Big Maggie by John B. Keane
Notes on the character of Maggie
Please adapt these notes depending on question style
In my opinion, Maggie Polpin is a tough, uncompromising woman: the matriarch of the Polpin family. She speaks her mind to the point of being insulting to both her family and neighbours and her actions are often displayed through her controlling, aggressive and violent nature. Maggie is also an unemotional character, devoid of human nature and this is emphasised on several occasions throughout the play.
Firstly, she clearly has a vicious temper and we see her resort to violence as a means of exercising her power over her family members. In the opening scene, she slaps Gert across the face, later she verbally and physically attacks and interrogates Katie, “I’ll break this brush across your back” and furthermore, she threatens Mrs Madden with a double-barrelled shotgun. She warns her that if she ‘let a member of your family stand outside my door and I’ll fox them.” When her potential daughter in law approaches her, she calls her a ‘brazen bitch/I’d wipe the floor with you before I’d give you the washing of the plate here.” Unfortunately I find it difficult to have sympathy for a character who can behave in such an unacceptable manner.
Maggie has a low opinion of humanity and believes that one needs to be harsh and cruel in order to survive. She tells Katie that, “Nothing is too severe for what she’ll (Gert) meet in this world.” She is unemotional and rarely shows a softer side to her personality. This harsh nature is evident in the opening scene after her husband Walter has just been buried. She tells Mr. Byrne, the monument sculptor that ‘there’s enough lies written on the headstones of Ireland without my adding to them’ and proceeds to remind her children that ‘we have a shop to open’ after the burial. I believe that Mr. Byrne has good reason to say that Maggie is ‘as hard as limestone’.
Another side to Maggie’s personality which I dislike is her devious, crafty and manipulative nature. By pretending to be romantically interested in the travelling salesman, Teddy Heelin, she tricks him into revealing his true nature in front of Gert. Another example of her crafty nature is revealed after she caught her husband being unfaithful to her with Moll Sonders. She then pressurises him into signing his assets over to her, thereby ensuring that the children would not inherit a share of the farm and shop.
Maggie values the newfound freedom and independence that she has gained since her husband died and she is determined to build a better life for herself. She also believes she knows what is best for her children and forces Katie to marry Johnny Conlon even though she does not love him, “You’ll marry him and you’ll marry him within the next three months”. She gives Maurice an ultimatum, “You’ll have to choose between me and Mary Madden.” She controls her children’s lives according to her own vision of what is in their best interests.
In my opinion, Maggie Polpin is a tough, uncompromising woman: the matriarch of the Polpin family. She speaks her mind to the point of being insulting to both her family and neighbours and her actions are often displayed through her controlling, aggressive and violent nature. Maggie is also an unemotional character, devoid of human nature and this is emphasised on several occasions throughout the play.
Firstly, she clearly has a vicious temper and we see her resort to violence as a means of exercising her power over her family members. In the opening scene, she slaps Gert across the face, later she verbally and physically attacks and interrogates Katie, “I’ll break this brush across your back” and furthermore, she threatens Mrs Madden with a double-barrelled shotgun. She warns her that if she ‘let a member of your family stand outside my door and I’ll fox them.” When her potential daughter in law approaches her, she calls her a ‘brazen bitch/I’d wipe the floor with you before I’d give you the washing of the plate here.” Unfortunately I find it difficult to have sympathy for a character who can behave in such an unacceptable manner.
Maggie has a low opinion of humanity and believes that one needs to be harsh and cruel in order to survive. She tells Katie that, “Nothing is too severe for what she’ll (Gert) meet in this world.” She is unemotional and rarely shows a softer side to her personality. This harsh nature is evident in the opening scene after her husband Walter has just been buried. She tells Mr. Byrne, the monument sculptor that ‘there’s enough lies written on the headstones of Ireland without my adding to them’ and proceeds to remind her children that ‘we have a shop to open’ after the burial. I believe that Mr. Byrne has good reason to say that Maggie is ‘as hard as limestone’.
Another side to Maggie’s personality which I dislike is her devious, crafty and manipulative nature. By pretending to be romantically interested in the travelling salesman, Teddy Heelin, she tricks him into revealing his true nature in front of Gert. Another example of her crafty nature is revealed after she caught her husband being unfaithful to her with Moll Sonders. She then pressurises him into signing his assets over to her, thereby ensuring that the children would not inherit a share of the farm and shop.
Maggie values the newfound freedom and independence that she has gained since her husband died and she is determined to build a better life for herself. She also believes she knows what is best for her children and forces Katie to marry Johnny Conlon even though she does not love him, “You’ll marry him and you’ll marry him within the next three months”. She gives Maurice an ultimatum, “You’ll have to choose between me and Mary Madden.” She controls her children’s lives according to her own vision of what is in their best interests.
Notes on the marriage between Maggie and Walter Polpin
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