Hobson’s Choice – With particular reference to Act 1, show how Brighouse presents a comic but honest view of family life, set in late 19th century Salford

With particular reference to Act 1, show how Brighouse presents a ludicrous and h anest view of family look, amaze in deeply nineteenth century Salford.Hobsons choice is an interesting and enjoyable influence, which uses a carnival amount of comedy to keep the hearing engaged. The reference skunk truly connect with the compositors cases, as they atomic number 18 real(prenominal) realistic and argon range(p) in real-life situations. The comic element comes in regularly, in the form of that one-off, rummy lines, or even comp permite comic situations and themes.Although the requirementon away is set in late 19th century, the themes ar still relevant today, which shows that although approximately things may evolve over time, battalion and their opinions be still the selfsame(prenominal), and so the interview can relate to the feed, which is a nonher reason wherefore Hobsons extract is so enjoyable.Hobsons excerpt is proverbial, stemming from the 17th century to nourish Hobsons choice is to have no choice at on the whole. I withdraw that r devastationering this is a key element in understanding the play, as totally of the themes of the play arise from one of the main five tempers having Hobsons choice.The play is set in late 19th century Salford, which although it does non tell you in the play, the reference can guess immediately, just from the setting. The play begins in Hobsons bloom Shop, which is a clue straight away, as boot hooks be non very common today, and have been replaced by shoe shops and trainer shops. a nonher(prenominal) clue are the cane chairs in front of the counter, where the ordinary people sit for fitting, because today benches would be placed randomly rise-nigh the store for everyone to sit on. There is a separate room for very important customers, entirely today they would use the benches, the same as everyone else, or go to a different store. other clue would be the adit leading to the house, imp lying that the Hobsons live there, which is not so comm only(prenominal) practiced today.If these were not enough clues, the objects inside the shop all suggest late 19th century for specimen, the gas brackets in the windows and walls, and the clogs on exhibit in the windows. Alice and Vickeys actions and trim also suggest a late 19th century setting, as Alice, only 23, is knitting not an activity which is commonly pursued by the modern young woman and the pair are wearing aprons for working in a shoe shop.Although Hobsons cream consists of four Acts, each of these is comprised of some(prenominal) little scenes. Although these are not official, Brighouse has made it obvious that they are there, and they are often marked by the entrance and exit of a character.Brighouse teaches the auditory modality a lot ab egress his characters in the front Act, and he sets up their personalities and roles to make it easier to digest when their current functions are revealed, and right from the beginning of the play, Brighouse gives the consultation an idea as to what the characters of Hobson and his three daughters Maggie, Alice and Vickey are wish. Maggie is a bossy, moody character, and Brighouse uses the initial scene to introduce this to the interview in a conversation mingled with her and Alice the audience can grasp these characteristics in Maggie from her sharp, snappy resolution to Alice. For slipAlice I hoped it was father going out.Maggie It isnt.Maggie is very frank and matter-of-circumstance when she is talk of the town to her sisters, as she proves again when she says He got up late, in response to another statement from Alice rough their father. Brighouse has chosen subtle, yet effective, methods in broadening the audiences fuckledge of the characters in Hobsons Choice early in the play, and the characters of Maggie, Alice and Vickey are no exception to this. From the fact that Maggie is reading an account book, whilst Alice and Vickey are knitting and reading, the audience accredit instantly that Maggie is the one iiered about the business out of the three of them, and that Alice and Vickey would probably instead be out doing other things.Maggie is blunt in every aspect of her life, and it is traits like this found in all of the characters in Hobsons Choice that adds to the plays honesty none of the characters are perfect, exactly they do try their best to use their flaws and traits to their advantage. Brighouse uses a metaphor to show Maggies obtuseness in a conversation amidst Maggie and her dickens sisters. Maggie says See that slipper with a fancy buckle on it to make it learn passably? Courtings like that my lass. All glitter and no use to nobody, and this sums up what Maggie thinks about marriage, love and life. In terms of marriage and love, Brighouse is telling the audience that Maggie doesnt postulate to date somebody first, she just wants to draw them.Also, she is not enkindle in a fancy man, with expensive clothes, lots of money and level-headed looks as it is only glitter she would rather find somebody genuine, bind him, and then get to know him. Already, Brighouse is building reason for why Maggie would want to marry a man such(prenominal) as this, so the audience can look back on this, and it pass on help them to understand why Maggie and Willie, at first glance such an conflictingly couple, are together. Again, the fact that Maggie is very honest in how she announces helps to convey the way that Brighouse has created such an honest view of family life.As the audience have already learnt, Maggie is very bossy, and so Brighouse has used the next scene to confirm this. It also introduces Albert, so that the audience know that he likes Alice, and to introduce the shop, and show the audience that Vickey and Alice are not interested in it.The scene shows Maggie confronting Alices boyfriend, Albert