Other themes
Roles of men and women
Tally鈥檚 Blood looks at the changing roles of women and men.
Traditional roles
Rosinella has had a traditional rural Italian upbringing. This has left her with a limited experience of life and contributes to her narrow views.
- she has had little education and cannot read
- she works in the back shop and looks after the family
- she was expected to enter an arranged marriage
Luigi still holds traditional views as to the role of women. He wants Lucia to fulfil a similar role 鈥 looking after the house and family in Italy.
Massimo too fits in with tradition:
- he was expected to follow his father in running the business
- he is the public face of the family
- he runs the shop and brings in money to support the family.
- he is in charge of money 鈥 giving some to Rosinella when she needs it.
More generally, the play presents a world with double standards about sex.
It is viewed as fine for a man like Franco to go out with a number of women. Women who go out on dates are viewed as tarts
.
Changing attitudes
But the play also shows some of these attitudes changing:
- both Rosinella and Lucia rebel against arranged marriages - they choose love instead
- Rosinella wants Lucia to get more out of life than she has
she鈥檚 not been brought up to work in a shop, running after some man.
- Lucia goes to school and is educated
- Bridget gets a job and provided income for her family