Vinegar Tom: More Than Just a History Play
Vinegar Tom: More Than Just a History Play
Oppression takes many forms in society; Capitalism over the working class, patriarchal communities over the women in them and in some cases even women over women. Caryl Churchill has explored such issues in her works mainly pertaining to the position of women in male-dominated societies. In fact, her works utilize various plot structures to harness support for the improvement of the position of women in society while some attempt to illustrate women’s struggle against oppressive patriarchal agents.
One of the plays in which Churchill focuses on women’s oppression is Vinegar Tom. The main character is Alice, a single mother in her twenties who lives in a small village. Alice and her mother Joan are accused of witchcraft after an incident with their neighbors results in several mishaps upon their neighbors’ farm; the death of livestock among other issues, all supposedly the result of Joan’s “witchcraft”. It is later implied during Joan’s interrogation that Vinegar Tom, Joan’s cat, may be an ‘imp’ and completes the acts for her. The plot includes much witchcraft, some break downs of the Christian faith at that time, and the clear discrimination of women. Written at the height of the second feminist movement in the 20th Century, Churchill, an extremely influential feminist author shows how much control men have over society. This play is very unique because it is a play with songs added although there are not enough to qualify it as a musical, the lyrics still add to the driving theme of the play.
Churchill explores the issue of women’s oppression by analyzing dominations of middle and the lower class women. In fact, it is class that supports the oppression of women. In Zahra Ravari’s essay, “Vinegar Tom: Women’s Oppression through Patriarchal- Capitalist Dominations”, she states that the women characters in the play challenge social norms with reference to the construction of gender identities that lead them to be
Oppression takes many forms in society; Capitalism over the working class, patriarchal communities over the women in them and in some cases even women over women. Caryl Churchill has explored such issues in her works mainly pertaining to the position of women in male-dominated societies. In fact, her works utilize various plot structures to harness support for the improvement of the position of women in society while some attempt to illustrate women’s struggle against oppressive patriarchal agents.
One of the plays in which Churchill focuses on women’s oppression is Vinegar Tom. The main character is Alice, a single mother in her twenties who lives in a small village. Alice and her mother Joan are accused of witchcraft after an incident with their neighbors results in several mishaps upon their neighbors’ farm; the death of livestock among other issues, all supposedly the result of Joan’s “witchcraft”. It is later implied during Joan’s interrogation that Vinegar Tom, Joan’s cat, may be an ‘imp’ and completes the acts for her. The plot includes much witchcraft, some break downs of the Christian faith at that time, and the clear discrimination of women. Written at the height of the second feminist movement in the 20th Century, Churchill, an extremely influential feminist author shows how much control men have over society. This play is very unique because it is a play with songs added although there are not enough to qualify it as a musical, the lyrics still add to the driving theme of the play.
Churchill explores the issue of women’s oppression by analyzing dominations of middle and the lower class women. In fact, it is class that supports the oppression of women. In Zahra Ravari’s essay, “Vinegar Tom: Women’s Oppression through Patriarchal- Capitalist Dominations”, she states that the women characters in the play challenge social norms with reference to the construction of gender identities that lead them to be
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