A Feminist Analysis of Cloud Nine
Feminist Analysis of Cloud Nine
In 1979, Caryl Churchill wrote a feminist play entitled Cloud Nine. It was the result of a workshop for the Joint Stock Theatre Group and was intended to be about sexual politics. Within the writing she included a myriad of different themes ranging from homosexuality and homophobia to female objectification and oppression. "Churchill clearly intended to raise questions of gender, sexual orientation, and race as ideological issues; she accomplished this largely by cross-dressing and role-doubling the actors, thereby alienating them from the characters they play." (Worthen, 807) The play takes part in two acts; in the first we see Clive, his family, friends, and servants in a Victorian British Colony in Africa; the second act takes place in 1979 London, but only twenty-five years have passed for the family. The choice to contrast the Victorian and Modern era becomes vitally important when analyzing this text from a materialist feminist view; materialist feminism relies heavily on history. Cloud Nine is a materialist feminist play; within it one can find examples that support all the tenets of materialist feminism as outlined in the Feminism handout (Bryant-Bertail, 1). The system of patriarchy allies itself to economic power (Bryant-Bertail, 1). In the first act of the play, several references are made that allude to the economic power being held by the men. The play opens with the line "Come gather, sons of England, come gather in your pride" (Churchill, 810) and in Clive's opening speech he makes several fatherly references; "I am father to the natives here, and father to my family so dear" (810). In the next song the line "The forge of war shall weld the chains of brotherhood secure" (810) can be found. It is interesting to also note that intermixed with these lines are references to Queen Victoria's sovereignty. Several lines such as, "we serve the queen wherever we may roam" and "O'er countless numbers she, our Queen,
In 1979, Caryl Churchill wrote a feminist play entitled Cloud Nine. It was the result of a workshop for the Joint Stock Theatre Group and was intended to be about sexual politics. Within the writing she included a myriad of different themes ranging from homosexuality and homophobia to female objectification and oppression. "Churchill clearly intended to raise questions of gender, sexual orientation, and race as ideological issues; she accomplished this largely by cross-dressing and role-doubling the actors, thereby alienating them from the characters they play." (Worthen, 807) The play takes part in two acts; in the first we see Clive, his family, friends, and servants in a Victorian British Colony in Africa; the second act takes place in 1979 London, but only twenty-five years have passed for the family. The choice to contrast the Victorian and Modern era becomes vitally important when analyzing this text from a materialist feminist view; materialist feminism relies heavily on history. Cloud Nine is a materialist feminist play; within it one can find examples that support all the tenets of materialist feminism as outlined in the Feminism handout (Bryant-Bertail, 1). The system of patriarchy allies itself to economic power (Bryant-Bertail, 1). In the first act of the play, several references are made that allude to the economic power being held by the men. The play opens with the line "Come gather, sons of England, come gather in your pride" (Churchill, 810) and in Clive's opening speech he makes several fatherly references; "I am father to the natives here, and father to my family so dear" (810). In the next song the line "The forge of war shall weld the chains of brotherhood secure" (810) can be found. It is interesting to also note that intermixed with these lines are references to Queen Victoria's sovereignty. Several lines such as, "we serve the queen wherever we may roam" and "O'er countless numbers she, our Queen,
Cited: Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995 Churchill, Caryl In Worthen, W. B. ed. The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama. Fortworth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 2000.