#Top girls play analysis professional#

To Marlene, Jeanine is the antithesis to her ideal of driven individualism that values professional success above all else. She sees little potential in Jeanine and moves quickly to assign her to lackluster applications at companies that manufacture knitwear and lampshades. Marlene finds Jeanine’s desire to be married at a young age, along with her lack of ambition, frustratingly pointless. This is a backhanded compliment that Marlene gives Jeanine during their interview. 'I think you could make me believe it if you put your mind to it.' - Marlene, Act 2, Scene 2, p. The situation may have gotten better, but it is by no means entirely resolved. The women at the table in Act I help contemporary readers put all our own struggles in perspective - and demonstrate that men have been oppressing women for centuries. She accepted many injustices that were ingrained in her society - but to her, this particular demonstration was crossing a line. However, Nijo battled her male oppressor from within the infrastructure. Marlene is surprised that Nijo does not harbor more anger for having to spend half her life as a courtesan, but during Nijo's time, this was considered an honor. Like Joan and Griselda, Nijo grew up during a time when certain conventions of patriarchy were accepted. Nijo springs upon him and beats him with a stick until he promises not to allow anyone else to hurt the women again. Nijo concocts an elaborate plan with the other women, to surprise the Emperor while he is alone in his bedroom. Lady Nijo describes her spirited retaliation against the Emperor for allowing his attendants to beat her and his other concubines during an annual festival. Yes, I hit him with a stick.' - Lady Nijo, Act 1, p. Joan sacrificed her life in her rebellion against the patriarchy - so at least Marlene is living in a slightly more civil time. Kidd may look down upon Marlene's promotion over a man, in Joan's time, the patriarchy was so deeply seated that people believed only men could communicate with the Almighty. However, this statement also indicates the intensity of the gender divide during Joan's time. Joan’s statement is deeply ironic, since to a modern audience the idea of speaking directly with God, even by the Pope, seems ridiculous. However, when she became Pope and failed to establish a direct connection with God, Joan took this to indicate his disapproval. Joan says this while explaining that as she rose through the Church hierarchy, she always believed that God, knowing she was a woman, approved of her ascent. But of course he knew I was a woman.' - Joan, Act 1, p. 'I thought God would speak to me directly. She leaves behind her daughter, thus throwing off the vestiges of motherhood, and behaves condescendingly towards women who do not want to devote their lives to overthrowing the patriarchy. Marlene's abject refusal to let her gender get in the way of her success emerges many times over the course of the play. Marlene's anger, meanwhile, fuels her determination to get away from her blue-collar roots and aspire to financial independence. She finds their stories of patriarchal oppression unbearable, and wonders if these women recognized the injustice as they lived it, the way Marlene has always struggled against societal gender roles in 1970s England.

Marlene says this after hearing about the struggles that her female guests have experienced in their lives. 'Don’t you get angry? I get angry.' - Marlene, Act 1, p.

Top girls play analysis