Amy's_View_by_David_Hare

How do the characters cope with loss in the play, ‘Amy’s View’ by David Hare' David Hare’s ‘Amy’s View’ was a political play that reflected the governmental reforms and societal changes that Britain was going through at that point in time. Taking into consideration that this play was written during one of Britain’s most tumultuous period, it is inevitable that the characters in this play will not only have to cope with the death of loved ones but also with the loss of several other things that they held dear, such as the theatre, family values, British identity and so on. Even though not all characters were affected by all of these factors, all characters were left to grapple with loss of one kind or another. The loss of a dear one is something that mostly Esme and Dominic have to deal with. As for Esme, she begins the play as someone who is coping with the death of her husband Bernard. In her case, she endures his loss by clinging onto and surrounding herself with memories of him. As the stage directions of Act 1 shows, the walls of Esme’s living room are filled with the paintings by Bernard “...home of an artist, Bernard Thomas, and all around the room is evidence of his work…”. Moreover, her memories of Bernard and perhaps the fact that she’s almost always thinking about him can be seen from how she talks about him in the midst of a conversation. In Act 1 where she tells Amy “… if they’d said to me, you’ll live ten years longer than Bernard…” and in Act 4 when she tells Dominic that “… it was just chance [she’d] met Bernard… [and that] with him [she] felt whole…”. A better example to use would be on pg. 73 when she says wistfully, “Bernard’s not here. Bernard is dead.” What do you make of this' Moreover, she also isolates herself from other people; other than the work that she does in theatre, Evelyn also says that “.. She doesn’t see anyone..” Above all, it can also be said that Esme sub-consciously copes with the loss of Bernard by rejecting Dominic. For she venerates Bernard and the moments she spent with him she rejects Dominic as he’s not up to her ideals of a man good enough for her daughter. The loss of Amy is even more tragic for Esme due to the circumstances under which she passed away and the choppy relationship that she had with her before it. (Express this in full sentences. End of Act 3 where Amy walks out on her). While Esme’s way of coping with it was to listen to her and “.. do what she had always been asking me to… take control of [her] own life…”, Dominic’s way of coping with it was to reconcile with her. As he tells Esme in Act 4, “.. all Amy wanted was for us to be friends”. However, Dominic is not only coping with the loss of Amy here, but also with the guilt of betraying her for another woman. Therefore he tries to seek a remedy for his ‘sins’ by doing what Amy always wanted for them to do “ be friends” . Therefore, while Esme copes with Bernard’s death by clinging onto his memories, Esme and Dominic cope with Amy’s death by fulfilling her desire and giving life to Amy’s View that “ love conquers all and must be given unconditionally”. It should be noted that Esme doesn’t really cope with the loss of Bernard. Rather she tries to deal with it by staying rooted to the past. As for Amy’s death, Esme also tries to cope with it but does she get over it in the end' What do you think she means when she says, “My daughter’s ashes”' However, as mentioned earlier, the characters also face other losses. One of which is; a loss in Esme’s perspective, that of theatre (what do you mean by a loss in Esme’s perspective'). At this point in time, it is important that the loss of theatre (do you mean a loss in the popularity of theatre') would mean a loss of a livelihood Esme. When the play begins, the audience learns that Esme is an established West End actress. They also learn that she is having a harder time than before finding a good role to play, thus highlighting the beginning of the downfall of theatre. At the beginning, Esme coped with this loss by refusing to do any acting until she found actual theatrical work. Audience learns of this in Act 2 when she returns from the auditions for some kind of Mardi Gras when she says that she’s “.. just auditioning..”. The loss of theatre also crops up in this Act when Dominic wants to interview Esme on the question of “.. whether the theatre is dead..” In the third Act however, Esme copes with the loss of theatre, her livelihood, by turning to television. Because this contradicted her opinion that “ television’s values were poison”, her relationships with Amy worsened as it was a factor that propelled the unhealthy relationship between Dominic and Esme, and in turn that between Amy and Dominic. Esme is forced to turn to television because “.. [she] has to live somehow..” as she tells Amy. On the other side of all this, theatre isn’t completely lost as in the last Act audience sees Esme preparing for a play in theatre. Her fellow thespian being a young man shows the revival of theatre and its hike in popularity amongst the younger generation. Yes, maybe say something about what Hare was trying to show about the theatre' What about privatization' What impact did that have on theatre' Another loss that almost all the characters experience in Amy’s View would be that of a British identity and culture. Even though the younger generation, Amy and Dominic, don’t really seem to be affected by it as much as Esme or even Evelyn, they are indirectly influenced by it due to the toll that it takes on the relationship between them. This period of epoch also further aggravates what was already caused by the generation gap. Firstly, the British identity and culture was something that was defined by things(cultural values and practices') such as going to the theatre, a nuclear family unit and people’s perceptions on the British identity amongst many other things. Theatre was something that was something that the British enjoyed doing especially the elite, its loss was reflected clearly in Esme’s loss of a livelihood.(the sounds a lot like your previous point) This loss was caused by the revolutionaries of the television and by aspiring film directors such as Dominic. As mentioned earlier, Esme tried to cope with this loss by desperately holding onto the past and by creating a barricade around herself and television which eventually gave way. The change and loss of British culture and identity could also be seen through the play in form of trivial things such as in Act 3 when the pub gets changed to a wine house. This can also be seen in Act2 when Esme says that rural Berkshire has turned into a “sub-urban region” and how she used to see the “.. glittering Thames..” whereby a lot of people do things for the sake of doing it. Esme does cope with it very meagerly by keeping constant the interiors of her living room which remains the same through 3 acts. Evelyn suffered from this loss of British culture too as the both of them were persistently seen clinging on to the past and reminiscing memories as means of enduring this loss and change. Therefore, the older generation is particularly more convulsed by these changes of British identity and culture. I think a more pertinent point to make about the loss of British identity would be the breakdown of the traditional nuclear family due to the loss of British traditions. To conclude, Esme, Dominic and Amy dealt with several losses that somewhat changed them to a certain extent and perhaps struggling a little on the inside. David Hare could have infused these losses as a way of reflecting the convulsing changes that Britain was going through at the point of time in which the play was written. Hare’s intention of including these aspects of loss in to the play Amy’s View could also be to show the public and political analysts the impacts that Thatcherism and her reforms were having on the British people. Therefore, authorial intention here would probably to alert the audience, public, government figures the changes the nation was going through and the impact it was having on the average British family such as that of Esme’s