ONE GOOD BEATING
by Linda McLean
Inside / outside
coalshed (present)
Summary of play:
settings
Characters’
developments
and
inter-personal
relationships
Action / plot
structure and
developments
Places of conflict
(Historically)
Various points in
the past
Creates changes in
characters in the future?
Tensions
/ conflicts
Tensions
/ conflicts
 personalities in
conflict with each
other;
 How is tension
created by
differences
between the
family members?
 Give a brief
summary of the
play and answer
the question
above.
?
This is a one-act play. There is a dominant theme of
unresolved conflict between the characters. The play begins
with Stephen and his sister Elaine standing (in the garden?) of
their family home. They have locked their father Robert
inside the coal shed. The brother and sister are talking about
committing violence against their father as an act of revenge.
Elaine sees violence and revenge as a resolution to the
conflict with her father. Stephen, on the other hand, doesn’t
seem as full of anger as his sister and isn’t so into violence as
a way of
resolving tensions and conflict. Elaine asks her brother at
the beginning of the play to “hold him” because she doesn’t
feel she has the strength to deal with her father herself.
Stephen is having doubts about this method of solving
family problems and tells his sister; “It’s a bit sick Elaine.”
Stephen doesn’t feel angry he feels “sad” about the man his
father is and the response he has provoked in his children.
Elaine tells Stephen that “The past is the past. I Refuse to
discuss it”. Stephen responds that “I thought the past was
the reason why we put him in there.” Stephen takes an ‘eye
for an eye’ approach to resolving the conflict. Elaine feels
that if the father “thinks for a minute that you’re stuck in
the past he’ll beat you. He’ll talk rings round you.
Explanations. Justifications. No. Ignore any remarks about
the past”.
Early in the play it becomes clear that the characters have
experience unresolved conflicts and tensions for a long
time inside of the family. The father has used the same coal
shed to lock his son and daughter in when they misbehaved
when they were children. There is also the problem of the
manner in which their father has organised the funeral of
their mother – he has bought a cardboard coffin. The father
argues that this is exactly what his wife and their mother
would have wanted because she was “an environmentalist”.
His evidence for this is that she returned bottles to the
bottle bank.
When the brother and sister eventually agree sufficiently to
open the coal shed to give their father one good beating,
their father, Robert, is sitting inside the dark coal shed in
the foetal position. Robert immediately “begs” for mercy.
This has an effect on his son, but his daughter Elaine is
very much into acts of physical violence as a way of
getting revenge. Just before they opened the door of the
coal shed, Elaine has repeated “bloody” several times as a
way of stirring up and preparing her brother to act violently
against their father. However, the father’s pleas for mercy
have an effect on the son who begins to feel that violent
responses are not adequate, but on the sister who the father
winks at. It is not until the father smiles at the son does the
son feel anger, the motivation for violent revenge.
Elaine tries to remind her brother that “He beat us”, but this
of course is referencing the past something that Elaine has
said at the beginning she “refuses to discuss”.
Elaine has a go at her brother by implying that her brother
is something less than a man who is married to a woman
who controls him. Elaine asks her brother if he can make
tea and suggests that he can’t make good, strong tea only
“piss water”. Elaine is trying to provoke her brother into
action by goading him about his masculinity and
suggesting that he lacks the strength to do the violence that
Elaine feels is not only necessary but also the right thing to
do in order to resolve the conflicts of the past with their
father.
As the play progresses it becomes clear that there are
several internal conflicts inside of this family:
 Stephen feels that his father “belittled” him more than
his dad did to his sister:
 Stephen feels that his sister is ‘enjoying’ having
control over their father by locking him up and
threatening him with violence:
 Elaine feels that – “I have to beat him because
he’s wrong” is a resolution to the injustices she
feels her father has inflicted on the family:
 Elaine also refers to her father in animalistic
terms – calling him a “old pig” for example:
 When Robert begs to be let out of the coal
shed, Elaine tells him he can leave when he
wants because the door is opened. Robert
replies that he can’t leave without his
daughters’ permission. When Robert says he
won’t even come out for his dinner without her
permission, she tells him to “piss off”. This is a
very direct and disrespectful way to speak,
especially to a parent, and it shows the depth of
hostility and anger that the daughter feels
towards the father. Elaine doesn’t believe that
her father will miss the opportunity to come out
for his dinner without her permission because
he “is too fond of his dinner”. This observation
from Elaine about her father’s patterns of
behaviour suggests two things:
………………………………. . . . .
