Under Milk Wood is made up of characters that are equally intriguing as the play itself as they each demonstrate both flaws and virtues to much the same level as we do. Polly Garter, for example, appears at first to be simply a looser, free and perhaps even immoral woman. However, throughout the play we learn that she is simply a woman who is happy with her way of life, loves the men she has relations with and who states “Oh, isn’t life a terrible thing, thank God?”(p.8) Polly Garter then emerges a joyful and amiable woman who is essentially benevolent and humane despite her loose nature. Polly does, therefore and much like the other characters, present both faults the audience feels compelled to have an aversion to and worthy virtues the audience is drawn to. It is greatly for the reason that Polly Garter is at the end of Under Milk Wood seen to posses both good and bad qualities that the audience feels able to relate to her and the other characters, thus making them socially realistic.
Hence, throughout Under Milk Wood it may be noted that no matter how great the faults of Llareggub’s townspeople may be, the play as a whole justifies each of their crimes. Similarly, taking into consideration that Dylan Thomas’ play may indeed be “an indictment of human society”, Dylan Thomas must therefore be presenting his readers with their own flaws and in doing so condemning them. On the other hand, towards the end of his work he is essentially asking us to excuse and forgive flaws and to tolerate them as they keep our lives from being dull and lacklustre. While Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard is an unpleasant woman who in her dreams tortures her two dead husbands and when awake rejects a boarder for her bed and breakfast claiming “I don’t want persons in my nice clean rooms breathing all over the chairs (…) and putting their feet on my carpets and sneezing on my china and sleeping in my sheets…” (p.10), she is essentially accepted by the rest of Llareggub’s eccentric inhabitants and we may (despite her less commendable traits) find ourselves regarding her warmly as she is evidently fond of the two husbands she torments so much. Therefore, although Dylan Thomas does in fact criticize society’s behaviour, he also celebrates it for being so wonderfully senseless, interesting and in many ways amusing.
Dylan Thomas further explores the depiction of society in the people of Llareggub through Captain Cat, the very controversial central character of Under Milk Wood. Cats can allegedly see in the dark and thus Captain Cat, though blind, serves (along with the First Voice and Second Voice) as a narrator whereby the audience, too, is able to ‘see’ a different world as Captain Cat sees it. Captain Cat is an elderly sea captain who towards the end of the play confesses that he has never, in fact, been a sailor: “I’ll tell you no lies./The only sea I saw/Was the seesaw sea/With you riding on it.” (p.16) This extremely unexpected admission, although it comes as a surprise to the audience, is not an exceptionally shocking or appalling one. The audience does, of course, feel pity towards Captain Cat. However, we may also feel compassion towards the character and identify with his situation. This is because many of us have probably already lied about some part of our lives or ourselves and perhaps even, as a result of keeping that lie over a longer period of time, after a while been unable to separate the truth from the untruth, thus perhaps believing the lie to be real. Therefore, Dylan Thomas may be condemning this very human part of us, as the memory of what is true appears in Under Milk Wood to destroy Captain Cat.
In the midst of gossip, Fourth Woman, a relatively unimportant character with few lines states: “There’s a nasty lot live here when you come to think.” (p.11) Although this line is delivered in a sort of offhand way, the meaning of the line itself may reveal much about the implication of Under Milk Wood and Dylan Thomas’ intentions¹. One may be of the opinion that by this line Dylan Thomas meant to make the audience consider the story’s various characters and their flaws. After all, despite their sins, Thomas’ characters are evidently quite alike (in at least some way) to most individuals of the audience. Although Thomas is, therefore, critical of our faults, he does not wish to attack them. Thomas appears to be of the opinion that one should be forgiven for one’s faults and thus accepted and loved for them, as is the case with Polly Garter, whom we find ourselves considering with a degree of pity, tenderness and affection.
In conclusion, the play Under Milk Wood may, indeed, be considered an indictment of society. However, one must consider that, although Dylan Thomas criticizes his characters throughout, the play as a whole recognizes that it is important to forgive one of one’s flaws. The audience may therefore be inclined to believe that Under Milk Wood is simply a depiction of reality and thus displays the flaws and wonders of Llareggub’s townspeople; both of which are celebrated by the play overall.
Word Count: 1,129
Bibliography
Footnotes:
¹ - a concept further explored Jonathen Hamel’s and Danny O Snow’s
commentary of Under Milk Wood on
Books:
Thomas, Dylan (1991) Under Milk Wood, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd
Websites:
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