Stephanie Gamarra Wäntig 23rd of December, 2005

Group: A

Analysis of the play,

¨Look Back in Anger¨

¨Look Back in Anger¨ is a play in three acts, which was written by the famous playwright John Osborne. The first publication took place in 1956, London by the editorial Faber and Faber. This play was known as the turning point to the post-war British theatre.

In this three-act play, we can find three lead characters, Jimmy Porter, Alison Porter and Cliff Lewis who all live together in a one-bedroom flat in the Midlands. The rest of the characters in this play are; Helena and Colonel Redfern.

Jimmy Porter; Jimmy is a university-educated man who works in a sweet stall with his friend Cliff. Although Jimmy is a university-educated man, he sometimes is very vulgar when he refers to Helena, or when he is argues with his wife, Alison. Also we can add that Osborne articulates the image of a ´angry young man´ during this post-war era and by this we can see the raging expression of the frustrations of the lower middle-class that Jimmy represents.

Alison Porter; Alison is a middle-class young girl who came from a well known family. Her father was a well known Colonel in the British Army in India. When Alison married Jimmy she passed from being from the high-class to the middle-class. Alison is a good house wife and very tolerant with Jimmy’s attitude toward everything, but towards the end Alison with the help of Helena and her father she becomes stronger and has the courage to leave Jimmy.

Cliff Lewis; Cliff unlike Jimmy is rather ignorant, but we can also say that he is an easy going and laid back kind of guy. He cherishes his friendship with Jimmy, that’s why sometimes he has to put up with humiliation and Jimmy criticising him. Cliff doesn’t always put up with Jimmy’s rages, especially when he offends Alison by being rude with her. Cliff and Alison, get along quiet well although in some of the scenes we can suspect that Cliff is in love with Alison.

This play can be summarized in the following way; Jimmy Porter and his friend Cliff Lewis both live together in a one-bedroom flat along with Alison (Jimmy’s wife). Both Jimmy and Cliff are two best friends that also work in a sweet stall together. When they are all at the flat Jimmy always starts criticising Cliff and Alison, until one day Jimmy gets in a fight and Cliff and burns Alison’s arm with the iron. Everything from that day starts going bad and to top it all she is pregnant but doesn’t dare say anything to Jimmy. Later on the play her friend Helena comes to visit. Jimmy hates her and refers to her as, ¨that bitch”. Alison invites Helena to stay. Once Helena is in the flat she is appalled in what she finds so she calls Alison’s father to come get her from this mad house. Jimmy had to leave to be present in a funeral of a mother of a friend who passed away. As soon as he leaves, Alison leaves with her father. Once Jimmy comes back, Helena moves in with Jimmy and they both become very fond of each other despite the hatred that they had for one another. After months have passed away, Alison comes back having lost her child and Helena leaves because she couldn’t stay any longer with Jimmy and leaves. Finally Alison stays for good with Jimmy.

The setting of this play takes place in a closed, indoor place, which is in the one-bedroom flat in the midlands that Jimmy owns. The characters come and go off stage, although the places where they go are not staged. The setting of this one-bedroom flat is quite simple with limited space.

The time in which the play takes place is in the present which is the post-war era. The action takes place chronologically but there is a small time ellipsis which occurs from the first scene to the last scene. Only a few months pass by.

This play is written in verse. The literary contents in this particular play is quite simple, although in some scenes we can find some colloquial vocabulary in which Jimmy uses to refer to Helena, but in general the language was easy to read because it was language of everyday speak.

Other aspects that we can find in this play are the political and social circumstances in which the characters are found in which explains the preoccupations that the characters like Jimmy have which is due to the post war era. Knowing this, it makes us comprehend and understand more the attitude that Jimmy Porter which is the model of the typical ‘angry man’.

In conclusion, I think this play was very entertaining and very enjoyable to read. This play was quite easy to read due to the fact that the language was of everyday speak. The melodramatic qualities were very realistic, that’s why it makes it really easy for the reader to relate to.