Look Back in Anger

The dramatic structure of the play is quite conventional and seems to follow the traditional pattern:Exposition (of the action);Development (the arriving of an outsider develops and complicates the situation);Resolution (the outsider leaves. Reconciliation of the couple).There is also a reference to Elizabethan theatre (comedy of situation): ridiculous and incongruous situations, a heaping up of mistakes, plots within plots, unexpected meetings. But the setting, the language and the themes break with the tradition of British drama.

The structure of the play

The action is a closed circle divided into 3 acts: Act 1 Exposition: Jimmy is living with Alison (who is pregnant but hasn’t told him) and Cliff. Act 2 Development: Alison, influenced by her friend Helena, leaves Jimmy. Act 3 Resolution: Jimmy is living with Helena and Cliff. Alison (who has lost her child) comes back to her husband.

The play

The action is divided into 2 acts: Act 1 Scene 1: (Sunday) Jimmy is living with Alison and a friend, Cliff. Jimmy is drinking tea, Cliff is reading newspapers, Alison is ironing. Alison is pregnant and when she has found the courage to tell her husband, they are interrupted by a telephone call. It’s Alison’s friend Helena who’s going to visit her. Scene 2: (Two weeks later. Another Sunday evening)

Alison is getting ready to go out with Helena. Jimmy gets furious and begins a melodramatic and touching monologue about his life and his father’s death. Scene 3: (the day after) Colonel Redfern comes to bring his daughter home. He complaints about the past that is gone. Alison leaves and Helena stays. Act 2 Scene 1: (Several months later – A Sunday evening) The same scene as in act 1 but this time Helena is ironing. The three start to sing a song and dance. The gag introduces the final ending. Alison comes back. Scene 2: (A few minutes later) Helena feels guilty for Alison’s miscarriage. She understands she doesn’t love Jimmy and leaves him. Jimmy’s monologue on life and love.And they pity themselves for being in a “cruel” world “full of steel traps lying about everywhere”. They don’t solve their problems, but are still searching a way of living together.

Language

Osborne avoided both the conventional upper-class diction and the dystant style of verse drama. His language is immediate, genuine, taken from real life full of slang and colloquialisms. It reflects the characters’ social background (working-classes characters or upper classes characters)

Humour

There is not just linguistic humour but also comedy of situation: reference to Shakespeare Comedy of Errors. G ags between the male characters who have formed a comic duo.