Development of Willie Mossop

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                Shrayans 10JD

                English, Mr. Lynn

How does the character of Willie Mossop develop through the course of the play?

        Willie Mossop is a shoe maker of a boot shop which is owned by Hobson. Hobson doesn’t think much of Willie and he doesn’t mind because he says, “I am not ambitious that I know of”. Willie’s character develops throughout the play from being a very poor unconfident man, to a rich and very confident man who is still humble and genuinely nice.

        As we enter the opening scene of the play we read that Hobson is nowhere to be seen indicating that he doesn’t have anything to do with the running of his shop. His business is only successful because of Maggie who sells the boots very efficiently. We see evidence of that when she forces Albert to buy a pair of shoes when he comes to see Alice. When Hobson does finally enter the shop he gets very angry because he thinks that his daughters don’t have the right attitude towards him saying they are ‘uppish’ and don’t act like proper women. This attitude of Hobson’s changes immediately when Mrs. Hepworth enters his shop because she is a rich person and spends a lot on shoes. She demands to see the maker of her boots and Willie is brought up to Mrs. Hepworth. She praises Willie to his face and says that if he ever leaves Hobson’s he should go tell her so she can get her boots made by him. Hobson says, “What does she want to praise a workman to his face for?” We see that Hobson doesn’t care much for, nor does he really appreciate, Willie and he doesn’t realize how important Willie is to his business which he will regret later on.

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        Hobson tells his daughters that he is going to choose husbands for them because they aren’t smart enough to do so by themselves. When he says that he excludes Maggie saying that she is already past marrying age which upsets Maggie, she decides that she should get a husband herself and get out of her life of misery. Maggie recognizes that Willie is her only way to get a life out of her present life and says to him, “My brain and your hands ‘ull make a working partnership”. She asks him to marry her so that they can leave ...

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