TEATRO INGLES II (Desde la Restauracin) ORAL REPORT JOHN OSBORNES THE ENTERTAINER (Act 3, Scene 10) By Fco.

Javier Campillo Herrera The passage of the play is situated near the end of it. On the previous scene, Frank, Archie Rice's youngest son (and main character of the play), has been singing about the convenience of bringing back the body of Mick, his eldest brother, who has died fighting in Egypt with some of their comrades in the battlefield. After the scene analyzed, Billy, Archie's father, will die just immediately before going back to the stage to perform his old, successful music-hall performance. The scene I am going to write about is situated very near the end of the play, and it deals nostalgia for the glory days concerning Billy Rice's career as music-hall performer, apathy, indifference, vacuity and lack of remorse concerning Archie Rice's way of living and behaviour. There is personal reproach for his nihilistic attitude on Jean's part, because she thinks he is harming the persons who appreciate him. Reproach and sorrow is also reflected when Jean tells Frank, her brother, about Archie's love affair with a young lady who is being manipulated in order to make her parents finance his old-fashioned and unsuccessful music-hall show. There is also pity and compassion when Jean says that Bill is too old and frail to take part in Archie's show in order to give it a boost. On the other hand, Archie's answer to Bill and Jean reflects bitterness and a sense of revenge, as he thinks Bill owes him something for having ruined his plans for using the young lady's parent's money for funding his career, as Bill has told them Archie is already married. The issue of nostalgia for the glory days long gone is reflected in the play in Act 1, scene 4, when Archie sings a jingoistic and selfish song about the British Empire, because it expresses a feeling of decadence and loss of power that the common people in Britain perceives is happening concerning the incident of the Suez Channel, which will be further confirmed by the news of Mick's capture by the Egyptians (Act 1, Scene 5). Concerning the feelings of bitterness and sense of revenge, they are present in the TEATRO INGLES II (Desde la Restauracin)

ORAL REPORT JOHN OSBORNES THE ENTERTAINER (Act 3, Scene 10) whole play, particularly in Act 1, scene 5, in Archie's cheerful proposal of a toast for celebrating the twentieth anniversary of his debt with the Tax Collection Office; we can also see them in Act 2, Scene 7, when Archie is pattering insulting remarks about his wife, and also in Act 3, Scene 10, when he suggests Bill to come back from retirement to give his show a boost. After all, Archie thinks he owes him this favour in return for having ruined his affair with the young lady. Finally, in Act 3, Scene 12, Archie refuses to follow Bill, his successful brother, to Canada, despite the fact he faces imprisonment and financial ruin if he stays in England; he knows that hurting himself in that way will provoke sadness and misery in the family; he feels so frustrated and angered that he doesn't cares about his own final destination in relation with the people who it is supposed want the best for him. Concerning the possible language contributions to the themes, meaning and tone of the passage, I will say that the expression 'My name's still worth something' is directly related with this sense of nostalgia for the long gone good old glory days that Billy feels. Apathy, indifference, vacuity and lack of remorse are present in the song sung by Archie in this scene, particularly in the sentences: 'What should I care?' and 'Why should I let it touch me?'; it is more a perfect ode to nihilism, rather than a call to stoicism and serenity, especially because Archie has previously stated that he is '...an undischarged bankrupt', and not only that, he even has dared to suggest a toast for being such an irresponsible person, because he seems proud of not having paid his income tax in twenty years! This sense of pride in his uncivil and non-solidary behaviour also suggests the bitterness and the frustration of a man who has not being able to develop successful career and takes revenge against society in the only way he thinks he can, this is, by not paying his income tax during a long time. When Jean asks 'He wants to divorce Phoebe' / What's going to happen with her?' she is showing pity for her stepmother, and indirectly reproaching Archie his selfish behaviour. This attitude is confirmed when Jean says 'I suppose you think you're going to get them to put up money for this new show', and corroborated when Archie answers 'That was the idea'.

TEATRO INGLES II (Desde la Restauracin) ORAL REPORT JOHN OSBORNES THE ENTERTAINER (Act 3, Scene 10) Archie's language is full of nonchalance and cynicism, which reveals his lack of moral values and selfishness, whereas Jean's tone sounds much more concerned, caring and affectionate. All these linguistic features contribute to plot development in the sense that they reflect the different attitudes of the characters and their relationships, focusing on the dramatic effect which has the uncaring, superficial and false cheerful mood expressed by Archie in contrast with the sensitive, compassionate and concerned tone of Jean's. In conclusion, this scene reflects perfectly the main tenets of Osborne's attitude as an 'Angry Young Man': a moral failure in family relationships, a professional failure which is a reflection of the social period of frustration that Great Britain is facing for the loss of its former power and influence in the world, and the failure in intergenerational communication, because now that the 2nd War World is over, it seems that the younger generation doesn't have anything worth the while to fight for, and this might be a considered as a failure of the older generation in the transmission of a moral values that apparently doesn't apply in the current times, this is the early Sixties of the 20th Century.