Alice and Vickey think of their father as bad tempered. But still try to get round him but eventually give up, as they know he will never back down. Whereas Maggie could argue with Hobson forever until he would be stuck for words. On stage the audience would see this as the stage directions as “he drives Alice and Vickey before him. They go out protesting loudly. But Maggie stands in his way as he follows and she closes the door. She looks at him from the stair.” This shows a power struggle between Hobson and Maggie. The audience would be able to see the power beginning to shift.
Even though all of Hobson’s daughters give him cheek and disobey him every now and again they still have a great deal of respect for him.
Hobson has a lot of control over what Alice and Vickey do. Even in their clothing. “ We shall dress fashionably father” but they know Hobson will not have them dressed like “French madams.” Alice and Vickey rely on their father for most things.
Maggie on the other hand is more independent as she is the oldest of the three.
We think as the audience they can see the power slightly shifting over to Maggie as she is taking over in the business and at home. We think Hobson knows Maggie’s has the brains and independence to be more powerful than himself but does not like to admit it.
Maggie is a mature woman who lives at home with her family. She is the strongest of the three daughters and has a strong will and high intelligence.
As her role in the shop is the highest rank she feels pressured to run the shop to its full potential. She has a good head for business, and she is extremely clever.
We think she has taken on the wives role in the family as she has left them. As Maggie is the oldest it seems only right for her to take this role. As she cooks, cleans and runs the shop.
Even though the audience can see Maggie has taken the motherly role they notice she has a personality of her own and is not afraid to speak her mind. This is not like the typical women of the house in this period.
Hobson tells Maggie, “if you want the brutal truth you’re past the marrying age. You’re a proper old maid, Maggie, if ever there was one.” But almost immediately after he tells her this she disobeys her father by asking Will to marry her even though she knows he will not like it. As will works as a boot maker. Also we see from the stage directions “he is a lanky fellow, about thirty, not naturally stupid but stunted mentally by a brutalised childhood.” Also “his clothes are an even poorer edition of Tubby’s.” Will is not the typical man who respectable women marry.
When the typical couple got married in this period it was traditional for the man to propose to the women and also ask the father for his daughters hand in marriage.
But Maggie doesn’t do the traditional thing she does it her way. When Maggie asks Will he replies no. Maggie does not back down and is determined to marry him. We think Maggie is not marrying for love as she tells will that, “you take orders from me in this shop.” Also another motive to want to marry Will so desperately is to prove to her father that she is not an “old maid” and isn’t “past the marrying age”. Also Maggie is doing this to help herself in life she knows she has a good boot maker and that if she becomes in partnership with will she will also become wealthy.
So we can see in this second situation where the power has shifted over to Maggie. As she is marrying someone who is weaker than her.
When Maggie tells Hobson he is not pleased. We think Hobson is so angry as it says in the stage directions that he “unbuckles his belt” then “swings the strap” to hit will. We also think he is angry because he knows he is going to lose Maggies help in the shop.
Finally Hobson loses Maggie by cracking the whip at will. He doesn’t have any other choice than to lose Maggie because he will either way. This makes will and Maggie a lot closer as will tells Maggie,” you’re growing on me, lass. I’ll toe the line with you.” Maggie and Will elope to set up a boot shop of their own and get married.
Whilst they are gone Hobson tries to cover up the loss of Maggie with drink. When he finds out she is never coming back he drinks more. Until he becomes ill and begins to need Maggie more than ever and what he had taken for granted had now gone.
This has made the power shift complete Hobson’s power has now shifted over to Maggie.
When Maggie is fetched back to Hobson he tries to deny he needs her help but the doctor ensures her that she is the cure. Also we as the audience can picture seeing him as an ill man. Maggie firstly says she cannot look after her father as she is married and ”I had not the same chance before I was married.” But then she realises she can turn it to her advantage. As she decides to come back to the shop with Will. Hobson can not believe Will wants his shop when he was once his old shoe hand. Will tells him “ I’ve moved on a bit since then. Your daughter married me and set me about my education.” Maggie has changed will a lot and also makes sure his name goes above the door of the shop. Hobson argues a little but soon realises that he is too weak and ill to complain.
In the last scenes Maggie and Wills love blossom and not only is it a partnership in business but also love. Maggie’s influences on Will have made him stronger. She says, “you’re the man I’ve made you and I’m proud.” and because she believed in him he became what he wanted to be. Maggie has also softened as from the stage directions it tells us Maggie is, “caught in an act of sentiment and apologetically” she also says, “ I thought I’d press it in my bible for a keepsake,”
Now Maggie and Will were in love and equal amounts of love was given too each other they also had equal power. We can see this from Maggie describing the ring she says words like, “together”, “truth” and “ourselves”. Their relationship was not like the stereotypical power of this period at all. This shows the audience the full shift of power.
Throughout this play the author Harold Brighouse wants us to learn that not every family or person has a stereotypical view of how people should be and that most people are different from others. In the play Harold gets this across to the audience by using colloquial language and using everyday situations to make the play appeal to a wider audience.
Harold Brighouse is trying to say that every person is different from another and that everyone is unique. Also in the end his trying to get the point over that everyone is equal and we all have equal rights no matter what creed, colour , line of power or any other unique elements.
His main intention is to educate people that there should not be a shift in power as everyone should be equal. He relates this to today’s society as people need to work hard to get power not which gender they are.
