UNIT 4 CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LOOK

BACK IN ANGER
Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Different Critical Approaches to the Play
4.1.1 A Psychoanalytic Reading
4.1.2 Tlie Feminist Perspective
4.1.3 New Criticism
4.1.4 Historicist Criticisni
4.2 Let Us Sum Up
4.3 Glossary
4.4 Questions
4.5 Suggested Reading

4.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit aims to indicate sollie of tlie common critical approaches that 111iglit be
applied to tlie play and tlie consequent varying interpretations that would result from
such an exercise. Do remember that these approaches can overlap-for example it is
possible to have a feminist psychoanalytic reading or one that combines historicism
witli feminis~ii.Tlie aim is to indicate which aspects of tlie text these readings would
lay their emphasis on.

4.1 DIFFERENT CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE-

PLAY

4.1.1 A psyclloanalytic Reading

Psychoanalytic criticis~iiuses the techniques and theories of psychoanalysis (therapy
wliicli works througli investigating tlie relation between, and tlie filnctioning df,
conscious and unconscious elements in tlie mind ) and applies them in literary
analysis. Such a reading would also entail considering in what way exactly a study of
the working of tlie mind is to be used while studying a literi~ryor dramatic text.

I shall follow Elizabetli Wright's outlining of the relationship between

psychoanalysis and literary criticism, which, she says, works in two ways. One, it
draws an a~ialogybetween mental and linguistic processes. Two, it involves a
consideration of the genetic origins of language. (Only tlie first of these need be used
with regard to Look Back in Anger). A psychoanalytic reading does not necessarily
require a rigid application of theories but does crucially involve paying nttention to
the presence of sexuality , atid an analysis of the unconscious (broadly, this means a
stress on tlie Iiu~iianmind's dark or hidden areas ) in connection witli the author, tlie
reader, tlie text and the points at which tlie boundaries between these begin to
dissolve.

Frendian criticislii sees the literary work as functioning like the dream lo secretly
gratify an infantile or forbidden wish. This idea of repression has proved very
convenient to critics when trying to explain why a literary work may have a tendency
opposed to the author's consciously expressed beliefs, The author's unconscious
then enters the text eitlier directly or tlirougli a character, and is either fillfilled or left
ungratified. Tliis makes sense o~ilyif the author is also seen as a reader, liis reading
determined by the Jiistory of hisllier life which provides a personal myth or
experience wliicli is then looked at in relation to tlie text.
If we now turn to tlie play, the no st apparent exa~nplethat strikes me is Ji~nmy's
tracing back llis ~iiisogy~iy to his motlier's treatment of his father. (The passage has
been quoted at le~igtlie a r l i c ~ill 3.1.2 ) This was an experience from Osbome's own
cllildliood, and one that clearly made a very deep impression 011him, since the theme
of fatherhood surfaces throughout liis plays and, like Jimmy, Ile mourns liis lost
father. Tlie drawback of sucli an approach is, of course, that it relies quite heavily on
biographical details. A more straiglitforward metliod of going about this exercise
would be simply to psychoanalyze tlie characters in tlie play. Jimmy's speeches haye
acti~allybeen seen as syniptomatic of an inferiority complex and of ~ c h i z o ~ l i r e n i a .
The first of these charges is based on the fact of his constant attention-seeking and tlie
second on tlie way in which lie rapidly moves between demonstrating kindness and
cruelty and praise and attack. I think sucli a reading rests largely on a ~nisperce~tion
of schizophrenia or. to tlie loose applicatio~iof tlie term to what is, more simply, the
coexistence in one person ofopposirig emotions and responses, somelliing not very
iIIicommon.

Freud also accords importance to the dream in seeing it as a space for the
manifestation of all the desires, fears or memories which tlie conscious mind
suppresses when awake. Two processes by which real events or feelings are
trarisforlned into dream images are displacement, wliere one person or event is
represented by another, and condensation, where many people, e'vents, wishes or
meanings combine to form a single dream image. The relevance of this for literary
studies, according to psycl~oanalyticcriticism, is that dreams are like literature in
r ~ l i ~ ~ rather
i ~ i gthan
' 'telling', so literature can be seen as using images, symbols and
metapliors tlirougli tlie same devices of condensation and displacement. Try and see
if you would like to incorporate tliis idea into the practice of analysing the language
of tlie play, which was done in the last unit.

