blood brothers

• Mickey Overview

  In the play Willy Russel uses this charecter as a foil to his twin Edward helping to show how class can affect a person in many ways. Some of which are mentaly but most are based around and help to show how class can affect a persons opportunities.
• "Do you live up in the park?"

  Mickey Act 1: Shows himself as a curious character excited by meeting someone new. The use of a question mark in this part of the play by Willy Russel helps to show this.
• "Cause I do ... it's a, it's a thingy innit"


  Mickey Act 1: Shows Mickey as incompetent as he is not able to define what a dictionary is. Willy Russell also does this by the use of ellipses helps to do this as it represents himself pausing to come up with a way to finish his own sentence.
• "Gis us a sweet" and "haven't got any"


  Mickey Act 1: Shows him as childish and needy wanting more and more of something that he may not have. However in the next quote that is part of it shows Mickey as shellfish only caring about himself and what he wants, in this case sweets.
• "Do you wanna be my blood brother?"

  Mickey Act 1: Here Willy Russell uses a rhetorical question in order to show Mickey as an excitable an open character. However I also feel that Russel did this to show Mickey as fearful and unaware of what response he might get.
• "Good" and "she's okay"


  Mickey Act 2: When responding to an ecstatic Edward Russell makes short Mickey's responses are short and basic to show his disappointment and sorrow for the situation that he finds himself in. However also these words have been used to show Mickey as jealous to what Edward has.
• "You. You're a dickhead"


  Mickey Act 2: Here Mickey is shown as hostile and frustrated in his situation as well as what Edward has in comparison to him. Willy Russell shows this through the use of derogatory language, such as "dickhead", to be used as an adjective to describe Edward.
• "I'd crawl back to that job for half the pay and double the hours"


  Mickey Act 2: Here Mickey's use of hyperbole to show his desperation for a job in order to help pay for his on the way kid and new wife Linda. Russell has therefore produced an idea of dramatic irony as Edward is unaware of his situation and does not understand what to say.
• "No I don't want your money an' piss off will, y"


  Mickey Act 2: Russell use of derogatory language by Mickey here I feel is used to some what show Mickey isolation and feeling that only he should have to fix his problem.
• "You make me sick"


  Mickey Act 2: Russell here uses the adjective "sick" to describe Edward. The adjective "sick" helps to allude to the fact that Mickey is clearly jealous of Edward's situation.
• "Linda!"

  Mickey Act 2: He is shown here as hostile and aggressive through the use of a exclamation mark. I feel that this helps in Willy Russel's demonstration of Mickey feeling alienated from everyone else.
• "I can't do without them. I tried"

  Mickey Act 2: Here Mickey's dependency on anti-depressants help to show him as a broken man not able to stand up on 2 feet for himself. They use of a shortened sentence here by Russell also help to create a sense of empathy for him as a character.
• "Do you really think that I'm really stupid?"

  Mickey Act 2: In this part of Mickey's and Linda's argument the use of a rhetorical question by Mickey helps to show him as frustrated of the life he now lives in.
• "Do y'know who told me about ... you ... an' Linda"


  Mickey Act 2: Russell here shows Mickey as a jealous person. The use of ellipses here are different to when used to describe Mickey as a child - where he plainly did not have and answer - but in this case to hide and accept that he has lost Linda to Edward.
• "I could kill you!"


  Mickey Act 2: Here the use of the preposition "could" represents his resentment and jealousy of Edwards who he hate - compounded by the use of the exclamation mark.
• "How come you got everything ... an' I got nothin' "


  Mickey Act 2: Mickey is shown as feeling betrayed and let down by Edward who for some reason he feel had gone against him.
• "I could of been him"


  Mickey Act 2: Here Russell use the conditional tense to show Mickey feeling of betrayal from the people who he thought of as close. He now dies, knowing that he could of been so much more than he was were he on the other side of the cote.
• Edward Overview

  The foil of his twin Mickey to help show how circumstance like class and opportunities affect a person in different ways. In this case Willy Russel was used to represent the middle class.
• "What?" and "Why?"

