Outline For Blood Relations By Sharon Pollock

Maryam Syeda Afzal

Blood Relations Essay Outline

Sharon Pollock Dr. A. Rohland-Lê

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014

I. Introduction: The play, Blood Relations by Sharon Pollock is about a thirty-four-year-old woman, Lizzie Borden, who feels trapped in a late nineteenth century society she feels she does not belong to. Lizzie has been acquitted of the murders of her father, Mr. Borden, and step-mother, Mrs. Borden. The majority of the play takes place through flashbacks as the future Lizzie and her friend, the actress, are acting out scenes from before the acquitting.

Thesis: In Sharon Pollock’s play, Blood Relations, the patriarchal society

in which Lizzie Borden lives, forces women to conform or, as Lizzie does through murder, rebel. Frenzy

II. Mr. Borden has expectations of Lizzie which are based on the society that he lives in, and which Lizzie has trouble conforming to.
a. Mr. Borden expects Lizzie to marry to Johnny MacLeod and become a mother to his children. He says “a woman of your age would be married, eh? Have children, be running her own house” (Pollock, 37). Mr. Borden wants “what’s best for” Lizzie according to the expectations of the norm (Pollock, 38).
b. Lizzie expresses her determination by telling Mr. Borden, “You can’t make me do one thing I don’t want to do. I’m going to keep on doing just what I want just when I want it” (Pollock, 41). She is trying to tell him that no matter how much he tries to persuade her, she will only fight back and give him the equal hard headedness.
c.

Lizzie also tries suggesting to Mr. Borden that she could work in his office. Mr. Borden replies, “For God’s sake, talk sensible”, meaning that it is completely taboo and insensible for woman of Lizzie’s status to be working (Pollock, 40). It would also cause a threat to Mr. Borden’s reputation if he is too cheap to hire someone else and instead, keeps his daughter an employee.

d. Lizzie does not want to live the life that her father is trying to convince her to live. She says: “I want out of all of this” (Pollock, 40). Lizzie “wants out” from the society she lives in, part of which includes her father’s expectations of her marriage.

e. Lizzie tells Mr. Borden: “I’m supposed to be a mirror. I’m supposed to reflect what you want to see” (Pollock, 39). The literary technique used here is symbolism, because Mr. Borden represents society since Lizzie is “supposed to” do or “reflect” what society wants so that she can fit into it.

f. When Lizzie does not cooperate with her father and refuses to meet with Johnny MacLeod, Mr. Borden “shoves her to the floor to gain a clear exit from the room” (Pollock, 41). This shows that he will not listen to her and will keep demanding things of her, just as society does.

III. Because Emma does not speak her mind, Lizzie feels that she has no choice, but to stand up for the both of

them.
a. Lizzie gets angry and frustrated at Emma when she does not cooperate and tells her: “make him [Mr. Borden] understand that we’re people. Individual people” (Pollock, 53). This still does not convince Emma, and she says: “You know it’s no use.” (Pollock, 53). This passage shows the reasoning behind Emma’s lack of strength. She does not see any use in convincing Mr. Borden that she is a person, because the society she inhabits does not believe so.
b. In the last visit to their home, Harry, Mrs. Borden’s brother, tries to get Mr. Borden to sign a property over to Mrs. Borden which upsets Emma and Lizzie. This time when he came, Emma tells Mrs. Borden: “she [Lizzie] may have been a bit upset, because no one told her he [Harry] was coming” (Pollock, 28). This passage clearly shows that Emma is speaking for herself through Lizzie, because she is too scared to actually say how she feels.
c. Emma does not want to let go of the farm that Mr. Borden is handing over to Harry, but she is too passive to verbally express her rights. When Lizzie is trying to convince Emma to take action, Emma says: “I…I…have a train to catch.” (Pollock, 53). The fact that Emma does not want to talk about the farm or any action she can take to save it shows she does not have the personal strength that Lizzie does. The literary device used to show the reader Emma’s thoughts and personality is characterization.
d. Emma’s inaction upsets Lizzie more when Lizzie yells for Bridget to prepare Emma’s breakfast, Emma tells Lizzie that she could have yelled for herself. Lizzie says, “You could, but you never do” (Pollok, 42). Lizzie means to say that Emma never expresses what she actually has on her mind and that she never stands up for herself. Due to this, when Lizzie yells for Emma’s breakfast, she is actually saying what Emma wants to say.

