Maggie has a crucial role in the play - Describe her character, with reference to the text, and show how she influences those around her.

Romance is really not a strong point of Maggie's but she does have a soft spot. She gives up her free time to help Willie learn to read and write, "Now then, you can sit down here and copy that." Also on her own wedding night she is throwing a bouquet of flowers away but keeps one in a book (probably so she can remember the day).

Maggie doesn't really care about higher class and lower class because she is higher and Willie is lower. It can't bother her because she marries Willie without a second thought.

Maggie's approach to women is that she thinks they should have there own life and not be controlled by their fathers or partners. Maggie stands up to the men and wont let them tell her what to do, an example of this is when Hobson gets in to trouble and Maggie tells him how much he'll pay, "You can afford five hundred pounds and you're going to pay five hundred pounds"(page 53).

Maggie is a good businesswoman, she knows what she is doing and can get people to buy things. This is shown when she gets Albert Prosser to buy his boots (I have mentioned in an earlier paragraph). Maggie is clever which is why she runs the business so successfully. Hobson talks about Maggie to his friends in "Moonrakers" like she isn't a person, but an object. He says, "Maggie is to useful to part with", so obviously he saying that Maggie is a useful person (she is) to have working in the shop.

Maggie isn't always selfish and thinking of herself, she does think of her sisters. For example Maggie makes Hobson pay up to the solicitor when really the money is for her sisters weddings.

Throughout the play Hobson goes through a number of different changes. Hobson starts off at the beginning of the play having no respect for his daughters and thinks that they should do whatever he says. For example he tells them off for starting to tell him what to do and Hobson doesn't like it and tells them they'll get out of the habit. He then says to them "I'll choose a pair of husbands for you, my girls".

Hobson starts off being very superior to his family but this soon changes throughout the play. Hobson especially looks down on Willie and doesn't like it when Mrs Hepworth gives him praise for making her boots, he constantly says things like "I assure you it shall not occur again".

Maggie soon changes Hobson by tricking him in certain ways. When he falls down Beenstocks cellar Maggie sees it as a great opportunity to get some money out of her father for her sisters to get married. She does this by inviting her father around to her and Willies house, when he shows the form to them she brings out Albert Prosser who is a lawyer and tells Hobson either sort it out with him or go to the courts. Maggie then brings out Freddie Beenstock and introduces Hobson to him, they eventually get Hobson to pay five hundred pounds to Freddie for trespass and damages, "you can afford five hundred pounds and you're going to pay five hundred pounds". Hobson tells his daughters "This is a tidy bit of money going out of the family", but is corrected by Maggie telling him it's going to be split between Alice and Vicky for their weddings.

Hobson has no choice but to change in the end because the doctor tells him that if he carries on drinking then he'll be dead within six months. He doesn't want to know, so Maggie has to get it through to him.

I think that if Maggie hadn't of been there for Hobson to look after him and boss him around then he would of died a lot sooner due to his large intake of alcohol and stubbornness. But because of Maggie bossing him around he has no choice but to see a doctor and do what he says.

Willie starts off being a very meek and shy person who works in Hobson's shop. Maggie changes him throughout the play so that he becomes more confident and ends up having his own business.

At first when Maggie tells Willie he will marry her, he doesn't expect it and is very nervous because he will have to break up with 'Ada Figgins'. But Maggie soon brings out his confidence and he finds it easier to speak to people.

He starts to come out of his shell when he and Maggie get married. Maggie teaches him how to read and write. She even makes him do his writing on their wedding day before he can go and sleep with her, "you finish that copy before you come".

Willie isn't very confident in speaking to people either, but Maggie changes him. She does this in a number of ways but mainly by getting him to stand up to her father. When Maggie tells Hobson that she is going to marry Willie he isn't happy and wants to hit Willie with a belt but he stands up to him, "if you touch me with that belt, I'll take her quick, aye, and stick to her like glue".

Maggie influences her sisters in the way of giving them confidence to stand up to their father. For example when Hobson goes to Maggie's house and is confronted about falling down the cellar, he is told about his daughters (Alice and Vicky) getting married, he doesn't like it but they make him because they have confidence (but it's mainly Maggie).

Maggie treats her sisters very well and with a lot of respect. She looks after them and because of her they get to get married and find the right men.

Due to these reasons of Maggie treating her sisters well, she gets money for them to pay for their weddings by tricking Hobson so that he thinks he is paying for trespass. So therefore they are able to afford a better wedding.

I think that Maggie's sisters don't really know how to react to her because she is always changing. Mostly I thin that they are very surprised by her actions, like for instance the way she speaks to her father when she tells him what time dinner will be, "Dinner's at one, remember". She gives him the orders instead of the other way around.

In this essay I have looked at Maggie's character and her role in the play, I have also looked at the effects on the other main characters of the play.

In the play I think Maggie achieved what she wanted, she got a husband and her own business. She was a very ambitious woman but not as mean as she seemed when the play first began. She was ambitious in the way of wanting to run the business all the time and she is quite harsh with her sisters and Hobson. But when she marries Willie you see a change in her, a softer side of Maggie comes out and you see what a kind person she is

Everything turned out well in the end dues to Maggie. She sorted out the weddings for her sisters and got her own business up and running.

In the end of the play the influence that Maggie has on the rest of the characters is quite astounding. She must change at least all of the main characters in one-way or another. She boosts up Willies confidence and teaches him new things. Alice and Vicky (her sisters) become more confident and don't allow their father to boss them around and start to make their own decisions. Hobson becomes less stubborn, and is more willing to give people a fair chance of saying things instead of just not listening to anyone and doing everything his own way.

Liam Carr Hobson's Choice