Exploring Lizzie Borden and Blood Relations - A Play Analysis

1. Agenda: 1) Bellwork: At your table, talk for a few minutes about what you know about the real Lizzie Borden. Have you seen anything on T.V. about her? (then discuss as class) 2)Cornell Notes: Blood Relations REMINDERS: You should have your cover done. It will be checked this week. You should also have your drama notes and left sides done (those too, will be checked, if not this week, then next. JOURNALS DUE: Wednesday 1/15. Do 2 entries for Act 1 and 2 entries for Act 2 with corresponding left sides. IB 7-8: 1/13/14

2. Historical Information • Who was Lizzie Borden? • In 1892 Lizzie Borden discovered her father’s body downstairs in the family house. The maid, Bridget Sullivan, discovered the body of Mrs. Borden. • Both had been killed with a hatchet. • Evidence was limited, though: • although a hatchet was found in the basement, it was never proven to be the murder weapon. • No bloody clothing could be found to tie Lizzie to the murders either. • Lizzie was acquitted after only an hour of jury deliberation, but speculation continues to surround her innocence to this day. • Optional Video (10 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5W3t98q84o

3. Blood Relations by Sharon Pollack • Play Synopsis: • In 1902, an actress visits her friend, Lizzie Borden in Boston. • Lizzie has spent ten years keeping a low profile after her acquittal for the still unsolved murders of her father and stepfather. • When the actress friend confronts Lizzie about whether she actually committed the crime, Lizzie doesn’t give a straight answer. • Instead she proposes a game in which the actress “plays” Lizzie (play within a play/“dream thesis”) and Lizzie describes her life in 1892. • Lizzie also “plays” Bridget, the maid.

4. Important Elements of the Play • Feminism: • Sharon Pollack’s Lizzie is conflicted and desires to escape the trappings of Victorian society and her family’s expectations. • Lizzie is in her 30s and unmarried (“spinster”) and refuses the man her father suggests she marry. • Yet.. She has plenty of male acquaintances. • She wants to work with her father • Hints in the play at a homosexual relationship with the actress • Harry, Lizzie’s brother acts as the Victorian male point of view • He compares women with horses, who need to be kept on a tight reign.

5. The Dream Thesis • Sharon Pollock has called Lizzie’s re-enactment of the 1892 murders ten years prior the “dream thesis.” • The play avoids realism and defies logical time progression. • There aren’t clear entrances and exits. The actors weave in and out of the present and the past. • There are three real characters on stage, Lizzie, her sister Emma and the Actress. • The others are pulled up from memories of the 1892 event. • This gives the scenes with Mr. Borden, his wife, her brother Harry, and Dr. Patrick a hazy, hallucinatory quality; they are the ghosts of Lizzie’s memory.

6. Truth • The events in the play are based on Lizzie’s memory of events ten years after the murders. • This leaves the audience with many questions because… • If Lizzie were guilty, then naturally she would obfuscate the truth • Also, the events are shown through what is “remembered”; we all know memory can fail us. • Additionally, since the Actress is playing Lizzie, we only get a representation of Lizzie through someone else’s interpretation. • So.. Who’s truth do we get in the play? That of Lizzie? The Actress?

7. About the playwright • Sharon Pollock (b. 1936) is a Canadian playwright, actor and director. • She has over 20 plays to her name and won numerous awards. • Blood Relations, which debuted in 1980, is one of her most famous plays. • She claims she did not set out to write a feminist play, but many see this play as such, while others remain critical and think Pollock did not address feminist issues enough.