The audience’s first encounter with Mrs Johnston reveals her background both through the songs that she sings and the language she uses. The fact that she had to marry the father of her unborn child suggests the prejudices of that period of time. To have a baby before you were married was seen as shameful and improper. Also the fact that she became pregnant indicates the lack of appropriate health education and contraception. Mrs Johnston sings in her Liverpudlian accent and uses very common phrases, which illustrate her working class background. “Me husband had walked out on me…” says she. In this sentence, she uses “me” instead of “my”, which is typically northern working class. She also uses the idiom “walked out on me” which reflects that she is, perhaps, not very well educated.
When the audience hear that Mrs Johnston’s husband left her with seven children, a feeling of empathy towards her has been generated. In this case, Willy Russell has successfully manipulated the audience’s emotions and judgement against Mrs Johnston.
The initial impression the audience have about Mrs Lyons starts to form when we see her meeting Mrs Johnston, her cleaner employee. The stage directions in the scene, state that she is “bright, breezy, early thirties…” which creates a dramatic contrast to the worn out Mrs Johnston, who is “thirty, but looks sixty”. From Mrs Lyons’ conversation with Mrs Johnston, the audience perceive her as a friendly, caring person, who is quite well-off. She says to Mrs Johnston, “Hello, Mrs Johnston. How are you? How are you enjoying the job?” This suggests that she cares about her employee and does not look down on her as she addresses her as “Mrs Johnston” rather than calling her by her first name. This is perhaps another sign to show that she is well educated and polite. Throughout the scene, Mrs Lyons continues to use formal language. “I’m finding it rather large at present…” or “Myself I believe that an adopted child can become one’s own.” Through the use of language and facts, the audience can gradually determine Mrs Lyons’ class and background; she has money, status and a beautiful home but one thing she wants she cannot have, and that is a child.
Within the first few scenes, both of the women, Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons have earned the audience’s sympathy; Mrs Johnston, who lives in relative poverty with seven children and no husband, and Mrs Lyons, who is unable to have children and fails to confide in her husband.
Initially, the relationship between Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons can be perceived as pleasant, friendly and open. They are able to converse with each other without any apparent prejudices, even though they are from different backgrounds and have different status. Mrs Lyons confides in Mrs Johnston about how she can’t have a baby; “Actually Mrs J we bought such a large house for the children. We thought children were going to come along.” Mrs Johnston, “You can’t have any?” Mrs Lyons, “No, I’m afraid… I wanted to adopt but Mr Lyons is well… He says he always wanted his own son, not someone else’s. Myself I believe that an adopted child can become one’s own.” This implies that perhaps, she did not tell her husband that she can’t have children. This then reflect on the society they live in. Not being able to have a baby was seen as possibly a stigma in certain classes. She seems very open about her private life, which also suggests she sees Mrs Johnston more as a friend than an employee. Hearing this, Mrs Johnston, in turn, confides in Mrs Lyons that she “can’t stop having” babies and that she is “expecting another one”.
From the same scene, we also learn that superstition is a central part of Mrs Johnston’s life. This is clearly shown when she yells, “Oh God. Never put new shoes on a table. Mrs Lyons. You never know what’ll happen.” This alerts the audience that superstition is possibly an important theme of the play. Perhaps Willy is suggesting that superstitious people are not well-educated for them it is a way of escapism, showing that Mrs Johnston does not want to face reality and that she is still living in a dream world. When Mrs Lyons sees that Mrs Johnston is superstitious, she can use it against her, making Mrs Johnston vulnerable.
Mrs Johnston later becomes more vulnerable as she reveals to Mrs Lyons about her having twins and her social situation. Mrs Lyons uses all these factors to convince Mrs Johnston to give her one of the babies. She says, “Already you’re being threatened by the Welfare. With two more how will you avoid some of them being put into care?” By asking her this question, Mrs Lyons manoeuvres Mrs Johnston’s thoughts, making her more concerned. From this, the audience starts to feels suspicious about Mrs Lyons, and starts to question the friendship between the two women. When Mrs Johnston agrees to give one of her children away, Mrs Lyons made her swear on the bible that she will “renounce all further claims on the said child…” This again could reflect on Mrs Lyons social background as she uses a very formal language, which perhaps confused Mrs Johnston a little, as she stutters to repeat the words.
After the child has been given to Mrs Lyons, her relationship with Mrs Johnston changes dramatically. The audience can sense this through the language they use when talking to each other; “Leave him! Just… Just leave him. You’re always… always bothering him, fussing over him.” Says Mrs Lyons to Mrs Johnston, when she fusses over the baby. In this case, Mrs Lyons seems very aggressive, as shown by the exclamation mark. She also seems very much agitated as she kept repeating her words e.g. “Just…Just” and “always…always”. Her agitation reveals to the audience that she is scared, scared that Mrs Johnston will tell the truth. This is why she later decides to dismiss Mrs Johnston. However, when Mrs Johnston threatens to tell people the truth about the twins, Mrs Lyons again uses superstition against her. She says, “They say…they say that if either twin learns he was one of a pair they shall both die immediately! It means, Mrs Johnston that these brothers shall grow up unaware of the other’s existence. They shall be raised apart, and never, never ever told what was once the truth. You won’t tell anyone, Mrs Johnston, because if you do you shall kill them!” This made up prophecy is supposed to keep Mrs Johnston away from her son. In the speech, Mrs Lyons particularly emphasizes the fact that Mrs Johnston should not contact her son; she uses “never, never ever” which stresses her point. With the dramatic ending, she has made Mrs Johnston believe her and made her terrified of the prophecy. This prevents the mother to form any further attachment to her employer because she had power over her and had threatened her. From this point, the audience perhaps developed a slight hatred for Mrs Lyons as she was shown as manipulative, untruthful and a bully who has taken advantage of Mrs Johnston. However, they continue to feel sympathetic towards Mrs Johnston as she lost her son and her job.
