Exploring Marital Strife in John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger

Abstract

The classical play Look Back in Anger has a single setting and story explored over three acts. The play is a "kitchen sink" drama witha traditional fundamental story device—misalliance in a marriage made worse by a love triangle. The play's opening scene uses the story to reinforce the married couple's feeling of joy and security at home. When Jimmy and Alison appear as the bear and squirrel, it is also a happy and stable moment at the end of the play. Marital problems are discussed, defining the causes of alienation, identity loss, and rage. Other types of character mischief are also revealed throughout the play. Alison loses her childhood because Jimmy's marriage forces her to mature too quickly. The rage and cruelty Alison's husband inflicts upon her is a waste of her youth. Jimmy's hatred and indignation are an outpouring of his suppressed feelings and his craving for vitality in a world that has grown dull. That rage was transformed into a representation of the uprising against the political and social ruin of British society.