Explore how the theme of different social worlds is presented in "Blood Brothers" by Willy Russell. What comments might Russell be making about his twins

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GCSE English Coursework                February 7th, 2005

Explore how the theme of different social worlds is presented in “Blood Brothers” by Willy Russell. What comments might Russell be making about his twins

                

You should write about

  • Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons

  • Edward and Mickey

  • The Policeman

  • The Narrator

This essay is about the play Blood Brothers by Willy Russell. I will be discussing the two main female characters in the play, Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons and how they take part in the important events of the play. I am also going to look at other aspects, like their social statuses and how each receive different treatment altogether from others surrounding them. This will help me evaluate how Willy Russell has presented different social worlds to the audience, and how they are seen. Also I am going to be seeing how Willy Russell’s background could possibly affect his views.

Blood Brothers is the tale of two twin brothers who are secretly separated at birth and are forced to live very different lives apart from each other. Upon growing up these two brothers, upon chance, meet each other and strike up a friendship together, while all along being totally ignorant to their fraternity. This can only end in tragedy, as this terrible secret being kept from them cannot stay hidden for ever, so in the end both brothers end up dying together in an inevitable blood bath, upon finding out about the hidden secret.

Because the play appears to have been set in the 1970’s/ 1980’s, around Liverpool, there is a lot about striking and major redundancies in it. Also, about people moving out of the city to the country (i.e. Skelmersdale), for a better life and good job prospects. This kind of situation seems to emulate what happened to the director Willy Russell during his childhood, as he too moved from the very much industrialised area around Liverpool. Upon moving out into the country he says that “compared to Huyton it was paradise” which seems to show his dislike of industrial areas such as Huyton.

At the beginning of the play there is a prologue which is designed to show how fate is meant to play an important role ion the play. The prologue is the ending of the play read out at the beginning. So, in giving the audience the ending at the beginning they begin to feel the story’s elements locking together as the play wears on. This makes for the audience in having a terrible awareness of what is to happen, so tragically, to the brothers and also gives a very strong sense of fate’s hand in the disaster, which reinforces the importance of superstition. This fatalism tends to exaggerate the drama of the situation, and thus making it more melodramatic. So this dramatic stages the end of the play at the beginning, suggesting that fate will have a part in the succession of events due to the foreboding prediction which has been unveiled at the beginning.

Also the title “Blood Brothers” instantaneously on the first glance gives an impression of a sad and doomed quality to be unfolded in the play due to the word “blood” which makes people think of death and tragedy. This word “blood” gives it a rather morbid atmosphere and a strong sense of looming, foreboding danger lurking ahead. Also the parallel meaning is very interesting to speculate on as Mickey and Edward, apart from being brothers, also took part in a ritual of childhood bonding to make themselves blood brothers. So the title really represents a counter point and contrasts the reality of their lives and that they are truly brothers in every way, even brothers in death.

The two characters who, it seems are meant to somewhat embody the two different social classes ( Mrs Johnstone as the generic working class single mum, and Mrs Lyons as the rich and spoilt woman of the upper class) are very different to each other. Mrs Johnstone is shown to be caring and loving mother who loves children and strives to do the best she can for them, despite all the circumstance being against her.

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“The welfare have been on to me”.

Shows how she is having problems with keeping her children an how obviously she doesn’t want to lose them because, though she doesn’t really have sufficient money to keep them she knows she’s a good mother to them. It also seems to show how that it must be a reasonably normal thing for her as it is somewhat of an offhand comment as though it is a regular occurrence.

The play seems to portray her as possessing some sort of natural beauty but the weight of time has caught up with her and ...

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