As the two twins, Eddie and Mickey grow up, they live in completely different environments. This affects the way they respond to different people and the way they talk to their mothers. Mickey, who grew up in a working-class situation with seven siblings did not talk politely to his mother; “Mother. Will you open the bleeding door or what?” This perhaps can be perceived as rude but it reflects on their social situation. We can assume that Mrs Johnston is quite rude to her son as well, because children generally learn from their parents. Mrs Johnston uses words like “shuttup” to her son. Their use of language show to the audience that they are not well-educated people but it is not fair to say that they do not love each other. Perhaps, it reflects their closeness because they are not formal to each other and that they do not mind being talked to in a rude way. Though Mrs Johnston never said “I love you” to Mickey, we can sense her love for him when she tells him not to “go playing down the rough end with those hooligans”.
However, Eddie, who growing up as an only child in a middle class family, appears to be very affectionate towards his mother, Mrs Lyons. Instead of calling her “mother” like Mickey, he addresses her as “mum” or “mummy”. Mrs Lyons, instead of calling her son “Eddie”, she calls him “Edward”, which is much more formal and reflects on her class and education. Again, the playwright has brought up the issue of nature and nurture; Mrs Lyons taught Eddie to be respectful to his elders and reflect on their different values and traditions.
Like may other theatrical productions, ‘Blood Brothers’ employs a narrator at its beginning. This is a dramatic device which gives a brief introduction and a prologue to the play; “So did you hear the tale of the Johnston twins, As like each other as two new pins; Of one womb born, on the self same day, How one was kept, one given away?” From this, the audience can deduce that an important theme of the play is separated twins. The narrator, at the start of the play appears to be biased, he criticises the mother, Mrs Johnston, for giving away her child; “That women, with a stone in place of a heart? … Bring her on, come on let’s see. The author of such cruelty. And judge for ourselves this terrible sin.” These comments can manipulate the audience’s interpretation on the mother’s character, creating a dislike of her. Ironically, instead of being cruel and heartless, the mother is actually warm and loving. On the other hand, the narrator can be seen as being sarcastic; he is trying to put across message that you can not judge a person’s nature just by looking at the facts.
As the play develops, the narrator continues to ‘pop up’ to give the audience clues of what is going to happen next when Mrs Johnston tells Mrs Lyons that she is going to have twins, the narrator appears and says, “How quickly an idea planted can Take root and grow into a plan. A thought conceived in this very room Grew as surely as a seed, in a mother’s womb!” This gives the audience a slight hint that Mrs Lyons is planning to convince Mrs Johnston to give her one of the babies. When the twins have grown up over the years, we can sense that their mothers still could not forget about the terrible past and their sins. “There’s no use clutching at your rosary The Devil’s in the backyard, he can see Through the gaps in the curtains he sees it all, There’s no use hiding in the hall. When he raps at the knocker then he knows you’re in; No you won’t, no you’ll never get away from him No you won’t, no you’ll never get away from him.” As the narrator repeats the last line, we see the mother screaming as she hears it. This suggests that perhaps, the narrator is a voice in her head, reminding her of the past, which implies that, the narrator, is her moral conscience. Later in the story, the narrator recites a similar poem, which was ended by a scream from Mrs Lyons. “There’s no use clutching at your rosary The Devil’s in the garden and he can see…” This illustrates that her moral conscience is also haunting her with her past. In this similar poem, the narrator uses slightly different words. Instead of saying “The Devil’s in the backyard” he says “The Devil’s in the garden” to Mrs Lyons, and instead of saying “he raps at the knocker” he says “he rings at the chimes”. These slight differences suggest the different houses the two women live in, which link to their status and wealth.
When Eddie and Mickey meet, they become good friends. Willy Russell established this to compare the two and show how they affect each other. In one occasion they get caught by the policewoman when they threw stones at a house. The policewoman reported this to the two mothers. From the different language and tone she uses when talking to the mothers, the audience can get a better understanding of the prejudices of that period. When talking to Mrs Johnston, the policewoman always repeats her phrases, “And he was about to commit a serious crime, love, a serious crime. Now do you understand that?” By repeating her words, she emphasizes her point to make Mrs Johnston understand. Through this, we feel that the policewoman presumes that the mother is stupid because of her class. The policewoman also appears to be very aggressive towards Mrs Johnston as she threatens to take her to court; “You keep them in order or it’ll be the courts for you, or worse.” Her entire tone when speaking to Mrs Johnston seems as if she is talking down to her like a school teacher telling off a student. However, her language and tone of voice changes when talking to the upper class Mrs Lyons. She seems more polite and subtle; “But one thing I would say, and excuse me if I’m interfering, but I’d not let him mix with the likes of them in future.” From this, the policewoman seems to be advising Mrs Lyons rather than ordering her. Instead of calling Eddie behaviour as “committing a serious crime” she says “it was more of a prank”. All these contrasts show to the audience how people look down on the working-class and look up to the upper class. Willy Russell uses this dramatic device to emphasize the significance of class in our society.
At the end of the play, both Eddie and Mickey get shot by Mrs Lyons, whose conscience consumed her. Mrs Johnston ultimately deserves more sympathy as both of her sons were killed. In some ways, the ending has returned the two mothers to their original state; Mrs Johnston with seven children and Mrs Lyons with none. Although the narrator gave the audience some clues as to the death of the twins at the beginning of the play, it still came as a shock to the audience, leaving them with questions unanswered.