Discuss Friel’s presentation Essay

In the time Dancing at Lughnasa was set Gerry and Chriss affinity would have been extremely unorthodox and would have circulated a lot of town gossip. Having a child step to the fore of wedlock was extremely shocking and making the decision to then keep Michael even more so. In 1936 wo work force had very few rights and with the shock of Michael cosmos born only the towns respect for their brother, a missionary, kept them from beingness societal lepers. Friel presents the descent between Gerry and Chris by using stage directions to show the true feelings between them and how their kin is sustained.Having Gerry and Chris talking in the garden while the four other sisters are inside listening intently shows how teentsy privacy the two have in their relationship. When Gerry first arrives Chris appears extremely cold and offhand in front of him using one word answers Chris Hello, Gerry yesyes. All of this gives the impression that she has very little time for him and doesnt part icularly deal out about him. However Friels staging shows the audience that she re whollyy does care be causal agent we follow through her re carryion before Gerry interposes on stage.Friel portrays her as standing stock take over in shock then, when glide path to her senses, rushing around panicking, adroitly adjusts her hair and clothes. It is the panic before the purify that shows her much Chris rightfully does care about Gerry and also about how little the sisters have in their lives due to the their scramble to make themselves presentable. This highlights how Gerry is a unwrap romantic figure in the play because even though all the while the sisters are saying Kate He wont stay the night here and rosaceousI hatred him they still all rarity up crowding around the window to listen in and watch, suggesting that though disapproving they still half wish to be in Chriss shoes. The social constraints of the situation pass them to wanting Gerry out of the families lives, b ut still the desire is at that place through the constant comments. These comments are key to the suggestion of an invasion of privacy, Maggie you should see the way shes looking at himKate theyre not still talking are they? Friel is trying to show how hard it must be for Gerry and Chris to live in much(prenominal) an enclosed area where everyone knows everyones business, thus exploring a theme of romance, or lack of romance. This is continued throughout the extract, the fact that Gerry never visits Chris 13 months making the relationship seem very one sided Chris remembering the uttermost visit to the day while Gerry cant remember the month. Gerry proposes to Chris at the very end of the extract and this gives a sign that maybe he does care about her.Even though Chris turns him down there is still the frail remembrance of this moment throughout the rest of the play, leading to the audiences opinion that maybe Gerry does truly care for Chris despite leaving her alone with child . However through Michaels narrative closer to the end of the play in the second act we find out that Gerry already had a wife and collar grown children, Friel choosing to leave this revelation till the end to produce a far more hammy climax to their relationship. It is then that the audience realises that Gerry never intended to marry Chris and only offered in the knowledge that she would refuse.This all gives the impression that there is never any real closeness or intimacy for the two of them and the on the whole summer of happiness before, suddenly he takes her in his arms and dance. was a lie. A large mould on Friel when writing Dancing at Lughnasa was the changing role of women in family. Thatcher had just been Prime parson and womens rights were becoming much more sure in the 1990s, perhaps why Friel chose to make this such(prenominal) a large part of the play. Set in 1936 the Mundy sisters would not have been at all accepted by society with Chris having Michael out o f wedlock and then deciding to keep him.Changing attitudes within society would have influenced Friels interpretation of Chris and Gerrys relationship. Friel depicted this family as an example of what is besides to come, the sisters supported Chris throughout and after her pregnancy even though it went against societies beliefs, thus inflicting Chriss embarrassment upon themselves as well yet still sticking together as a family. Friel emphasizes that women should have the right to do as they recreate through the disruption of outside influences.At the beginning of the play the sisters are happy in their little bubble making jokes about the outside world Maggie steady on girl, today its lipstick tomorrow its the gin bottle although never participating in it. Its when they begin to allow others into their association that things begin to go down hill for them. Before Gerrys arrival they were all dancing and express joy but his arrival marked a change for them all, Friel perhaps su ggesting that women dont need the influences of men and all they bring with them is destruction.Danny Bradley and Rose are another example of this, the death of Roses naked white rooster is symbolic of mans predatory nature and the violence of this act implies violence between Rose and Bradley. Therefore Friel is portraying women as stronger without the male interference, Chris and Gerrys relationship is used to highlight this as it is pellucid to the audience that Chris would have been better off without Gerry in the first place but it is this continued procrastinating relationship that truly destroys her.The audience views Chris and Gerrys relationship with trepidation throughout the play due to Friels mental picture of him as a stereotypical womaniser. Kate calls him a Loafer Wastrel but conveniently neglects to mention the obvious charisma he has. In a short few minutes of conversation he has move Chris from cold and unwelcoming Chris Thirteen months. To one who is warm a nd laughing and allows Gerry to dance her lightly, elegantly across the garden. The audience views this interchange with surprise having heard only very negative things about Gerry from the sisters the easy acceptance from Chris confuses them.The audiences suspect of Gerrys character increases after the small discussion of Agnes between the two. Having already seen Agness rigid, closely forced disinterest in Gerry, and then to have Gerry asking specifically after her Friel creates a slight unease for the audience, suggesting that something may have between the two of them. This leads to the audience beginning to see the cracks in the familys foundations with Gerry seemingly at the centre of this. Friel enforces this idea of him being a womaniser later in act 2 when he begins to flirt with Agnes GerryDance with me Agnes. and then kisses her forehead, all of this watched by Chris. The audience begins to really mistrust Gerry at this point as it is obvious that he is the cause of c onflict between the family they have come to love. The audience is seeing men in a bad light which relates to the feelings at the time it was being performed when the term glass ceiling was coming into existence, women in the workplace being oppressed by men and now, in the play, them to being oppressed in relationships.There is the feeling that men can get forward with any sort of misdemeanour by just walking away, leaving, whereas women i.e. Chris, are always left with the exit a baby. Gerrys carrying on represents this stereotypical male so that when the audience discovers that Gerry in fact has a wife and three grown children it comes as no surprise.In conclusion, Friel presents Gerry and Chriss relationship as something analog to that of a pre 1990s relationship. He wants to suggest to the audience that women no need longer depend on men by showing how much better off the Mundy sisters were before the arrival of Gerry and the conflict he brought within the family.Although t he influences on Friel were all about the empowerment of women, he presents Gerry and Chriss relationship with Gerry as the overabundant figure, putting the play in the context of its setting and to show how the male dominance was a cause of the family breaking down. Through his presentation of the relationship he is evoking the idea that there are more possibilities accessible to an empowered women rather than a dominated one.