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English Literature > Top Girls > Flashcards

Top Girls Flashcards

1
Q

How does Churchill use Marlene?

A

Churchill uses Marlene as an indictment against thatcherism

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2
Q

What does Marlene say she believes in?

A

Marlene: ‘I believe in the individual, look at me’.

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3
Q

What is Marlene’s opinion on the working class?

A

‘I hate the working class… it doesn’t exist anymore, it means lazy and stupid.’

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4
Q

What does Joyce say about Angie and her attributes, what does she ask?

A

‘She’s stupid, lazy, and frightened, so what about her?’

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5
Q

What is Angie’s quote at the end?

A

‘Frightening…Frightening’

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6
Q

What question does Angie ask Marlene about belonging and being wanted?

A

‘Don’t you want me?’

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7
Q

What does Angie say about the dress she puts on?

A

‘I put on this dress to kill my mother’

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8
Q

What does Marlene say about Angie’s future?

A

‘Packer in Tesco more like… she’s not going to make it’

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9
Q

What does Marlene say about the 80’s?

A

‘I think the 80’s are going to be stupendous… for me’

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10
Q

What does Marlene say about helping the working class?

A

‘If they’re stupid or lazy or frightened, I’m not going to help them’

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11
Q

What does Caryl Churchill use the novel ‘Top Girls’ as?

A

As a polemic against Thatcherism.

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12
Q

What type of structure is used in Top Girls?

A

A non linear structure

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13
Q

What type of theatre is similarly used in Top Girls?

A

Bertoldt Brecht’s epic theatre

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14
Q

What are some characteristics of Brecht’s epic theatre?

A

V-effekt:
Historicisastion:
Gestus:
Doubling of parts:

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15
Q

What is the v-effekt?

A

V-effekt: presents an everyday thing as surprising to try and expose an existing social system

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16
Q

What is historicisation?

A

Historicisation: a contrast between past and present

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17
Q

What is gestus?

A

Gestus: a piece of physical action communicating a social meaning

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18
Q

What does Mrs Kidd say about Marlene?

A

‘You’re not natural’

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19
Q

What does Marlene say about getting out fast enough?

A

‘Of course I couldn’t get out of here fast enough. What was I going to do? Marry a dairyman who’d come home pissed?’

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20
Q

What does Marlene say about the little woman?

A

‘They’re waiting for me to turn into the little woman’

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21
Q

What is a polemic?

A

It’s a piece of writing that acts as a critical attack on an opinion

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22
Q

What is an indictment?

A

A thing that serves to illustrate a system as bad and needing to be condemned (judged+disapproved).

23
Q

What is Thatcherism? (5)

A

It is the idea of individualism, self-reliance, entrepreneurial spirit, hard work, and civic responsibility.

24
Q

How does Joyce describe the people she works for?

A

‘I hate the cows I work for’

25
Q

What (just) question does Joyce ask about Angie?

A

‘What about Angie?’

26
Q

What is Joyce’s reaction to seeing a Rolls Royce?

A

‘I spit when I see a Rolls Royce’

27
Q

What does Joyce say about Thatcher being prime minister?

A

‘What good’s first woman if it’s her?’

28
Q

What does Joyce say is the reason for her losing her baby?

A

‘I lost it because I was so tired looking after your fucking baby’

29
Q

What does Joyce say Angie’s children will say about Angie?

A

‘…what a wasted life she had…nothing’s changed and it won’t with them’

30
Q

What do critics say about Thatcherism?

A

They believe it exacerbated social inequality as policies such as privatisation often benefited the wealthy and powerful, leaving behind marginalised and vulnerable groups.

31
Q

What do you call views regarding Thatcherism?

A

Thatcherite views

32
Q

What was the time period and country for Thatcherism?

A

Late 20th century Britain

33
Q

What does Caryl Churchill’s play serve as (message) to its audience?

A

It serves as an allegory and polemic

34
Q

What is Marlene an embodiment of?

A

She is an embodiment of Margaret Thatcher and her beliefs.

35
Q

Whose tasks does Marlene carry out, how does she do it, and what does this do to women?

A

She carries out the tasks of the patriarchy by being a woman in power, preventing them (women) from breaking free from their oppression.

36
Q

How does Marlene ‘weaken’ women in the play? What other word can used in place of ‘weaken’.

A

She debilitates women by being in a place of power, similar to that of the patriarchy.

37
Q

What are the characters present for the doubling of parts?

A

Dull Gret = Angie
Isabella Bird = Joyce

38
Q

What is the sequencing like in the play for the events that occur? Act 1(3) + Act 2(2)

A

Act 1 Scene 1- Celebration Scene
Act 1 Scene 2- Jeanine Interview
Act 1 Scene 3- Angie + Kit Movie

Act 2 Scene 1- Louise Interview + Angie’s arrival + Mrs. Kidd
Act 2 Scene 2- Flashback Scene

39
Q

Who are the characters present within the first celebratory scene?
(Total=6)

A

Marlene
Dull Gret
Isabella Bird
Pope Joan
Lady Nijo
Patient Griselda

40
Q

Describe the doubling of roles between Angie/Dull Gret in the play Top Girls? What do they represent, and how are they significant?

A

Angie/Dull Gret both represent the working class. Their doubling of parts is significant as it shows how the working class is largely affected by the bourgeoisie, as more than 1 character is representative of their characteristics.

41
Q

Name all the characters in Top Girls, no matter how insignificant.
4-5-3-4 (16 Total)

A

Marlene, Joyce, Angie, Kit

Dull Gret, Isabela Bird, Pope Joan, Lady Nijo, Patient Griselda

Jeanine, Louise, Mrs. Kidd

Win, Nell, Shona, Howard Kidd

42
Q

What does the doubling of roles do to the characters’ fixedness?

A

It undermines the fixedness of roles, questioning the certainty of the charcaters’ predicament.

43
Q

Describe the doubling of parts between Isabella Bird/Joyce in the play Top Girls?

A

Isabella Bird/Joyce’s doubling of parts is significant as it highlights the difference in opportunities they both have. Isabella’s life as a traveller is contrasted against Joyce’s interminable entrapment within her working-class hometown.

44
Q

Where is Dull Gret from?

A

●From a 16th-century Brueghel painting

45
Q

Describe Lady Nijo as a character. (2 points)

A

●13th century concubine
●oppressed by the nobility

46
Q

Describe Patient Griselda as a character. (2 points)

A

●A character from European folklore
●Married a nobleman of high rank

47
Q

Describe Pope Joan as a character. (2 points)

A

●According to legend, she disguises herself as a man in the Middle Ages
●She eventually became pregnant, which led to her and her child being stoned to death

48
Q

Describe Isabella Bird as a character. (3 points)

A

●REAL 19th century English explorer and writer
●Never had children
●work was honoured in her lifetime

49
Q

What realisation changes Marlene’s perspective of Jeanine?

A

The realisation that Jeanine is pursuing more lucrative employment in order to finance a wedding causes Marlene to change her opinion of her.

50
Q

Which characters in the celebration event in Top Girls are real? (2)

A

Lady Nijo and Isabella Bird

51
Q

What is another way to say a play is ‘put on’?

A

‘staged’

52
Q

What to think of when you see significance?

A

How are meanings encoded?

53
Q

What are the main ideas in the little woman book by Louisa May Alcott?

A

●family important
●It suggests (through the use of the character Jo March) that women can be competent and successful while still having a family and being feminine

English Literature (8 decks)

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