Compare "Baron Bolligrew" with the Lord of the Flies, written as a novel in 1954, but later adapted as a play in 1995.

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GCSE Drama Course work                                         Mickey Down

For our GCSE drama course work we performed the thwarting of Barron Bolligrew, which I will later abbreviate to “Baron Bolligrew,” written by Robert Bolt in 1965. This essay is to compare “Baron Bolligrew” with the Lord of the Flies, written as a novel in 1954, but later adapted as a play in 1995.   The play was adapted by Nigel Williams after being written by William Golding. There are many similarities and differences between the two plays in question, in terms of society, period, culture and style.

Firstly I will comment on the period in which the plays are set. “Baron Bolligrew” though written in 1965 is not set in an obvious period of time, compared to Lord of the Flies which was written in 1954 post war Britain, and was also set in a similar time as there is evidence to suggest that William Golding was influenced by the war and conflict that Britain  faced in WW2. In “Baron Bolligrew”, although the play is set in the age of Knights and Dragons, there is still the introduction of modern materials and artefacts, such as Bolligrew’s gun and time piece causing another sign that Robert Bolt intended there to be no obvious period. As stated, Lord of the Flies could be set post war, but there is no direct reference to a particular period or date.

 The language used in both plays varies.  “Baron Bolligrew” displays rich and upper class English Vocals, as well as Cockney and slang in the form of Captain Asquith(“reg’ler terror”) and Squire Blackheart (“I’ll flatten im!”), as opposed to the Queen’s English used by Oblong, The Duke and Bolligrew when they are conversing amongst themselves and with others.  In comparison Lord of the Flies displays similar variety with the accents, such as upper class English (Jack – “They’re all slack beasts”), middle class English (Ralph, Sam and Eric) and the cockney slang to portray the down to earth working class character of Piggy ( “we should ave a meetin’”)

The costumes used in the play also help to reflect the uncertain period such as the knights in “Baron Bolligrew” wear Medieval Noble dress. However the costumes in “Baron Bolligrew” also mask the period, such as the Dukes Furs, Bolligrew’s gold watch and the artefacts given to Bolligrew by Asquith. These items would not have been present in the medieval period. Lord of the Flies’ costumes also mask the period in which it was set. The school clothes and the clothes that Piggy wore could have been worn in any period of time in the 20th Century and do not help to solve what period of time in which the play is set.

I will now consider the society of the two plays; the relationships, the status, the class and the themes. Firstly the relationships in the two plays are similar. There seems to be presence of the same relationships in both plays. There is the “love-hate” relationship portrayed by Stongbody and Smooth in “Baron Bolligrew” and Piggy and Ralph in Lord of the Flies. Strongbody and Smooth, although strong rivals for the Dukes approval, still like each other, and share the same views on Oblong believing him to be a bumbling, gullible fool, although Strongbody does state that the idea of sending him to The Bolligrew Islands is “a bit steep”. Piggy and Ralph are friends although Piggy, more than occasionally, annoys Ralph and Ralph also gets on Piggy’s nerves, letting him down, for example when he lets out the secret of Piggy’s name.

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 The second type of relationship is the inseparable relationship portrayed by Sam and Eric and Bolligrew and Blackheart. Sam and Eric do everything together and even speak together, either in unison or sharing words. Bolligrew and Blackheart, though different, share beliefs, are always together and rely on each other, for example, when Bolligrew needs someone to smash Obadiah’s eggs Blackheart is there and when Blackheart needs help in finding a way to attack Oblong, Bolligrew explains the method to him.

The status and class of the characters also give ideas about the society in each play. The state ...

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