Alice, Vicky and Maggie are in the shop when Albert Prosser enters to court Alice: “father has not yet left, Albert!” she tells her suitor and so he turns to leave the shop. Apart from Maggie they clearly fear their father, who on this occasion is recovering from a previous night’s drinking in the ‘Moonrakers’. On another occasion Vicky shows herself to be afraid of her father. At the beginning of Act III, Vicky is at the reception of Maggie and Will in their cellar, when there is a knock at the door. “It’s Father” Vicky says, in terror. Once again Maggie is the only one not scared of Hobson and so questions her:
“Are you afraid of him?”
As you can see, Alice and Vicky lack strength whereas Maggie does not. This applies, not just in their handling of people, but also when it comes to managing the shop once Maggie has left to be with Will. Alice and Vicky have very weak characters and so now that the boss has left, they are helpless and vulnerable. The two sisters know that they are not so strong and are helpless so they try to put themselves in Maggie’s shoes whilst she was running the shop:
“What would Maggie have done?”
Alice certainly does not know what orders to give Tubby either:
“Father’s out, I can’t help you”
Furthermore the technical and mathematical skills necessary to keeping the shop running smoothly are also lacking. Maggie used to work the till and keep the books. Now that she has left, Alice is left to languish in a shop with no customers and do work that she could never in her life work out. She is completely helpless. Alice decides to ask Vicky for some help: “What is seventeen and twenty-five?…Fifty-two of course,” replies her other sister. This is blatantly incorrect. They are both just as bad at math and the shop obviously can’t improve without the help of Maggie. Tubby has noticed that the shop is failing. He tries to imply to Alice how great the shop was when Maggie was around and running the business and how bad it is now that she has left:
“I do not recollect things being as slack as this in her time.”
Without Maggie, business is deteriorating.
Another difference between Maggie and her sisters is that Maggie has a way with people, she is a good judge of character and she can see potential in people. Alice and Vicky cannot fathom Maggie’s choosing Willie as a husband. They are unable to appreciate the reasons behind her choice. The difference in outlook between Maggie and her sisters in relation to people and possessions is very clear. Maggie knows what she wants in life and how to get it: “The difference between us is that I do, I always did” she tells Alice.
Only Maggie can see how she and Willie’s relationship will work. She can see a lot of potential in him as a person. She can see them working as a team and making a great partnership:
“My brains and your hands ’ull make a working partnership.”
Maggie knows that he is a great craftsman and that they will do very well for themselves:
“You are a business idea in the shape of a man.”
Maggie also has a good understanding of how her father’s mind works. As Hobson is on his way out to the Moonrakers, Maggie reminds him that dinner is at one o’clock. Hobson thinks that the girls are trying to control him so just before he leaves for the ‘Moonrakers’ he says “Dinner will be when I say it is not when you do!”
Maggie says to the sisters when Hobson has left “dinner at half past one”. Maggie knows that he will come in around half past one because this shows that he is not coming home when he is told but at the same time he does not miss out on his meal. He attempts to maintain the idea that he is in control when really Maggie is.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Maggie and her sisters is that they have very different values. Alice and Vicky are two very snobbish people. Maggie wants to be successful but is willing to start off low and work for it. However, her sisters are very high class and are horrified at Maggie when they find out that she is going to be wedded with a brass ring.
“I would start properly or not at all.” Says Maggie.
This makes it clear that they would only be satisfied with the best, nothing less. However Maggie knows that starting off small will lead them to great success and happiness.
“It’ll give me grand satisfaction too look back and think about how we were when we began”
As Maggie is so demanding, when she wants Willie to marry her she is determined but one big problem stands in her way, Ada Figgins. Ada is already tokened to Willie but Maggie will get what she wants and won’t let anyone stand in her way. She will have Willie “if trouble comes with it or no trouble”. She cares for Willie a great deal. She shows this by making sure that he is with her, she knows for a fact that he will have a better life economically and physically. Ada, as his wife, would not have fulfilled his life ambitions.
Unlike her sisters, Maggie is very resourceful and shows real initiative. By this I mean she always has an answer even when put on the spot. For example, When Willie cannot go back to Mrs Figgins' house she thinks quickly and has an answer:
“You’ll go to Tubby Wadlow’s house.”
She is very domineering. She does not ask Tubby if that would be okay, she just assumes that it will be and she knows that no one will ask any questions.
Another main reason in which Maggie is different to her sisters is that Maggie has a lot more respect for other people than Alice and Vicky have. When Willie called Vicky “Miss Vicky” Vicky herself did not try and correct him, it was Maggie who interrupted and corrected him. Also Maggie has to force respect from the sisters when she makes them kiss Willie to make him part of the family, their new “brother in law”. The girls were not happy but still they were overruled by Maggie’s domineering character.
To conclude, Maggie is different to her sisters in the way that she knows how to achieve the good things in life, she tries to bring out the good in every person. She makes her future good and she does it on her own. She stands up for what is right and for what she believes in. Maggie is not influenced at all by men and their opinions, she gains things by her own determination and will power. She is a person who values the fact that starting off small can lead to great success. Her sisters keep themselves to themselves and are too cowardly to stand up for themselves, therefore due to remaining passive characters, their future will be what the future makes it, not what they make for themselves as they do not intervene in order to make it better.
