Morgan Mann

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Myhill, Nova

Keywords

Churchill, Caryl, Top Girls, Women, Family, Careers

Area of Concentration

English

Abstract

This thesis analyzes and interprets Caryl Churchill's momentous play, Top Girls. It follows the story of Marlene, a 1980s business woman, and her biological daughter Angie, who has been given to the care of Marlene's sister so she could pursue a career. For three decades, the critical literature surrounding the play has been dominated by binary oppositions. Most notable are the binaries between family & career and socialism & capitalism. These binaries serve as method by which Marlene constructs herself; she lies on the career and capitalism side of the binary and that's that. However, to see Marlene as she sees herself is to oversimplify her character. In this thesis, I argue that disrupting these binaries is just as important as constructing them and that Marlene's daughter, Angie, is the agent of that disruption.

Download

Share

COinS