John
Osborne is the best dramatists of 20th century and belongs to the category of great modern dramatists
such as G.B. Shaw, Sean O’Casey, John
Galsworthy, and J.B. Priestley. His early play ‘Look Back in Anger’
marked the beginning of the revolution in British Drama. Ifor Evans remarks in
his book ‘Short History of English Literature’,
“To the Royal court theatre in
1956 came
Osborn’s play ‘Look
Back in
Anger’ which caught
the
imagination of a generation.
He broke
into the theatre
with what
seemed an authentic
picture
of post war society.”
Osborne
has presented class-conflict existed in the English Society. The play is
regarded as the central and most immediately influential expression of mood of
its time, the mood of the angry young man. It gave the strongest Fillip to the concept
of the angry young man. Let’s critical appreciation of this play.
The title
The
title is always an important part of literary creation because it shows
theme of play or creates excitement to people to read the book. Here the title
has two parts ‘Look Back’ ‘in Anger’.
It suggests that the drama is about angriness. Apart from that the drama is
throught out dealing with the character of Jimmy Porter and with its angriness.
The play is centres on Jimmy’s angriness, his life, his wife and his hate. In
this way, title is an apt.
Jimmy: the rancorous
hero
Jimmy
Porter is the rancorous hero. He has been regarded as a spokesman of the
post-war generation in Britain. When the play was produced in 1956, at that
time the general mood of the people in Britain was one of frustration,
disillusionment, cynicism, rebelliousness and even despair. Jimmy gives expression
to this mood through his rhetoric speeches. He was ideally constituted to be
all purposes hero dissatisfied young people. The critics Stephen Williams says,
“Jimmy
spits venom against
everything
and everybody
and is
apparently convinced
that for the youth of today
the world
is an utterly purid place.”
Variety of themes
There is variety of themes in
the play. There is variety of themes like criticism on set of social rules,
study unhealthy marriage relationship and texture of ordinary despair. The criticism
on set of social rules is the foremost of the theme. The play presents the
class war existed in the post war English society like the novels such writers
of John Wain Kingsley Amis and John Brain. The rancorous hero of the play Jimmy
porter represents the fury of post war youth.
“‘Look
Back in Anger’ gave
the
strongest Fillip to the
concept of the angry young man.”
Osborne has given us an excellent
accurate dissection of perverse marriage. Unhealthy relationship of love
marriage and sex are interwoven in the play. Theme of ‘Quest for Solidarity’ is
one important aspects of drama. And Jimmy and Alison are the victim of these. The
play is concerned with intellectual and spiritual deadness. It is concerned
with the debased value of modern life of which spiritual deadness is one of the
parts.
Autobiographical drama
According
to Trussler the play ‘Look Back in Anger’ is thoroughly autobiographical
in one respect. There is much substance in this view. Osborne self portrayed himself in the name of
his main character Jimmy. The experience which he had in his life can easily
seen in the play. As Jimmy was disliked by the society, Osborne himself passed
through these stages of life. Jimmy has the same kind of anger as Osborne had.
There are so many such traits that Osborne was having, have been transferred
into Jimmy’s character. We can find the personality of Osborne in the role of
Jimmy.
Psychological and sociological aspects
According
to A. E. Dyson, ‘The play has some wider psychological and sociological
aspects.’ As sociological aspects, it presents some social problem of
human life and society of contempory time. It also present 21st
century’s man’s problem of class consciousness, position of women, and problem
of matrimonial relation. It shows social criticism for character like ‘Helena’.
There are some psychological reasons
after the minds of characters. e.g. Why Jimmy always criticizes society.
Alison’s tolerance leads his misfortunes. The game of ‘Bear and Squirrel’ is
totally based on psychology. Jimmy’s remarks early in the play that ‘nobody
thinks, nobody cares. No beliefs, no convictions, and no enthusiasm. ” has its
psychological and sociological significance. Dyson says,
“The play
is subtly aware the
psychological
impact of bomb
era upon
men like Jimmy as
anything
else in twentieth
century
English literature. ”
Symbolism
Symbolism
is the distinguishing trait of the play. ‘Bears and squirrel game’ is kind of reconciliation for Alison and
Jimmy from the harsh realities of life. According to Simon Trussler the game is
a brave attempt by Jimmy and Alison to compensate themselves for the failure of
their marriage. There are some symbolic
devices which are part of the play’s structure. ‘Ironing’ symbolizes a
kind of routine life with which Jimmy is fed-up. ‘Church bell’ symbolizes Jimmy’s anti-religious personality. ‘The Trumpet’s blowing’ symbolizes an escape from realities of the world life.
A dark comedy
‘Look Back in Anger’ is a dark
comedy because it contains the element of cynicism and bitterness. The
structure of the play so well planned that it upholds it is a successful dark
comedy. The subject of the play is basically the hidden class war between upper
class and lower class. Osborne shows us something of married life of a young
map of the latter type. After the play, the phrase the ‘angry young man’
becomes popular as a description of those who were unhappy with the justice and
unequal. The play is cynical and bitter and typical the darker side of comedy.
well-made play.
The
play is well-made play. The action of play develops in a logical and
coherent manner. The development of the plot very perfectly and clear.
Conflict, surprise, suspense, tension and climax are the principal features of
the play. The ending of each scene is skillfully effect. It is a traditional
play as regards its construction. In a short, the play is technically a very
good play. A. E. Dyson describes as ‘taut and theatrically exciting’. According to John Russell Taylor,
“Look
Back in Anger’ is a well-
made
play, with all its climaxes,
its
tightenings and slackening
of tension in the right places.
To
summing up, “Look Back in Anger” is a great work of art, a major play which can
never be dated. Osborne has invested
much of his thoughts, experience and energy in the play. Osborne he has
displayed his feeling for the contemporary and the temper of post-war youth.
The play is regarded as the central and most immediately influential expression
of mood of its time, the mood of the angry young man. The forceful and vigorous
language, use of question tag, rhetoric dialogue, moral insight of the
character, imaginative vitality, powerful situation are the peculiarities the
play. A.E. Dyson
+“Look
Back in Anger” is a
genuine
drama about real
event and people
the matter described above is very helpful to solve the problem regarding the title of the play........thanks a lot.
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