God of Carnage Response

Aaron King

10/1/13

FYSH Wednesday: Zabalbeascoa

God of Carnage: Response

            Characters in any work of literature, be it a play, book, movie, or other can have a monumental impact in shaping that work’s outcome. Many plots are even driven by the characters. In God of Carnage, as we do not see the main plot, the characters we are introduced to are what shape the play. The parents of two children, Benjamin and Henry, all convene to discuss Benjamin’s injuring Henry on a playground with a stick. While the play is rather simple narratively (the adults spend the night discussing what to make of the situation), characteristically it is rich and this potency of character development segues into the development of the plot (the deterioration of the conversation into mayhem and irrationality). The characters in this play are contemptible: Michael, Veronica, Alan, and Annette all have some quality to them that one can’t help but despise. And yet, we grow to sympathize with them, because despite these qualities they grow on us. In any work of literature it does not matter whether a character is likable or not, so long as we sympathize with his or her motivations. Two characters that demonstrate this are the men, Alan and Michael.

            Michael, in the play, hosts the other parents Alan and Annette with his wife Veronica. During the play, he attempts to be as welcoming as possible, offering his wife’s cooking to his guests and generally trying to be amicable to them. However, this endeavor soon becomes overbearing and we see him even defend the bully that beat his son. Soon he even disagrees with his wife about disciplining Benjamin and now they themselves are arguing rather than with the other couple. Michael’s lack of a spine is what makes him detestable; he is quick to appease anyone on any topic just so as to avoid conflict. Really the only time he takes definitive action is when he learns his mother is taking a faulty drug and tells her to stop, and this comes at a fast-paced part of the play when there is little order to what is going. And yet, despite Michael’s faults in character, we still sympathize with him, we still like him. He is just a simple man with an “ordinary job” as he describes it, thrown into this chaotic situation that he is surely not accustomed to. We are inclined to see his lack of fortitude as amicability, as trying to ease things over. It shows how likability of a character is irrelevant, so long as his or motivations are just. This is true with an even more detestable character, Alan.

            Alan is husband to Annette and father of the aggressor in the play, Benjamin. Alan spends a hefty majority of the play on his cell phone, trying to quell a controversy over a drug that has serious side-effects. Alan is certainly detestable: even from the beginning of the play (and during the entirety of it) he defends his son’s hostile actions as normal, as routine; he even goes so far as to compare them to those of children in Africa who are taught to kill at age eight. This justification definitively adds to his despicability. In addition his constant talking on his cell phone shows us his true character: a sleazy lawyer who works to defend a drug that has very serious side-effects. However, Alan’s faults also come with sympathy. In fact his moral ambiguity is one of the funnier parts of the play, and many of the times he answers his cell phone add comedy to the chaos that this play degenerates into. In this way we justify his flawed character as a funny and consequently “good” aspect of the play.

            The characters in God of Carnage illustrate that likability of a character is irrelevant; if there is something to justify their despicability, be it humor or motivations, we look to those rather than their flaws in character. Michael and Alan attest to this, as do the other characters (read: Annette’s vomiting all over the room, Veronica’s drunken antics). Despite all of the characters’ flaws and mistakes, discussing a disagreement between children and becoming like children themselves, we still sympathize with them. This is certainly true for other forms of media as well: current shows such as Breaking Bad, Dexter, and Madmen celebrate this so-called “anti-hero,” and they all show how much we relish in the bad character. God of Carnage simply adds to that list.