Top Girls

This week I will touch on two topics, the structure of the text and feminism.

I completely disliked Churchill’s choice to use /’s to break up lines of interruption. I do not think it added anything to the meaning or flow of the play, only made it more confusing to the reader. There are more clear ways of showing interruption in text, such as Shakespeare’s using multiple characters to complete a line of iambic pentameter. Also simple dashes are very effective, as well as indenting the person interrupting. This play took me a lot longer to read than it should have simply because my mind would start to wander every time I saw a / and looked to see what should be read next.

The theme of feminism is very apparent in Top Girls. The five historical women who dine with Marlene each share some aspect of their life they had to give up in order to achieve, or attempt to achieve success. The women make it very clear that they are living, or lived in a male dominated society, making remarks that show even they would prefer to be male. Nijo on 352 “It was only a girl but I was still sorry to lose it.” And on 355 “Ah a boy. / So it all ended happily” Griselda on 354 “But of course a wife must obey her husband.” Feminism in the workplace is discussed in the second act when Mrs. Kidd tells Marlene about Howard’s disappointment to losing out to a woman and now having to work under her. Sexism in the workplace is likely to never disappear as the conflict of bearing a child and an uninterrupted career will loom for eternity. This debate has lots of economic fall out, as firms will often pay women less as they have the possibility of leaving to raise a child. Marlene knows all about this as she gave her daughter to Joyce to pursuit her career.