Second Act Of The Play Betty example essay topic

Feminist Analysis of Cloud Nine In 1979, Caryl Churchill wrote a feminist play entitled Cloud Nine. It was the result of a workshop for the Joint Stock Theatre Group and was intended to be about sexual politics. Within the writing she included a myriad of different themes ranging from homosexuality and homophobia to female objectification and oppression. "Churchill clearly intended to raise questions of gender, sexual orientation, and race as ideological issues; she accomplished this largely by cross-dressing and role-doubling the actors, thereby alienating them from the characters they play". (Worthen, 807) The play takes part in two acts; in the first we see Clive, his family, friends, and servants in a Victorian British Colony in Africa; the second act takes place in 1979 London, but only twenty-five years have passed for the family.

The choice to contrast the Victorian and Modern era becomes vitally important when analyzing this text from a materialist feminist view; materialist feminism relies heavily on history. Cloud Nine is a materialist feminist play; within it one can find examples that support all the tenets of materialist feminism as outlined in the Feminism handout (Bryant-Bertail, 1). The system of patriarchy allies itself to economic power (Bryant-Bertail, 1). In the first act of the play, several references are made that allude to the economic power being held by the men. The play opens with the line "Come gather, sons of England, come gather in your pride" (Churchill, 810) and in Clive's opening speech he makes several fatherly references; "I am father to the natives here, and father to my family so dear" (810). In the next song the line "The forge of war shall weld the chains of brotherhood secure" (810) can be found.

It is interesting to also note that intermixed with these lines are references to Queen Victoria's sovereignty. Several lines such as, "we serve the queen wherever we may roam" and "O'er countless numbers she, our Queen, Victoria reigns supreme" (810) can be found. The author intended these lines to be ironic and humorous. Even though the male characters are the ones saying them, they really don't have any respect for her as a person, just as a figure. Women are hierarchize d into classes (Bryant-Bertail, 2). In this story many of the women are in separate classes.

In the first act there are five female characters, each of them is in a separate class. Betty is an elitist Victorian woman, and the female head of house. Her daughter, Victoria, is a child so she is virtually classless, while Maud is the mother-in-law and part of the upper class. Ellen is the governess and part of the servant / working class, and Mrs. Saunders, while part of the upper class, is also a widow, which sets her apart from the other women; she is independent and a threat. We are reminded in several places of the social classes within the story; an obvious example would be when Maud tells Betty of Ellen "You let that girl forget her place" (Churchill, 812). In the second act, there are four female characters; Betty and Victoria are carried over from act one while Lin and Cathy are new.

The classes the women fall under have changed by this act. They are no longer in the Victorian era and are all part of the middle to lower upper class economically speaking. The hierarchy is still present, but it isn't nearly as apparent as it is in first act. Class-consciousness is central to economic, social, and cultural institutions (Bryant-Bertail, 2). A good example of this tenet can be found in the character of Maud. Maud is primarily in Act One of the play, she is Betty's mother and serves and something of a guide to Betty; she often informs Betty how the proper Victorian woman would react given a situation.

In the third scene of Act One, Maud has a lot of dialogue in which her beliefs can be seen. For example, when speaking to Betty and Mrs. Saunders about the possibility of an attack by the native African tribes that border their home, Maud makes the statement "I don't think it is up to us to wonder. The men don't tell us what is going on among the tribes, so how can we possibly make a judgment?" (Churchill, 818) Several lines later she continues saying, "You would not want to be told about it, Betty. It is enough for you that Clive knows what is happening. Clive will know what to do.

Your father always knew what to do" (818). Maud is conscious of her class and her standing within it. She therefore strongly adheres to the institutions that come along with it. Class bias determines attitude of people to social relations and culture (Bryant-Bertail, 2). The character of Betty was brought up in a Victorian era where proper upper class women were objects intended to please their respective men; their function was to be pleasing and reproductive, not to think. In the second act of the play Betty shows how her attitude toward women has been skewed by her Victorian upbringing in a conversation she has with Lin: Lin: Have you any women friends?

Betty: I've never been so short of men's company that I've had to bother with women. Lin: Don't you like women? Betty: They don't have such interesting conversations as men. There has never been a woman composer of genius. They don't have a sense of humor. They spoil things for themselves with their emotions.

I can't say I do like women very much, no. Lin: But you " re a woman. Betty: There's nothing says you have to like yourself. (Churchill, 828) It becomes pretty obvious that Betty's class biases have limited her relationships with women so much that she can't even say she likes herself. Women's place in the economy has traditionally been working in the home rather than "outside" in the marketplace (Bryant-Bertail, 2). A prime example of this kind of thinking can be found in the Act Two version of Betty.