Another set of coricepts (apart fr01~1 the subco~isciousand the unconscious discussed
above ) that psycl~oa~~alysis offers to literary analysis are those of the psyche which is
seen as having thl-ee groups of fi~nctions,id,ego and super-ego. This is a
topogl.aphica1 model of tlie human mind, that is to say, a model that represents tlie.
mind spatially in terms of different mental 'spaces'. Tlie i~Jco~isists of instinctual
drives arising from tlie body and the way in which these drives inform beliaviour.
Typically, taking account of these drives leads to a study of sexuality ancl sexual
beliaviour. Jimmy at one point explains liis irrational beliaviour ( he has first
apologized for Alison's arm being hurt, and then says that he did it on purpose-in
either case he cannot be taken to iinambigi~oi~sly speak the truth ) as resi~ltingfrom
tlie co~nplexitiesof liis feelings toward Aliso~iw1101ii lie desires in a way that lie
doesn't seein able to handle :

"There's hardly a 11101ne1itwlleti 1'111 not - watclli~lgand wanting you. I've

got to hit out somehow. Nearly four years of being in tlie same room witli
you, night and day, and I still can't stop my sweat breaking o i ~ wlie~i
t I see
you doing - something as ordinary as leaning over an ironing board."(LBA, I)
\
Tlie ego (that agelicy deriving from and regulating tlie id) here offers a
particular account of its own fi~nclioningundcr the influence of tlie id. The
slyer-ego wliicli is tlie mental transformation of social/parental influences on
the id, has already been identified in tliis pal-ticular case ie that of Jim~ny.
Tliese categories are applicable to all the characters and would atteliipt to
provide some kind of answer to qi~estio~is such as why Aliso11marries Jimmy
or wliy Cliff stays on in a s i t ~ ~ a t i he
o ~ professes
i to Iiate, But tlie use o f these
ideas in literary criticism need not be restricted to the analysis o f cliaracte~.~,
it has also bee11used to 'map' aspects of tlie reader's (or in tliis case, tlie
spectator's ) experience of a text, gradually bringing tlie reader into the focus
of interest which was earlier restricted to tlie text.
Lastly, another branch of psychoanalytic criticism, called 'scliizoanalysis' Critical Approaches
concentrates on tlie ~lnconscious,but in a way tliat sees it as constructed through
languagi. The instability of language syste~iistlien leads to the attempt to capture
pre-linguisti~experience, usually a regression to cliildliood beliavio~rr.This has
obvious i~iiplicationswlieli we are looking at tlie 'bear and squirrel' ganie wliicli
could tlien be seen as a sy~npto~nof tlie wish to retreat into childhood and a trouble-
free existence, away from ad~11Lresponsibilities.

Any kind.of psychoanalytic reading, therefore, first identifies, and tlien concentrates
on, aspects of tlie individual psyche, and in doing so privileges wliat is called
'psyclio-drama' above social drama (class conflict, for exaniple) as well as above a
social or historical context, such as was niapped out for Look Brrck in Anger in tlie
first unit of this block.

4.1.2 The Feminist Perspective

'Feminism' is a term with a very wide and varying liistory of sage and practice and
will liere be used only in the relatively liarrow sense of an interrogation of tlie
representation of wonien in tlie text and a questioning of the authority of sucli
representations and of tlie assumptions behind them. Tliis would mean looki~~g at
liow wornen are presented in tlie play, and at tlie way in which tlie male cliaracters
speak of and react to tlie female characters.

'The obvious starting point is Jimmy's often expressed misogyny, of wliicli the
following passage is an example: I

"Why, wliy, wliy do we let these wolnen bleed ~ls.todeath? Have you ever
liad a letter, and on it is franked 'Please Give Your Blood Generously'? Well,
tlie Postmaster-General does tliat on behalf of all the women in tlie
world.. .There aren't any good, brave causes left,.. No, there's nothing left
for it, me boy, but to let yourself be butchered by the women." (LBA,III.i)

He does see personal relationships as offering tlie only alternative to tlie lack of
causes in public life, but views sucli relationships as giving w o ~ n ea~ ichance to
'devour' and to destroy liis (and by implication, all mens' ) selfliood and autonomy.
Tliis goes Iiand in Iiand~withliis being co~iipletelytied to women in tlie sense of being
unable to break away from them sexually or e~iiotio~ially. The notion of female
sexuality as threatening is all old co~iimonplacein literature, and I tlii~ikthat Osborne,
far from endorsing wliat J i ~ i i ~ usays,
y is sliowing liow lie spouts tlie anti-woman
1.1ietoricof tlie typical lilisogyliist to wl~icliliis ow11dependalicy on women provides
an alniost comic contrast. Feini~iistcriticism would also contest this grouping of all
wolneli together ~111der wliat they see as the cultural construction of tlie 'fe~iii~iine'
-a
colicept which works to define wo111e11negatively-and would analyse language as
the means by wliicli sucli a grouping is effected. In tlie play under consideration, the
groi~pi~ig seems to work only at tlie level of language - no justification or evidence is
provided for it, but neitlier is it positively refi~ted.Tliis is wliy I would be wary of
tliose critical interpretations which see the play as embodying Osbor~ie'sviews
(whatever they are ) about wonien.

