31 John Osborne: Look Back in Anger

Ms. Rekha Mathews

    

Introduction: Historical Background

John Osborne appeared at a time (in the 1950s) when the British theatre had settled down to the style of comedies written by Noel coward and Terence Rattigan. When it was staged Look Back in Anger created a new sensation, though most critics attacked the play as unpromising. The play became popular mainly because it gave theatrical voice to the frustration and disillusionment of the young generation of Britons in the1950s. At that time the British society was coming to terms with the realities of the Post World War II era. Though victorious in the war against Hitler and his allies, Britain had to pay dearly for it. After the war, Britain was faced with the reality of devastated towns and cities, loss of a large section of youth, the tremendous loss of resources and the eventual loss of world supremacy.

The emergence of the two power blocs, led to the period of the cold war. The world had become divided into two contesting power blocs. The western ‘Free world’ led by the U SA and the Eastern ‘Socialist Socialist( Soviet) Bloc’ led by the U SS R contested for world supremacy and there was the Nuclear arms race which created a global alarm-the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. One defining moment of this period was The Suez crisis in 1956, in which Egypt refused to renew the British-owned Suez Canal Company’s concession and which resulted in a disastrous and humiliating intervention by England which simply emphasized the lack of power wielded by Britain in the Post World War II world. Within British society new trends were appearing. In the midst of new affluence, the middle and lower classes of British youth were frustrated by the spiritual emptiness of the period. There had also been incursions into the power structure since early Victorian times, with the ruling classes resisting every inch of the way.

All these led to the rise of a new generation of writers who attacked the social and political institutions, through their literature. These young writers who gave voice to that generation came to be known as the ‘Angry Young Men’. The mood of this generation is effectively captured by the play.

John Osborne- Biography

John James Osborne was born on December 12, 1929 in Fulham, South West London. His father, Thomas Godfry Osborne, was then a commercial artist and copywriter; his mother, Nellie Beatrice Grove Osborne, worked as a barmaid in pubs most of her life. Much of Osborne’s childhood was spent in near poverty, and he suffered from frequent extended illnesses.

He was deeply affected by his father’s death from tuberculosis in 1941.He also remembered vividly the air raids and general excitement of the Second World War. Osborne attended state schools until the age of twelve when he was awarded a scholarship to attend a minor private school, St. Michael’s College, in Barnstaple, Devon. He was expelled at the age of sixteen after the headmaster slapped Osborne’s face and Osborne hit him back. After spending some time at home, he took a series of jobs writing copy for various trade journals. He became interested in theatre while working as a tutor for children touring with a repertory company from 1948.

Soon he began to act on stage and worked as stage manager with the company. He collaborated with Anthony Creighton in writing two plays Personal Enemy and Epitaph for George Dillon. His friend Stella Linden, an older repertoire company actress encouraged Osborne to write. Look Back in Anger, his first play was sent to several theatre companies in London. But each time it was rejected. Finally the newly formed English Stage Company accepted it. Its performance was met with hostile reviews. But the play had something in it that caught the imagination of the 1950s generation. Thus it became popular especially with the post war British youth. It was originally produced at London’s Royal Court Theatre, with the press release calling the author an ‘angry young man’. This phrase came to represent a new movement in 1950s British theatre.

Kenneth Tynan gave the play an encouraging review. He wrote: ‘I could not love anyone who did not wish to see Look Back in Anger’. He spotted Osborne as a promise of the future and gave a more detailed analysis of the play than anyone else.. Arnold Wesker described Osborne as having “opened the doors of theatres for all the succeeding generations of writers. In terms of effect, Osborne never surpassed Look Back in Anger, but his plays included huge successes such as The Entertainer and Inadmissible Evidence. When we look back upon Osborne’s plays at now after half a century, we will have to admit that Look Back in Anger is more a ‘mood play’ or a period piece’ than anything else.

     Angry Young Men (or ‘Angries’ for short) is a journalistic catchphrase applied to a number of British playwrights and novelists from the mid-1950s. The phrase was originally used by British newspapers after the success of Osborne’s Look Back in Anger to describe young British writers. It has changed meaning over time, and has become a cliché when used more generically, to refer to a young person who strongly criticizes political and social institutions. The ‘Angry Young men’ of Britain were a group of writers who emerged in the post war (1950s) decade. This group included Harold Pinter, John Braine,  Alan Sillitoe, Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, and John Wain. William Cooper, the early model Angry Young Man, though Cambridge- educated was a “provincial” writer in his frankness and material and is included in this group. Their political views were seen as radical, sometimes even anarchic, and they described social alienation of different kinds. They also often expressed their critical views on society as a whole, criticizing certain behaviours or groups in different ways. The term was rejected by most of the writers to whom it was applied.

     Autobiographical elements: Look Back in Anger was a strongly autobiographical piece. It was based on Osborne’s unhappy marriage to Pamela Lane and their life in cramped accommodation in Derby. While Osborne aspired towards a career in theatre, his wife Lane was of a more practical and materialistic persuasion. She did not take Osborne’s ambitions seriously while cheating him with a local dentist. It also contains much of Osborne’s earlier life .For example Jimmy’s wrenching speech on seeing his father die is a replay of the death of Thomas, Osborne’s father. What is best remembered is Jimmy’s tirades against the mediocrity of middle- class English life, personified by his hated mother Nellie Beatrice. Madeline, the lost love Jimmy pines for, is based on Stella Linden, an older rep-company actress who first encouraged Osborne to write. Osborne began a relationship with one of the play’s stars, Mary Ure and divorced his wife to marry Ure in 1957.

1.5. Production History: On May 8, 1956, Look Back in Anger opened at the Royal Court Theatre as the third production of the newly formed English Stage Company. Although the first production of Look Back in Anger was not initially financially successful, after an excerpt was shown on BBC the box office was overwhelmed. Osborne was publicized as the “Angry Young Man” and the success of Look Back in Anger opened the doors to other young writers who dealt with contemporary problems.

The following year, the production moved to Broadway under producer David Merrick and director Tony Richardson starring Alan Bates, Vivienne Drummond, and Mary Ure. The movie version featured Richard Burton in one of his first starring roles, with Claire Bloom as Helena and Mary Ure reprising her stage role as Alison. The screenplay was written by Nigel Kneale. The film was nominated for both BAFTA and Golden Globe awards, although many critics felt Burton aged 33 was too old for the role of Jimmy Porter.

I.6: Setting

The play provides a glimpse into the lives of working class people in the provincial British towns of the post war period. The action takes place in the Porters’ one-room flat, a fairly large attic room. The furniture is simple and rather old: a double bed, dressing table, and book. The atmosphere is cramped with three people sharing the meager space available.

I.7.Imagery

Two sound images from off-stage are used very effectively in Look Back in Anger: the church bells and Jimmy’s jazz trumpet. The church bells invade the small living space and serve as a reminder of the power of the established church, and also that it doesn’t care at all for their domestic peace. The jazz trumpet allows Jimmy’s presence to dominate the stage even when he  is not there, and it also serves as his anti-Establishment “raspberry.”

1.8. Language:

This being a realistic play the language used is plain prose. Osborne and his followers came to be known as the “kitchen sink” dramatists. Their style of domestic realism came to be known thus because they set their plays in lower middle class homes and portrayed the struggles of the marginalized in society .They sought to convey the language of everyday speech, and to shock the audience with its bluntness. Eric Keown, reviewing Look Back in Anger in Punch magazine at the time, wrote that Osborne “draws liberally on the vocabulary of the intestines and laces his tirades with the steamier epithets of the tripe butcher”.

Much of the speeches in the play come from Jimmy, the protagonist. He is an adept in the use of words, and his university education and knowledge of the contemporary world reflect in his language. In the realistic tradition, the characters are distinguished by their speech. The play is full of turns of phrase mostly from Jimmy. He sometimes uses fanciful expressions and punning words expressing his scorn, contempt and anger at the world that only offers him suffering and disillusionment.