THE THEME OF REVENGE, CONFLICT
RESOLUTION AND TENSION IN ‘ONE GOOD
BEATING’.
Elaine tells her brother Stephen that “The past is the
past. I refuse to discuss it.” Stephen doesn’t understand
this logic. Stephen believes that “the past was why we
put him in there.” Elaine’s logic is based on her
experience of arguing with her father Robert. She tells
Stephen that if their father “thinks for a minute that
you’re stuck in the past he’ll beat you. Explanations.
Justifications. No. Ignore any remarks about the past.”
Elaine feels that the past isn’t important for what needs
to be done in the present. She is angry “Today. Now.
This minute. Not then. Not way back then. Now.”
The theme of revenge, conflict resolution and tension
created by the past affects characters differently:
 for Elaine it means that her anger at the moment is
the most important thing. She needs to both express
her anger and release her anger by physically
assaulting her father.
 For Stephen it means that he agrees to help his sister
to imprison their father with the intention of
physically punishing him in an angry manner, or, in
other words, to give him a controlled beating.
 For Robert it means that he should at least have the
possibility to defend himself through explanations
about past experiences that have created
unhappiness inside of their family. Robert also talks
about happy memories when his son and daughter
were children were kids. Robert does so to remind
his son and daughter that not everything in their past
relationships is violent and abusive.
Robert understands the revenge motive. He tells Elaine
that she is motivated by revenge: “You know how this
will look, don’t you? …..It’ll look like
revenge for all the times you sat here.”
Robert’s “explanations” and “justifications” for what has
happened in the past becomes clear when he speaks with
his daughter about the funeral arrangements for her mother
who has recently died. Robert arranged for his wife to be
buried in a cardboard box. Elaine’s fear about letting her
father talk about the past and confusing his children
enough to create doubts in their minds about the action
they are taking against him, becomes clear in the way
Robert uses language. Robert’s ‘justification’ for burying
his wife in a cardboard box is that his wife was an
“environmentalist”. He tells Elaine that her mother
“would’ve been happy with the cardboard box”. Elaine
suspects that her father has chosen this form of coffin
because he needed to save money on the funeral expenses
so that he had more money to spend on alcohol. Because
Elaine makes this observation about her father’s intentions
to save money for drink, she does do what she tells her
brother they have to avoid – she refers to the past and her
father’s fondness for alcohol – and in referring to the past
we understand more about the characters lives and possible
sources of historic tensions inside of the family. Robert is
very skilful with language. He chooses words, phrases and
expresses memories that put doubts into his children’s
minds. For example, when he is justifying his choice of
cheap coffin to Elaine, he tells her that such biodegradable,
environmentally friendly coffins “are all the rage”. The
word choice of “rage” now has a double meaning; one to
fit with the way Elaine is feeling (angry) and one to fit with
Robert’s justification that this style of coffin is fashionable
(“all the rage”). Robert also frequently uses the word
“bloody”. Again, this is skilful use of vocabulary in his
present situation because the repetition of this word creates
another double meaning between how his daughter is feeling
(she wants to give him a good beating for his past behaviour)
and how he feels as a victim of violent assault.
There is also a lot of humour in these exchanges between the
father (Robert) and his children (Elaine and Stephen). In this
conversation about the type of coffin that Robert has chosen
for his “environmentalist” wife, Robert tells Elaine in
response to her accusation that he has bought the “Bloody
cheapest thing” he could get: “ Not by a long chalk. There
were at least two cheaper – not to mention the recyclable
bag.” Robert then tells Elaine that he considered this option
but “it was going to take two weeks to order another one.
