The Ruling Class (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Barnes
- First Published: 1969
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Satire
- Time of Work: The 1960’s
- Setting: England
- Genres: Satire, Drama, Farce, Comedy, Parody
- Subjects: 1960’s, Power, personal or social, Class consciousness, Mental illness, England or English people, Upper classes, Politicians, Imagination, Aristocracy or aristocrats, Christ figures or saviors, Nobility
- Locales: England
Characters Discussed
Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred, the fourteenth earl of Gurney. Declared a paranoid-schizophrenic by the medical profession, he has been institutionalized for seven years because he believes that he is God, the God of love who deals in compassion and justice. As the gentle J. C., he is the object of contempt and victimized by his family, who hope to inherit his estate. After a “cure,” which involves his meeting another mental patient who thinks he is the Messiah, he becomes Jack the Ripper, a malevolent and murderous man ruling with ruthless absolute...
[The entire page is 689 words long]
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