 The play: Brief Outline:

The three-act play takes place in a one-bedroom flat in the Midlands. Jimmy Porter, lower middle-class, university-educated, lives with his wife Alison, the daughter of a retired Colonel in the British Army in India. His friend Cliff Lewis, who helps Jimmy run a sweet stall, lives with them. Jimmy, intellectually restless and thwarted, reads the papers, argues and taunts his friends over their acceptance of the world around them. He rages to the point of violence, reserving much of his bile for Alison’s friends and family. The situation is worsened by the arrival of Helena, an actress friend of Alison’s from school. Alison confesses to Helena that she is pregnant. Appalled at what she finds, Helena calls Alison’s father to take her away from the flat. He arrives while Jimmy is visiting the mother of a friend and takes Alison away. As soon as she has gone, Helena moves in with Jimmy. Alison returns to visit, having lost Jimmy’s baby. Helena, overcome by remorse, can no longer stand living with Jimmy and leaves. Finally Alison returns to Jimmy and his angry life.

 Characters:

Jimmy Porter- The protagonist of the play. An educated young man living in a poor neighbourhood running a sweet stall.

Alison Redfern- His wife of four years constantly abused and mocked by him. Cliff Lewis- Their friend who shares the same flat with them Helena Charles -Alison’s friend an actress who comes to stay with them for some time Colonel Redfern- retired from service in India is unhappy about the changes that have taken place in society.

Critical Summary Act 1

The plot of Look Back in Anger is driven almost entirely by the tirades of Jimmy Porter rather than outside forces. The play is set in a one-room attic apartment in the Midlands of England. The curtain rises on a large Victorian attic room, furnished simply with a dressing table, a double bed, a bookshelf, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, a gas stove and a cupboard. Downstage center is a dining table with three. This large room is the home of Jimmy Porter, his wife Alison, and his partner and friend Cliff Lewis, who has a separate bedroom across the hall .The action, opens with Alison at the ironing board on a dismal Sunday afternoon in Jimmy and Alison’s cramped attic in the English Midlands. Jimmy and Cliff in easy chairs are attempting to read the Sunday papers (plus the radical weekly, “price nine pence, obtainable at any bookstall” as Jimmy snaps, claiming it from Cliff. This is a reference to the New Statesman, and in the context of the period would have instantly signalled the pair’s political preference to the audience). They are all full of the same things. He wonders why he should have to read these every Sunday Alison is only half listening as Jimmy and Cliff engage in the expository dialogue. Jimmy’s opening remarks refer to the repetitiousness and uneventful ness of his existence.

Jimmy complains that half the book review he is reading in his “posh” paper is in French. He asks Alison if that makes her feel ignorant and she replies that she wasn’t listening to the question. Immediately one of the main themes is introduced, Jimmy’s railing against the inertia of Alison and the inertia of the whole middle-class of England. Jimmy teases Cliff about being uneducated and ignorant and Cliff good naturedly agrees with him. Jimmy is sarcastic when he addresses his wife. He says that Alison hasn’t had a thought for years He declares: “Old Porter talks and everyone turns over and goes to sleep. And Mrs. Porter gets ‘em all going with the first yawn.” Cliff intervenes to prevent Jimmy from irritating her any further.

Jimmy insults Cliff too telling him that he is ignorant and cannot read. They enter into a fight over the Sunday papers .But soon Jimmy asks for food. This brings forth the comment from cliff that he is a glutton and one day he will get into the crime page of the Paper News of the World for stealing cabbages and beans. Jimmy retorts that it is not that he is a glutton but he “just likes food’ that’s all”. There is further talk of the items in the newspapers Cliff and jimmy exchange those between themselves. Cliff invites Alison to stop her ironing and sit down a bit. Then he takes her hand and kisses it. He remarks to Jimmy about her beauty. Then there is talk about Bishop Bromley. This bishop has written in the newspaper that Christians should help to build the Hydrogen Bomb. Jimmy asks Alison if she is moved by the Bishops appeal. Alison’s affirmation brings forth more scorn. Jimmy sarcastically says that he would send the bishop a subscription. The bishop also has criticized those who attacked him for his alleged support of the rich. He denied the existence of Class distinctions and thinks that the idea has been propagated by the working classes. Jimmy turns this discussion in the direction of Alison’s family. He suggests that it is Alison’s father who is posing as Bishop Bromley. ‘Bishop Bromley’ is a pseudonym of Colonel Redfern according to Jimmy. He also adds another story to this, directed to provoke Alison who is a churchgoer. He tells the story of a woman attending an evangelical meeting, overcome by the frenzy of a conversion rushing towards the preacher, and is caught in a stampede of converts and badly hurt. But Alison does not pick this up. Instead she asks if they want more tea.

Jimmy expresses his boredom and depression; “It’s always so depressing, always the same. We never seem to get any further, do we? Always the same ritual. Reading the papers, drinking tea, and ironing. A few more hours, another week gone. Our youth is slipping away…” He refuses Cliff’s invitation to go to the pictures because he cannot stand the Sunday crowds in the cinema hall. He finds society in a state of sloth .There is no enthusiasm about anything. In a bitter piece of dialogue he says: “I have an idea. Why don’t we have a little game? Let’s pretend that we are human beings and that we’re actually alive”.

Jimmy shifts his attention to Cliff’s trousers and scolds him for being careless about it. Alison offers to press them for Cliff. Jimmy lights up his pipe and cliff who cannot stand it lights up a cigarette As they do so another one of Jimmy’s characteristic remarks come off : “ Nobody thinks, nobody cares. No beliefs, no convictions and no enthusiasm, Just another Sunday evening.” We learn that there’s a huge social gulf between Jimmy and Alison. Her family is upper-middle class military, perhaps verging on upper, while Jimmy is decidedly working-class. The talk soon turns to politics and social conditions. He raises the idea that people like him are not supposed to be patriotic according to popular notions. He focuses on Alison’s father who retired from India to find that the country had changed. Colonel Redfern’s generation belongs to the Edwardian generation. Jimmy thinks of their well settled life as a phony. He comments ironically: If you’ve no world of your own, it’s rather pleasant to regret the passing of someone else’s” He also makes a remark about the contemporary world as ‘the American Age” This echoes the decline of British dominance in world affairs.

Jimmy has a good word to say about Webster who is a friend and kindred spirit. Alison recalls Jimmy’s former mistress Madeline about whom he had been very enthusiastic. Madeline was ten years older than him. He still retains his admiration for the former mistress, and admits it to Cliff and Alison. (“Just to be with her was an adventure”) When Cliff brings up Webster again, Jimmy speaks of the man as a ‘female Emile Bronte”. Jimmy tells Alison that it is a surprise that she is able to get on with him .Alison appeals to Jimmy to stop the discussion, when he talks further about the friendship between Webster and Alison.

He tells Cliff that nothing; even his dropping dead would ever provoke Alison. Cliff exasperatedly retorts: “then drop dead”. While Alison is getting Cliff’s trousers ironed the two men engage in another debate. This time jimmy pours scorn on Alison’s family- her parents and her brother Nigel who is an officer in the Army. He describes Nigel as “The Platitude from Outer space”, who is ‘vague’ and is likely to end up in the parliament. He is very much a man of the establishment who likes to keep things the way they are.