Couldn’t have her hanging about the place for two
weeks……… Not that you’d have noticed any difference.
Your mother has been silent for so long now that sometimes I
forgot she was there.”
It becomes clear in the play that the reason (the motive)
Elaine and Stephen have put their father Robert into the coal
shed is revenge. Robert used to put Elaine and Stephen into
the coal shed as a punishment when they were children. This
like-for-like revenge is developed in further detail, for
example, when Stephen makes tea and toasted sandwiches
(except he and his sister pretend to have toasted sandwiches
to make their father feel hungry). In Elaine’s idea of revenge
her father has to experience what the other family members
experienced when he was the authority figure with the power
and control to say what he thought, do what he wanted and
no one could stand up to him and challenge him. So, now that
the roles are reversed, Robert finds himself experiencing the
darkness of the coal shed, not having anything for his dinner
and (even though there is only evidence that he only ever
punished his son physically) both his children have agreed to
give him ‘one good beating’.
When Elaine leaves her brother Stephen alone outside the coal
shed for a moment Robert doesn’t miss the opportunity to try
to have a conversation that will divide brother and sister in
their agreement to have revenge on their father. Robert tells
Stephen that he understands that his sister has persuaded him
to carry out this revenge on their father: “She can be very
persuasive” he tells Stephen who agrees with his father. The
focus of the conversation between the father and son becomes
Elaine’s rather than the father’s behaviour in the past.
Robert then develops a conversation about his wife (Stephen’s
mother). He talks almost affectionately about her but really he
is pointing out that she quickly lost her physical attractiveness
after having children. Robert suggests that Stephen in
particular is responsible for this loss of physical beauty
because when he was a baby feeding on his mother’s milk he
would “suck her to death……. even after the milk had dried
up.” Robert then says that his son Stephen has inherited the
same weak genes of his mother. Robert believes that his
daughter Elaine is more like him – strong. Robert knows that
his children have not finished their relationship with him
despite his past behaviour. He tells Stephen that “If you were
finished with me you would be gone. But here you are. You
are stuck.” When Elaine returns Robert tells her that Stephen is
“waiting to forgive” him despite “ all the beatings and bad
mouthing” that Robert has given Stephen in the past. Robert
also attacks Stephen for being “soft” in his marriage to Holly.
Stephen becomes angry about this but still refuses to get into a
physical fight with his father, he only tells his father to “shut
up” to which his father answers; “Make me”. Robert is
constantly provoking his son to violent action but
throughout the play Stephen resists the temptation to hit his
father. Stephen isn’t as weak as Robert is suggesting.
Stephen appears like this in contrast to his father and his
sister Elaine who are very similar to each other in their
attitudes. When Robert asks his daughter Elaine if she
would forgive him if he had beaten her when she was a
child the way he beat his son, she answers in a very blunt
way by telling him to “Fuck off”. Robert then tells Stephen
that it is Elaine’s forgiveness that he wants. This is the type
of response and rejection that provokes Stephen who
suddenly becomes angry and punches Robert in the
stomach one time. Elaine realises that her brother has been
emotionally hurt by his father’s rejection because to
become physically violent like this, even though it is only
one punch, isn’t typical of Stephen’s behaviour. Elaine
begins an argument with her brother and she tells him that
their father is basically right – Stephen has never been very
tough. Stephen isn’t happy about this and he tells his sister
that she is basically the same as their father; “You’re as bad
as him sometimes”. This contrast between the brother and
the sister basically shows that Elaine is very like her
father’s personality. The actual history between the father,
brother and sister is very divided. The father hit the son but
never the mother and daughter. The logic is that in order for
the son to be tough and capable of standing up for himself
physically the father has had to be tough on the son. The
play shows that this is not a very accurate logic because the
son has learned how to passively accept rather than imitate
through this learning process of violence. The father’s logic
has been a deliberate intention to produce a hard, tough son
but he has failed to produce a son with a personality like
his own. Because he has failed he doesn’t actually like his
son and he certainly does not love him the way the son loves
his father despite the beatings the father inflicted on him
when he was growing up.
