“Look Back in Anger” – John Osborne
Look Back in
Anger (1956) is a play by John Osborne. It concerns a love triangle involving
an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin,
his upper-middle-class wife, and her arrogant best friend.
The play was
a success on the London stage, and spawned the term "angry young men" to describe Osborne
and those of his generation who employed the roughness of realism in the
theatre.
John James Osborne (1929 –1994) was an English
playwright, screenwriter, actor, known for his attacking prose and strong critical
attitude towards traditional social and political norms.
Let’s first
have a look at the main characters and plot of the play:-
The play is rigid
in structure and ends in a riddle: Jimmy is overwhelmed by Alison’s suffering
and seems at last to realize his immaturity, cruelty and excesses; while on the
other hand Alison, having suffered so much, may now feel a closer attachment
and a deeper commitment to her tough husband.
It is believed
that the play is based on Osborne’s unhappy marriage with Pamela Lane: while
Osborne aspired towards a success’s career in theatre, Lane had more practical
and materialistic aspiration.
We find here
many themes like Class conflict, Identity crisis, Loss of childhood and many
others.
We find class conflict here as Jimmy comes
from lower class and Alison comes from upper class. It is the class system,
with its built-in special treatment for those at the top and rejection from all
power for those at the bottom, that makes Jimmy’s existence seem so worthless. Jimmy
likes to be with Cliff, as Cliff says “I’m Common”.
Jimmy is
trapped in problems of his own identity. This play can be also read from
feminist perspective, as we see that Alison also suffers much.
Thus, the
play presents limitations of warm domestic life and public life.
Reference:-
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Back_in_Anger
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Osborne
- Google Images
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