The Price Women Paid for Expressing Their Individuality and Independence

The Price Women Paid for Expressing Their Individuality and Independence

Caryl Churchill once stated, "Playwrights don't give answers, they ask

questions". For Churchill, that meant questioning the relationship

between women and labour, and what effect they would have on the

workplace and in society. In her play, "Top Girls," The plot centres

around Marlene, who is a product of gender equality and women in the

workplace. Churchill utilizes Marlene's character to show the

opposition between an ethic of caring and an ethic of competition,

Marlene representing the latter. Various characters throughout the

story, such as the obedient Griselda and the troubled Angie, are the

opposites of Marlene, in that they are either subservient to men or

have no real determination or direction in their lives. The most

obvious parallel to Marlene is the young girl Kit, who is the friend

of Marlene's daughter (Angie). It is easiest to observe the

similarities of these two characters in order to get a clear picture

as to how Churchill sees women being affected by competition and a

male-dominated society. Act I scene 3 takes place with Angie and Kit

hiding from Joyce in a shelter. In it Kit makes the statement, "Do you

wanna watch The Exterminator?" The title of exterminator can be linked

to Marlene in an earlier scene at the employment agency in which she

smashes a woman's hopes and potential by sending her to a clerical job

with a lamp shade manufacturer, when in truth the women probably had a

lot more talent than the job required. Marlene also shows her ruthless

exterminating side in the office when she gets a job promotion and her

male counterpart does...

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...man she continued to cope and

although had no vast career like her sister, she holds down four

cleaning jobs and also visits her mother every Thursday who she cares

for since the death of her father.

The overall theme Churchill seems to carry out in, "Top Girls," is one

of determining the pros and cons of women in society, and especially

in the labour situations. Different possible roles that women can

play, in past and present, are presented in Act I scene 1, to show the

effects of womanhood on a woman in that particular situation. By

contrasting the vigilant wife to the aggressive worker, or to the

caring pope, or the obliging mistress, Churchill is able to point out

how it is necessary for one to equally balance a domestic life with

one of new views that breakdown old stereotypes and gender

social-based roles.