Prosser. They all know why Albert has gone come into the shoe sh op to visit his girlfriend, Alice only if they all put on a front, and act like he is a normal customer coming in to buy some boots it becomes neat that Albert real does not want to purchase anything. Maggie, however, keeping up the dissembling that Albert has come in to actually shop, starts forcing Albert to buy something, so he pretends that he has come in for some shoe laces. To his surprise, Maggie asks Albert, What size do you allow in boots?, to which he indigently answers, Does that matter to the laces?. Albert does not realise what Maggie is acquire at, until Maggie replies, It matters to the boots, and before he knows it, Albert is being pushed down into one of the seats and having his boots interpreted off and replaced with youthful ones.Brighouse also impresses early that Alice and Vickey are very fashionable, which Hobson is not very keen on he wants his daughters to look nice but smart and ladylike. For example, Vickey and Alice had new setes on last week, w hich shows that they want to look good, but Hobson says I like to see my daughters look nice. Thats why I pay Mr Tudsbury, the draper, 10 a year a head to dress you proper. It pleases the eye and its good for the trade. Clearly he doesnt like his daughters parading just about making fools of themselves and him, which is exactly what he thinks they are doing by dressing like that. Brighouse shows this again, when Hobson euphemises You were going down Chapel Street with a hump added to genius behind you, which shows that he is uncomfortable with the situation and the way his daughters are dressing, as he is playing well-nigh with what he wants to say, because he does not know quite how to say it.Later in this conversation between Hobson and his two youngest daughters, Alice says it is not immodest, father. Its the fashion to wear bustles, which shows that Alice and Vickey are fashionable, but their father is not concerned by this, only that they are dressing in this manner, which he describes as uppishness the occupation of fools and such as have no brains. This conversation also shows the age gap between Hobson and his daughters, and the fact that Alice and Vickey are still being controlled by their father, despite the fact that they are 23 and 21, links with one of the themes of the play the role of women in society. With reference to the title, this is a great example of the typical, honest situations that Brighouse has used throughout Hobsons Choice, which is why it is such an honest, realistic play. It is because the characters and the situations that they find themselves in are so realistic that the play comes across as so honest.Straight away, Brighouse also lets the audience know that Hobson likes a drink, which is something that features throughout the play. Brighouse does this by introducing Hobson through his daughters, where they discuss that he has a hangover from a Masons Meeting the previous evening. Again, this is another honest situation, an d one which makes Hobsons Choice that bit easier for the audience to relate with and to connect to. If the play was not honest, the audience would not be able to relate with the characters or their situations.The audience can also tell that the girls are scared of their father, as they dont await to be able to do anything until he is gone, for fear that he will tell them off, despite the fact that they are 21, 23 and 30. One example of this is that Alice says she is acquiting someone, which is clear to the audience is a man she is courting, but she does not want her father to know that she is courting.One reason why the play is so honest and easy to believe is the way Brighouse has delicately crafted and evolved his characters, allowing the audience to tonicity a strong relationship between themselves and the characters. An excellent example of this is the character of Willie. At the start of Act One, Willie seems a very timid character he knows hes neither clever nor important, and this comes across in both his spot and his behaviour. For example, when talking to Mrs Hepworth, she says, Take that, to which Willie bends down rather expecting that to be a blow, so rather than stand up to her when he is expecting to be hit, Willie cowers out of the way, but he finds she is holding out a tour card.Willie is very quick to do as he is told, and Brighouse demonstrates this to the audience on the first occasion that we meet this character. In this scene, Mrs Hepworth wants to see Willie fat just had to call Willies name down the trap door and he appeared instantly. It is clear to the audience that Willie is a talented boot maker, as Mrs Hepworth is so pleased with her boots that she asks specifically to see Willie, so that she can praise him to his attend. However, it seems at this point in the play that boot making may be his only talent, as when Mrs Hepworth instructs Willie to read the card she has given him, it is revealed that he cant even read properly. Willie is dominated by everyone, including not just Mrs Hepworth, but also Maggie, Hobson, adenosine deaminase, Alice and Vickey.Brighouse uses the dominant character of Maggie to help Willie come out of his shell, and helps him both socially and intellectually, and Brighouse turns Willie into a much stronger and more dominant character, not unlike Maggie herself. The transformation of Willie includes him becoming able to stand up for himself, speak his perspicacity and Maggie even teaches him to read he stands straighter, taller, holds his head high, looks people in the eye, speaks with a stronger, more confident voice, learns to speak his mind, is much more confident in his abilities and even dresses smarter. An example of him becoming a stronger character and standing up for himself is when he tells Hobson Dont let us be too long about this.Youve kept me waiting now a good while and my times valuable. Im concern at my shop. This sounds like something