Eventually, both the brother and sister stop feeling anger and
a desire for revenge. Instead, they start to question their
father without any threat of violence. Stephen actually ends
his conversation with his father by walking away and
leaving the door of the coal shed unlocked and open. The
father however, refuses to leave, he is waiting for the
permission of daughter. The reason Robert is waiting for her
permission is very manipulative – Robert understands that to
take violent action in order to escape is going to be counterproductive. His main strategy has been to use his skills with
language and memories of the past to defuse the emotional
bomb. His daughter Elaine tried to warn her brother to be
careful with the way their father’s use of language can tie his
children’s in knots. This has been to a certain extent true, but
it is also true that his children’s attempts to treat their father
the way he has treated them has not been a strategy that has
changed any one’s feelings from being negative to being
positive and loving. Towards the end of the play more
honest questions are asked of each others behaviour,
questions that are listened to, questions that are intimate, for
example when Stephen asks his sister ‘why she doesn’t have
any children and Elaine replies that she doesn’t have a
partner. When Elaine asks her brother the same question he
replies; “Because I’m too scared. Too scared that I’ll turn
out like him”. Stephen tells his sister that he feels that their
father does really love them but it has been in a very
inadequate way, ‘inadequate’ because he has damaged his
children emotionally. However, Robert’s limitations
emotionally are responsible for the situation historically
within the family just as his children’s emotional
limitations are responsible for the creation of a plan which
hopes to find resolution to conflict through enforced (and
illegal) imprisonment, denial of food and water and the
constant threat of ‘one good beating’.
At the end of the play Stephen tries to convince his sister
to look at life more positively and to come to terms with
their family situation by pointing out to her that she is
more like her father than she might think; “When you’re
telling your stories I see him – him belittling us – not you,
never you – me and mum”.
After Stephen has left, Elaine tells her father that he is
never to visit her again. Robert tells her he won’t leave the
coal shed without her permission first. The tension
between father and daughter take us to the conclusion of
the play but there isn’t any final resolution to the historic
tension within the family, although there are signs that
some things have been better understood because of the
conversations that have taken place. It is very doubtful
that these ‘understandings’ would have been reached if
both of Robert’s children had actually given him ‘one
good beating’.
During the last exchanges between Robert and Elaine,
Robert tells his daughter that “You don’t stop loving
somebody”, to which Elaine replies: “Yes you do”. By
this point in the play it is difficult to know without any
doubts if Robert means what he has just said or if he is
still being manipulative with his language in order to keep
control and authority over his children. Robert could be
referring to his recently dead wife who he hasn’t stopped
loving nor have his daughter and son. He could be saying
that when you love someone you don’t ever stop even if
you are no longer with them (as is the case with Elaine
and Robert’s mother) because they still exist in the
memory in the present. THIS IS WHERE THE
CONFLICTS OF THE PAST ACTUALLY HAPPEN =
IN THE PRESENT TENSE BECAUSE THE PAST IS
IN THE COLLECTIVE AND INDIVIDUAL MEMORY
AND the only HOPE of agreement on resolutions to
TENSION and CONFLICT is for the antagonists to
TALK to each other rather than trying to resolve conflict
through VIOLENCE or ‘ONE GOOD BEATING’.
Robert, the father, tells Elaine that: “Some day, when you
are really grown up, you’ll be able to take an honest look
at her. Nobody’s perfect you know.” Elaine replies that:
“in comparison to you she was a bloody saint.” Robert is
aware that memories of the past are not always reliable
and how we choose to remember someone depends on a
process of selecting good and bad memories of our
relationships with friends, family, colleagues and so on.
