| Sir Tom Stoppard, the early plays3. Enter a Free | | | | when someone disagrees with you on a moral |
| ManSir Tom Stoppard's play Enter a Free Man | | | | point you assume that he is one step behind in his |
| (Originally called A Walk on the Water, made for | | | | thinking, and he assumes that he has gone one |
| TV, 1963) is a more complex play built up on the | | | | step ahead. But I take both parts, O'Hara |
| simple foundations of A Separate Peace (1960). | | | | leapfrogging myself along the great moral issues, |
| The chief difference is that George Riley of Enter | | | | refuting myself and rebutting the refutation |
| a Free Man, having a wife and daughter, has a | | | | towards a truth that must be the compound of |
| commitment to a social group. Thus he has not | | | | two opposite half-truths. And you never reach it |
| opted out of society to the extent that Brown | | | | because there is always something more to say. |
| has, but when he opts out of paid employment | | | | But I can't ditch it.' (p.53.)Enter a Free Man ends |
| the issue of the individual's responsibility to others | | | | on a note of compromise and re-establishment of |
| is more immediate and concrete.Another | | | | harmony. George and Linda both make failed |
| important difference is that Riley takes upon | | | | attempts to escape the situation by leaving home, |
| himself an active role, that of inventor, whereas | | | | then understand each other better when they |
| Brown wanted to do nothing and have nothing | | | | return. George makes steps towards coming to |
| expected of him; even his painting was 'only to | | | | terms with reality by deciding to go to the labour |
| please Matron really' (p.14.). Riley has taken on a | | | | exchange, and Linda grows more tolerant |
| responsibility to himself as well as to his family, | | | | towards his 'eccentricities'. George's wife has |
| and therefore he can fail, whereas Brown, in his | | | | always tolerated his odd behaviour without |
| passive isolation, was escaping the possibility of | | | | expecting him to be a success, in fact she |
| failure. In fact Riley is a failure, both as the head | | | | married him because he was 'different', and she |
| of a family and as an inventor and it is this fact | | | | defends him as an individual, against Linda's attack |
| that creates the tension of the play, because it | | | | on his social status.'There's lots of people like your |
| forces us to consider that his actions might be | | | | father different. Some make more money |
| justified in principle even if they fail in practice.The | | | | because they're different. And some make none |
| positive side of George Riley is his independent | | | | because they're different'. (p.57)'If he was going |
| creative spirit. He stands for the freedom of the. | | | | to be a failure anyway, he was better off failing |
| individual to use his own mind and follow his own | | | | at something he wanted to succeed at . He got |
| principles.'I was given a mind and I use it. I don't | | | | hold of a bit of enthusiasm. That was worth a lot.' |
| go through life as if it was a public escalator with | | | | (p.59)It is notable in his first two plays Stoppard |
| nothing to do but watch the swimsuits go by.' | | | | gives equal weight to the human relationships and |
| (p.48)He finds the ordinary routines of life | | | | to the issue under examination. John Brown and |
| meaningless and pointless, and he has the courage | | | | Nurse Maggie strike up an affectionate relationship, |
| to follow his creative promptings in spite of the | | | | and at the end of the play she is as reluctant to |
| ridicule and indifference of those around him.'A | | | | let him leave the hospital as she was to let him |
| man must resist. A man must stand apart, make | | | | enter at the beginning. And in Enter a Free Man |
| a clean break on his own two feet. Faith is the | | | | much time is spent on the home life of the Rileys, |
| key - faith in oneself.' (p.16)In terms of general | | | | showing how having the father in a parasitic role |
| principles his ideas are quite sound; to invent a | | | | causes tension and argument between the |
| product useful in daily life, make a prototype in his | | | | mother and daughter.This aspect of the play is |
| own workshop, then form a partnership to go | | | | not very successful though, Linda and Persephone |
| into business manufacturing the product. But he is | | | | are not convincing characters; their behaviour is |
| quite out of touch with reality, his inventions | | | | 'wooden' because Stoppard is more interested in |
| always have a flaw which he has not foreseen. | | | | them as spokespeople for and against George, |
| His thinking is logical, but at the expense of | | | | than as characters in their own right. At this early |
| common sense and practicality. He does not | | | | stage in his career Stoppard seems to have |
| realise that his prospective partner is merely | | | | realised that his talents did not lend themselves to |
| making fun of him, and he avoids the guilt he | | | | the portrayal of characters and relationships.The |
| ought to feel about being financially dependent on | | | | same is true of his novel Lord Malquist and Mr. |
| his daughter by believing that he will soon be | | | | Moon (1966) in which the characters are entirely |
| worth millions from his inventions. He is living in a | | | | flat, being representatives of stereotyped |
| world of his own.In making George so lacking in | | | | life-styles. The John and Maggie, or George and |
| self-awareness Stoppard has avoided having his | | | | Linda/Persephone type of relationship, in which a |
| 'hero' face up to his responsibilities, or the guilt he | | | | couple co-exist in a fluctuating state of affection, |
| ought to feel at their neglect. All the opposition to | | | | misunderstanding and antagonism is recurrent in |
| George comes from his daughter Linda, who | | | | Stoppard's work. It can be found in almost every |
| points out his inadequacies,'If he was honest he'd | | | | play. But the emotional content of his plays is at |
| come down and say I've decided that some | | | | an absolute minimum, the characters being |
| people are cut out to make a living and some | | | | primarily vehicles for the exploration of an issue. |
| people are cut out to lie in bed, and I'm the bed | | | | There is often room, however, for an actor to |
| type.' (p.60.)This splitting up of the issue into two | | | | create a convincing character to fit Stoppard's |
| characters, one 'for' and one 'against' is | | | | script; Michael Horden's portrayal of George in |
| characteristic of Stoppard's technique. He has said | | | | Jumpers at the National Theatre being a good |
| that he writes plays as a means of contradicting | | | | example.Read the full version of this essay at: |
| himself, (see Bigsby: Tom Stoppard: Writers and | | | | Mackean runs the site which features a |
| Their Work p.24), and his plays are often | | | | substantial collection of English Literature |
| structured around the kind of dialectic process | | | | Resources and Essays, and where his sites on |
| expressed by Moon in Stoppard's novel Malquist | | | | Books Made Into Movies, and Short Story Writing |
| and Mr. Moon (1966):'I distrust attitudes, he went | | | | can also be found. He is the editor of The |
| on, because they claim to have appropriated the | | | | Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, |
| whole truth and pose as absolutes. And I distrust | | | | published by Hodder Arnold. |
| the opposite attitude for the same reason . . . | | | | |