As it begins to rain outside, Jimmy continues with discussions on “Mummy and Daddy” (his in-laws). He mocks Alison as “Lady Pusillanimous” Alison keeps her cool and goes on ironing, while Jimmy turns on the radio to listen to a concert by the famous musician Vaughan Williams. The talk then turns to newspapers again and then another tirade against women in general. To Jimmy women are a noisy lot He calls them refined butchers His pasteurization of Alison as like some “dirty old Arab, sticking his fingers into some mess of a lamb fat and gristle’ is disgusting. Cliff ‘s protest goes unheeded and Jimmy goes on recounting some of his experiences with women “ slamming their doors, stamping their high heels, banging their iron and saucepans- the eternal flaming racket of the female”. Then the church bells begin to ring and Jimmy shouts out through the window for the bells to stop. Alison asks him to shut up for fear of the landlady. He abuses Mrs. Drury as a robber. Cliff tires to humour him by asking him out for a drink but he refuses. Then Cliff takes hold of Jimmy and forces him to dance. This leads to a scuffle between the two. Meanwhile Alison gets her finger burned on the hot iron, when her husband pushes Cliff into her during the fight. Jimmy is sorry about it, But Alison shouts at him to get out of her sight. Cliff attends on her. While he is attending to her  burn Alison confesses  to him that she cannot take it any more. Jimmy has disappeared into Cliff’s room. But Cliff tells her that they are too young to give up. She tells Cliff about the situation between her and Jimmy she pretends not to listen to Jimmy knowing well that it would infuriate him. She feels that it is “those easy things that seem to be so impossible with us” (Jimmy and herself).

She makes another confession to Cliff. She is pregnant. At this stage it is difficult for her to have a pregnancy since they are living in difficult conditions. She hasn’t told Jimmy about this… Alison is indeed confused about this. She cannot bring herself to tell her husband about this. She thinks of telling him that evening. She knows that Jimmy will not greet this situation happily. She tells cliff about Jimmy’s strange morality. and about how they got married. She was a virgin till their marriage, and Jimmy used to mock her about it. Cliff confesses to her about his friendship with Jimmy. It is their working class background that brought them together. Jimmy hates the ‘posh’ people even when they hare his relatives. They share a tender moment between them while Jimmy enters, watching them. Although they are aware of it, they go on holding on to each other.

To Cliff’s question as to why Alison ever married him, Jimmy retorts “You think she’d have been better off with you?” Cliff is doubtful. Alison is also confused about whether a man like Cliff would be her type. .Jimmy tells them to go to bed and ‘be done with it’. He is unable to concentrate while they are standing there before him in embrace. Cliff remarks to Alison that Jimmy is an old Puritan. Jimmy tells them that if “Mummy and Daddy” saw this they would collapse and may send for the police.

Jimmy had to campaign hard against her family’s disapproval to win Alison. They had to make arrangements for the marriage in secret. We also learn that the sole family income is derived from a sweet stall in the local market — an enterprise that is surely well beneath Jimmy’s education, let alone Alison’s “station in life”.

Then begins a game of ‘the mouse’ between Cliff and Jimmy. When his friend remarks that Cliff is more like a mouse, cliff mimics a mouse and declares himself to be a mouse. He improvises a dance and song calling it a mourris dance. Cliff calls him a stinking old bear”. They enter into another fight, with cliff dragging Jimmy along the floor and Jimmy shouting at him to buy some cigarette for him. They playfully abuse each other and then Cliff goes out to get cigarettes. Jimmy apologizes to Alison for his behaviour and tries to make up with her He had hurt her on purpose. There is a tender scene between them, and Jimmy declares how he still watches her and wants her. He declares his feelings for her even after four years in the same place. . He speaks of Cliff and their other friends. Then he refers to Alison as a “beautiful, great eyed squirrel”. She calls him a “Jolly super bear” and the play this game of squirrel and bear” between them. There is a moment of happiness together. Cliff returns and tells Alison that she has a phone call. It is learnt that the call is from her actress friend Helena Charles.

When Alison announces that Helena is coming to stay and it’s entirely obvious that Jimmy despises Helena even more than Alison. He flies into a total rage, and conflict is inevitable. Alison tells him that Helena has no friends other than she and has no place to stay. While she is in the town .The act concludes with Jimmy’s speech which further hurts Alison. Jimmy, unaware of Alison’s pregnancy, says to her: “If only something—something would happen to you, and wake you out of your beauty sleep! If you could have a child, and it would die. Let it grow; let a recognizable human face emerge from that little mass of India rubber and wrinkles. Please—if only I could watch you face that. I wonder if you might even become a recognizable human being yourself. But I doubt it.” According to him, she has so much to learn. He speaks of her as a devouring python.

Critical commentary:

Act I has only one scene. It sets the mood and tone of the play. It introduces us to the characters and the situation. The main characters are introduced and their relationships established. The physical and mental condition of the characters is clearly exposed through the stage directions as well as the dialogue. Jimmy is a cynical disillusioned young man. He is a mixture of cheerful malice, tenderness and cruelty pride and restlessness. He runs a sweet stall with his friend the poorly educated Cliff. He also seems to have artistic ambitions suggested by the trumpet playing. Alison is also bored and long suffering under the tyrannical Jimmy and his angry outbursts. But she seems to be resigned to her condition. She is obviously quite used to her husband’s monologues, that she only half listens to him. There is obviously little emotional and intellectual communion between the two. Alison’s drab life and her monotonous domestic routines are suggested by the ironing she is engaged in. Jimmy dominates the scene throughout by his bursts of long speeches. Cliff Lewis seems to offer a foil to Jimmy. Though he is not an intellectual, he appears to have a heart in the right place. He has a soft corner for Alison. This is demonstrated by the fact that he rises to defend Alison when Jimmy directs his vitriolic remarks at her.

Jimmy’s opening remarks about the newspapers suggest his political leanings and also his mental condition. He is bored with life. He is an avid reader of newspapers and has acid comments to make about them. They are all the same. The “posh papers” he mentions are those papers that stand on either side of the political establishment- the Liberal and the Conservative. Atom Bomb is also mentioned along with a certain Bishop named Bromley. Bromley’s views are clearly in favour of the rich. Jimmy’s remarks are meant to expose the hypocrisy of the religious establishment that chooses to support the upper classes by ignoring the existence of the working class. He attacks both his wife and his friend for lacking enthusiasm. In his view they are  lacking in ordinary human enthusiasm which means that they are not alive. His condition signifies a sense of disillusionment with everything, and at the same time without any clear view about how to live.

Jimmy hates his in laws. His anger is directed at them too, along with Alison. His comments about the in-laws are cruel and uncharitable. He invents the story that the hypocritical Bishop Bromely is the assumed name of Alison’s father who writes articles in the newspapers under that name. He thinks of Alison’s parents as arrogant, malicious and fanatical. Alison’s brother who is a military cadet is also mocked as “the straight-backed, chinless wonder from Sandhurst”. It’s possible to play this scene as though Jimmy thinks it’s all a joke, but most actors opt for playing it as though he really is excoriating her.

Act 2.

It is two weeks later on another Sunday afternoon, in the same room. Alison is making tea while Jimmy practices his trumpet offstage. Helena enters, attractive and dressed expensively, carrying a large colander. She is the same age as Alison and very attractive. The playwright also notes that “her sense of matriarchal authority makes most men who meet her anxious, not only to please but impress, as if she were the gracious representative of visiting royalty.” .She works in the theater, and is a friend of Alison’s from her life prior to her meeting with Jimmy. The women discuss Helena’s help during the week and the two men. Helena wonders if Alison is having a difficult time living in these ‘primitive’ circumstances and taking care of two men. Alison is annoyed by jimmy’s trumpet and Helena believes that his trumpet playing is to annoy her. Jimmy once had a jazz band and perhaps he is planning to wind up his sweet stall and restart the band again. Helena asks Alison if Cliff and she are in love. She wants Alison to be frank about it Alison’s answer is that they are simply fond of each other and nothing more. When Helena is not convinced, Alison tells her: “You mean there is something physical too? I suppose there is, but it’s not exactly a consuming passion with either of us. It’s just a relaxed, cheerful sort of thing, like being warm in bed.”

