Look Back in Anger Cover Image

Look Back in Anger

by John Osborne

Start Free Trial

Student Question

Why isn't Helena Charles the moral compass in Look Back in Anger?

Quick answer:

Helena Charles isn't the moral compass in Look Back in Anger because she has an affair with her best friend's husband. This reflects the play's pervasive cynicism, where no character truly holds moral authority. Helena tries to help Alison, but her succumbing to Jimmy's allure highlights the irrationality in human behavior, indicating that everyone in the play is flawed.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

The short answer to this question is that Helena has an affair with her best friend's husband. Unfortunately, this is another manifestation of the air of cynicism that pervades the play. It's therefore somewhat unfair to single out Helena as lacking moral authority, since it's doubtful that anyone in Look Back in Anger could fulfill that role.

Osborne shows women to be manipulated by Jimmy. In spite of his abusiveness, Alison stays with him. The underlying theme may be that people have needs that are actually detrimental to their interests. This would include Jimmy himself, because he seems self-destructive, preferring to maintain a dysfunctional dynamic in his home life. His obnoxiousness, one would think, is such that he not only makes those who are with him miserable but does the same to himself. Helena at least makes an effort to help Alison, and the fact that she also becomes mesmerized by the supposed allure of Jimmy is probably meant to show the irrationality at the root of much human behavior. It is also not difficult to see, by our standards today and perhaps those of Osborne's own time, a male chauvinist agenda underlying the action of the play. In any event, we can at best evaluate Look Back in Anger as an at least partly honest description of an all too real dynamic that exists in many marriages and extra-marital situations.

Get Ahead with eNotes

Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.

Get 48 Hours Free Access
Approved by eNotes Editorial