John
Despite the fact that the audience is angered by John鈥檚 chauvinistic mentality, we still empathise with his character to an extent.
Living in poverty, unable to find work, John cannot provide for his family and has an awareness of his responsibility in the hardship the whole family must suffer.
John does love Maggie, and there are poignant scenes when he gives her a plate of beans and buys her a hat at Christmas. However, he is still unprepared to deviate from what he considers to be the male role and at several points he disappoints as result.
We are also concerned by his softness towards a character like Isa and the fact he does not accompany Maggie to the hospital with Bertie鈥 the one place that she is fearful of.
At the end of the play, he suffers a threefold humiliation:
- his unrepressed sexual desire is exposed by his wife
- Lily reveals the truth about how much financial assistance she has given his family over the years
- he is forced to step back as Maggie takes control.
Unlike Maggie, John is not strong enough to actively confront his true self and we leave him slumped and speechless at the close of Act III.
John and traditional male role
When John first enters in Act 1, Scene 1, the stage directions tell us about him and his relationship with his wife.
John comes in carrying books under his arm. He is a big, handsome man.
He puts down his books, gives Maggie a pat: they exchange warm smiles.
John is carrying books
, which implies an attempt at self-improvement, but this may be something he simply carries
, totes around, like hollow good intentions.
Stewart notes his attractive appearance 鈥 unlike what Lily tells us about Maggie, John has not lost his looks, making him still sexually appealing to women like Isa.
He gives Maggie a pat
which connotes the warmth in their relationship while at the same time implying a certain assumed superiority in his manner. Shortly after his entrance, he criticises women for having nae system
.
The muddle
in which they live would be ordered and structured if it wis (his) job...
but thankfully for John, it鈥檚 no (his) job
and he cannot see beyond this, even when his wife is exhausted and struggling to keep going: I鈥檓 no turnin masel intae a bloomin skivvy! I鈥檓 a man!
It is his pride at stake here, and we see this again when he refuses to accept Jenny鈥檚 money in Act III: We鈥檙e wantin nane o yer whore鈥檚 winnins here.
John鈥檚 anger is because he realises he has failed in the role he is so set on maintaining. He has identified himself as the man, the heid of this hoose
, but has done nothing to fulfil this role.
Ironically, after this assertion, he becomes a passive spectator with his face in his hands. We wonder whether he is indeed weeping
(as he should
be) at the realisation of his ineffectiveness while the women take charge.