Alison tells Helena the reason why she has a fine friendship with Cliff. He is a very nice person. Then there was Hugh Tanner, the son of Mrs. Tanner who had helped Jimmy open his sweet stall.

Jimmy had left the university and they were married, with no means to support themselves. They lived In Hugh’s flat. She and Hugh disliked each other at first sight. Alison and Jimmy had a very humiliating time living with Hugh who was subtly insulting. Since her parents had opposed the marriage to Jimmy, she could not go to them for help. Her brother was busy trying to get  into the Parliament so he had no time for her .Alison’s life during those early days were a nightmare, .She was forced to live in  conditions that she was unfamiliar with. It was beneath  her class. Her mother had dispossessed her of the shares that she had, when she announced her marriage to Jimmy.

Jimmy and his friend found a way out. It was by gate crashing into the parties thrown by the family friends of the Redferns. Once Hugh was thrown out of one such party when he tired to seduce a young girl.

Helena wonders why Alison married Jimmy. Alison gives a clue as to why she decided to take Jimmy on — her own minor rebellion against her upbringing plus her admiration of Jimmy’s campaigns against the dereliction of English post-war, post-atom-bomb life. She describes Jimmy to Helena as a “knight in shining armour” whose rebelliousness and fighting spirit had charmed her. Hugh and Jimmy used to make havoc in the political meetings of her brother  Nigel.

Hugh later left England after a quarrel with them Hugh believed that England was finished for them and wanted jimmy and Alison to leave with him. But they refused and Hugh quarrelled with them and went away. Hugh’s mother disliked Alison because she thought that Alison was responsible for all this. Helena advises Alison to tell her husband about her pregnancy. She cannot go on living like this for long. Either Jimmy has to change his behaviour of Alison has to go away for her own good. Jimmy’s home is a menagerie or a madhouse according to Helena. Alison points to the squirrel and Bear toys in the room and replies that they are like those too. Jimmy is the bear and she is the squirrel. They always play the game of bears and squirrels. It was a game they had started after parting with Hugh and coming to the new place. She refers to it as “a silly symphony for people who couldn’t bear the pain of being human beings ay longer”, “all love and no brains”.

But now it seems that ‘Even bears and squirrels have left”

Helena says, firmly, “You’ve got to fight him. Fight, or get out. Otherwise he will kill you”.

Jimmy enters, and the tirade continues. He picks up with Cliff who in his view is a dullard. While taking tea together the harangue goes on. If his Act 1 material could be played as a joke, there’s no doubt about the intentional viciousness of his attacks on Helena. When the women put on hats and declare that they’re going to church, Jimmy’s sense of betrayal peaks. He thinks she has gone out of her mind. Alison is in a fighting mood too. She mocks him saying that he had rescued her “from the wicked clutches of her family and all my (her) friends” She would have been rotting away at home if he hadn’t come on his white steed. This remark with its ironic references to the romances launches Jimmy on another long speech abusing his in laws “Alison’s mummy and I took one look at each other, and from then on the age of chivalry was dead”, is  one of the play’s linguistic gems He recalls how Alison’s mummy hated him for his class, his manners and his hairstyle. Cliff and Helena intervene to defend Alison. Jimmy continues his insults deliberately to break her spirit. Jimmy. He reports the details of their wedding in the church- the last time Alison had been in a church. That was actually and attempt to avoid Alison’s parents from attending their marriage .But it failed because the local registrar had informed the Colonel and his wife and they were at the church already. Their presence made Jimmy sick.

Helena and Jimmy engage each other in a fight. She threatens to slap him. He tells her that he is no gentleman and has no scruples about hitting women. He makes her listen to his account of his father’s death. It had been a traumatic experience for him. Jimmy’s father had gone to fight in Europe in the Spanish Civil War (1937, on the side of the communists) where he was wounded. The father’s family were embarrassed by hi s politics, and his wife (jimmy’s mother) was indifferent to they dying man. The young Jimmy “small frightened boy” was his only companion. Jimmy would sit with him and listen to him talk and read “At the end of twelve months, “Jimmy tells Helena, “I was a veteran”.

When watching his father die all he could feel was “the despair and the bitterness, the sweet, sickly, smell of a dying man.”

Jimmy calls Alison a Judas for allowing Helena to take her out to the church. He accuses her of being indifferent to him in his despair. She was one who could “twist your arm with her silence.” He tells her that he would wait for the day when she would come back groveling to him. He would enjoy that sight.

When Jimmy leaves to take an urgent phone call, Helena confronts Cliff asking him what he was doing .She is exasperated by “these men”. Cliff defends himself saying that he has been attempting to make peace between them and it was because of him they are still staying together. He has been “a –no-man’s land between the husband and wife whose life is a battlefield. Helena announces that she’s forced the issue. She’s sent a telegram to Alison’s parents asking them to come and “rescue” her. Alison is stunned but agrees that she will go. She hopes that after Alison is gone, Jimmy may come to his senses. Jimmy returns with the news that His benefactor Mrs. Tanner had a stroke and is possibly dying. Jimmy reminisces to Alison about the dying lady who was greatly impressed by Alison when she saw their wedding photo. Now he wants Alison to go with him to visit the woman. But Helena leads Alison out. Jimmy falls to bed in despair.

Commentary.

We notice how the presence of Helena changes the situation in the family. Helena apparently is not afraid of Jimmy or his tantrums. She tries to help Alison out of the misery she is in. At the same time we also notice that Jimmy and Alison have mutual love. Jimmy appears to be a bundle of contradictions as far as his emotions are concerned. The game of Bears and squirrels recall their mutual affection especially in the early days of their marriage. However Alison cannot bring herself to tell Jimmy about her pregnancy. She is afraid of his reaction. Cliff’s presence in the house may be, as he claims, a soothing effect .he says that he is responsible for keeping the husband and wife still in the same house. There are also suggestions of a relationship between Alison and Cliff which is more than mere friendship. Jimmy even chooses to mock their ‘slobbering’ over each other .Marital infidelity is suggested in situations like these.

 Act II. Scene Two: The next day 

This scene opens with Alison’s father, Colonel Redfern, who has come to collect her to take her back to her family home. The playwright allows the Colonel to come across as quite a sympathetic character, albeit totally out of touch with the modern world (as he himself admits).Alison tells him that Jimmy is gone to visit Mrs. Tanner. Cliff is taking care of Jimmy’s sweets shop in his absence. The colonel is a little upset about his daughter not letting him know about the life in the flat. Alison tells him that Jimmy considers it “treason” to write to her parents. The colonel also regrets the role played by him and his wife in alienating Jimmy. It was mostly because of Alison’s wife that Jimmy hated them so much. She had considered Jimmy a criminal and even made enquiries about him through detectives. “We were all to blame”, he says “no doubt Jimmy acted in good faith.” The colonel is sorry about it all. Alison tells her father about the abuses that Jimmy showered on her mother. He was not so hard on the colonel. Alison is upset when her father asks her why she had to meet this young man at all.

The Colonel cannot understand the situation. He had believed that it was love that made young people enter marriage. But now they “have to talk about challenges and revenge.” He reminisces about his past life. He had joined the army in 1914 and had been in India till 1947. Those were golden days. Now after leaving India and reaching home he finds that he is only “an old plant left over from the Edwardian Wilderness”.

“You’re hurt because everything’s changed,” Alison tells him, “and Jimmy’s hurt because everything’s stayed the same.”

Helena arrives to say goodbye, intending to leave very soon herself. Alison is surprised that Helena is staying on for another day, for she has an appointment in Birmingham about a job. Cliff comes and is introduced to the Colonel. Alison leaves, leaving note for Jimmy. She does not want to wait for her husband’s arrival. Cliff and Helena are left in the room Cliff wonders if Jimmy would get back to his old mistress Madeline. Cliff does not want to stay to see Jimmy’s reaction to the current situation. He hands over Alison’s letter to Helena and goes out. Almost immediately, Jimmy bursts in. His contempt at finding a “goodbye” note makes him turn on Helena again, warning her to keep out of his way until she leaves. Helena tells him that Alison is expecting a baby, and Jimmy admits grudgingly that he’s taken aback. However, his tirade continues. They first come to physical blows, and then as the Act 2 curtain falls, Jimmy and Helena are kissing passionately and falling on the bed.

