How does the writer, Willy Russell encourage us to sympathise with Shirley?

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Hashim Al-Hasani 10R

How does the writer, Willy Russell encourage us to sympathise with Shirley?

In Willy Russell’s 1989 screenplay, ‘Shirley Valentine’ we examine the life of a middle-aged liverpudlian housewife and her she struggles with her monotonous life. From the start of Secondary School till now, her life was in a fiasco. No one listened to her and she grew up in what she became, a lonely, and disconsolate, low class person that no one seemed to care about. This sympathisation with Shirley and the audience is revealed in many ways, through the use of a variety of dramatic techniques; flashbacks for example, reveal her past, on how she had the most mundane and dull life, this encourages us to sympathise with her.  She then finds herself to have tickets to Greece with her friend, still trying to find out who she really is.  After an affair and few happy moments she had finally fulfilled her life.  She has found her inner self; she is in love with the idea of living. The central message that is being examined through the character of Shirley is that to find out who she really is, to find that inner person stuck inside her; the Shirley Valentine years when she was a teenager and a rebel. This whole story is linked to Russell’s past. Russell was born in Whiston; Liverpool in 1947.The story is also based in Liverpool where Shirley lives. His family were working class just like Shirley was. He also grew up in a very maternalistic atmosphere, and so he learnt the about how women view the world. This is why the protagonist of this screenplay is a woman. This story portrays the writers life in a more different and entertaining way. He also makes you remember who we are and to always be yourself.

The writer, Russell makes use of language, to encourage us to with the protagonist of this story, Shirley. He uses a range of devices such as emotive language, use of 3rd person, rhetorical questions and humour (sometimes self deprecating). An example of one of these devices is when Shirley talks about herself, “what happened to her? What’s happened to Shirley valentine?” Shirley speaks about herself in 3rd person illustrating that she talks about herself as if she (Shirley Valentine) were another person and how she has fragmented and lost her identity; she no longer knows who she is. Another language device Russell uses in his novel is past tense, he uses this to make us sympathise with Shirley because she’s always looking back instead of thinking of the future. An example of past tense being used is when Shirley is remembering one of her flashbacks, “And there I was”. This quote indicates that she used to be happy, she is now remembering how she used to be happy but never thinks ahead.  I think that Russell used this quote to show us that she did have dreams and had the ability to achieve them. But I just didn’t work out.  Russell may of used this as a metaphor for himself maybe he did not want to become a hairdresser or a novelist. Russell also uses rhetorical questions, for example when she says something ‘to the wall’, “Don’t I wall? Don’t I like a glass of wine when preparing the evening meal?” the quote explains how Shirley has no-one to talk to and that she’s gone so low that she’s talking to a wall, this also illustrates how lonely she is and have a routine , boring housewife life.

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The novelist, Willy Russell, uses many characters in the narrative, Shirley valentine in order to make us sympathise for Shirley. He uses the characters in many different ways to give an impression of how people are treating Shirley. For example one of the main characters of the story Milandra, her daughter. Milandra treats her mother Shirley with a lack of respect, she expects her mother to do all the work for her. Just like a slave. A quote that proves this is when Milandra enters the house, “Mother, can you get the TV for me, playschool is coming on in ...

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