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［摘 要］Look Back in Anger is a success in the history of English drama.It spawns a new term\"angry young man' in the play.In the play Osborne employs harshness and realism to describe protagonist Jimmy.He is self-pity，vituperative.He attacks everything.His appearance is a discord and conflict.He is a violent figure of love and hate，self-laceration.Although the play attacks the decaying social morality and is full of angry atmosphere，in fact there is an inarticulate hope in view of plot，characters and imagery.

［關鍵詞］Hope Alienation Loneliness

［中圖分類號］I106 ［文獻標識碼］A ［文章編號］1009－5489(2008)10－0170－02

Look back in Anger is a John Osborne's play.It is a three-act play which takes place in one bedroom in the Midlands.And it is about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man(Jimmy Porter)，his upper-middle-class，impassive wife(Alison)and her arrogant best friend(Helena Charles).Cliff Lewis is Jimmy's business partner，who shares the flat with the Porters and attempts to keep the peace in the household.Jimmy rages to the point of violence and reserves his peevish anger for Alison's friends and family.The situation is aggravated by the arrival of Helena.She is so appalled at what she finds that she calls Alison's father to take Alison away.But surprisingly as soon as Alison has gone，Helena seduces Jimmy and takes the place of Alison in the household，several months later，Alison comes back with Jimmy's baby lost，Helena realizes her affair with Jimmy is wrong and decides to leave.The play ends with a major surprise-a highly sentimental reconciliation between Jimmy and Alison.They revive an old game they used to play，pretending to be bears and squirrels，and we are left to assume that they live if not happily，at least a state of peace in the class warfare，ever after.

Although many people think the play expresses occasionally an ambivalent nostalgia for the past(for example：Alison's father，Colonel Redfern，he is hurt because everything has changed)，there is also an outburst of anger as well as conflict against the contemporary world，and its language shocks everybody who reads it.In my opinion，there is something of hope in the play in the view of plot，characters and imagery.

we know that there's a huge social gulf between Jimmy and Alison.Alison is upper-middle class military，but Jimmy is decidedly working class.In ACT 1 Alison gives a clue why she decides to marry Jimmy-her own minor rebellion against her upbringing plus her admiration of Jimmy.Just as she describes Jimmy to Helena as\"a knight is shining armour\".She is captured by Jimmy's rebellion.She loves Jimmy，therefore she is patient with Jimmy's attacks，no matter how Jimmy is critical to her and how Jimmy is belittling her to Cliff.Hence，there is an inarticulate hope of love，it is the hope of love that Alison returns to Jimmy finally.The other example is that Alison and cliff are too intimate but there is nothing special in them，they are only friends because Alison regards Jimmy as a lovely man.Faced with Cliff，Alison can say everything，even she tells Cliff that she is pregnant.Here there is hope of belief.She believes on cliff，she believes humanity，even in realistic and harsh society.Another example in the plot is that the final ACT is a deliberate replay of Act1.The play ends with a major surprise-a highly sentimental reconciliation between Jimmy and Alison.They replay the old game they used to play.They are in a state of peace.Here we get a hope，an indication that we can go back.

In characters，we can also get an inarticulate hope.Jimmy porter：he is marvelously，unreasonably idealistic in a wildly unfocussed way.He is an angry young man and he is hopeless，indignant，and he thinks there is no hope in life but Jimmy yearns for passion and clings to the idea of it.For example，when Alison returns to him，he tells her\"I may be a lost cause，but I thought if you loved me it needn't matter\".There is a hope of belief，Jimmy thinks that if Alison loved him，she would come back，here we get a clue that an active indignation is linked up with hope.Alison：the heroine in the play，she can tolerate everything even if in that society.In her，we can get hope.On one hand，she loves Jimmy，she comes back to Jimmy at last，it is the hope of love.On the other hand，in face with Cliff，she is frank.She can say everything to Cliff，it is the hope of belief in humanity，at last，she excuses Helena.It is also a hope，she forgives the wrong，here we can get a clue of hope that we are pardonable by the others even if we have done something wrong in harsh society.Cliff：he is a bystander and mediator.In the play，he always tries to keep peace in the household，his appearance makes us get a hope of peace.Helena：she is a middle-class woman and she is very realistic.When she cannot stay with Jimmy because of the destruction of all her old certainties，she leaves，on the other hand，when Alison returns，Helena realizes that her affairs with Jimmy are wrong and she decides to leave.Here we get a hope that even if in harsh society，we can acknowledge our wrong and begin our life again.

In the view of imagery we can get a clue of hope.In Look Back in Anger，there are sound images：the church bells，Jimmy's jazz trumpet and the cigarette smoke.The church bells invade the small living space and serves as a reminder of the power of the established church.The church bells represent the authority which plays an important role in human life.It leads a hope that people expect authority(government)to reform society，another imagery is Jimmy's jazz trumpet，the jazz trumpet allows Jimmy's presence to dominate the stage even when he is not there.Here is the nostalgia for the past.Jimmy has the hope that the gones can come back again.The wreaths of cigarette smoke rises up the curtains，it is a hope that an era is evoked.

To sum up，Look Back in Anger is a masterpiece in English drama and it marks a new voice on the British stage.It successfully describes the angry young man：Jimmy porter who gives our audience a shock，but there is something of hope in plot characters，and imagery.Although there is much conflict in the play，there remains somewhere at the play's core，even if it cannot be explained，hope.There remains a belief that somehow people can survive the worst and perhaps even overcome it；a belief in humanity，and the possibility of forward.

［參考文獻］

［1］Brown，John R.Theatre Language：A Study of Arden，Osborne，Pinter and Wesker.London：Allen Lane，1972.

［2］Taylor，John Russell.ed.，John Osborne：Look Back in Anger：a Casebook.London：Macmillan，1968.

［3］Hinchliffe，Arnold P.John Osborne.Boston：Twayne，1984.