Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Women in Glengarry Glen Ross

When I first began reading the play, Glengarry Glen Ross, I found it weird (and slightly annoying) that women were not actually present. I believe that Mamet had the characters only refer to women, rather than have them present during the play, for a specific reason. The absence of women in this play allows us to see the men in the stereotypical way of being masculine, career-focused and competitive. It seems that when women are referred to during the play, it brings out an emotional side of the salesmen, which is not seen during other scenes when they are working together or trying to make sales in an all-male setting. I also believe that the foul language and the extremely excessive use of it is also a characteristic of the salesmen that would not be seen as clearly if they were physically around women in the play.

The women in the play definitely seem to influence the men in an emotional way. Levene, for example, was a distinguished salesman at one point during his career and kind of has the attitude of a legend. However, when his daughter is brought into the picture, the manliness goes out the window. He succumbs to begging and pleading for better leads and also tries to bribe his boss because he is so worked up about the situation. His desperation shows a very emotional side that would not typically be seen in the office setting with a bunch of men around. Another situation where men’s emotions start flying is when Roma and Lingk are in the office together, and Lingk is trying to explain to Roma why he has to cancel their deal. Lingk cannot go through with the deal because his wife will not let him, and when she is brought up and he is trying to explain this to Roma, we see a more emotional side to both of them. Roma sort of panics and tries to lie his way around talking about the situation and Lingk gets so upset that he can’t complete a sentence and starts mumbling.

In this play, women seem to break down the masculine wall that the salesmen have built around themselves to hold up this super manly persona around each other. Also, women are always seen as emotional beings, whereas men are the tough guys, but I believe that Mamet breaks down that wall as well in the way he writes the female parts of the play. When women are referred to during the play, they bring out certain emotions in the men. I feel like in the setting and situation that the salesmen are in, it is almost impossible for them to be anything but “manly” and I believe that the references to women allow the audience to see that each of these men are human.

3 comments:

  1. Very well put. The women mentioned in the play do bring about very different emotions for the men. When it is just men, and no mention of women, they seem to be more crude and tough. They seem to take on their super-egos and its almost like watching two male cats fight for territory. With the women absent most of the time the men turn to scandalous acts, like talking about breaking into Williamson’s office to steal the leads. The men keep trying to one up each other almost, and it’s a fight to get to the top of their board. The women hidden in their thoughts come into play when they are talked about and that’s when we see the softer side of the men. The men almost coward away from the women in that they completely back out of their deals. Lingk can’t even take talking about his wife with Roma and breaks down and leaves saying he’s sorry. Levene resorts to begging for leads to get money to help is ill daughter. The women are used as launching points throughout the play it seems. Whenever one of the women is brought into the picture, the play turns a slightly different direction. People break off deals, others stoop as low as begging and even stealing. Levene dug his own grave on this one. This play does a great job of showing how much women can do even without being present. They are in total control of everything at all times. The men almost let their emotions get the best of them when dealing with women.

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  2. Men typically do hide their softer emotions, I agree. This play shows men at their most competitive and I believe the rough language is used to replace the macho physicality that the male shows when trying to bring down the others. Men have a need to be the leader of the pack, not only for the car, or more money, but to prove their worth in the world. It would be a weakness to show the softer, more emotional side to their nature.

    The women in the play do allow this side of this to come through, especially in the case of Levine. He has the most to lose it seems, so he is desperate plea is something not to be done in front of the group of men. One-on-one with Williamson is ok, because he’s not fighting against Williamson for the top spot on the board.

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  3. The women in the work definitely play a significant role, but I would have to disagree that they evoke emotion in all of the men. In the men who value their wives opinion, yes. For example, when Levene visits the Nyborgs the first time, he is unsuccessful in getting Mr. Nyborg to sign because he came during a time when the wife was not there. Also, after Mr. Lingk told his wife what he had done, she made him go to the office and exercise their rescission option. But, not so much for any of the men who would otherwise run their household according to how ONLY they feel. I cannot say that if the other men in the office had to deal with the situation Levene was in, they would have dealt with it differently… But, it does raise the question as to what Roma would have been like if he was married? Maybe he would have been sympathetic when Lingk came into the office complaining. But he wasn’t. He didn’t even care in the slightest. As a matter of fact, when Lingk walked into the office, he immediately got his lap-dog Levene to play along and act as if he did not have time to talk. Finally when he broke down to give him a few seconds, they were filled with meaningless babble meant to fill in the gaps between his footsteps and the door. Maybe if all of the men in the office had a woman to go home to or share their life with they may have been more sympathetic, but, that would have also removed the whole dynamic of the play.

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