Terrance Rattigan And His Winslow Boy

Question: How has Terrance Rattigan explored and linked the themes of patriarchy and feminism in his play 'The Winslow Boy'?

Terrance Rattigan's play 'The Winslow Boy' is set in England in the early 1900s. The story begins with the Winslows, an upper middle class family and specifically their son Ronnie who was accused of theft. The story then revolves around the family especially the father Arthur trying to prove his son's innocence and sue the crown. Throughout this trial themes of patriarchy and feminism are prominent and explored in different ways and characters.

Patriarchy is portrayed through family and society in the play. In the Winslow family, the obvious patriarch would be the father Arthur. He makes all the decisions and has a tendency to not consult anyone about them, except possibly Catharine. When it comes to Catharine and what she must sacrifice, she is given a choice unlike the other family members, he claims the decision is no longer his and that they should ask his daughter.

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This is because Catharine would come right after Arthur in the patriarchy, she would always get an opinion and Arthur confided in her. She's a suffragette and doesn't suppress her opinion which may be why she has earned respect. Unlike her mother Grace, who is more of a subordinate to her husband, like most women of the time.

The play most likely takes place during the Suffrage movement, although feminism is a main theme in this play, it was not discussed very much directly, it was more of an underlying theme when it is discussed, it's due to Catharine.

For example, when it is first brought up, Grace asks her if John knows she's a radical? and a suffragette; she then proceeds to ask if he still wants to marry her, which re-establishes the stigma around past day feminist, due to how society had stereotyped them. Feminists were stereotyped as unfeminine; Rattigan clearly depicts this when Sir Robert makes a remark about Catharine's hat and how a lady of her political persuasion shouldn't be so feminine because it would seem like she's trying to have the best of both worlds. Society in that day saw women as lesser and they were often ignored and mistreated. Catharine always made sure that her opinions where heard even when her own brother Dickie stated that she must supress her opinions because "Men don't like em in their lady friends" she does agree with him but assures that "if there ever is a clash between" what she feels and what she believes there is no doubt what will win, having such strong beliefs is what helped earn her the place in the patriarchy. The idea of feminism was opposed by both men and more conservative older women which explains Grace's disapproval. Unlike her daughter, Grace always excepted all the decisions men made for her, so when she tried to express her disapproval of how far the case has gone, Arthur dismisses her as being a little upset.

Both Catharine and Arthur had two different reasons for fighting this trial. Rattigan keeps us questioning if Arthur is truly fighting for his son's justice or his own pride because being the patriarchs often have strong sense of self-worth and won't let anyone damage it. It also has a little to do with Arthur being a stubborn character. The entire trial can be seen as a metaphor for feminism, the Winslows vs. the Crown, a story of the weak vs. the strong in which the weak win. It can be seen as a sign of hope for feminism, were the strong would be society and the weak being women. The phrase Let right be done is constantly repeated throughout the trial, the can be applied to equality and feminism, which brings us to the reason Catharine is fighting so hard or this trial. Catharine admits that Ronnie's Innocence or guilt isn't important to her, the dismissal of human rights and equal rights by the Government Department and having the public acknowledge that is what is important to her. She knows what it's like and how tough it is to fight the greater opponent by being part of the Suffrage movement, her main goal is to fight against and destroy the old system of patriarchy which has consumed the society around her. Winning this trial gave Catherine confidence in the Suffrage movement, Rattigan confirms this to the audience when, she reassures Sir Robert that she doesn't believe that feminism is a lost cause and when asked if she will be seen in the House of Commons one day she says that he will see her "Across the floor" meaning she would have defied the system of patriarchy, that women would someday defeat the inequality plaguing society and a woman would finally be in a place of power. Sir Robert's views on her statement match the views of most people of that day, he found it impossible, this way Rattigan shows that even an educated and wise man like him would still be subject to these close-minded views and that society would take a lot of time an effort to change.