Commentary:

Here we get a glimpse of Colonel Redfern, Alison’s father. He represents the old generation British. He is a left over from the imperial British days. Born and brought up in the heyday of the British Empire, he served in India which was the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the British monarch. He nostalgically reminisces about the golden days of the pre 1947 days. Jimmy represents a drastically different ethos. The difference between her husband and her father is put by Alison to her father: “You’re hurt because everything’s changed, and Jimmy’s hurt because everything’s stayed the same.”

Alison’s leaving does not make Jimmy feel different. He comments sarcastically about the goodbye letter written by his wife. He is angry with her for not caring about Mrs. Tanner. The scene ends on an unexpected turn of events. Helena and Jimmy are united, of course after a fight. This makes us suspect Helena. Was she telling a lie in order to snatch Jimmy from her friend? In any case there seems to be no honesty or affection in man woman relationships portrayed in the play. Sexual morality is given a backseat.

 Act 3 Scene 1.

Months have passed. The final act opens as a deliberate replay of Act 1.It is a Sunday evening at the apartment. It is obvious that Helena has moved in, as her belongings have supplanted Alison’s on the dressing table, and she is wearing Jimmy’s red shirt like Alison was in the first scene. Not only that she takes over the ironing too. Jimmy and Cliff are up to their usual discussion of the Sunday papers. The prodding banter is the same, although Helena seems a little more opinionated. His boredom with the papers is suggested by his statement: “why do I have to spend half of Sunday reading the papers?” Jimmy reads out a sensational item from one of the papers. It is about the practice of occult in the Midlands by some, one of whom is a lady who cut a cockerels head and drank its blood etc. It is done in imitation of some Egyptian fertility rites. The banter continues with Jimmy playful remarking that somebody must be sticking pins into his waxen image for years .It must be Alison’s mother ( the implication is that she is a witch).She must be getting wax from Harrods. He playfully suggests that they could also do orgies of that kind, such as roasting Cliff over the gas stove (only if they have enough money to pay for the gas needed. it could be a good occupation for autumn evenings. He mocks the idea of sacrifice saying that people make sacrifices of the things that they really were not capable of wanting.

Then he says that Cliff’ blood being low class cannot be a good offering. Helena’s blood would do better and after drinking her blood they could invoke the Coptic goddess. The discussion  turns on the idiotic and intellectually pretentious discussions going on in the papers. He cites the examples of a lady protesting on religious grounds about artificial insemination and a fierce debate between academicians about whether Milton wore braces or not.

A still more humorous remark follows this. It is about a Yale professor who has produced an argument claiming that Shakespeare changed his gender while writing his last drama and was forced to retire to his hometown because the actors in the theater refused to take him seriously any more.

Then his attack is directed on religious observances. He pokes fun at Helena and the local parson whom he would invite to tea so that his moral muscles would develop. He had been a “liberal skinny weakling” and now can perform any kind of press there is without betraying the least sign of passion or kindliness”

Jimmy is notably more pleasant to Helena than he was to Alison in Act 1. She actually laughs at his jokes, and the three of them get into a Music Hall comedy routine that obviously isn’t improvised. The half serious manner gives way to mirth and levity of a slapstick performance, parodying T S Eliot and the like, with bits of songs and dance thrown in for good measure. The climax of it is a friendly wrestling match between the two men. Cliff’s shirt is spoiled and Helena now in the role of Alison offers to clean it for him. .

As Helena goes out with the shirt, Jimmy asks Cliff if he does not like Helena .Cliff admits to it and also reminds Jimmy that he himself did not like her once. He announces that he’s decided to strike out on his own. He must make a life of his own and also find a girl for himself. Jimmy is skeptical since he thinks that Cliff may not be able to find a girl stupid enough to be his wife. Jimmy is sorry to see his friend leave though he does not say it directly. He tells cliff: “I seem to spend my life saying good-bye.” He also tells his that Cliff had “been loyal, generous and a good friend.” Cliff had provided him with something that women could not give.

One of the key statements in the play also follows this: “I suppose people of our generation aren’t able to die for good causes any longer. We had all that done for us, in the thirties and the forties…. There aren’t any good brave causes left. “If the big bang does come, and we all get killed off, it won’t be in aid of the old-fashioned, grand design…”

Helena returns Cliff’s shirt to him. Jimmy suggests that they together go out for a drink soon… He is sick to see Helena behind the ironing board. Jimmy remarks to his mistress about Cliff: “He’s a sloppy, irritating bastard, but he’s got a big heart. You can forgive somebody almost anything for that…”Both of them are sorry about Cliff’s going. They kiss each other .Jimmy suggests that they close the sweet stall and start afresh. He wants to get away from there. She agrees to his idea.

As Jimmy leaves the room to get ready for a final night out for the three of them, he opens the door to find Alison, looking like death. Instead of caring for her he snaps over his shoulder “Friend of yours to see you” and abruptly leaves.

Commentary

The third Act is a seeming repetition of the first scene. Helena is seen in the place of Alison. The discussions about Newspapers and the intellectual and religious establishment continue. His comments serve to establish the argument of the play that intellectuals and spiritual leaders have lost touch with the contemporary reality and are engaged in barren pursuits. Newspapers revel in prurient journalism reporting on occult practices indulged in by fashionable women and publicizing escapist intellectual debates. Much of the high intellectual debates (Shakespeare’s gender change Milton’s braces etc) are merely pretentious, but engage the energies of the Yale- Harvard Dons. Jimmy’s tone towards Helena is not as caustic as it was towards his wife in the first scene. The scene climaxes with the tussle between Jimmy and Cliff and their music hall ‘Jock and Day’ act. Cliff’s announcement of his leaving brings out the true nature of Jimmy’s attitude towards cliff. Beneath all their bantering and quarrels there is real camaraderie and affection. Cliff is aware of the purposelessness of his life there. Besides Jimmy seems to be better off now with the new woman so there is no need for a peacemaker. One of the crucial statements signifying the meaninglessness and boredom of the existence of the youth of the time is expressed through Jimmy’s comment that there no more causes to fight for; the atom bomb may put an end to everything. So what’s the point of being patriotic, or sacrificial or devoted to any particular cause at all? Despair underscores such statements.

Perhaps we may read a cause in Jimmy’s rants against the establishment. It is that the world created by the elder generation has to be exposed protested against and demolished. The expression of his despair and anger in itself would suffice.

Act 3, Scene 2

After a scene break, a few minutes after Jimmy leaves, his trumpet can be heard. He is in Cliff’s room across the landing. Alison relates how many times she tried to come to the apartment, but she turned back before she got there. It was an act of madness on her part to have done so. She fiddles with Jimmy’s pipe and tells Helena about how she even purposely sat behind a man smoking one at the movies, even though she hates it. Alison explains to Helena that she lost the baby — one of Jimmy’s cruellest speeches in Act 2 expressed the wish that Alison would conceive a child and lose it .Many times in the previous months she was haunted by the memory of her life here. When she expresses her regret for being back in the flat, Helena reassures her. It is she who ought to be away from there. Alison replies: “I gave up believing in the divine rights of marriage long ago. Even before I met Jimmy.” She had chosen to be Jimmy’s wife. Helena is now in her place by choice. She detests herself for doing ‘something vulgar” .But she has not come there to blackmail Helena or take advantage of her. Alison’s forgiving attitude makes Helena feel all the more regretful. Alison tells her friend that she is talking as if she had swindled her. Helena is irritated at this and observes that Alison talks like Jimmy. Helena had written to Alison that she had loved Jimmy. She was unable to understand it when she got the letter. Helena herself could not understand why she loved Jimmy.

