“I suppose she simply didn’t stand out” Anna Ziegler explores how females can never
achieve what they crave at that time. Do you agree?
Anna Ziegler’s play, Photograph 51, is set in Britain in the 1950’s when the nation is
recovering from World War II. It is a difficult time for post-war women who during the war
were valued for participating in traditionally male work but are then expected to revert to
traditional female roles due to persistent patriarchal attitudes. Ziegler leads the audience to
consider how Rosalind’s determination is one factor that promotes her success but along
with her persistence there are other factors which contribute to her struggling to achieve
her goals. Her determination helps her succeed and also made it difficult with her
relationships but it was the patriarchal society, the ambition and deceit of others that also
prevented her from garnering the respect of the scientific world.
In the play, Ziegler portrays Rosalind as a prominent scientist who has all the qualities to
explore the ‘endless’ possibilities in the field of science. Rosalind believes in herself to find
the truth of science. At the start of the play, “The lights rise on Rosalind”, this stage
direction shows important to Rosalind and represents she now has an international
reputation. Rosalind is so proud that “[they] made the invisible visible” and feels “[they]
were so powerful”. Ziegler shows women were treats unfair at a man dominant world, but
Rosalind faces how other is not being respect and become the only female scientist in the
play.
Throughout the play, Ziegler suffuses the action of other male character was ignoring
Rosalind and did not respect her. Rosalind’s colleague Wilkins, prefer to be called “Dr
Wilkins” but continuing calls Rosalind “Miss Franklin” or “Rosy” to make fun of her. Wilkins
ignores Rosalind’s achievements and honour, and thinks women is not worthy to be respect.
Rosalind suffers only because of the status of women in a patriarchal society.
However, other male character’s ambition and “presumptuous” leads the failure to
Rosalind. Wilkins is describe as self-appraisal, his endeavours on science are only willing for
the frame and wealth which is same as Crick.