IV. Mrs. Borden gives Lizzie honest advice about conforming to the society in order to survive, but Lizzie rejects this guidance.
a. Lizzie does not want to be the care taker of Johnny MacLeod’s children like Mrs. Borden became the mother of Mr. Borden’s daughters, so when Mrs. Borden tries to convince her to change her mind, she responds, “You got stuck so I should, too, is that it?” (Pollock, 42). By “stuck”, Lizzie expresses how she does not want to take this undesirable path of life and instead, wants freedom. She also does not want to be anything like her step-mother.
b. Mrs. Borden tells Lizzie: “your father’s not dead yet, your father’s got many good years ahead of him, and when his time comes, well, we’ll see what his will says then” (Pollock, 42). The fact that Lizzie will have to “see” what Mr. Borden’s will will say proves that there is a possibility that Lizzie might not be included in it and that there will nothing left for her after his death.
c. Lizzie tries to stand up for herself by saying she has rights to be in Mr. Borden’s will due to blood relations, but Mrs. Borden says: “No, Lizzie, you got no rights” (Pollock, 42). Lizzie’s step-mother is saying she only has what her father has given her and that unmarried women have no rights.
d. Bridget tells Lizzie a story of a cook named Mary who spit in the soup she served and cut up her hair for an omelette that she served to people she disliked. Bridget is suggesting to Lizzie to be like Mary and “Smile and get round them [Mr. and Mrs. Borden]”to which Lizzie replies “It’s not…fair that I have to” (Pollock, 43). Therefore, the literary technique used here is an epiphany, because Lizzie comes to a realization that she now has to take situations into her own hands, because she can no longer stand the situation that she is put into. This means she might have to even kill for her rights and privileges.

V. Lizzie uses her pets and love of animals as a means to express her true self. When these pets are destroyed by Mr. Borden, she feels unhappy and lashes out at him.
a. Lizzie describes herself in her pigeons as “grey, a dull grey…but …when the sun struck their feathers, I’d see blue, a steel blue with a sheen” (Pollock, 29). At first, Lizzie might appear “dull” which means nothing special, but after she is given “the sun” meaning a chance to show her true self, she will appear “blue” which signifies her inner beauty.
b. Lizzie says “They [the pigeons] were…hiding I think” (Pollock, 29). The fact that the pigeons “were hiding” shows what Lizzie must hide her true self to conform to the society. The literary device used here is symbolism since the pigeons represent Lizzie’s true self.
c. Lizzie feels abandoned by her mother, but she sees reason as why her mother might have died and perhaps the death was not caused by child birth. Lizzie says: “Perhaps she just got tired and died. She didn’t want to go on, and the chance came up and she took it. I could understand that…Perhaps she was like a bird, she could see all the blue sky and she wanted to fly away…she saw a way out and she took it” (Pollock, 58). Getting “tired” and not wanting “to go on” are Lizzie’s feelings to how she can no longer put up to the society’s expectations anymore. She feels her mother must have been trapped in the same way. Lizzie also feels that her mother and she are like birds which represent freedom. They cannot be trapped or else they will need to find a way out.
d. Lizzie describes one of her pet puppy families she had on the farm in which one of the puppies got sick and the puppy’s family “ignored it, that puppy didn’t exist for the others…I think inside it was different” (Pollock, 49). The sick puppy represents Lizzie and how she is different on the inside from the rest of her family.
e. Lizzie also says that “papa [Mr. Borden] took it [the puppy] and drowned it. That’s what you do one a farm with things that are different.” (Pollock, 49). The farm represents society and how it forces individuals to conform. In this case, the puppy did not and it was therefore, killed.
f. Mr. Borden also chops off the heads of the pigeons which symbolized him taking away Lizzie’s freedom since the pigeons represented her independence. The literary technique here is a foreshadowing to the murder Lizzie commits by killing Mr. Borden.
g. As Lizzie is describing her dream of carousel horses, she imagines herself riding “with no hands” (Pollock, 44). This represents her dream to be free and for no higher power, in this case, society, to be controlling her.
h. She also imagine herself wearing a “white mask” which represents lies that she must tell or show about herself in order to fit into society.
i. The carousel represent the emotionally paining cycle that Lizzie is going through between the reality of the unsuitable world she lives in and her fantasy of the happy world she wants to be in.
j. Also, in a carousel, the fact that the horses are fixed to a pole represent Lizzie’s desire for freedom, the carousel, which is trapped, by the pole.