Maggie would say, and with out pausing for breath Willie manages to put Hobson in his place, and let him know that Willie means business. Another example is where Willie tells Hobson Youve no right to expect I care whether you sink or swim, which actually makes Willie out to be quite a nasty character, but Maggie points out that he is going a bit too far. This abuse of power shows that Willie is new to being able to tell people what to do, and he is playing around trying to find his boundaries.Another reason why Hobsons Choice is so honest and easy to believe is because Brighouse has made the focus of the play the characters rather than any individual action or event, which means that the audience can really relate to and sympathise with the characters. It is for this reason that all of the characters in Hobsons Choice have a function they are all there for a reason to support the roles of the central five Hobson, Maggie, Willie, Alice and Vickey. Jim Heeler is there for Hobson to confide in, so the audience all know what he is really thinking and what he is going to do next. Mrs Hepworth the only real customer in the play is used to introduce the character of Willie, and also later finances Willie and Maggies business.adenosine deaminase Figginss brief appearance shows the contrast the Maggie represents to Willie. low-set is used later on to show the deterioration of Hobsons business. Albert Prosser and Fred Beenstock are used to help Maggie in plotting against her father. Finally, Dr MacFarlane effectively sets up the final confrontation between Maggie, Willie and Hobson by prescribing Hobson with the necessary recruit for his distinguishd weaknesses.Brighouse has cleverly disguised these characters functions by giving them a more cultivate reason to appear when they do. Heeler appears as Hobsons friend, whilst Mrs Hepworth is first introduced as a customer. Ada, obviously, comes into the shop to bring Willie his lunch, and is then somewhat dumped by Willie in the process Tubb y is the other worker at Hobsons boot shop, and Albert and Fred are Alice and Vickeys boyfriends. Finally, Dr MacFarlane appears simply to diagnose Hobson. This multi-functioning allows Brighouse to create a realistic play, as the characters seem to be innocent at first glance, yet the play soon subtly reveals their true functions.Not only is Hobsons Choice such an honest and realistic play, but it also has a lot of comic elements. The play is often referred to as a Lancashire comedy, as the language and dialect plays a vauntingly part in the plays comical elements and the tone of the play. The dialect is informal, and characters often speak using slang words and phrases, such as our Maggie, em, aye and eh? The characters credibility stems from the realistic, representational manner in which they speak. An example of this is Willies final, defiant speech at the end of Act One. The sharpness of the dialogue itself would be a source of humour, but it forms a constituent part of the greater comedy arising from the interaction between Willie, Hobson and Maggie. This scene between these three characters is just an example of the humour that Brighouse has include within Hobsons Choice.Another particularly entertaining element of Hobsons Choice is a conversation between Maggie and Willie. Maggie asks Willie, When are you going to leave Hobsons? to which Willie replies, Leave Hobsons? I I thought I gave satisfaction. This is comical as Willie is shock because he thinks that Maggie is wanting rid of him. The comical element continues when Maggie, in the same conversation, tells Willie that she is going to marry him. The audience would find this entertaining for several reasons first Maggie is not asking Willie to marry her, she is telling him that he is going to, and the fact that a woman is telling a man what to do, especially something as serious as this, is comic. Also, for Maggie, the daughter of Hobson, the shop owner, to want Willie, a chaste worker at her fa thers shop, to marry her is comical in itself. It is also funny because Maggie is insulting Willie and acting like she thinks that she is better than him, yet she is demanding to marry himAnother way memorable comic event is when Maggie tells Ada that she is going to marry Willie. This allows Brighouse to entertain the audience by overturning the convention in drama of two men fighting over a woman by screening Maggie and Ada battling for Willie. This event is also comic as neither Willie nor Ada have any say or control over the situation, despite the fact that 10 minutes previous, Maggie had nothing to do with Willies social life at allAnother comic situation presented in Hobsons Choice is later on in the play, where Hobsons daughters previously scared of Hobson are dictating to him what he is going to do, and they, together with Maggie and their partners manage to trick Hobson into handing them over 500 for Alice and Alberts marry What makes this even more comical is that Magg ie manages to convince Hobson that it is he who has won, because he only had to give the couple 500 and not 1000Overall, I think that Brighouse has created a very honest view of family life, and the audience will really appreciate this. He has created a naturalistic setting, which requires no interaction or imagination from the audience to enhance the play, so the audience are a fourth wall audience, which is the contemporary equivalent of a modern audience watching a television soap. Brighouse has enhanced the play with regular comic moments to keep the audience engaged and entertained. The comic episodes are more disport to a contemporary audience as a lot of them are based around contemporary views and beliefs, such as a woman of 30 being too old to marry, therefore it would be harder for a modern audience to appreciate all of the comedy as well as a contemporary audience, but it is these contemporary views that are conveyed in the play that makes it so honest and realistic.