The play ‘Blood Brothers’ was written by Willy Russell, a lower class man from Liverpool. In this essay I will discuss and then conclude which was more responsible for Mickey and Edward’s death’s, superstition or class. In order to come to a conclusion about this I will need to explore the arguments for each and then compare them, before concluding with my opinion about their deaths. Superstition is one of the most important themes explored by the play. Mrs Lyons first brings it up when she puts the shoes on the table.
This is when we realise that Mrs Johnstone is superstitious, a key part in the play. The ‘shoes upon the table’s ong is first played here, a song to be repeated whenever a superstitious occurrence comes up in the play. The whole argument for superstition being more responsible for the deaths of Mickey and Edward can be traced back to the shoes on the table incident. The argument states that if the shoes had never been put on the table then Mrs Johnstone would never have had twins and there would have been no need for to give one away to Mrs Lyons. The Edward character would never have existed. This is not the only case of superstition in the play.
It can be argued that everything in the play happens because of fate, an aspect of superstition. An example of fate causing something to happen is when Mrs Lyons moves to get away from the Johnstones, only to be followed by them. It could be argued that this happened because of another shoes on the table experience. This is when Mr Lyons puts shoes on the table just before they leave, they would then have been ‘cursed’ and this caused the Johnstones to get re-housed near them. The part superstition plays in the deaths of both Mickey and Edward is rather large. It caused Mrs Johnstone to never tell the boys that they were twins as she believed that they would die as soon as they found out, a superstition made up by Mrs Lyons to stop her secret getting out.
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Roseann Mitchell Julius Caesar Essay March 14, 2000 In William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, many themes develop through the course of the play. Superstition, manipulation, and honor are all themes woven throughout the play to aid in the development of characters and plot. Combined, these themes intertwine to advance the action within the play. Above all, superstition plays the lead role as a ...
When the boys did find out that they were twins they did immediately die. If the boys had have found out earlier that they were twins then I do not think that they would have died. When they were children they got on fine and so finding out that they were brothers would not have been to bad. As they got older their lives started to drift apart. They would have reacted worse to finding out that they were brothers.
The reason that Mrs Johnstone waits so long before telling them is due to the superstition that Mrs Lyons made up. If the superstition was never made up then Mrs Johnstone probably would have told the boys when they were children. They would not have reacted badly to the news and so Mickey would not have killed Edward and so would not have got shot. Class in England is the other main theme explored by the play. Willy Russell felt strongly about the class differences in England. He wrote the play in order to publicise the difference: ‘Like many people of his generation his life would have been much different if he’d been born into my generation or a different class, which is what Blood Brothers is about.’ Causing the two boys to die due to class would make people see and think about the differences, which is what Willy Russell was trying to do.
In order to portray this theme and get it noticed, Willy Russell uses a comparison to show the contrast between the ways of life of Mickey and Edward, caused by one being upper class and one lower. Throughout the whole play the boys are wishing that they could be each other, due to the other boy’s way of life, which is caused by class. An example of where class changes your way of life is when Edward is moving house. He has grown up in a rich, upper class family and assumes everyone has enough money as him.
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Misunderstanding life There were three words that changed my intellectual life and the way I had perceived things. Think about it! Those were the words that were said to me, the phrase think about it didn't have such a powerful meaning until that day. I would have never thought that three words could change a person's life, it changed mines. These words think about it became the most influential ...
He doesn’t understand that not everyone can just move house: Edward: Why don’t you Mrs Johnstone? Why don’t you buy a new house near us? Mrs Johnstone: Just like that? Edward: Yes, yes. The part that class played in the twin’s deaths was that it caused them to grow up to be different people and live very different lives. This then caused the two boys to become envious of each other. When this envy got too much Mickey shoots Edward. Edward wanted to be like the lower class Mickey because of his carefree attitude and large vocabulary of swear words. Mickey on the other hand was jealous of the upper class Edward as he wears nice clothes all the time and knows lots of long words.
The ‘I wish’s on gs, used in the play when a character wishes to change something, show this. When the jealousy got too much for Mickey he got the gun and went to find Edward. This is because Edward always got everything and he got nothing. With most things he could manage but when he found out that Edward had Linda that was too much and so he went to find Edward with a gun. The reason that Linda went with Edward was because Mickey was addicted to painkillers and was to lazy to find a job, Linda had to do everything. Edward on the other hand would treat her much better as he had money and an education.
If Mickey and Edward had have been brought up in the same class then they would have been almost identical and so neither would have wanted to be similar to each other. It would then not have mattered that they could have been each other. Another way that class caused the deaths of Mickey and Edward is that the Johnstones turn down money from the Lyons. This is significant because if the Johnstones had enough money then Mickey would not have to be part of the bank job. This would mean that he would not have gone to prison and so wouldn’t have lost Linda by getting addicted to painkillers. The reason that the Johnstones turned down the money is because they do not want to be seen as a charity case, they are happy as they are.
They are very proud and do not want to be seen as struggling. Mrs Johnstone is happy in her current life and knows that if she suddenly gets lots of money then she will spend it on something she doesn’t need. This is a typical characteristic of the lower class, they are happy with what they have, as long as they can eat and have a roof over their head they do not want anything more. After reading both arguments there is no doubt that both superstition and class were responsible for Mickey and Edward’s deaths.
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Blood Brother's Synopsis Blood Blood Brother's Synopsis Blood Brothers Synopsi by Bryan Ruck e Act One council chamber. Two dead bodies of young men are covered and taken away. People exit the room, leaving a grieving mother. The narrator explains the story. We find the woman is Mrs. Johnstone (Overture). The story begins: Mrs. Johnstone explains how she has come to be a single parent of 7 and ...
The twins being born in the first place was caused by the superstitious shoes on the table incident. Mrs Lyon’s not telling the boys that they were twins was also due to superstition. Class caused Mickey’s deterioration throughout his life. When Mickey found out that they could have been each other class caused him to get angry because he could have had all the things that Edward had, due to his class. I do not believe that superstition was the most responsible factor leading to Edward and Mickey’s deaths for two reasons. Firstly, even if Mrs Johnston told the boys that they were twins straight away, a thing she did not do due to superstition, eventually when they were older, they would have become cross because they could have led similar lives.
I believe that even if Mickey did know he could have been like Edward earlier in his life later on when everything was going bad for him he would have killed Edward because he had everything Mickey didn’t. Secondly, I do not think that Mickey shot Edward because of superstition, as Mrs Lyons made it up, it was not an actual superstition. It did help them die as it delayed them finding out until the situation between them was more critical between them. As a result the response was more extreme than it might have been. Overall I believe that class was the most responsible factor in Mickey and Edward’s deaths. When Mrs Johnstone told the boys that they were twins then Mickey immediately thought about what could have been and how he could have been Edward.
Mickey was not planning to kill Edward when he started out on his rampage, only scare him and tell him to leave Linda alone. When he found out that he could have had everything like Edward did that added to his hate for Edward and pushed him over the line, making him shoot Edward. If Edward had not been different to Mickey then they would have had the same things and he would not be jealous. In this essay I have discussed both the arguments for superstition and class being more responsible for the deaths of Mickey and Edward and then compared them.
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After doing this I was able to conclude that both aspects were needed in order for Mickey to shoot Edward but class was more responsible for the deaths of Mickey and Edward.
