Analysis Of The Shape Of Things By Neil Labute
A Permanent Essential Identity Have you ever changed your appearance in some sort of way rather it be a haircut or maybe you even lost some weight? As a result you acted in a different manor then normal, or maybe you never even realized it. In society today everyone looks to change who they really are. These changes range from changing your eye color with colored contacts all the way to changing your actual flesh through plastic surgery. The play "The Shape of Things" by Neil LaBute takes place in a college setting where everyone's striving for change. There are four characters in the play Adam, Evelyn, Phillip, and Jenny. Adam is the main character who goes through a transformation that is very clear to the reader, from a geek to a, "prep"
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if you will. Evelyn is Adam's girlfriend who has a lot to do with his transformation. Phillip is Adam's ex-roommate. He is a frat boy and loves the fact that Adam is a geek, in the beginning of the play at least. Evelyn is Phillip's fiancée. She used to have a crush on Adam. We like to think that there is something deep down inside of us that always stay the same but unfortunately that is just a desire. People want to think that they will always stay the same deep down inside but in reality everyone changes. Throughout the play Adam changes his appearance which in turn changes the way he acts towards other people LaBute starts the play off by showing Adam as a very timid character.
By changing one little thing, his new haircut Adam begins to morph. After getting his haircut you notice a change in Adam's character. He is not used to showing affection in public but with his new haircut along comes a new attitude. You notice that he has more confidence now when he says "lemme go check the men's room you amaze me," (11). Evelyn says "Kiss me, grasshopper," and they start to kiss as a young couple approaches. Phillip and Evelyn approach them and Phillip notices that Adam lost some weight (15). Before meeting Evelyn, getting his new haircut, and loosing a few pounds he would have never had enough confidence to say that to a girl. As Labute shows in his play the idea of someone having more confidence with physical changes, we realize that that is actually how society is. When someone gets a new haircut or looses some weight for the most part they feel good about themselves. In most cases they want to show themselves off to everyone they know. By changing the way they look they change the way they feel about themselves. They get a new attitude because they think that they look better which in turn makes them be in a better mood and boosts their
confidence. LaBute continues to show Adam's confidence growing when Adam and Evelyn get into their first fight. As they are in the bedroom Evelyn asks Adam if he enjoyed his night and he begins to say that he enjoyed the trip into the city and dinner. Evelyn says that she means the play. Adam isn't into art as much as Evelyn is so he says that it was okay (26). Adam and Evelyn start to talk about the play and he begins to disagree with her. He says that it was "hard for him to think of it as art," because it was a tampax (27-28). They continue to argue because Evelyn is very passionate about art. You can see the change in Adam from the beginning of the play when he was a pushover. Now that he is more confident he stuck to how he felt and did not just agree with Evelyn to make her happy. Adam took his own views and expressed them. As this is true throughout life, if you are not confident then most people will go along with other people even if they do not believe in the same thing. People that are not confident will not want to start an argument. Adam shows that he is more confident from the changes that he has made by arguing with Evelyn and not just agreeing with her. As Adam becomes more confident throughout the play his morals change as well as his appearance. He has suddenly changed from a guy that would have never thought of backstabbing his friend, to being the guy that hooks up with his friend's fiancée. Adam meets Jenny in the park. Before Adam went through his transformation he was very shy and had a class with Jenny for four months. They sat next to each other and she would always borrow his pen but he would never have the guts to ask her out. Phillip ended up picking Adam up from class one day when he saw Jenny and asked her out (18). They started dating and ended up getting engaged. As Adam and Evelyn were meeting in the park having a conversation Evelyn kissed Adam on the cheek, then they stared at each other and began to kiss, it was a real kiss, not a "great to see you, aren't we the best of friends" kiss (37). The old Adam would have never done that. After Evelyn kissed him on the cheek he would have said that that was inappropriate and they should leave. The new Adam kissed Evelyn because he wanted to do that for the past three years and finally got the courage to. As well as in society different morals usually follow more confidence. When someone has a lot of confidence they often think about themselves and not others. They do not care how their actions will affect the people around them. "The Shape of Things" by Neil LaBute is a play that exemplifies how people change deep down inside when they change their "outward" appearance. As Adam became more handsome he became more confident. His actions became questionable, and he began to deceive his friends and Evelyn while showing interest in other women. He had relation's with his best friends fiancée and he was willing to give up the friends that he had when asked to do so (78). Adam became more confident, but his morals changed. He transformed into a different person, inside and out. In society today when people get makeovers they say that they feel like a totally different person, this is proven true in LaBute's play. We like to think that we have a permanent essential identity but in reality we do not.
