A vibrant and forceful woman
“Helena Charles” is a vibrant and
forceful woman in ‘Look Back in Anger’
by John Osborne. She a rather judicial
expression of alertness on her face. She possesses a sense of
matriarchal authority and she behaves as if she were a gracious representative
of some visiting monarch. Actually she belongs to the middle class which feels
perfectly secure in its basic rightly. Most men would be anxious to please and
to impress a woman of this kind. Even from other young women like Alison, she
receives her due respect and dignity. Now discuss her character
Her attitude to Jimmy:-
When
Helena is first introduced to us, she is busy preparing tea for the inmates of
the house of Jimmy. She is feeling perfectly at home and is assisting Alison in
household work. She had come to stay with the Porter only for a week. Just a
Jimmy is openly hostile to Helena; she too makes no secret of her dislike for
him. Her attitude to Jimmy is a very negative and bad. When speaking to
Alison, she is quite blunt in her criticism of Jimmy. She described Jimmy to
Alison as a real savage. On hearing Jimmy playing loudly on his trumpet, He remarks,
“It’s
almost as if he wanted
to kill
someone with it. And
me in
particular. I’ve never
seen hatred
in someone’s eyes
before.
It’s slightly horrifying.”
Helena’s influence on Alsion
Helena
seems to have a great hold upon Alison. Under Helena’s influence, Alison
agrees to go to church for prayer. After observing Jimmy’s habitual ill
treatment of Alison, Helena begins to work upon Alison’s mind. According to
Helena, Jimmy does not seem to know what love or anything else means. She goes
on to say that either Jimmy should learn to behave properly and look after his wife.
So Alison must get out of this “Mad-house”. She further says to Alison,
“Listen
me, You’ve got to
fight
him. Fight or get out.
otherwise,
he will kill you.”
It
is Helena who is directly responsible for Alison’s decision to leave
Jimmy. She makes Alison more conscious than the latter was before of Jimmy’s
brutal treatment of her. Without telling Alison, Helena sends a telegram to
Alison’s father to come and take away Alison because Alison is very unhappy. In
all this, Helena is apparently acting as Alison’s well-wisher. We have no
reason at this point to suspect Helena’s intentions of motive. We ourselves
realize that it is dangerous for Alison to continue to stay with Jimmy in her
pregnant condition.
His love with Jimmy
After
Alison is gone, Jimmy returns from his visit to London. On
his speaking in his usual offensive way to Helena, Helena slaps him; but
the very next moment she kisses him passionately and then draws him down
beside here. This gives to us great surprise and also rises to the suspicion in
our minds that she had falled in love with Jimmy in the very beginning. However
this is only a conjecture on our part, because the author himself does not says
anything to make the position clear. It is possible to argue that there was no
pre-planning on Helena and that her kissing Jimmy.
Helena’s conscience
Helena
then lives with Jimmy as his mistress for several months and she is
obviously quite happy with him as is he with her. Helena has fully replaced
Alison and is ironing the clothes as Alison used to do. She is even wearing a
shirt of Jimmy. However there is another big surprise waiting for us. Just when
we had reached the conclusion that Helena and Jimmy had found in each other
permanent life-partners, Alison returns unexpectedly.
But
Alison’s return brings about an abrupt and revolutionary change in Helena’s
attitude. Helena’s conscience has now awakened and she cannot continue
living sinfully with Jimmy any longer. Her religious sense now proves too strong for
her physical emotional desire for Jimmy.
Conclusion
To
conclude, we are filled with admiration for Helena because she gives evidence
of a strong will-power and a strong sense of right and wrong. She is not a
creature of lust, though he loves Jimmy as she can love on other man. Here
action in leaving Jimmy is a true sacrifice which we generally see only on the
Indian screen.
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