After Betty leaves Clive, she is forced to get a job. Working is a completely new concept for her and at first it seems to frighten her, but after a while she seems to enjoy it. Maud is also a good example; she asserts several times in Act One that she believes that a woman's place is inthe home. The objectification of women is often tied to economic privilege and profit making (Bryant-Bertail, 2). This can be easily found if one observes Clive's relationships with Betty and Mrs. Saunders. He objectifies them both but in very different ways.

Clive treats Betty very much as an object of ornamentation, like a prize. She is the "perfect" wife or as he puts it "My wife is all I dreamt a wife should be and everything she is she owes to me" (Churchill, 810). He also refers to her as his "little dove" several times; an obvious reference to Ibsen's A Doll's House. He objectifies Betty in this manner because she is his wife and his display piece for the world to see. In contrast, Clive's attitude toward Mrs. Saunders is purely sexual. He makes her into a sexual object because she is an independent woman and she offers him satisfaction of his lust without any guilt.

In one of Clive's many memorable dialogues with Mrs. Saunders he tells her exactly how he feels about her: "Caroline, if you were shot with poisoned arrows do you know what I'd do? I'd fuck your dead body and poison myself. Caroline, you smell amazing. You terrify me. You are dark like this continent. Mysterious.

Treacherous. When you rode to me through the night. When you fainted in my arms. When I came to you in your bed, when I lifted the mosquito netting, when I said let me in, let me in. Oh don't shut me out, Caroline let me in". (814) He then performs oral sex on her and the objectification is complete.

There is a double economic exploitation of women: subordinate in pay and status to men in the marketplace, and unpaid labor at home. Thus they are a "proletariat of the proletariat", a source of cheap surplus labor, which is useful to the economic structure, serving both the male workers and the owners (Bryant-Bertail, 2). There are definite elements of this tenet found within the play, but, at least in Act One, we are also dealing with upper class women who have servants to do the housework for them. Surprisingly enough, the clearest example of this kind of double exploitation is found not in one of the female characters, but in one of the male ones, Edward.

In the second act Edward is a homosexual man involved with another man named Gerry. Edward works as a gardener and keeps the flat he shares with his boyfriend. During an argument between the two several lines allude to Edward playing the part of the wife, Gerry says", You " re getting like a wife" to which Edward responds "I don't mind that... I like doing the cooking.

I like being fucked. You do like me like this really". (Churchill, 829) Ultimately they break up at the end of the argument with Edward admittedly playing the part of the injured wife. Edward is the closest example of this kind of situation because while he works as a gardener during the day, he works as a wife to Gerry during the evening. Gerry uses him in this way because Edward allows for it, just like many women have allowed men to use them. Institutions (the marketplace, the family, the law, religion, schools, culture (including theater), etc.) shape women and men's views of themselves and each other (Bryant-Bertail, 2).

This type of institutional shaping can be seen clearly in the character of Betty. Both her mother and Clive have largely shaped Betty's view of women. We can see the effect of this shaping on Betty in the type of things she won't do in Act One. For example, she won't play ball with Edward because he tells her "Mama, don't play. You know you can't catch a ball". she agrees with this saying, "He's perfectly right. I can't throw either" (Churchill, 814).

By the end of Act two, Betty has left Clive and she has managed to challenge some of her own views of women. This can be seen in her monologue dealing with masturbation, .".. I felt angry with Clive and angry with my mother and I went on and on defying them, and there was this vast feeling growing in me and all round me and they couldn't stop me and no one could stop me and I was there and coming and coming. Afterwards I thought I'd betrayed Clive.

My mother would kill me" (833). The individual is never entirely "free" because these institutions help construct her or his identity (Bryant-Bertail, 2). The Betty we see in Act One has changed by the time Act Two has begun. Along with the ageing of her character we can also find growth; she has divorced Clive, secured work, and has her own place. Even so, she still can't completely free herself from her old life. "..

I felt triumphant because I was a separate person from them [Clive and Maud]. And I cried because I didn't want to be" (Churchill, 833). She will never feel complete without Clive, "I find when I'm making tea I put out two cups. It's strange not having a man in the house. You don't know who to do things for" (828), this is part of an institution in which she was raised and from which she can't escape.

Individual and group psychology is not isolated, but considered in relation to larger institutions (Bryant-Bertail, 2). The entire play is aimed directly at this tenet. In Act One, all of the characters think one way and act another. For example while Ellen may actually be a lesbian in love with Betty, she goes ahead and marries Harry because it is "the right thing to do".

However, in Act Two, the characters no longer feel the need to hide what they are from each other. Overall we are left to compare these competing mindsets not just to each other but to the larger institutional psychology; Act One is blatantly Victorian and Act Two is set in the 1970's. The author purposefully chose these two eras because they so heavily contrast each other. The rigidity of Victorianism and the liberation of the late 70's when compared with the characters show us that times may change but what people think doesn't.

Bibliography

Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995 Churchill, Caryl In Worthen, W.
B. ed. The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama. Fort worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2000.