John Osborne’s plays represent the ‘ordinary’ or ‘real’ life
on stage. The most famous of them are- The Entertainer, Epitaph for
George Dillon, Plays for England, Inadmissible Evidence and Look
Back in Anger. All his plays demand consideration of the social,
economic, political and cultural changes that Britain underwent in the period
immediately after the Second World War. Look Back in Anger was
inspired by his own life. Osborne himself admitted saying that the marriage
ceremony in the play was,
A fairly accurate description of our wedding.
By just considering the title Look Back in Anger, it
is often read as though like a command to perform a particular action. However,
just by title it is not clear that injunction made is referred towards whom-
whether to character, play or audience. Considering another aspect, the title
can be taken in a descriptive way as telling us what the play actually does.
Probably, there is another way of dividing it in two themes- the action of
‘looking back’ and the emotion of ‘anger’.
If we consider the first theme ‘looking back’, then
immediately raises the question- of what to be looked back? Osborne here points
to see the numerous areas of public and private life that are hidden to reason
but are full of emotions. By ‘looking back’ he wants us to see the period
before he wrote the play that is the war years and post war period. When Jimmy-
the protagonist looks back he is full of resentment and anger against the older
social system. Alison- the female protagonist is also looking back in her past.
Now, she has divorced and she looks back in her married life with a sense of
regret. She recoils the time spent with Cliff and Helena. In Alison’s words,
I keep looking back, as far as I remember and I can’t
think what it was to feel young, really young.
Considering the second theme; Jimmy is symbolised as the
‘angry-man’. When he was ten years old, he watched his idealist father died due
to complications of his wounds for a year during his fight for democracy, so he
lashes out his anger on everyone due to his helplessness and his vulnerability.
His anger seems to be deep routed. He recalls the experience with bitterness and
says that every time he sat near his father’s bed and listen to the talks, he
had to fight back his tears.
Social disparity
between his working class origin and the upper middle class to which his wife
belongs is also a reason for Jimmy’s anger. Alison’s failure to live up to his
expectations irritates him, thus, he constantly bullies his wife.
That girl there can twist your arm off with her silence. He comments on her, infuriated by
her silent disposition. Jimmy is over demanding in his relationship. He seeks
from women much more than he could ever hope to get. When disappointed he
becomes frustrated and angry.
Alison describes
Jimmy’s invasion of her upper class world as a part of the class war he was
waging with by making her hostage. She too is angry with Jimmy which can be
seen in her speech towards the end of the play.
I’m in the fire and I’m burning and all I want is to
die! …But what does it matter- that is what he wanted from me!...Don’t you see,
I’m in the mud at last. I’m grovelling. I’m crawling. Oh God! ...
Look Back in Anger has its moments of nostalgia and those of bitterness.
‘Looking back’ is the key phrase of the title but the nostalgia co-exists with
‘anger’ at what has happened in the past. The anger made by Jimmy and Alison
are mere a reflection or resemblance to the people of that period. Through the
play Osborne wants to bring forth the mental estate, the resentment, the anger
of the people of that period which was caused due to war and the social system.
Osborne also wants us to look back and analyse the situation.
Thus, the title Look Back in Anger is apt
justifiable and suitable for the play.
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