Works Cited
Labute, Neil. The Shape of Things. 2003. New York: Broadway Play Publishing Inc., 2004.
if you will. Evelyn is Adam's girlfriend who has a lot to do with his transformation. Phillip is Adam's ex-roommate. He is a frat boy and loves the fact that Adam is a geek, in the beginning of the play at least. Evelyn is Phillip's fiancée. She used to have a crush on Adam. We like to think that there is something deep down inside of us that always stay the same but unfortunately that is just a desire. People want to think that they will always stay the same deep down inside but in reality everyone changes. Throughout the play Adam changes his appearance which in turn changes the way he acts towards other people LaBute starts the play off by showing Adam as a very timid character.
By changing one little thing, his new haircut Adam begins to morph. After getting his haircut you notice a change in Adam's character. He is not used to showing affection in public but with his new haircut along comes a new attitude. You notice that he has more confidence now when he says "lemme go check the men's room you amaze me," (11). Evelyn says "Kiss me, grasshopper," and they start to kiss as a young couple approaches. Phillip and Evelyn approach them and Phillip notices that Adam lost some weight (15). Before meeting Evelyn, getting his new haircut, and loosing a few pounds he would have never had enough confidence to say that to a girl. As Labute shows in his play the idea of someone having more confidence with physical changes, we realize that that is actually how society is. When someone gets a new haircut or looses some weight for the most part they feel good about themselves. In most cases they want to show themselves off to everyone they know. By changing the way they look they change the way they feel about themselves. They get a new attitude because they think that they look better which in turn makes them be in a better mood and boosts their
confidence. LaBute continues to show Adam's confidence growing when Adam and Evelyn get into their first fight. As they are in the bedroom Evelyn asks Adam if he enjoyed his night and he begins to say that he enjoyed the trip into the city and dinner. Evelyn says that she means the play. Adam isn't into art as much as Evelyn is so he says that it was okay (26). Adam and Evelyn start to talk about the play and he begins to disagree with her. He says that it was "hard for him to think of it as art," because it was a tampax (27-28). They continue to argue because Evelyn is very passionate about art. You can see the change in Adam from the beginning of the play when he was a pushover. Now that he is more confident he stuck to how he felt and did not just agree with Evelyn to make her happy. Adam took his own views and expressed them. As this is true throughout life, if you are not confident then most people will go along with other people even if they do not believe in the same thing. People that are not confident will not want to start an argument. Adam shows that he is more confident from the changes that he has made by arguing with Evelyn and not just agreeing with her. As Adam becomes more confident throughout the play his morals change as well as his appearance. He has suddenly changed from a guy that would have never thought of backstabbing his friend, to being the guy that hooks up with his friend's fiancée. Adam meets Jenny in the park. Before Adam went through his transformation he was very shy and had a class with Jenny for four months. They sat next to each other and she would always borrow his pen but he would never have the guts to ask her out. Phillip ended up picking Adam up from class one day when he saw Jenny and asked her out (18). They started dating and ended up getting engaged. As Adam and Evelyn were meeting in the park having a conversation Evelyn kissed Adam on the cheek, then they stared at each other and began to kiss, it was a real kiss, not a "great to see you, aren't we the best of friends" kiss (37). The old Adam would have never done that. After Evelyn kissed him on the cheek he would have said that that was inappropriate and they should leave. The new Adam kissed Evelyn because he wanted to do that for the past three years and finally got the courage to. As well as in society different morals usually follow more confidence. When someone has a lot of confidence they often think about themselves and not others. They do not care how their actions will affect the people around them. "The Shape of Things" by Neil LaBute is a play that exemplifies how people change deep down inside when they change their "outward" appearance. As Adam became more handsome he became more confident. His actions became questionable, and he began to deceive his friends and Evelyn while showing interest in other women. He had relation's with his best friends fiancée and he was willing to give up the friends that he had when asked to do so (78). Adam became more confident, but his morals changed. He transformed into a different person, inside and out. In society today when people get makeovers they say that they feel like a totally different person, this is proven true in LaBute's play. We like to think that we have a permanent essential identity but in reality we do not.
Works Cited
Labute, Neil. The Shape of Things. 2003. New York: Broadway Play Publishing Inc., 2004.