Helena tells Alison that she has found out what Jimmy’ problem is. It is that he was born at the wrong time. There is no place for the likes of Jimmy in the contemporary world. He is a man who thinks that he is still in the middle of the French Revolution. He has no sense of direction and is not likely to amount to anything. Alison comments that he is like one of those ‘Eminent Victorians’ an embodiment of lost causes and “Slightly comic”. Helena could not tolerate the thought of Alison marrying someone like him. She confesses that her relationship with Jimmy is over. She believes in good and evil and now realizes that what she has done is utterly wrong. She is not stopping aside to allow Alison to reunite with her husband. It is out of a sense of wrong that she is doing so. Alison tells her that Jimmy will be left alone. Helena replies that he will find someone. He may have many women at his disposal. Helena had come to a self realization of the wrong done by her the moment Alison had arrived there. She also expresses her sorrow about Alison losing her baby. Alison does not want to blame Helena in any way. Alison thinks that Jimmy is not satisfied with either of them. What he wants is perhaps “a kind of cross between a mother and a Greek courtesan a hench woman, a mixture of Cleopatra and Boswell. Helena shouts to Jimmy to stop his trumpet playing. And asks to talk to him. Jimmy is unwilling to do so in the presence of Alison. He is suspicious of the two women conducting some ‘dark plot’ against him.

Jimmy enters. Helena asks him if he is not concerned about Alison who has lost her child He replies that the child was his too. Alison tries to suppress her crying Helena comes to her support pointing out to Jimmy that it is none of her fault. Helena asserts herself and tells Jimmy that she is leaving and that her decision has nothing to do with Alison’s presence there. Both Jimmy and Alison are surprised. Helena knows that she cannot be happy while being conscious of the fact that she is doing wrong. However she does not stop loving Jimmy Helena also promises to help Alison stay in a hotel if she does not wish to stay with Jimmy. Alison is in no condition to make a journey. She will leave in half an hour. Jimmy accuses everybody of being escapists. Nobody wants to face suffering. He tells Helena not to fool herself by believing that she loves him. She is too weak to love. Love demands strength and courage which she does not possess. Helena wants to maintain a kind of purity of the soul; wh9ich actually denies life of the senses. Such a woman can be a saint and cannot live like a human being. One has to make a choice between this world and the nest Helena leaves without any further arguments. Jimmy and Alison are left alone.

Jimmy is upset by Helena’s leaving. But he strikes up a conversation with Alison. He accuses his wife of insensitivity. She had not cared to send flowers to Mrs. Tanner’s funeral. He confesses that he is not able to find a like companion in Alison. He is like a lonely bear in the forest alone and without comfort. The voice that cries out in pain need not be the voice of a weakling. Even the strongest beings cry out when they suffer. He recalls his first seeing Alison at a party and  was enamoured of her because she seemed to have “great relaxation of spirit”. But after their marriage he got disillusioned. Alison’s problem was that she had not experienced suffering and pain. One has to undergo suffering and pain if one is to find relaxation of spirit.

Alison begins to weep. Now she herself had her share of sufferings. She is repentant of her attitude. Her neutrality towards life and seeking to live like a saint was wrong. She tries to identify with her husband, wishing to be a “lost cause” like him. The loss of the child is deeply painful. She had thought that the child would be safe in her womb. When she lost it all she wanted was to die. She could only think of Jimmy and the lost child. She wanted Jimmy to see her in her misery. He had once remarked that he could have the satisfaction of seeing her suffer so that she would learn her lesson. Though the loss of the child has deprived Jimmy of his child, he can now have the satisfaction of having seen her suffer. The play ends with a major surprise — a highly sentimental reconciliation between Jimmy and Alison.

Alison collapses at Jimmy’s feet asking him to see her grovel and crawl (as he had wanted). Jimmy is overcome. He cannot bear to see it. They reconcile. Jimmy tells her: ‘we’ll be together again in our bear’s cave, and our squirrel’s drey and we’ll have honey, and us-lots and lots of nuts… The bears and squirrels game is back. suggesting their return to the good old days of animal warmth and togetherness. They revive an old game they used to play, pretending to be bears and squirrels, and we are left to assume that they live, if not happily, at least in a state of truce in the class warfare, ever after.

Commentary: The play ends on a happy note. After a period of separation the couple unites. Alison has undergone much suffering, in the loss of her child. Helena occupying Alison’s role in Jimmy’s life for a few months now seems fed up .She also has a troubled conscience about living with Jimmy. Cliff chooses to leave and strike out on his own, finding that his presence is not needed in Jimmy’s home any more. Helena’s leaving and the reconciliation of the husband and wife are unexpected turns. Jimmy’s character is commented upon by both the women and also cliff. All his anger and frustration is that of a disillusioned idealist. He wins our sympathy in this way. , as one who has realized the ‘pain of being alive’.The play ends with the ‘bears and squirrels, game taking the two back to their early days of marriage. They escape into the cosy animal warmth of their domesticity which is perhaps the best thing they can do to cope with the pain of being alive.

III.    Themes

a.   Anger in the play.

The expression ‘angry young man’ came into popular usage among critics and journalists, after the popular success of Look back in Anger. Though many critics attacked Osborne’s play for its shortcomings, its success could be accounted for in terms of the mood of the times. Look Back in Anger evoked a sympathetic response in the British public; especially the youth of the times, whose anger at the status quo were rightly reflected in Jimmy Porter’s speeches. The critic Kenneth Tynan referred to the play’s “instinctive leftishness”. In one of the  reviews, he wrote  on “The Angry Young Movement” that Jimmy Porter “represented the dismay of many young Britons … who came of age under a Socialist government, yet found, when they went out into the world, that the class system was still mysteriously intact.” The anger of Jimmy springs from the failure of ideals. He refers to himself as a ‘lost cause’.

b.   Alienation andLoneliness

Jimmy Porter spoke for a large segment of the British population in 1956 when he ranted about his alienation from a society in which he was denied any meaningful role. Although he was educated at a “white-tile” university, a reference to the newest and least prestigious universities in the United Kingdom, the real power and opportunities were reserved for the children of the Establishment, those born to privilege, family connections, and entree to the “right” schools. Part of the “code” of the Establishment was the “stiff upper lip,” that reticence to show or even to feel strong emotions. Jimmy’s alienation from Alison comes precisely because he cannot break through her “cool,” her unwillingness to feel deeply even while making love with her husband. He berates her in a coarse attempt to get her to strike out at him, to stop “sitting on the fence” and make a full commitment to her real emotions. But he fails to get the kind of response he expects.

Jimmy’s troubled personal background is also to be noted. He forces Helena to listen to his traumatic experiences of early youth. His father’ death after prolonged suffering is  recounted. The young boy had seen his father return from the Spanish civil war, wounded. He had been given up by his family because he had fought for the revolutionaries. His wife (Jimmy’s mother) was ashamed of him. Jimmy was the old man’s only companion when he was dying. As Jimmy says, he had received his lessons in suffering watching his father.

c.   Loss of Idealism-

Look Back in Anger is a play about loss of ideals that make life meaningful. Jimmy Porter is characters who represents the frustration and anger those results from loss of ideals. His own father who was close to him in his tender age was a leftist idealist who went to fight for a cause in Spain. He returned wounded and discarded by all except Jimmy. Jimmy refers to this event in one of his painful reminiscences. Jimmy is an idealist who finds that nobody around him has any regard for ideals. There are no causes to fight for. The newspapers are full of rubbish sensationalism. Class differences still continue to hold influence.

Jimmy has the feeling that everything is a masquerade. “Why don’t we have a little game?” he asks his friend at one point. “Let’s pretend that we’re human beings and that we’re actually alive”. There is no sense of a life being lived because human emotions and ideals that give meaning to life are no longer there.

