Phil

• Thesis

  • prominent antagonist of the play
  • a sinister, alarming and distressing character
  • Manipulation through the pattern of overly friendly body language
  • Presents a constant, unchanging journey for Phil to maintain his tyrannical leadership - thoroughly explored through his common silence
  • lack of morals among teenagers and Phil’s dominating persona off peer pressure and sustained cruelty
  • further develops Phil’s disturbing persona by the recognition that A leader is supposed to drive and govern through a moral code but Phil dominates the microcosm with his immorality
• Act 1 topic sentence

  Kelly strongly displays Phil’s ominous character through his anti-social behaviour and hermitlike, solitary nature which transcends into a calculated machiavellian nature
• act 1- *phil eating an icecream*


  • phil eating an ice cream is a seemingly trivial act but contrasts with the underlying tension surrounding the situation and the desperation in leahs need for validation
  • the simplicity of the act serves as a stark contrast to the serious and morally ambiguous actions of the gang
  • adds a layer of irony and dark humour to the play
  • highlights phil’s disassociation from the heinous acts
  • the banality of eating an icecrema contrasts the dark situation of adam’s murder
• act 1- *no answer*

  • potrays a lack of communication and inability to confront harsh realities 
  • rather than comforting leah and easing her insecurities he lets her dwell away 
  • shows lack of responsibility and selfish leadership
• act 1 use of interrogatives in his plot

  • repeatedly uses the interrogatives ”tell” “get in” ”go”
  • fluent syntax could highlight that a lot of thought has been put into the plan despite his claims of the opposite
  • potentially frames his mindset as psychotic as he precisely makes a foolproof plan to frame an innocent man
  • supports the idea that knowlege is power, not necessarily vocality
  • he uses his deceptive tactics to work his way up the microcosms hierarchy
• act 2 topic sentence

  kelly reinforces the idea of phil being a distressing character through the further pattern of his sinister silence. “phil doesn’t answer“ which leaves other characters desperate for attention, confirming he wields his excessive power through stillness.
• act 2- “it’s jerry i killed him”


  • the intensity of phil’s disturbing persona is amplified when attention is only captured through violence
  • leah killed her hamster to get a reaction from phil showing how he dominates leah’s mind
  • leah views phil as an idol and being a fanatical supporter of his leadership
• act 2- friendly body language


  • alarming characterisation through his friendly, yet manipulative body language
  • *phil lays a hand on brian’s shoulder*
  • could be an effort to support brians fragility
  • could be viewed as aggressive and a form of phil physically shrugging brian’s morals
  • he then goes on to threaten brian saying “if you don’t help us we’ll kill you”
  • compared to john tates lesser threats phil’s are filled with malice
  • collective pronoun “we’ll” isolates brian and gives him no option but to do phil’s bidding
• act 3 topic sentence

  initially there is no change to the immoral charecter of phil as he is yet again shown to be sadistic though his pattern of silence in “phil says nothing“ but also in his manipulative kindness of “phil smiled kindly“
• act 3- “make a game of it”


  • takes advantage of brian’s vulnerability and tricks brian into committing a heinous crime which goes against his moral compass
  • portrays to audience the constant red flags phil outcasts and how he is clearly a psychopath
• act 3 -“leah storms off” and phil speaks “leah?”


  • kelly induces a change breaking the cyclical structure
  • his sadistic attitude has ended the friendship and his leadership is no longer powerful leading to disrepair
  • domination will only get you so fair if the rest of the microcosm doesn’t agree
• phil conclusion

  ultimatel, kelly used phil’s disturbing nature to explore the impacts of a tyrannical leader and how nihilistic opinions have created an internalised view that crime and violence is the only solution.