Compare And Contrast Hosanna And Top Girls

The Comparison between Hosanna and Top Girls

In our society most men are likely to obtain higher paying jobs and are able to continue working even after becoming parents, whereas, majority of women obtain lower paying jobs and having to choose between being a parent and having a career. After reading the plays of Top Girls by Caryl Churchill and Hosanna by Michael Tremblay, I discovered that gender played a major role in how men and women are treated in society. The characters in these two plays challenges the gender norms, and therefore, I will argue that women are not treated equally in the workplace; that people who are of the queer community are considered to be inferior and less worthy of being accepted within the public sphere.

In Top

They had to sacrifice their motherhood in some form or another in order to gain success in other aspects of their lives. Joan, a young girl wanted to have an education and so she ran away from home under the disguise of a boy to gain higher knowledge which was not an option for a girl in her time. Joan stated, “I dressed as a boy when I left home”… “I was only twelve. Also women weren’t/allowed in the library. We wanted to study in Athens” (8). Joan having to disguise herself as a boy, showed that women were not allowed to have an education; they had limited opportunities. However, under the disguise as a male, Joan was given the opportunity to be a pope, a role generally reserve for a man. Nevertheless, it was discovered that she was a female when she gave birth in public and hence, she was stoned to death. Even other women who did not have to choose between motherhood and career, were unable to get promoted even if they were more qualified than men. This is due to the gender gap and the historical male domination. Louise, who came for a job interview at Marlene’s employment agency stated, “Nobody notices me, I don’t expect it, I don’t attract attention by making mistakes, everybody takes it for granted that my work is perfect” (52). This illustrates that even though the feminist movement had made significant advances in gender equality, there are still limitations in inequality concerning

Hosanna had being forced to confront her sense of identity. She had been filling two roles and at times she felt trapped. Sometimes she called herself Hosanna and other times Claude. Hosanna partner Raymond, also has a second identity, he is a biker and calls himself Cuirette. Raymond is not attracted to women, but is interested in men who dresses like women. Hosanna sometimes insults Raymond like a stereotypical man, and sometimes she speaks to Raymond like a wife would to her husband. Hosanna stated, “Watch your language, dear, you’re getting vulgar. Since you have been putting on weight you have a tendency to get gross” (46). This statement indicates that Hosanna had responded to Raymond insults in a way a stereotypical woman would, by telling Raymond to watch his language. Claude and Raymond are in a long term relationship, however, due to the uncertainty of their identity they constantly fight and insult each