  Edward Act 1: Here the use of questions are done by Russell to show Edward as a curious.
• "Pissed off. You say some smashing things"


  Edward Act 1: Edward's reaction of excitement and confusion to the use of derogatory language helps to show his immaturity of not here a word of the pain before.
• "I'll look that up in the dictionary"

  Edward Act 1: Here the noun "dictionary" alludes to Edward being smart and clever as he is able to have the independence to think and question something.
• "It's nearly Christmas, we were going to do everything"


  Edward Act 2: Here Willy Russel's use of a Biblical significant day like Christmas, which draws connotations to hope, dreams and new life, helps to show Edwards confusion as his joy is juxtaposed to Mickey's disgruntlement.
• "Draw the dole, like a bohemian"


  Edward Act 2: The word "bohemian" is used by Willy Russell here to show Edwards imagination of the fun not having to work would give you rather than the negatives. This helps to show Edward as immature.
• "Look, look, money, lots of it, have some ..."


  Edward Act 2: Here Edward's answer to a situation to a situation helps to so his immaturity as it alludes to the idea that money can fix everything which evidently it cannot.
• "How can I compare thee to a summers day"


  Edward Act 2: Willy Russell here uses a Shakespeare quote by his sonnet 18 to show his love for Linda, but also to show his intelligence. The use of this piece of literature helps to show how Edward understands certain things that someone like Mickey would not.
• "I love you"


  Edward Act 2: The repeated use of the simplistic phrase by Russell in the song of Edward to Linda is a blatant way allowing it to be seen that Edward has emotional feeling for Linda.
• "I'm not saying I care"


  Edward Act 2: In the song sung by helps to show Edward as mature as he fails to go for his love knowing that his best friend Mickey also loves her.
• "If I was him"


  Edward Act 2: Said by Edward in order to show how he longs to be like his unknown twin. This also helps to show his jealousy to Mickey who he feels has more of a right to go out with Linda.
• "Light romance"


  Edward Act 2: The use of the term "light romance" alludes to Edward having an affair on his best friends wife. Not a very mature discison by Edward and shows him in quite a bad light.
• "Two fool, who know the rules, but break them all"


  Edward Act 2: The adjective "fool" was used by Willy Russell to show Edward as immature and unwise to take advantage of Linda in a bad situation. However I feel it also shows how Edward has no clue what is wrong with what he is doing suggesting that class has possibly taught him otherwise.
• "Mickey!" and "No for god sake!"


  Edward Act 2: Use of exclamation marks in this situation helps to show Edward as fearful and scared of what may happen to him. Coming to his death it shows him as a man that knows what he has done wrong but is unaware of the "price your gonna have to pay"
• Linda Overview

  In the play Linda is shown as an immature childish character by Willy Russell, through the quickness of here responses and the bravery in what she stands for. However this immaturity and isolation leads to her making a costly move which ends up killing the 2 people she loved the most.
• "I stopped it with the bin lid"


  Linda Act 1: As a response to Sammy, this helps to show Linda as a street smart person. Russell's use of minimal punctuation showing how thoughtless her response is as well as how quick she is.
• "But when y' did his hand was hid behind his back his fingers crossed an' so he's not"


  Linda Act 1: At this part of the play Linda bravery to stand in and support Mickey by making up an excuse for him helps to show her as a loyal character. However this part of the play also shows Linda as childish as Russell uses Iambic metre which is associated with nursery rhymes.
• "I'll tell my mother why all her cigarettes disappear"


  Linda Act 1: Russell use of threats to defend Mickey show in her in a more hostile dangerous way. I feel the threat though comes off as a short of last resort to defend Mickey and that mainly she is a very kind supportive person (but still interesting).
• "Well, well, all youse lot swear"


  Linda Act 1: Here Willy Russell's use of commas in Linda line help to give off a sense of fear and isolation for her as character - with her the only one supporting Mickey. This furthered with the repetition of the word "well".
• "Leave him alone will y' "


  Linda Act 2: Here Russel's use of imperatives such as "leave" help to show Linda's ability to become aggressive in a way of defence for someone she loves - shown through the personal pronoun "him".
• "I love you"


  Linda Act 2: Here the repetition of the word "love" throughout this part of the play helps to show Linda as romantically entranced by Mickey. This furthered by the use of the personal pronouns "I" and "you" which help to suggest her love for Mickey is very deep and personal.
• "Oh, leave him alone. Y' big worm"


  Linda Act 2: Here Linda's hostility is shon through the use of description of her teacher through comparing him to a worm. Again Russell also uses imperatives such a "leave" to show Linda's aggression to people when defending the people she cares most for.
• "Who'd tell the girl in the middle the price she'll have to play for just being there"


  Linda Act 2: Here Russell uses the Narrator and foreshadowing to allude and show how Linda is a catalyst and cause for conflict between Mickey and Edward. The word "girl" to describe also shows her as childish and possibly not ready to grow up.