A more relevant focus would be on tlie way in wliicl~rebellion against tlie social
structures of class and family which are see11 as oppressive, does not include a view
of them as particulal-Iy oppressive to women. Jilnlny sees himself as suffering ~l~ider
tlie systeni of class wliicli privileges Alison atid her family. but does not see Alison's
suffering under tlie systelil of patriarchal marriage that privileges hiln over her.
Tliougl~liis ignorance, and to some extent, society's attitude to wolnen are sliow~iup
in the play, it could eqilally be argued that tliese are reinforced by tlie sequence of
events as well as by the cl~aracterizatio~i wliicli liiakes Alison and Helena share a
similar pattern of behaviour - fasci~iatio~i alter~iatingwith resentment and antipatliy-
with regard to Jimmy. Mary McCartliy poi~itsout in A NEM~ Word(1959),that the
Look Brick in Anger idea of women as all alike, as interchangeable and tllerefore by implicatiotl ultimately
dispensable, is most clearly present in Helena's replacing Alison in exactly the sa~iie
role, that of solneone who provides to the men a well r u n home, cooked meals, ironed
clothes, affection and sex :

'At the rise of the third-act curtain, months later, tile two male figures are still
enveloped in tlle Sunday papers, while a woman is silelltly ironing a shirt.
Same scene -different girl. Notliing really changes; ~iothillgcan cliatige . . .
Jimmy, a working-class intellectual, still has a hostage from the ruling class
doing the washing and tlie cooking, ancl his friend, Cliff, an uneducated
Welsh boy, who boards witli them, is still looking on. here has been a swap
of ~lpper-classwomen, like the swap of posh newspapers: yo11 p ~down ~ t tlie
Observer and pick LIPtlie Sunduy Tinies - same contents, different make-up."

To expose within a text, as the above passage does, tile social and cultllral
asswnptions which perpetuate illeq~lalitybetween nien and women, and tlie methods
used to do so, are the main ainls of one strand of fenlinist criticisin. One sucl~
assunlption exposed here is that Iiouseliold tasks are to be perfortiled by women. This
role is one from wllicli no woliian is exempt, irrespective of the social class slie
belongs to, sirlce even if other upper-class women do not fitid tliemselves in
situations wliere they liave to cook and clean as Alisoli and Helena do, they still liave
tlie responsibility of liiaintaining a colnfortable domestic environment for tlie meti.

Jimmy tries to win not ollly Alison's love, but also lier s~lbscriptio~i to liis views atid
vision of life. Tlle play does show Alison aba~ldo~iing Jiliitny or letting Iiim dow:~(by
refilsilig to go witli liim to visit Hugh's mother) at a moment when lie needs Ilel-, but
that lnolnent is, equally, a decisive one for lier - it is the first time slie is depicted as
making an independent decision for herself or consciously acting against Jimmy's
wishes. The question tliat arises is whether tlie liiolnelit of decisioli for the wolilan
must also fi111ctiolias her betrayal of the man. Tlie fact that it does seen1 to be so in
Look Back in Anger, and that it apparelitly goes unquestioned, is a problematic one.

Apart from tlie position that woliieli O C C L I ~tlie

~ , qilestion of whether or not we can
locate identity (especially feminine identity) in gender and in the social circuii~stances
of me11and women, is a crucial issue in feminism. For example, is it possible to see
Aliso~iand Jimmy in terms of esselitialized fe~iiiliilieand lnasci~lilienatures or would
doing so mean being taken in by a rhetoric that belorigs to tlie mati (Jimmy) atid is
anti-woman ? And does tlie similarity in Alison's alld Helena's bellaviour mean to
indicate that they sliare a co~iinio~ifeliiinine nature, or is it traceable to their siliiilar
backgrounds and ~lpbritigitlg? At a glance, tlie play's stress on individuality does
seem to be restricted to tile men, in fact to just one man. But it soori beconies evident
tliat the differences as well as the cornmon patterns i l l the wornens' roles arise eqitally
from tlie circu~iistances- both social and marital-in which they are placed.

