Character: Lily (Scottish Highers English): Revision Notes
Character: Lily
Overview of Lily's character
Lily serves as a contrast to her sister Maggie. She is unmarried (a spinster) and lives independently, free from the responsibilities of children and maintaining a household. Her lifestyle allows her a degree of freedom that Maggie does not possess.
Lily holds feminist beliefs and expresses her opinions openly. While this might appear unremarkable to modern readers, audiences in 1947 would have found her outspokenness unusual and perhaps shocking. She demonstrates her care for Maggie through practical support, bringing food and medicine for Bertie when the family struggles.
Despite her harsh criticism of John and marriage, Lily's actions reveal genuine care for her sister. Her practical support during difficult times shows that her concern for Maggie is sincere, even if her methods of expressing it are confrontational.
Her relationship with Maggie is complicated by her inability to understand why Maggie tolerates John's behaviour. Lily makes no secret of her disapproval. However, beneath this criticism lies genuine love for her sister and a desire to see Maggie improve her circumstances.
Lily's feminist perspective
Controversial views in 1930s Scotland
Lily's attitudes would have challenged the social norms of post-war Scotland. Whether shaped by a past disappointment that Maggie hints at, Lily views men with deep cynicism. She rejects marriage because she believes it reduces women to servants, enslaved to their husbands.
She attempts to make both Maggie and the audience understand the position of married women during a period when birth control was not widely available. Lily holds John responsible for giving Maggie "the weans" (the children), thereby trapping her in a cycle of domestic servitude.
Historical Context
Lily's views must be understood within the context of 1930s Scotland, where women had limited rights, no access to reliable contraception, and few opportunities for independence. Her feminist perspective, while extreme, reflects the genuine oppression many women experienced in marriage during this era.
Warning about John's behaviour
Lily's understanding of the restrictions placed on women in the 1930s emerges in her sharp comments about John:
Key Quotation: Lily's Warning
"Yin o they days your loving Johnnie's gonna tak a look at whit he married and it'll be ta-ta Maggie."
This quotation uses Scots dialect to deliver a harsh warning. The phrase "ta-ta Maggie" suggests a casual dismissal, as if John might abandon his wife without serious thought. The warning proves perceptive when we observe John's behaviour with Isa, which Maggie herself notices.
Despite the bitterness in Lily's tone, her prediction contains truth about the vulnerability of Maggie's position. Her warning is not merely vindictive but based on a realistic assessment of how men in this period could discard their wives when they lost their youth and beauty.
Her role in awakening Maggie's self-awareness
Lily's function in the play is to encourage Maggie to examine her life, both literally and metaphorically, by "looking in the mirror". She wants Maggie to recognise her own worth and stand up for herself. When Maggie finally confronts John at the play's conclusion, Lily's reaction is captured in the stage directions:
Stage Directions: Lily's Reaction
"Lily, arms akimbo, eyes a-gleam, laughs coarsely, and hugs herself."
The physical description conveys multiple layers of meaning:
- Standing with "arms akimbo" (hands on hips) represents a posture of triumph and dominance
- Her "gleaming eyes" reveal the intense pleasure she experiences witnessing John humiliated by his wife
- The coarse laugh suggests satisfaction that is unrefined and unrestrained
The limitations of Lily's support
The irony of this moment is that Lily's response fails to truly support Maggie. While Lily celebrates, Maggie is distressed and immediately regrets her harsh words. Rather than offering comfort to her sister, Lily merely takes pleasure in seeing a man suffer at a woman's hands.
Critical Insight: The Flaw in Lily's Feminism
This reaction reveals the inflexibility of Lily's feminist perspective – her hatred of men matters more to her than Maggie's emotional state. Her enjoyment of John's suffering confirms that her feminism is rigid and uncompromising. She cannot see beyond her own satisfaction to recognise that this moment is painful for Maggie, not liberating.
Lily's failure to provide genuine emotional support at this crucial moment exposes the limitations of her worldview. Her feminism, while rooted in legitimate grievances about women's oppression, has become so extreme that it blinds her to her sister's actual needs.
Key Points to Remember:
- Lily's independence as a spinster contrasts sharply with Maggie's domestic burden
- Her feminist views would have been considered shocking and controversial to 1940s audiences
- She blames John for trapping Maggie through repeated pregnancies in an era without reliable birth control
- Her warning about John leaving Maggie proves insightful, given his flirtatious behaviour with Isa
- The stage directions showing her with "arms akimbo" and "eyes a-gleam" reveal her triumph when Maggie confronts John
- Her reaction demonstrates that she prioritises her anti-male views over genuine emotional support for Maggie
- Lily's character serves as both a voice of feminist truth and a cautionary example of how rigid ideology can prevent genuine compassion