Elaine has said that she has divided her relationships
with her parents into two distinct areas – one is ‘good’
(ie: the mother) and one is ‘bad’ by ‘comparison’. As
Robert has pointed out this isn’t a very exact or fair way
to come to a conclusion about someone’s personality and
behaviour. He tells his daughter: “I know you. And come
that day when you’re pulling her apart and wondering
why she didn’t do more or how come she let this happen
and that happen. That day. You’ll start to think.” Robert
understands that Elaine is trying to work out who she is
as an individual by comparing herself to her parents and
she has basically divided them into clear opposites (saint
and Sinner) when in actual fact her parents are not so
easy to categorise because they are human, and being
human
human means that life is actually lived in the grey areas
between the opposites of black and white. In other
words, life is not that simple, so neither are we.
At the end of the play Elaine reluctantly gives her father
what he has requested from her – Elaine’s permission to
leave the dark coal shed and walk out into the light of
greater understanding of each other.
One Good Beating by Linda McLean
Paragraph One
Paragraph Two
In the first paragraph of any critical evaluation
there must be the following information;
In the second paragraph of any critical
evaluation there must be the following
information;
A SUMMARY of the play /text you are going to answer the question on. E.G:
One Good Beating is a drama with three characters from the same family who
have unresolved issues. These issues come to the surface after the funeral of
Elaine and Stephen’s mother who has been buried in a cardboard box by Robert
her husband and Elaine and Stephen’s father. The setting for the play is the back
garden of the family home where Elaine and Stephen have locked up their father
in the coal shed against his will as an act of ‘an eye-for-an-eye’ revenge for the
way he punished them when they were growing up. However, there is tension
between the brother and sister because they disagree with each other about the
way they are dealing with their father. Elaine wants her brother to participate in
giving their father ‘one good beating’ and Stephen feels that the like-for-like
revenge will only make him behave in a way that will make him more like his
father or, in other words, he’ll become the person he resents. The voice of their
father Robert from inside of the coal shed adds to the tension of unresolved
conflict as he exploits the differences of opinion between his daughter and son.
Tensions between sister and brother



The TITLE of the text that you are
going to answer the question on;
The NAME OF THE AUTHOR;
References to THE QUESTION you
have chosen to answer. E.G: The
dramatic tension in this play comes
from the relationships between family
members trying to resolve past
conflicts between them. Tensions
also happen because the structure of
the play’s plot and action with each
characters dialogue points to a
fundamental question: is it better to
resolve past tensions through ‘an
eye-for-an-eye’ violence, or to resolve
differences through discussion?
Paragraph
Three
In the third
paragraph of any
critical evaluation there must be the
beginnings of your analysis with evidence
(i.e: quotes from the text ). This MUST also
happen now in all paragraphs until you write
your last paragraph which is a summary of
your personal opinion.
At the beginning of the play Elaine asks her brother to help her because she doesn’t feel she has
the physical or emotional strength to deal with their father herself. Stephen has doubts about this method of solving family problems
and tells her; “It’s a bit sick Elaine.” Stephen doesn’t feel as angry as his sister. He feels “sad” about the man his father is and the
problems he has given his children. Elaine who is full of anger tells Stephen that “The past is the past. I Refuse to discuss it”.
Stephen responds that “I thought the past was the reason why we put him in there.” Elaine feels that if their father “thinks for a
minute that you’re stuck in the past he’ll beat you. He’ll talk rings round you. Explanations. Justifications. No. Ignore any
remarks about the past”. From the beginning of the play the theme of revenge, conflict resolution and tension created by past
events affects characters differently. For Elaine it means that her anger at the moment is the most important thing. Elaine feels that the
past isn’t important for what needs to be done in the present. She is angry “Today. Now. This minute. Not then. Not way back then.
Now.” She needs to both express her anger and release the tension by physically assaulting her father. For Stephen it means that if
he agrees to help his sister to imprison their father with the intention of physically punishing him and giving him a controlled beating
the past will always be with them and the tension will not be resolved. For Robert it means that he should at least have the possibility
to defend himself through explanations about past experiences that have created unhappiness inside of their family. When we hear
Robert’s voice it often sounds like the voice of reason. He talks about happy memories when his son and daughter were children were
kids. Robert does so to remind his son and daughter that not everything in their past relationships has been violent and abusive.