Jimmy represents the generation of the post World War II British society. The war had destroyed any respect for the old world ideals of patriotism and imperialism. Men like Colonel Redfern who grew up in the ‘Edwardian Wilderness’ of the Pre World War I are lost in this world . They feel outdated. Science, the creator of the Hydrogen Bomb has nothing to offer but a possible annihilation of civilization. Religionist reduced to mere piety devoid of spiritual vitality and jingoism.

Immediately after the War, Britain went in for a change, electing a Labour government. But the promises raised by the new government were soon laid to rest when they were thrown out in the next election. Despite the Welfare measures adopted, the sufferings of the working classes continued. Hence it appears natural that a youth like Jimmy Porter should get angry with the world around him.

Alison says to her father Colonel Redfern: “You’re hurt because everything is changed. Jimmy is hurt because everything is the same. And neither of you can face it. Something’s gone wrong somewhere, hasn’t it?” This statement makes the point clear.

Helena criticizes Jimmy, saying, “There’s no place for people like that any longer—in sex, or politics, or anything. That’s why he’s so futile…. He doesn’t know where he is, or where he’s going. He’ll never do anything, and he’ll never amount to anything.” Her criticism places Jimmy in the right perspective. This goes hand-in-hand with Jimmy’s statement that “people of our generation aren’t able to die for good causes any longer…. There aren’t any good, brave causes left.”

d.   Matrimonial discord– Jimmy has been married to Alison for four years as the play opens. But they have not been able to find a comfortable living despite Jimmy’s education .Alison comes from an upper class family. She loved Jimmy for a variety of reasons and got married to him against the wishes of her parents. Now she has settled down into the routines of a boring life in a bed-sit in the Midlands .She does the household chores, and is constantly subject to the ranting  of the husband. Her only comfort is Cliff, their friend who stays with them.

Though Jimmy has little to say in favour of his in- laws, he loves his wife. The early days of their marriage are characterized by the ‘bears and Squirrels’ game .This game that they play between them suggests the animal warmth and escapism that they enjoyed in the early days. Jimmy does not show any love for Alison now. He even speaks brutally to her saying that he would like to see her suffer and grovel in front of him one day.

Jimmy’s disregard for sexual morality is one reason for his failure. He treats traditional morality with contempt. It is a contempt that is also part of his anger at the church and spiritual things represented by it. This is evident in the way he speaks of Alison’s pre marital- virginity as contemptible, and his affair with Madeline, his former girlfriend.

Their marriage faces a break down when Alison’s friend Helena comes to their house. While she is with them, Alison reveals to her friend that she is pregnant. Helena is horrified by the manner in which Jimmy is treating Alison. She informs Alison’s father who comes to take his daughter away. The turning point comes when Alison leaves and unexpectedly Helena becomes Jimmy’s mistress. We realize that the marriage is ended. However this sate of affairs lasts for only a few months. Alison returns after the loss of her child. Her speech to Helena reveals how she misses Jimmy in spite of everything. Helena feels guilty about stealing into Alison’s bed.

Both the women come to a realization that Jimmy is not easy to please. As Alison says, what he wants in a woman is a combination of the mother and the courtesan, a Cleopatra and a Boswell.

In the end they are reunited. Jimmy comes to realize that Alison also now knows the pain of being alive. She also has suffered. The loss of the child is a grief that they both share. There is a touchingly emotional reconciliation in the last scene. Jimmy comes to terms with his dilemma. He yearns for passion, and clings to the idea of it. When Alison returns to him, he tells her “I may be a lost cause, but I thought if you loved me, it needn’t matter.” The two return to their ‘Bears and squirrels’ game.

IV.   Character Sketches 

1.    Jimmy Porter.

In Jimmy Porter, Osborne created what came to be seen as a model of the “angry young man”—ranting at the lack of passion of his age, entreating Alison and Cliff to show some enthusiasm. He is marvellously, unreasonably idealistic in a wildly unfocussed way.

Jimmy Porter is a working class intellectual. He is young and is unhappy with everything. He is living in a poor quarters of a provincial town. He is bored and disillusioned with everything. He has no ideals to live for, no enthusiasm about anything, and has no love for anyone. We see him smoking and reading the Sunday papers, in the company of his friend Cliff. His wife is Alison an upper class girl who is always seen at the ironing board, and is ill treated by her husband. Part of Jimmy’s anger is directed at the upper class, and his ill treatment of his wife is the result of class hatred. Jimmy is a representative of the British youth of the post war years. They were disillusioned and angry with the political establishment and the attitudes of the affluent classes.

Mary McCarthy speaks of Jimmy’s boredom as ‘a badge of freedom” She further says that his boredom “is a positive activity, a proclamation” It is his mode of protesting against the emptiness and lack of inspiring ideals. His attack on society and his tirade against everything is a “calculated irritant that prevents other characters from lapsing into torpor”

Jimmy is talkative. In all the scenes involving Jimmy, he does most of the talking. He demands the attention of others. Other characters sometimes plead with him to keep quiet. But he cannot bear to be silent. If he is out of the scene he is heard blowing his trumpet. This is also part of his attention seeking character.

Another aspect of Jimmy’s character is his loneliness. He instinctively distrusts others. At the same time he demands complete loyalty from others. He is domineering.  Both the women  he loves are seen wearing his shirt over their garments. This is a sign of his attempt to make them identify with him. Mary McCarthy comments that “Jimmy would make his women into men if he could, because if they were men he could trust them.

Alison is unable to put up with his for long. She leaves him and goes to her father. Jimmy has no qualms about taking her friend the actress Helena as his mistress. His response to the knowledge of Alison’s pregnancy shows his callous attitude. Clearly their marriage is a flop.

Later it is Helena’s repentance over their infidelity that makes her leave Jimmy, so that Alison could be reunited to him. But as Alison arrives at the doorstep after her long absence, Jimmy simply ignores her and goes out without so much as greeting her. Though the play ends where they are reunited and back to their game of ‘bears and squirrels’ there is no guarantee that the future of their marriage would be smooth. Jimmy’s character points in that direction.

There are some points of comparison given between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and with this play. Hamlet is a young scholar who is disillusioned and angry with the world around him. Like him, Porter is also at war with the rotten society around him. Just as Hamlet has a Horatio (his confidant and adviser) Jimmy has Cliff playing that role. Cliff bears with Jimmy and very understands towards him.

Similarly just as Hamlet is brutal in his treatment of Ophelia, his sweetheart, so is Jimmy towards his wife. Hamlet kills Ophelia’s father. Jimmy openly hates his father- in- law.

J immy Porter’s character has been attacked by many critics. Some of them point out that  Jimmy is a bore, and his anger is pointless. His treatment of Alison cannot be justified on any grounds Jimmy’s frustration and anger are to be sympathized with. In one of his revealing speeches he recounts the sufferings that he underwent at a tender age. His father had returned wounded from the Spanish war. Little Jimmy was the only one who cared about the dying man His mother did little for her husband. The sufferings and death of the old man had a deep wounding impact on Jimmy. He tells his audience: “I learnt at an n early age what it was to be angry-angry and helpless”.

For all his anger and cynicism, Jimmy is a warm hearted human being, who craves for love. He does not seem to get it from his wife. His regard for the dying Mrs. Tanner and his love for Cliff show this. His anger and frustration may be seen as a manifestation of his craving for love and compassion.

There is also a streak of the misogynic in him. Perhaps it is better to say that his attitude towards women is full of contradiction. He speaks of women as blood suckers and ‘refined butchers’. At the same time he declares his love for Alison. He tells her “There’s hardly a moment when I’m not- watching and wanting you”. Yet he ill treats her and then takes Helena for a mistress. Some critics explain that his ill-treatment of Alison is born out of his acute class consciousness and perhaps his dislike towards his mother.

