A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney - Essay Example There is no attempt to connect the play to a wider social world, by 'argument' (characters do not debate the issues between themselves); nor does the play articulate a position on that world (there is no obvious authorial 'point of view' on display); nor, despite the contextual readings, does Delaney exploit the metonymic function of the characters, action or set, but rather the issues are visible in the texture of the personal relationships themselves. Stuart Hall noted this aspect of the play: Delaney is not at all self-conscious about her ability to portray Salford life but she accepts this as a framework for what she is really interested in communicating-her extraordinarily fine and subtle feel for personal relationships. No themes or ideas external to the play disturb its inner form: her values are all intensive. A Taste of Honey is remarkable partly because it breaks a number of racial and sexual taboos: Jo's lover is a black sailor and her flat-mate is homosexual, and the main action of the play is the journey into motherhood of a young, unmarried teenager. It is not simply that these things are represented, but that they are represented positively-that the form of the play elicits sympathy for characters that come to us heavy with connotations, who are part of a world that we 'read about every Sunday in the News of the World'. It is precisely such socially marginal and 'a-typical' characters with which the Wolfenden Report-and the press debate that followed it-was so concerned. The action of the play is contained by a 'comfortless flat', and the stage space is clearly marked as domestic. It is, however, an interior in which all the domestic activities are potentially on display; the kitchen area, the double bed, the living and eating areas-these are all visible, delineating a whole 'way of life' in its routines and chores. Very little conventional domestic activity actually takes place in this space, though, and when it does, it is not performed by characters who inhabit traditional roles. This is part of a complex series of reversals and oppositions in the play, in which expected connections are severed. The mother figure, Helen, is very unlike a 'mother', having no domestic abilities, being feckless and sexually active. The caring role is taken initially by Jo, the daughter, and then by Geoff, a man who displays none of the conventional 'male' attributes. The nearest to a white, male, heterosexual gender norm in the play is to be found in Peter, Helen's l over and fianc, who is presented as a lecher and a drunk. The three central characters are all potentially sexually active, and the two women become so. However, sex is destructive to happiness in the world of the play-as it is in Look Back in Anger. It separates mother and daughter (Helen's marriage to Peter) and leaves Jo with a baby. Jo's relationship with Geoff is only possible because it is without sex. The only moments of genuine difficulty between them are when sex is involved; Jo's demand that Geoff tell her what he does with