Robert understands the revenge motive. He tells Elaine that she is motivated by revenge: “You know how this will look, don’t you?
…..It’ll look like revenge for all the times you sat here.” This creates tension between Elaine and Stephen who disagree about
what they are doing.
Paragraph Four: word choice in the play and dramatic tension
From the beginning of the play the author chooses words that
remind the audience / readers of the consequences of physical violence. “Bloody” , “hurt”, “sick” and “death” are used by all three
characters throughout the play to express their different emotions and feelings. The repitition of these words helps to keep the tension
between the three characters going in the play. The repitition of the word “rage” is also used to describe different emotional states. For
example, when Robert is justifying his choice of cheap coffin to Elaine, he tells her that such biodegradable, environmentally friendly
coffins “are all the rage”. The word choice of “rage” now has a double meaning; one to fit with the way Elaine is feeling (angry) and
one to fit with Robert’s justification that this style of coffin is fashionable (“all the rage”). Robert’s “explanations” and “justifications” for
what has happened in the past becomes clear when he speaks with his daughter about the funeral arrangements for her mother who
has recently died. Robert arranged for his wife to be buried in a cardboard box. Elaine’s fear about letting her father talk about the past
and confusing his children enough to create doubts in their minds about the action they are taking against him, becomes clear in the
way Robert uses language. Robert’s ‘justification’ for burying his wife in a cardboard box is that his wife was an “environmentalist”.
He tells Elaine that her mother “would’ve been happy with the cardboard box”. Elaine suspects that her father has chosen this form
of coffin because he needed to save money on the funeral expenses so that he had more money to spend on alcohol. Because Elaine
makes this observation about her father’s intentions to save money for drink, she does what she tells her brother they have to avoid –
she refers to the past and her father’s fondness for alcohol – and in referring to the past we understand more about the characters’
lives and possible sources of historic tensions inside of the family. The writer makes Robert very skilful with language. He chooses
words, phrases and expresses memories that put doubts into his children’s minds and the character’s ability to use language to create
doubts also contributes to keeping tension going throughout the play .
Paragraph Five: Stephen and his father – past and present causes of tension
When Elaine leaves her brother Stephen alone
outside the coal shed for a moment Robert doesn’t miss the opportunity to try to have a conversation that will cause tension between
brother and sister in their agreement to have revenge on their father. Robert tells Stephen that he understands that his sister has
persuaded him to carry out this revenge on their father: “She can be very persuasive” he tells Stephen who agrees with his father.
Robert develops a conversation about his wife (Stephen’s mother), pointing out that she quickly lost her physical attractiveness after
having children and tries to provoke Stephen by telling him that his behaviour was responsible for this loss of physical beauty because
when he was a baby feeding on his mother’s milk he would “suck her to death……. even after the milk had dried up.” This image
creates tension because Stephen’s mother has recently died and because the Robert’s choice of language makes Stephen feel that
he is somehow responsible for his mother’s death. Robert creates further tension by telling Stephen he has inherited the same weak
genes of his mother and that Elaine is more like her father – strong. Robert’s provocative language creates more tension when he tells
Stephen “If you were finished with me you would be gone. But here you are. You are stuck.” This quote from Robert shows that
the father understands one of the main reasons for Stephen’s tension – Stephen can’t move on. He can’t resolve the tension between
himself and his father and sister. He can’t just leave them and his tensions behind. When Elaine returns, Robert tells her that Stephen
is “waiting to forgive” him despite “ all the beatings and bad mouthing” that Robert has given Stephen in the past. Robert
continues to attack Stephen for being “soft” in his marriage to Holly. Tension dramatically increases at this point as Stephen becomes
angry about this but still refuses to get into a physical fight with his father, he only tells his father to “shut up” to which his father
answers; “Make me”, an open invitation for Stephen to release his tension through violent, physical anger. Robert is constantly
provoking his son to violent action but throughout the play Stephen almost resists the temptation to hit his father. Stephen isn’t as
weak as Robert is suggesting because he tries to control the tension he feels becoming violent anger but Robert then tells Stephen
that it is Elaine’s forgiveness that he wants not Stephen’s. This rejection by his father finally provokes Stephen whose tension
suddenly turns to anger and he punches Robert in the stomach once. Elaine realises that her brother has been emotionally hurt by his
father’s rejection because to become physically violent like this, even though it is only one punch, isn’t typical of Stephen’s behaviour.