2.  Alison:

Alison is the daughter of a colonel who had retired from service in the Indian Army. She is an only daughter. Brought up in a higher class than that of her husband, Alison is to be admired for her endurance of a volatile and cynical husband who has nothing good to say about even her parents. She lives with him in a provincial town, taking care of the house and submissively listening all her husband’s tirades. She is seen at the ironing board working, while Jimmy is reading the news papers and talking away.

She is one who was brought up in an upper middle class family with its old world values of decency chastity and polish. She fell in love with Jimmy for his idealism and intellectual powers. She had defied her family to marry beneath her class. Soon the marriage descends into a troubled and bored existence in a cheap bed-sit flat in the Midlands. She does the house hold work and is subject to Jimmy’s harangues.

She is pregnant when she makes her exit from Jimmy’s life. It was at a time when she was pregnant, but was not able to tell him the fact. Later she loses the child. She cannot help returning to Jimmy after this. As he had wanted, she is prepared to grovel before him. Jimmy is able to appreciate her love, when Helena and Cliff leave. In the end Alison is able to return to a new life with Jimmy, in spite of all that has happened.

3.   Cliff: He is the Horatio of Jimmy the Hamlet. Cliff is an uneducated Welsh youth who lives with Jimmy and Alison in the same flat. He is poor but sensible and sympathetic. He does not share the acute class hatred of Jimmy though he is in a sense worse off than his friend. He has no taste for music or the intellectual pretensions of Jimmy. He shows great regard for Alison where Jimmy doesn’t. He is gentlemanly and is always helpful towards the suffering Alison. He knows that the marriage of Jimmy and Alison is “a battlefield” and he is the peacemaker who keeps the marriage from falling apart. He says “I’m pretty certain that if I hadn’t been here, everything would have been over between these two long ago. I’ve been a no man’s land between them.” Jimmy admits the worth of his friend speaking of him as a man with a “big heart” he is as Mary McCarthy has pointed out, like Horatio in Hamlet a friend and foil to Jimmy Porter.

4.  Colonel Redfern: Alison’s father. He represents the generation of the early 20th century. He was bred in the Edwardian Culture and has returned from colonial India and now feels alienated from the new generation of Britons. But he loves his daughter and consoles her in her time of trial.

5.   Helena Charles; She is the friend of Alison. She is an actress who comes to perform in the town and is offered lodging by Alison. She is a strong willed woman. It is she who advises Alison to fight against ill-treatment by her husband. She even informs Alison’s father about the situation and helps her get out of the troublesome marriage. Though it was not intentional, she becomes Jimmy’s mistress after Alison leaves the house. Later at the end of the play she comes to know that Alison had lost her baby, and is overcome by repentance. She leaves Jimmy, after which the separated couple reunites.

Note: the following characters do not appear in the play but are talked about only

6.   Mrs. Redfern_ Alison’s mother never appears in the play. But she is present to us through Jimmy’s comments on his mother in law. He speaks of her as an “overfed, over-privileged old bitch”. He hated the lady at first sight. She had attempted to prevent his marriage to Alison. She is presented as the representative of class snobbery and lack of understanding.

7.   Mrs. Tanner– This character also is one who does not appear on stage but is spoken of. It is from Jimmy that we get a picture of her. She is the mother of Jimmy’s former friend Hugh. Mrs. Tanner loved Jimmy an Alison. She was Jimmy’s benefactor. Jimmy is overcome by her death. One of his reasons for being angry with Alison is that she did not care much about Mrs. Tanner.

8. Hugh Tanner– Hugh is Jimmy’s youthful friend. He also belongs to the working class and shared Jimmy’s interests. Hugh Tanner, the son of Mrs. Tanner who had helped Jimmy open his sweet stall. It was he who helped the newly married Jimmy and Alison to start their life when they had no means to support themselves. They lived In Hugh’s flat. Hugh and Jimmy gate crashed into the parties offered by Alison’s relatives and helped themselves to free meals. Alison hated Hugh. She felt that Hugh’s attitude to her was insulting. He later went away from their life with the ambition of writing a novel.

9. Madeline- Madeline is Jimmy’s first mistress. She was ten years older than him. But jimmy enjoyed being with her. She tells his wife that “just to be with her was an adventure”. He speaks nostalgically about his affair with Madeline while feeling bored with his wife.

V.   StyleRealism and Naturalism

Realism is a mode of expression which tries to present social realities as faithfully as it can, within the conventions of literature. In drama, realism refers to the kind of drama that became popular with Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw and Anton Chekov. They wrote about contemporary problems and depicted ordinary people’s lives. The settings were believably true to contemporary reality and the themes were concerns of ordinary people. There were no black and white villains and heroes. Classical norms of tragedy and comedy did not apply to such plays because we often find the sad and the happy mixed. The language used was colloquial prose. The tradition of realism has come to stay in the theater since the early 20th century. Naturalism is an extreme form of realism which represented the ugly and unpleasant aspects of human existence and offered critical views of society. It saw man as a victim of his environment, natural or social. Osborne’s play contains elements of realism and naturalism. It is a play that is formally realistic. The characters are identifiable as working class youth of the1950s. Their life is characterized in all its boredom, ugliness and disillusionment..

The plot of Look Back in Anger is a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man named Jimmy Porter , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife Alison, and her snooty best friend Helena Charles. Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace. The play is as much about the frustrations of a generation of lower class British youth as it is about the loss of ideals and moral values.

The action of the play takes place in a provincial town where Jimmy and his wife are leading a meager existence in a working class neighbourhood in the Midlands. Alison belongs to an upper middle class family. Her father colonel Redfern is a retired colonial army officer. The young couple had been living in this one room flat for four years. Jimmy is educated in the university but is without a decent income of job. He and his friend are running a small shop. Alison is uncomplaining but not attentive to Jimmy’s feelings. But she takes care of her husband and the house.

Jimmy Porter is the raging expression of the frustrations of the lower middle class. His anger and frustration with everything around him leads him into violent moods. His relationships with his wife gets strained He is impatient with her for not listening to him. She leaves him. He is troubled about the loss of ideals and is unable to establish meaningful relationships. Jimmy’s recounting of his traumatic experiences of early youth reflects his mental condition. His hatred of the upper class is focused mostly on his mother in law. The loss of his benefactor Mrs. Tanner also is deeply disturbing. He is indifferent to what happens to Alison. In his belief she has not experienced the pain of being alive. In the end Alison returns after having experienced the loss of her child. Jimmy comes to realize that he is a lost cause. But it is till possible for him to be passionate in his personal relationship. Thus the two are reconciled.Apart from the realistic depiction of the troubled emotional life of Jimmy and Alison, the play also throws light on the prevailing conditions in British society. Jimmy’s discussions with Cliff over the various news paper reports and his acid comments on politics, religion, and class snobbery reflect his attitudes.

The play is described as belonging to the theater of “kitchen sink realism”. This type of play dealt with the domestic life of the middle and lower middle class.

Reference

• Osborne, John. Look Back in Anger: A Play in Three Acts. London: Faber, 1957. Print.
• Look Back in Anger. Dir. Tony Richardson. Perf. Richard Burton, Claire Bloom.Warner Bros Pictures Inc. 1958. DVD.
• Denison, Patricia D. John Osborne: A Casebook. New York: Garland Pub., 1997. Print. Heilpern, John. John Osborne: The Many Lives of the Angry Young Man. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. Print.
• King, Kimball. Western Drama through the Ages: A Student Reference Guide. Westport,
• Lacey, Stephen. British Realist Theatre: The New Wave in its Context 1956 – 1965, Routledge London. Print.
• Osborne, John. A Better Class of Person: An Autobiography, 1929-56. London. 1982. Print.
• Sierz, Aleks. John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger. London: Continuum, 2008. Print.