Amy's View - Theme/Idea

Theme/Idea

Theme refers to the overall content, the main message that is presented through the dialogue. In this particular play, there are two overarching, intermingled ideas presented.

The first involves the concept of love through the " examination of the delicate relationship between mother and daughter." Amy's view that love conquers all and that love should be given unconditionally is repeated throughout the play, and takes shape in her interactions with Dominic, as well as with her mother, and even reaches into Esme and Frank's odd coupling. It is a sort of "sacrificial love," as Hare himself puts it. Amy is devoted to Dominic, sacrificing some of her own needs in order to be with him, and despite Esme's disapproval. She gives him everything, including financial help to support his career endeavors, and he only repays her by falling for a young, blonde Swedish actress. She loved him unconditionally and it never really got her anywhere – in fact we never really even get to see the reasons why she loved him in the first place. In this respect, one might conclude that Amy and Dominic's relationship was just a front, a vessel to allow us to see the intricacies of Esme and Amy's bond. Frank, too, seems to love Esme unconditionally. He has waited years for her to agree to marriage, and yet she still refuses. It really takes some dedication to wait around, taking care of someone, when they will not give that same commitment to you.

The second idea is the clash of "theatre versus modern popular culture." This is, in some ways, a more direct result of dialogue content, rather than the emotional result we see from the first theme. Dominic obviously represents popular culture and new media. As a beginning critic and aspiring filmmaker, he passionately presents his ideas about the uselessness and bore of the theater and the fast-paced lure of television and film. Esme takes the opposite angle, arguing for the theater. Interestingly, Esme is the one forced to work in television, while Dominic rises in the media world. In the last act, however, we see Esme's return to the theater in a small production that continues to increase in popularity, while Dominic reaches his goal as a film director. It seems that both have found a balance and are successful in their own right. There was a sort of reversal, and then a new equilibrium where both mediums prospered. As Hare said in an interview on the subject: "The theater went through a period of not being in fashion. People said, ‘Is this form going to survive at all? Aren’t movies and television the democratic form?’ And that period in which people said the theater is an elitist form – we’ve lived through in England. What's wonderful is that we’re now out on the other side."