Through out the play we see lots of examples of how Maggie was an un-stereotypical woman of the Victorian era. Within the play we see Maggie cleverly devise plans. She arranges for her sisters, Vickey and Alice to marry Freddie and Albert. She cunningly does this when Hobson drunkenly falls down Beanstocks cellar. She tells Albert to write up plans to fine Hobson for damage to the
stock. The money from the fine was then used as marriage settlements in order that Vickey and Alice could be married. We also see her arrange plans for Willie and her to marry and to open up a new business on Oldfield Road.
We see Maggie being very affirmative through out the play with the other characters. An example of this is in Act One when Albert comes in the shop to see Alice. Maggie knows that his only purpose is to see Alice and therefore says to him, 'This is a shop you know, were not here to let people go without buying.' She practically forces Albert to buy a pair of boots even though he has already got a perfectly good pair. She also tells him to have his old pair repaired. This would have been very abnormal at the time because we would not have seen a man being told what to do by a woman in the Victorian era. We see an other example of this when Maggie tells that dinner is at one o'clock Hobson tells her, ' See here Maggie. I set the hours in this house. It's one o'clock dinner because I say it is, and not because you do.'
Maggie sarcastically says 'Yes father' this shows that she takes no notice of what her father is saying because of his tone against her. The dialogue shows that Maggie will stand up for herself and will not be proven otherwise.
Maggie is un-afraid and brave. We can see lots of examples of this throughout the script. One of them is when she stands up to her farther when se tells him that she will be marrying Willie. Hobson straps Willie with his belt. Willie tells him that if he does it again he will walk out of the shop. Maggie tells her farther, 'If Willie, goes I go' This shows how brave she was towards her farther and she could have easily ad left Willie to walk out of the shop by himself.
Within the script we see Hobson try to act like a stereotypical Victorian farther. He is very stubborn and firm with other characters. When he goes to Maggie and Willies cellar on Oldfield Road, Willie tries to give him advice on what to do with his fine, Hobson says, ' I didn’t come here to see you, you jumped up cock-a-hooping…' This shows how stubborn Hobson is by the way he talks to his son-in-law.
Hobson doesn’t accept the truth easily and does not respect other people's opinions of things. An example of this is when Hobson is diagnosed as being an alcoholic. He needs somebody to look after him. Maggie tries to arrange care for him, she asks Alice and Vickey but they say they cant because of marriage commitments. Maggie tells him and he says to all of them, ' You can keep out of my way and all. You hear that, all of you?' This shows how he totally disregards other people's opinions and how he cannot accept the truth. Hobson would rather die from his illness rather than admit defeat. He thinks he can be independent but in reality he cannot because he relies on Maggie, Vickey and Alice. He tells them 'I'll run that shop with men'. Hobson cannot accept the truth.
The first British audience to see the play was that of 1916. The play was successful and the audience enjoyed the play. 1916 was at the centre of the First World War and morale of the British public was very low due to the news that they had read or heard. The play would have helped to take their minds of the war because of the comedy properties of the play. It would have reminded them of their parents or grandparents and the way life used to be. They would laugh and poke fun at the characters actions and the old way of life. People recognised the old-fashioned ways of Hobson, they would laugh at the way Willie was controlled by Maggie and they would enjoy seeing the character of Willie progress from a poorly paid boot maker into a successful business man. The audience would enjoy seeing ordinary working class people and the Northern humour because they can relate to the characters.
Maggie is an extremely un-stereotypical character because of her actions through out the play, we see her boss men about, and we see her propose to Willie which would have been frowned upon because it was believed that it was mans place to propose to the woman.
Willie is also very un-stereotypical character because of his actions. We see his character having to talk up to people because of his status. We see him being bossed about by women and we also see him develop into a stronger character.
Brighouse chose the title to the play because it has a hidden meaning. The phrase 'Hobsons Choice' means no choice but to choose an option, which you don't like, but you have no choice but to take. In the play Hobson had no choice but to accept to let Willie take over half of his business and for the title of the business to be 'Mossop and Hobson.' By the end of the play we see Willie develop into a stronger character and stands up to Maggie and Hobson. He says 'Mossop and Hobson or its Oldfield Road for us, Maggie.' This dialogue shows how Willie had developed into a stronger character and finally had the courage to stand up to Maggie and Hobson. The audience would enjoy seeing this because they had followed Willie all the way through the play and had wanted for him to become a stronger character.