Post by The Thought Police (admin) on Dec 14, 2015 9:39:08 GMT -5
Marie’s Characterisation
Personality – reserved, gentle, caring.
Memories – all of her memories show Marie’s self-conscious side, where she worries about how Michael sees her.
Marie’s memories
Wedding Day – Marie struggled to get there. She thought she was lucky to be marrying Michael but was worried he would not go through with the wedding because she was so late. The Brits’ roadblock delayed their wedding, and they seemed very fierce. But actually, they gave her a lift and were good to her.
‘He was the only boy I’d wanted and it was a miracle to me he wanted me back.’
This tells us that Marie possibly loves Michael more than he loves her. It definitely shows that she does not think she is worthy of him.
‘My good white dress dirty from the rain’. Marie’s white dress symbolises her innocence and naivety in the text. Her dress is dirty here, which perhaps is a bad sign for her marriage and suggests that there is something less pure here, as though her marriage is already soiled.
‘There were never going to be bad times again – because I was never going to be without him again. Well – I was just seventeen’.
This shows us Marie was naïve and innocent here. She remembers her wedding day with real happiness and clings on to the past.
Her wedding day is of huge importance to Marie because her husband died and so this is a really positive memory of when things were perfect in her life.
The picture of Michael – In the stage directions on page 1, we see that Marie has a photo of her husband Michael.
‘There is a small picture of the Virgin on one wall, a large grainy blow-up photo of a smiling young man on the other.’
Therefore, Michael is as important in Marie’s life as religion. The photo is when Michael was young and their love was perfect. Therefore, she chooses not to remember the other times and the negative memories. Instead, she has persevered all the best times, frozen in time. Therefore, this picture itself is a bit of a lie as it lets Marie forget the truth of Michael and his affairs.
At the end of the play, Deirdre confronts Marie and demands that she tells her the truth about Michael. We have learned that Deirdre is Michael’s daughter. Therefore, Marie must accept the truth that Michael was a cheat. At this point, she:
‘wrenches the knife and the picture off the startled Deirdre and smashes and slashes Michael’s picture with swift, efficient destructiveness.’
Marie feels lied to and betrayed by Michael. Deirdre is living proof that he loved other women and is not the perfect man Marie wanted him to be. Therefore, she takes the knife, which symbolises the truth and destroys Michael’s photo. This shows she is finally accepting the truth of her life.
Marie tells Deirdre what she thinks is the truth:
‘The thing about daddys. all the daddys, is they up and leave you; they go out with their friends, they go inside, they die, they leave you.’
Therefore, Marie now has a very dim and pessimistic view of relationships with men, believing that they are all damaged and incapable of true commitment.
Personality – reserved, gentle, caring.
Memories – all of her memories show Marie’s self-conscious side, where she worries about how Michael sees her.
Marie’s memories
Wedding Day – Marie struggled to get there. She thought she was lucky to be marrying Michael but was worried he would not go through with the wedding because she was so late. The Brits’ roadblock delayed their wedding, and they seemed very fierce. But actually, they gave her a lift and were good to her.
‘He was the only boy I’d wanted and it was a miracle to me he wanted me back.’
This tells us that Marie possibly loves Michael more than he loves her. It definitely shows that she does not think she is worthy of him.
‘My good white dress dirty from the rain’. Marie’s white dress symbolises her innocence and naivety in the text. Her dress is dirty here, which perhaps is a bad sign for her marriage and suggests that there is something less pure here, as though her marriage is already soiled.
‘There were never going to be bad times again – because I was never going to be without him again. Well – I was just seventeen’.
This shows us Marie was naïve and innocent here. She remembers her wedding day with real happiness and clings on to the past.
Her wedding day is of huge importance to Marie because her husband died and so this is a really positive memory of when things were perfect in her life.
The picture of Michael – In the stage directions on page 1, we see that Marie has a photo of her husband Michael.
‘There is a small picture of the Virgin on one wall, a large grainy blow-up photo of a smiling young man on the other.’
Therefore, Michael is as important in Marie’s life as religion. The photo is when Michael was young and their love was perfect. Therefore, she chooses not to remember the other times and the negative memories. Instead, she has persevered all the best times, frozen in time. Therefore, this picture itself is a bit of a lie as it lets Marie forget the truth of Michael and his affairs.
At the end of the play, Deirdre confronts Marie and demands that she tells her the truth about Michael. We have learned that Deirdre is Michael’s daughter. Therefore, Marie must accept the truth that Michael was a cheat. At this point, she:
‘wrenches the knife and the picture off the startled Deirdre and smashes and slashes Michael’s picture with swift, efficient destructiveness.’
Marie feels lied to and betrayed by Michael. Deirdre is living proof that he loved other women and is not the perfect man Marie wanted him to be. Therefore, she takes the knife, which symbolises the truth and destroys Michael’s photo. This shows she is finally accepting the truth of her life.
Marie tells Deirdre what she thinks is the truth:
‘The thing about daddys. all the daddys, is they up and leave you; they go out with their friends, they go inside, they die, they leave you.’
Therefore, Marie now has a very dim and pessimistic view of relationships with men, believing that they are all damaged and incapable of true commitment.