4.1.3 New Criticism

This is tlie America11equivalent of Practical Criticism, a particular way of
approaching the critical reading of texts, especially of poems, advocated by
1.A.Ricllards in the 1920s which became, with some niodifications, the basis for a
new critical practice that is still extremely widespread.

As a method, this would mean looki~igat the particular text under co~isideration
witliout ally reference to extra-textual infor~natioliabout tlie author, date of
colnposition and socio-historical backgroil~idor context. In its applicatio~ito tlie
interpretation of the text, it would entail a 'close' reading, a study of tlie words on the
page (we will liave to teliiporarily let go of tlie 'performance text' liere ) witli tlie
reader's attention being closely foc~lsedon textual detai Is silcll as use of metaphor,
metrics (where relevant), imagery atid symbols, forni atid structure, anlong others. As
yoy will immediately see, this is exactly tlie method of analysis we have beell
 Critical Approacl~es
following in these llnits, except, of collrse that socio-historical context has been
stressed here. SucJ1an elnphasis on form, texture and structure makes the question of
belief expressed ill content a secondary one.
I A discussionof tlie structure of Look Back in Anger might serve to illustrate better
, tllis rnetIlod of criticism. Structure in a play lias the filnctions of the creation of
1, illterest and suspense, which is done t l l r ~ ~ ~presenting
gll the events of the plot at a
, sllitablepace. The play under consideration, it might be argued, does not offer any
:; drasticdevelopments as far as the plot is concerned, but the purpose is fillfilled all the
I
salne since there is an adequate level of suspense as to the end. We do not k~iownntil
he last lliolnetlt wl~etllerJimmy is going to stay with Alison or Helena. The play also
offessunexpected developments such as tlie affair between Jimmy and Helena, wliicli
seems to take even them by surprise, tllo~~gll a'psycl~oa~lalytic reading w o ~ ~ argue
ld
otllerwise,saying that Helena had been, conscio~~sly or subconscio~~sly, preparing for
it.
Maltin Esslin has traced the development of tlle conventional structure of drarna as
collsistitlgof--the statement of the theme and its first variation, a pattern of episodes
thro~lgllwllicll takes place the establishment of the play's main objective; the
espositioll of this objective, which relies on other factors SLICII as plot (incl~ldingthe
development of tlie story and the sequence of scenes), the casting of cllaracters, the
quality of dialogue and spatial and temporal elements( ie tlle time dimension
consisting of the concerns of a sense of timing and econolny), the comm~~nication of
tlieme(s), which requires a process of decoding, and the establishing of atmosphere.
The statement of the theme need not be in words - in Look Buck in Anger., I would
identify3 in Jimmy's behaviour, that is, in the very action of launching into long
speeches, rather than in the content of what he says. Two of the most impoltant
elements, namely character and language, have already been analysed. Now try and
locate tlie rest of these elements in tlie play, looking for instance, at the way in which
atmosphere is built up. Two examples, tliat of sound effects like tlie church bells, and
that of Alison's iron, were given in earlier iinits. See if you can find any others.
4.1.4 Historicist Criticism
,
To be more specific, tlie n~etliodconsidered here is actually called 'new historicism'
This refuses to privilege tlie literary test,,and is based on the parallel reading of the
, literary text and a non-literary text belonging to the same Ilistorical period. Ratlier
than seeing socio-historical context as providing a 'backgrownd' to tlie literary text
(as was done in the first unit of this block) this kind of analysis sees both texts as
informing each otller, alld of equal interest in a reading of either. 'The first kind of
reading (ie. the one that looks at 'background') coi~ldconveniently be termed 'old'
Iiistoricis~n,and it does clearly privilege the text over the historical context within
which it is placed. The view that 'human, social or cultural characteristics are
detelnined in an absolute sense by l~istoricalsituation', is iniplied by the term
'historicist', as is an interest in 'history as test'. Such a view has consequently been
criticized for reducing the ll~llnansubject into these non-human, or extra-human
factors.
This kind of criticis111coi~ldbe, and in practice, ~~suallyis, linked to the analysis of a
text's political implications and its handling of class. The Inore corvrectterm for such
an analysis is 'cultural materialism' and I give an extended quotation to help fillly
explain it :
". .. a strategy [which] repudiates the supposed transcendence of literature,
seeking rather to ~lnderstalidit as a cultural intervention produced initially
within a specific set of practices and tending to render persuasive a view of
reality; and seeing it also as re-produced subsequently in other llistorical
conditio~lsin the service of various views of reality, tllrougl~other practices,
including those of moderu literary study."
UIICIthe Politic's of Dissiliuill
(A Ian Sin field, Fl,ultljnes: Cu&ul+a/M~,tn.il~li,sm
Reding, Oxfol.d, 1992) +
Looli Brtck in A~rger It has also bee11pointed out by tl~eoristsof cultu~.al~naterialismthat such sti~dyis
i~ievitablybound up with the qi~estioriof ideological crisis and struggle. What are tlie
implicatio~isof this for tlie study of Osborne ? Tlie two following passages 111iglit
help to formi~latean answer, tlirougli a parallel reading of tlle play under
consideration with either or both of tllem. Tlie first of tllem is taken from a
collllnelitary on a study of the image of the Labour party alno~igdifferent groups of
voters, comn~issionedby the joul-nal Sociulisl C'on7n1cnt~tryand pi~blislledin 1960:

