Class and Gender Dynamics in The Blue Room

Class struggle is not as emphasized in The Blue Room compared to Hare’s other plays; after all, it is an adaptation of Schnitzler’s Das Reigen rather than an original work.  However, class is present in many of the relationships, including between the Au Pair and the Student, the Politician and the Model, the Actress and the Aristocrat, and the Aristocrat and the Girl.  It is worth noting that in the above relationships, it is the male that is always the member of the hegemonic class.

Hare had this to say about his father:

“There were eight chefs from Goa just to cook curry, and before Dad could reach down for his shoes, his servant Fernandez would already be on his knees to unlace them” (Hare, 10).

The above is an example of pre-war colonialism at work, before the collapse of the British Empire.  Nearly a hundred years later, some of these old attitudes still exist in Jolly Old England over the “Plastic Brit” controversy prior to the 2012 Olympics:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2171923/London-2012-Games-Team-GB-61-plastic-Brits.html 

 

It’s an appalling label that I find very offensive, but is a perfect example that old racist attitudes die hard.

The relationship where class is the most acutely drawn in the play is between the Au Pair and the Student, made apparent first through the Au Pair’s remark to the Cab Driver, “I’m treated like a servant.  By the whole family. I have the cats to feed, the dogs, the humans. I’m a slave.” (TBR, 11)  The Au Pair probably came into the position believing it would only be part time labour with the family, but they see her as a full time employee and not in the same class as the family.  Her relationship is crystalized by the glass of water: the student refuses to get the water himself and expects her to do it for him, in spite of the fact that is quite physically capable of doing it himself (14).

Class in the other relationships mentioned above is less pronounced, but still present.  In the case of the Politician and the Model, he accuses the Model of not understanding his “kind of world” (50).  He has a paternalistic attitude towards her that is also reflected by the Aristocrat and the Girl at the end of the play, providing the Model with her own apartment (compared to the Aristocrat’s sympathy for the Girl’s relationships with men).  The age gap is the determining factor within these two relationships and further defines their dominance over the women.  On the other hand, the Actress is the Aristocrat’s intellectual equal, despite their different economic and social circumstances.

Because this is a play about sexual relationships, gender dynamics play a significant role.  Generally speaking, it is the men who are dominant in the relationships.  The Au Pair only has brief control over the student in the initial seduction, but he soon takes control and ends the relationship, embarrassed at his impropriety (but mostly lack of performance).  The tables are turned, however, between the Student and the Married Woman, when her experience becomes the trump card in the relationship and she takes complete control.  She becomes more passive with her husband, since the appearance of a stable relationship becomes more important to convey to the public (no matter how troubled things are between them)

By contrast to the other women, the Actress is able to seduce and take control of the relationships with the Playwright and the Aristocrat.  The Actress and Playwright are essentially equals, but she is the one dictating the relationship, teasing and playing with his ego.  With the Aristocrat she successfully seduces him in the dressing room despite his desire to do it “right” in a bed.  She is perhaps the most enigmatic and powerful character in the play because of what she represents.  An actor/actress brings words and ideas to life, creating an illusion of reality on the stage (or screen) that audiences find compelling.