Blood Brothers by Willy Russell Neither mother is without guilt
Blood Brothers by Willy Russell
"Neither mother is without guilt"
Blood Brothers is all about twin brothers that were separated at birth, one is given away to the wealthy upper class lady, Mrs Lyons, while the other is kept by the working class lady, Mrs Johnstone. In this essay we are going to discuss this statement whether "Neither mother is without guilt" and how far we would agree with this statement. Also we aim to consider all the dramatic irony techniques of the play and how Willy Russell uses them to help the dramatic effectiveness of the play. In this play the characters act in two stereotypical groups, the working class lady Mrs Johnstones and their family, and the middle class lady Mrs Lyons. It seems ironic that although the Mrs Johnstone family live on the small income that comes in the house they start off cheerful, compared to Mrs Lyons who never seems to be satisfied. This makes the audience see what is wrong in the lives of both families and all the created dramatic tension. In the next few paragraphs we will consider whether Mrs Johnstone is guilty or not guilty of the death of the brothers and similarly if Mrs Lyons is guilty or not guilty.
First of all we shall consider the case against Mrs Johnstone. What evidence is there to suggest that she is guilty? We think Mrs Johnstone is guilty because she swore on the bible that she would give Eddie away and not tell anyone the truth. Mrs Johnstone lied as at the end she tells them that they are brothers:
"Mrs Lyons shows the bible to Mrs Johnstone, who is reluctant but lays her hand on it."
So Mrs Johnstone is guilty in the first place as she agrees and swears to give one of her sons away. Also she lied to Mickey by saying his brother died:
"He's gone. He's gone to heaven, love."
She is guilty as she lied and hides the truth to her own family, let alone others. Another reason she is guilty is because she was half the reason Mickey killed Eddie:
"You, You! Why didn't you ...
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"Mrs Lyons shows the bible to Mrs Johnstone, who is reluctant but lays her hand on it."
So Mrs Johnstone is guilty in the first place as she agrees and swears to give one of her sons away. Also she lied to Mickey by saying his brother died:
"He's gone. He's gone to heaven, love."
She is guilty as she lied and hides the truth to her own family, let alone others. Another reason she is guilty is because she was half the reason Mickey killed Eddie:
"You, You! Why didn't you give me away- I could have been him."
If Mrs Jonestone hadn't given Eddie away then the relationship between Eddie and Mickey wouldn't have been destroyed. Then Linda wouldn't have liked Eddie that much.
Secondly we shall consider the case against Mrs Johnstone. What evidence is there to suggest whether she is without guilt? We think Mrs Johnstone isn't guilty because Mrs Lyons promised Mrs Johnstone that she'll get to see her child everyday and have a good life:
"Of Course."
But Mrs Lyons broke that promise and didn't let her see her son, instead bought her off:
"I would still be able to see him everyday, wouldn't I?"
She wouldn't feel guilty or regret it if she gave a child away, but would still be able to see him. Mrs Johnstone is a loving person, who is without guilt because she loves all her children and cares enough about them to put them in care:
"They say I should put some of them in care, but I won't. I love the bones of every one of them. I'll even love these two when they came along."
Once again Mrs Lyons tries to buy Mrs Johnstone off, but she says no.
Mrs Lyons says: "How much?"
Mrs Johnstone says: "Nothing, nothing! You bought me off once before..."
She is not going to let Mrs Lyons buy her off again, as Mrs Johnstone isn't wrong but Mrs Lyons is.
Next we shall consider the case against Mrs Lyons. What evidence is there to suggest she is guilty? We think Mrs Lyons is guilty because she forced Mrs Johnstone into giving her one of the babies. For example, the author lays emphasis on words such as:
"Give one of them to me" by using such strong words as "give" we can see she is being greedy. However towards the climax of the play the author try's to show how Mrs Lyons is in the wrong as she:
"Turned Mickey around and pointed out Edward and shows Linda to him."
This clearly condemns Mrs Lyons. She has deceived Mickey into thinking Eddie is having an affair with Linda. Moreover Mrs Lyons is responsible since she cursed the two twins when they were little and that's why they died at the end because if she hadn't stirred things up with Mickey then everything would be fine in the relationship with Eddie and Mickey, also with Linda.
Mrs Lyons says: "They say...they say that if either twin learns that they were once a pair, they shall both immediately die. It means, Mrs Johnstone, that these brothers shall grow up, unaware of the others existence. They shall be raised apart and never, ever told what was once the truth. You wont tell anyone about this, Mrs Johnstone, because if you do, you will kill the."
These words clearly notify that Mrs Lyons had cursed the twins and Mrs Johnstone, so she should not have said anything like that otherwise it wouldn't have happened.
Finally we shall consider the case against Mrs Lyons. What evidence is there to suggest whether she is without guilt? We think that Mrs Lyons isn't guilty because she tried her best to keep the two boys separated by moving away:
"But we have got to move, Richard. Because if we stay here I feel that something terrible will happen."
Mrs Lyons is not guilty because she will take care of Edward as her own child:
"The games we'd play, the stories I would tell him, the jokes we'd shared, the clothing I would make him."
Also Mrs Lyons was only trying her best to fulfil her husband's dreams:
"We've been trying for such a long time now...I wanted to adopt but...Mrs Lyons is well, he says he wanted his own son, not someone else's."
She was only doing what was best and helping two people at once by giving her husband a son and helping Mrs Johnstone by taking one of her children, so she has one less mouth to feed.
Overall, I think that both mothers are equally guilty. Mrs Johnstone is guilty because she had lied to her children by saying one of the twins has died:
"He's gone. He's gone to heaven, love."
As I have shown in the paragraphs above. Also Mrs Lyons is guilty because she separated a son from a mother, as she forced Mrs Johnstone to give her the child, and lied to her by making up some silly superstition as I have shown in my paragraphs above. So in the end I don't agree with this statement "Neither mother is without guilt" because Mrs Lyons and Mrs Johnstone are both guilty in there own ways.
By Roshni Vora