Stephen needs to talk things through to be free from the tensions with his father which have survived from his childhood.
Paragraph Six: Elaine and her father – past and present causes of tension
Stephen tells his sister that she is basically the
same as their father; “You’re as bad as him sometimes”. This contrast shows the different tensions the brother and sister feel
emotionally. Elaine’s personality is very like her father’s. She wants her father to feel the way she did in the past when he locked her in
the dark coal shed without any dinner. Of course, as her brother realises, the same circumstances cannot be repeated because she
was a child and scared of the dark. In contrast, her father is an adult who does not suffer the same childish fear and tension of the
dark. In fact, he could if he wants to, kick the door of the coal shed open and leave whenever he likes but does not do so because he
wants his daughter’s permission to leave. The tension between the father and the daughter at this time increases dramatically
because her father is waiting for exactly the same permission to leave as his daughter had to wait for when she was a child. Elaine’s
and the dramatic tension increases because giving her father permission to leave is not what Elaine intended when she persuaded her
brother to help her put him in the coal shed in the first place. During the last exchanges between Robert and Elaine, Robert tells his
daughter that “You don’t stop loving somebody”, to which Elaine replies: “Yes you do”. Robert could be referring to his recently
dead wife who he hasn’t stopped loving. He could be saying that when you love someone you don’t ever stop even if you are no
longer with them because they still exist in the memory in the present. He could also be offering a kind of resolution to the tension
between them. Tension between father and daughter becomes less when there is intimate conversation of the past, when more
honest questions are asked of each other’s behaviour. At these times the audience / reader realises the extent to which the father’s
behaviour has actually created deep personal tensions for his children outside of their immediate family. For example, when Elaine is
asked why she has never had any children of her own she replies that she doesn’t have a partner. Elaine has been too scared to enter
into relationships because of the tensions created by her own family relationships. In contrast, when Elaine asks her brother the same
question he replies; “Because I’m too scared. Too scared that I’ll turn out like him”.
Paragraph Seven: Elaine and her mother – past and present causes of tension
Elaine is very angry about the way her father has
treated her mother in life and death and this is a fundamental source of tension in the play. Robert tells Elaine that: “Some day, when
you are really grown up, you’ll be able to take an honest look at her. Nobody’s perfect you know.” Elaine replies that: “in
comparison to you she was a bloody saint.” Robert is aware that memories of the past are not always reliable and how we choose
to remember someone depends on a process of selecting good and bad memories of our relationships. In comparison, Elaine’s choice
of words in reply to her father clearly shows that she has divided her relationship with her parents into two opposite memories – one is
‘good’ and the other is ‘bad’. As Robert points out, this isn’t a very exact or fair way to come to a conclusion about someone’s
personality and behaviour. He reminds his daughter that she is, as her brother Stephen has said, very much like her father: “I know
you. And come that day when you’re pulling her apart and wondering why she didn’t do more or how come she let this
happen and that happen. That day. You’ll start to think.” Robert understands that Elaine is trying to work out who she is as an
individual by comparing herself to her parents and she has basically divided them into clear opposites (saint and sinner) when in
actual fact her parents are not so easy to categorise because they are human, and being human means that life is actually lived in the
grey areas between the opposites of black and white. In other words, life is not pure and never that simple, so neither are we.
Paragraph Eight:
At the end of the play Elaine reluctantly gives her father what he has requested from her – Elaine’s permission
to leave the dark coal shed and walk out into the light of greater understanding of each rather than trying to resolve tensions and
conflict through violence or ‘one good beating’.
Paragraph Nine: Personal opinions
In this last paragraph you have to say something about your personal respnse to the
text.