. Sharing occurs between:

Actor-Audience

Actor-Critic

Critic-Audience

Artist-Artist

4. What’s in a Play?

1. A Play is a structured event performed before an audience.

2. It has a:

Beginning - nothing necessary before it, something must necessarily follow.

Middle - something must necessarily precede and follow it.

(Middle is composed of complications - any new element that changes the direction of the action)

End - naturally follows the middle, but needs nothing to follow it.

A. Dramatic Action –change in human relationships is the basis for the plot

B. Protagonist – the person whose will sustains the dramatic action

C. Antagonist – the person(s) or forces that oppose the protagonist

D. Three Types of Conflict

1. Person vs. person - Physical

2. Person vs. Nature (or supernatural)

3. Person vs. Self, Inner turmoil - Psychological

***Best plays have all three types

E. Well made play structure – illustrated in lecture with triangle diagram a) Exposition – important information the audience (and sometimes the characters) must learn in order for the play to continue, found at the start and at strategic points throughout the plot b) inciting incident – the moment in the plot when the protagonist’s major goal is determined

Example: Oedipus learns from the oracle that he must find the old king’s killer c) rising action – composed of complications, conflicts that are increasingly seirous d) climax – the point at which the protagonist’s fate is determined for good or ill e) denouement – tying up of loose plot ends after the play’s climax

F. Discovery and Reversal

1. movement from ignorance to knowledge

2. an unexpected change in a character’s fortunes

Six Elements of a Play

Plot – implementation of moral choice becomes dramatic action of the play

Character – moral stances/choices of characters

Thought – all thoughts of characters (not theme, as Sporre wrongly suggests)

Diction – all words

Music – all auditory aspects

Spectacle – all visual aspects

Theatrical Conventions

1. Definition: the rules of the game accepted by both audience and performers. a. Constantly Changing Nature of Conventions

Conventions have reflected their societies throughout history. b. Representational (Realistic) Conventions

Every effort is made to give the audience the impression that they are watching life on stage. c. Presentational (Non-realistic) Conventions

The performers present the story to the audience, sometimes acknowledging their presence. d. Modern Theatre Conventions (Eclectic)

As of the 20th century, each play demanded a distinctive stage treatment.

The Audience a. Audience participation: the Guaranteed Expectation principle

The audience attends for two basic reasons: To experience the familiar

To experience the unfamiliar

The Guaranteed Expectation Principle deals with the audience’s relationship with art:

What do people want?

(1) People want what they like (2) until they stop liking what they want or, Give the people what they want and they’ll be happy; the trick is to find what folks want

(2) The GEP works until it stops working, or:

The audience wants what it likes until it stops liking what it wants

When the saturation points is reached, parody often follows

b. How is audience response controlled?

1. Empathy - sense of identification with the characters, appeals to your subjective involvement

2. Detachment - you step back from the action to evaluate it, promotes your objective reaction

3. Aesthetic distance - the proper relationship between the art work and the individual experiencing the art that enables the spectator to have the ideal response to the work

The proper mixture of empathy and detachment leads us to realize that we are watching art.

Common Theatrical Genres a. Theatrical Tragedy - celebrates the human capacity to accomplish and endure. b. Tragicomedy – used to be tragedies that ended happily; now the prevailing tone is a mixture or co-existance of comedy and seriousness, c. Comedy – attempts to correct the follies of society by holding them up to ridicule d. Melodrama – dramatizes the basic struggle between good and evil

More than just overwrought 19th C acting