'Labour may "stand for the working class" but not for the increasing IILIIIIbel.
wlio feel rightly or wrongly tliat tliey liave outgrown tliat label... One lias
only to cast the i~iiagi~latio~i back to tliose days to appreciate tlie extent to
wllicll things have changed.. . Large gl-oupsof manual workers have higher
earllings than white-collar workers or than sections of the middle class. Tliey
are cushioned by tlie provisio~lsof tlie welfare state; tlieir cliildre~ihave
educational opportnuities beyotid tlie dreanls of their parents. Tliey now have
opportunities for leisure, for the enjoyment of most of tile good tlli~igsof
life.. . But this is not all. The manual workers liave not only vastly i~liproved
tlieir positio~ias ~nanualworkers, tliey have also cha17gedtlieir position; solile
are no longer ~ n a ~ l iworkers
~al at all. As a result of teclinological cliatiges
sollie blue-collar workers liave becorile white-collar worke-rs. .. more cross
over tlie line each day. Tliere is an increasing fluidity in our society. .. 'nie
day is gone wlieu workers n~ustregard tlieir station in life as fixed - for
tliemselves and for tlieir children.'

Taken fro111a piece of writing that is esselltially social documentation, this passage
can be read alo~igsideLookBuck ill Anger wit11 interesting results for tlie latter. To
consider only two of thenl-first, we liave to retliillk our response to the clioices
Jimmy makes regarding his occupation, and in view of tlie education he has received.
Secondly, tlie passage itself is to be subjected tb a critical scrutiny, wliicli miglit (for
example) qi~estioritlie assuri~ptipnsbehind the use of tlie ter~lls'white-collar' and
'blue-collar'.

Tlle second passage is from tlie London Mc~guzina,inviting ~ i i ~autllors,

ie includiny
Osborne, to answer the followi~igquestions:

'During tlie Thirties it was a widely-held view tliat poets, ~iovelistsand

playwriglits should be closely colicer~iedin tlieir wriling wit11 the
fi~~ida~lie~ltal political and social issues of tlieir time. Since tlie~i, tlie degree
of an i~iiagi~iative writer's necessary engagement with tlie age in wllicll lie
lives lias been tlie subject of colistalit debate wit11 very varied conclusions.
Do you think that today, in 1957, it is a valid criticis111of si~clla writer to say
that ( 1 ) lie appears illdifferelit to tlle immediate problems of Iiuman freedom
involved in, say, the Roseliberg case and tlie Hungarian revolution; (2) lie
shows no awareness (a) of tlie changes that have bee11caused in our social
structure and our way of life by, for instance, tlie develop~ne~lt of ato~iiic
weapons and tlie levelling dowu of classes tlirougli discri~iiinatorytaxation,
tior (b) of the clialle~lgesto our co~ice~tioli of Iiuman existence caused by
recent discoveries in st~clisciences as biology, astroliolliy and psychology;
(3) his novel, play or poelll could,jti~/gcdon internal evidence on!y have
bee11written at ally time during tlie last fifiy years ?'

Tliese questions (rather than Osborne's answers to them) have beeti cliose~las wol-thy
of independent exa~iii~iatio~ifor the things they tells us about tlie people. institution.
. class and period that asks them, and for tlie ideas and beliefs which underlie tlielil.
For example, a new Ilistoricist reading would q~~estioli tlie very existence of 'ititer~ial
eVidenceYin a literary work. The passage also appears to tells us of tlie expectations
of writers and of their work in tlie 1930s, but we need to keep in mitic1 that what we
actually have is the perception oftlle 1950s, aboul the 1930s. Do these expectations,
6