Brilliant Lies - In many ways, Susy is just like Gary. Do you agree?
In many ways, Susy is just like Gary. Do you agree?
Susy Conner, and Gary Fitzgerald. Both are Brilliant liars - and
seemingly total opposite gender counterparts of each other. To say
however, that they are alike simply because they are liars is to place
them into a frame that is far too restricting and incomplete. No, the
similarities - and even differences - between Susy and Gary lie
beneath the surface. It is in these more subtle ways that the two
characters reveal themselves to be more alike than one would think.
At the heart of Susy and Gary's personalities is that one trait that
seems to set them apart from the rest of the characters of the play -
ambition. Theirs is an intense, bordering on violent, ambition - a
drive to succeed in life, to gain what they want - and neither have
any scruples about running over everyone else to get what they want.
They are not above lying to get their way, not above gaining trust and
then throwing it away once they have what they want - this is shown in
no clearer way than when Gary convinces Vince to support him, then
throws him to the wolves at the end - "I lied. Don't get pious Vince.
This place was ripe for a management buy out. These are hard times.
We've got to become much more aggressive, and you know, and I know,
and they know that you haven't got the guts to go in hard."
This manipulation of others extends to include their extremely
vengeful natures. Susy's vindictiveness in lying to Katy about
Marion's sexuality (revenge for Katy telling the truth about her story
- "As soon as I saw that dyke I knew you'd fall in love with her." -
is mirrored by Gary's pleasure in crushing Vince after he reveals his
true colours.
They are cruel to an almost merciless extent - the vicious battle
between the two is more than a fight in order to win the case - it is
a fight for survival. Both Gary and Susy know that if they are not
relentless in the pursuit for triumph, they will be crushed by the
other - another characteristic that they share - the obsession for
power. In a way, the struggle between these two characters is not for
the compensation money - but for the sense of power that comes only
from triumph.
Another trait that they both share is a sense of stubborn self
righteousness that somehow constantly places themselves in the role of
It is with this understanding, in which most have learned when to battle as well as when to withdraw and fight another day. "You sure that about 'equality ' was a mistake?" "Oh, yes, Sir," I said. "I was swallowing blood." "Well, you had better speak more slowly so we can understand. We mean to do right by you, but you 've got to know your place at all times. All right, now, go on with your
... reality of their state of affairs and characters. The play is swathed in deceit on diploid levels, both the plot and the underlying personalities and motivations bear disparities between appearance and reality.
the main theme of the play. With out this scene in the play I don’t
other people’s possessions. Many times they will do anything to get a hold of what it is they want from
He explains that when a conflict arises, we are less capable to take on the situation and are more likely to hand it off to authorities. He then comes to the conclusion of how they are overlooked, in terms of importance, and that individuals own their conflicts as one would own property. Furthermore, he justifies that these properties are stolen by law, therefore, no longer owned by individuals. Christie urges the need to eliminate ‘professionals’ from the sphere of conflict resolution in order to prevent the theft of conflicts. He explains his perspective of “conflict as property” as not relating to material compensation but rather to the ownership of conflict itself. He then recognizes the effects of victim losing the “property” originally, and puts forth a fix for this process. He introduces a way to remodel the justice system for dealing with conflicts in which the court is victim
a lot though the play, at the start she is a very obedient and 'a
A significant aspect of the play is the acting and wardrobe, because it helps demonstrate the personalities of the characters.
The characters address the audience; the fast movement from scene to scene juxtaposing past and present and prevents us from identifying with particular characters, forcing us to assess their points of view; there are few characters who fail to repel us, as they display truly human complexity and fallibility. That fallibility is usually associated with greed and a ruthless disregard for the needs of others. Emotional needs are rarely acknowledged by those most concerned with taking what they maintain is theirs, and this confusion of feeling and finance contributes to the play's ultimate bleak mood.
not one of character, but one of attitude. At the end of the play, we find
...are only mentioned by Elizabeth Proctor in the play. The modification of these character’s appearances and actions can be inferred as an attempt by filmmakers to make the characters more interesting in the film, and to heighten their innocence or importance of their behavior in the plot.
In this chapter, Heinrichs argues that people have an issue with differentiating between arguments and fights. He cites ancient philosophers and studies about marriages to support his argument that when people resort to fighting rather than arguing to resolve issues, their outcome is inevitably doomed. They fight to win and overpower the opponent, whereas they argue to win over the audience, and the latter provides them with an outcome in which both parties are appeased. Heinrichs further argues this idea by pointing out the benefits that come from persuading one’s opponent through an argument, namely, that no vengeful reactions are incited and the opponent leaves the argument agreeing with the other person, not angry at them. He supports
that he is dead. This brings a sense of dramatic irony to the play, as
Chief, two conflicts are established, man vs. man and man vs. man. This is most common with
of interest to the play making it a great play to read and also act
‘A dispute is a problem to be solved, together, rather than a combat to be won.’