(Themes) Sloth in british culture, The rise and fall of the british empire and Masculinity in art

The first theme I am going to discuss is “sloth in British culture”, in “Look back in anger” Jimmy desires a more vibrant and emotional life instead of the slothfulness of others in the world around him, Jimmy sees the world as being asleep in some kind of fundamental way. Jimmy’s anger is his attempt of awaking others from this cultural sleep, he sees an slothfulness in British culture that other characters in the play don’t. An example of slothfulness in the play is the relationship between Alison and Cliff, this is because they both show a large amount of physical and emotional affection towards each other however they both would rather not take their passion to a higher level of intimacy, and because of this their relationship can be described as lazy. They are not able to create enough passion to have an affair, subconsciously Jimmy realizes this which is the reason he isn’t jealous of the affection they show towards each other. The second theme I am going to discuss is “The rise and fall of the British empire”, In “Look back in anger” the character of Colonel Redfern represents the decline of and nostalgia for the British Empire. Colonel Redfern had been stationed in India or many years, this was a symbol conveying Britain’s Imperial reach into the world. Colonel Redfern had the happiest days of his life at the same time as the Edwardian age which was Britain’s height of power and the colonel then talks about how Britain cannot understand why they are no longer the world’s greatest power and that the world has moved into an American age, the colonels nostalgia is representative of the denial that Osborne sees in the psyche of the British people. The third theme I am going to discuss is “Masculinity in art”, John Osborne has been accused of having misogynistic views in his plays by critics, “Look back in anger” can be used as a prime example of this. These critics accuse John Osborne of glorifying young male violence towards Homosexuals and women. This is shown by Jimmy as he emotionally distresses Alison throughout the play as well as delivering a monologue about how he wishes Alison’s mother was dead. Osborne claims that by including this he is in fact trying to restore a vision of true masculinity into a twentieth century culture which he believes is becoming gradually more feminized. John Osborne believes that this feminization in a method of showing an "indifference to anything but immediate, personal suffering", Jimmy’s anger and masculine emotion is a retaliation against this.