how far women both in history and in the present modern world have achieved happiness and
... 0 Introduction Carry Churchill’s Top Girls is an interesting play about how women have defined their roles in a male-dominated society. We are introduced to various women who have pursued their career at the expense of a personal life. The play begins with a dinner party at a restaurant among a group of women. What is notably interesting about this group of women is that they are from different time periods and culture. Churchill does not explain how these women from the past and present are able to converse with each other but the concept of this illogical scene is soon forgotten due to the wittiness and courage shown by all these women to overcome the hardship that they endured in a world ruled by men. The women are; • Marlene : A 20th century woman who has made a successful career for herself. ... • Gret : She is the subject of the Brueghel painting in which a woman in an apron and armour leads a crowd of women charging through hell and fighting the devil. In this essay, I am going to discuss how far women both in history and in the present modern world, have achieved happiness and freedom through their success in the male-dominated world. ... Each character is discussed in detail to show to what extent these women have achieved happiness and freedom in their life. I have chosen to discuss six women in this essay. ... Marlene is also seen as a workaholic who wants to come up in the world of business, which is dominated by men. This is evident in the scene where Marlene seemed to be envious of Isabella who is able to travel around the world. ... The fact that Marlene, being a woman, needs to prove herself in the male-dominated business world by working hard, shows that not only is she determined, she is also sacrificing her happiness by putting all her efforts in her career. ... This could be because married women would have to take maternity leave and this would not be in favour of the employer. ... Could she truly find happiness by only having a successful career? ... In addition, the language used by these working women when talking among themselves, such as “more balls”, “nerd” and “little bugger”, indicates that they have even adopted the style of speech that is commonly used by males. Do women have to be like men in terms of character and attitude in order to compete with them? Do women also become the oppressor when they have become successful? ... She is tough and thinks that anybody else, who is not strong enough, does not fit to be in the working class world. ... Yes, she does have freedom to do what she wants but what about happiness? ... Through the character of Isabella, Churchill brings across the idea of feminine in a man’s world. ... (13) Isabella had proved that women are not weak and sensitive. ... She has not only traveled the world on her own but she has proved that for a woman, she is as capable as a man. ... She found happiness in her later life. ... (27) However, this success that Nijo enjoyed in the male-dominated society may actually hinder the freedom of other women of similar position to Nijo. ... In this way, future women are prevented from achieving what Joan and Nijo do. ... On the other hand, Nijo’s action could be seen as the opening all the other women need to get men to teat them with respect. ... It is interesting to note that most of Churchill’s women characters gave up their babies. ... When the group of women was talking about Griselda getting back her children, Nijo commented that she did not get her children back and she started crying (25). Nijo may have been successful in being the best concubine to the Emperor but she could not find happiness as in the later part of her life, she lived alone without anybody to care for her. ... During her time, women were not allowed to study, “Women weren’t allowed in the library” (8). ... During the conversation among the group of women, one could sense the power that Pope Joan held over the people when she stated quite briefly, “I never obeyed anyone. ... On the other hand, it is clear that Joan did not find much happiness in her life. ... Furthermore, Pope Joan is ridden with guilt as she held the notion that God does not speak to women. ... God is seen here as someone who is bias as God only communicates with men and not women. ... In her conversation among the group of women, Joan sates, I shouldn’t have been a woman. Women, children and lunatics can’t be Pope. ... Similar to all the other women characters such as Marlene, Isabella and Nijo, Pope Joan achieved great success in her career but there was a lot of unhappiness in her life. ... Pope Joan had to sacrifice her happiness and freedom to be successful in the male dominated world. ... What freedom or happiness does she get for being such an obedient wife? ... No matter what happens, her husband’s happiness always comes first. ... Griselda did not have much happiness in her life as her children were taken away from her and later she was left by her husband. However, towards the end, Griselda did have some happiness when she was called back to her husband’s house and was presented with her children. ... She showed a lot of admirable qualities in enduring her life and came out of it with success and was rewarded in the end with happiness. ... She came to the employment agency to look for a better job than her present one. ... During the interview, win suggested Louise applies for jobs that are catered more for women. ... vacancies are going to be ones where you’ll be in competition with younger men… There are also fields that are easier for a women, there is a cosmetic company here where your experience might be relevant. (52-53) In a business-world dominated by men, experience does not count much if one is a female. The reason Louise is unhappy with her present job, is the fact that she had been overlooked when it comes to promotion. ... Men, far younger than her, have all been promoted to better jobs. ... Being a woman, she looks down on other women’s capabilities of doing a job. ... I don’t care greatly for working with women. ... Instead of helping other female to come up in a male dominated-business world, Louise expresses her doubts on another female carrying her duties well.