Frustration and Aggression in John Osborne’s “Look Back in Anger”

Assist Lect Abdul Jaleel Fadhil Jamil

doi:10.36473/ujhss.v221i1.421

Abstract

"ننظر إلى الوراء في غضب" هي مسرحية ظهرت في مرحلة انتقالية حاسمة من الماضي في بريطانيا الفيكتوري في القرن العشرين الحديث. الغضب جيمي والغضب هو تعبيره عن المشاعر المكبوتة وحاجته للحياة في عالم اصبح فاتر ورتيبا. وأصبح هذا الغضب رمزا للتمرد ضد التوعك السياسي والاجتماعي للثقافة البريطانية. غضبه مدمر لمن حوله والعنف النفسي للمسرحية تلقى قدرا كبيرا من الانتقادات. النقاد يتفقون اليوم، مع ذلك، أن المسرحية أمر أساسي لفهم الحياة البريطانية في القرن العشرين، وبالتالي، وعمل مهم في الأدب البريطاني الحديث.

Highlights

Introduction The first performance of JohnOsborne’s famous play” Look Back in Anger” at the Royal Court Theatre on 8 May 1956 is commonly regarded as the beginning of a new era in the British Drama
It has claimed that anger can be analysed in two ways considering the fact that there are two main aspects of anger which are the emotional state of anger and the expression of that emotion
Having analysed anger as an emotional state and the expression of anger, that is aggression, it can be claimed that the characters of Osborne become angry and aggressive when they feel frustrated, vulnerable and helpless

Summary

Introduction

Introduction The first performance of JohnOsborne’s famous play” Look Back in Anger” at the Royal Court Theatre on 8 May 1956 is commonly regarded as the beginning of a new era in the British Drama. One of the famous critics of its time, John Russell Taylor, calls the play “the beginning of a revolution in the British theatre. “The main cause for excitement in the post-war London theatre”, it is suggested that had been the unexpected box-office success of a series of verse-plays by T.S Eliot and later his successor Christopher Fry”, except for the surprising popularity of T.S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party (1949) verse drama had small audience at this time. While British theatre was busy with restaging Restoration comedies and Elizabethan plays and verse drama in Europe the epic theatre of Bertold Brecht, the holy theatre of Antonin Artaud, and the absurd theatre of Eugéne Ionesco were being praised in 40s and 50s. One of the main reasons for Osborne’s having a different place in British scene might be because of the fact that he was among the pioneering playwrights of Britain to become aware of the changes in the theatre abroad England

Objectives

Conclusion