VI. Lizzie commits the murders due to many reasons leading up to the crime that had piled up and caused the homicides.
a. Lizzie realizes her worth when Dr. Patrick tells her: “All life is precious and unique.” (Pollock, 61). The literary device used here is an epiphany because this is the first time Lizzie has given herself real value.
b. Lizzie begs Emma to stay, but when Emma does not listen and begins to leave, she says “That’s right, Go away! I’m sorry for all the things I told you! Things I really felt!” (Pollock, 53). This passage shows how desperate and lonely Lizzie feels after even Emma has isolated her.
c. When the actress accuses Lizzie of committing the crime, Lizzie says, “I didn’t” and then look at the audience and says, “You did” (Pollock, 70). This shows that the murders were not Lizzie’s fault, but society’s. The literary technique used here id symbolism, because the audience represents society.

VII. Lizzie has been acquitted of the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Borden, because of the need to keep society under control.
a. In court, Lizzie’s defense lawyer says: “do you believe Miss Lizzie Borden capable of wielding the murder weapon” (Pollock, 36). He means to say that women are not capable of such strength. They are, instead, weak and cannot commit such murderous act. The literary device used here is imagery, because the reader imagines Lizzie using an axe after reading this passage.
b. The lawyer asks the jury: “If this gentlewoman is capable of such an act [murder]…Which of you can plump your pillow, nudge your wife, close your eyes, and sleep?” (Pollock, 36). The fact that even people’s sleep will be disturbed by such an act done by a woman shows that this act could lead to women becoming more powerful, which is not a thought approved by a male dominated society.
c. Lizzie’s lawyer also says, “Lizzie Borden is not mad. Gentlemen, Lizzie Borden is not guilty”, meaning that women who are “not mad” or have a perfectly normal mental state are not capable of such acts (Pollock, 36).

VIII.

After Lizzie has committed the murders, she still does not receive the freedom she had desired, because even though she got rid of Mr. and Mrs. Borden, she still has not changed the society.

a. Even after being acquitted, people around Lizzie, such as Emma and the actress, still ask her, “Lizzie, did you?”, showing their suspicion that even the court ruling could not take away (Pollock, 19).

b. The actress tells Lizzie about the kids playing outside the theatre and singing the rhyme: “Lizzie Borden took an axe. Gave her mother forty wacks. When the job was nicely done, she gave her father forty-one.” (Pollock, 16). The fact that Lizzie has gained publicity due to her crime and a rhyme was even created because of her shows that she will have to live with people suspecting her as a criminal entire life.

c. After Emma forbids the actress from entering their home, Lizzie says, “Do you?” to which Emma replies after “backing down, softly”, “It’s…disgraceful” (Pollock, 69). Emma sudden change tone shows how even though she is not sure if Lizzie committed the murders, she will still be scared of her due to suspicion. The literary device used here is dynamic characterization, because of Lizzie went from being someone people would not give special attention to, to the one everyone is afraid

of.

IX. Conclusion: Lizzie Borden, in Sharon Pollock’s play, “Blood Relations”, takes matters into her own hands and commits a crime when the society in which she lives, forces her to live a life she cannot. Lizzie had thought that would have gained her independence and freedom if she killed her father and step-mother, but the crimes lead to consequences. Lizzie Borden is now known and accused for this even after the court acquitted her. She does not take responsibility and instead puts the blame on society for leading her to commit the murders.