Hobson's Choice

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How does Willie change and develop as a character in the play 'Hobson's Choice' unfolds.

'Hobson's Choice' was first performed in 1915 and was written by Harold Brighouse. At this time the social class structure in Britain was very strict, and this provides the basis on which this book is based. For example, people with a lot of money who could afford private education by governesses were counted as upper-class. Prosperous tradesmen for example were middle class. The less fortunate people who were poor and who had to work manually to make a living, to look after their families, were the working class. Some people were usually from workhouses and orphanages which is what made them the lowest of the low. Working class were never expected to achieve anything beyond their own class, although a new class in society (called the 'nouveau riche') was already emerging. This was where industrialists had up made money in business and had married into a class above them. The industrialists needed the social approval that marrying into the class gave them, and the upper class needed the money. In this story, Willie's father was from a workhouse so Willie is thought of as a worker who will never achieve anything higher than his work in the cellar. This was proved not to be the case further on in the story where Willie married Maggie and became a prosperous tradesman like Maggie's father Mr. Hobson.

In the beginning of the book, Willie is Hobson's best boot-hand, making boots for Hobson's clients. He is shy and lacks self-confidence. When we first see him, he is called out of his cellar by Maggie. We know he is very good at the job because Mrs. Hepworth- an upper class woman- wants to meet the person who has made her boots. When Willie appears, he has a frightened look on his face. This could suggest that he gets told off a lot. We learn that Willie is not very well educated and finds things hard to read, e.g. the italics on the card that Mrs.Hepworth gives him. This is shown when Willie is asked if he can understand it. His reply is "I do a bit. Only it's such a funny print." In the film, when we see Willie come up out of his hole we can see by his facial expressions that he is wary and quite frightened. When he tries to read the Italics we can see again by his facial expressions that he struggles to read the print.
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When Maggie later tells Willie he is going to marry her, he is a bit shocked as he does not love Maggie and thinks it is not right to marry the master's daughter because of the difference in class. This demonstrates the working class attitude to class as they were taught their place from birth. The readers/audience are immediately made to feel sorry for Willie as he is being forced to marry someone he does not love.

In the film, Maggie asked Willie to meet her in the park for their first date. He wasn't very ...

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