‘One Good Beating’ by Linda MacLean
Group discussion
 How the characters reveal the themes – power, bullying,
family relationships.
 How the conflict is revealed throughout the play.
Opening
The opening of the play is important as it establishes the conflict which
exists between the characters. The play starts with Elaine and Stephen
convincing themselves to take revenge on their father. They briefly
discuss their past abuse.
Elaine – At first Elaine seems mentally and physically stronger – “he
deserves a good kicking”
Stephen – has to be convinced into revenge by Elaine. He even has to
convince himself that he is stronger than Elaine, “I’m stronger than you”.
This makes us see there is tension between these two characters,
although they are apparently on the same side. Elaine dominates and
Stephen always feels he has something to prove. Also, Stephen asks
“Why did you do it then?” Elaine replies, “We did it”. Elaine makes the
plans and decision and then tries to impress them upon Stephen as
though they were both of their ideas.
Robert – shows his psychological power by manipulating his son and
daughter, “Robert is sitting curled in a ball with his hands wrapped over
his head” – adopting the foetal position makes Robert seem defenceless
and weak. However, the extent of Robert’s manipulation if proven
when, “He winks”. This gesture shows Robert is mocking Elaine
because he knows that she hates losing and because she is more
important to him than Stephen – he cares more about her – the start of
Robert playing them off against one another – Elaine realises it is a
game as Robert could get up and exit at any moment but Stephen
doesn’t – he wants recognition.
Section 2 - Elaine and Robert
Elaine intimidates Stephen into making tea. This leaves her to have
‘quality time’ wither her father. Robert then tries to get into Elaine’s
head by reminding her of her past:
“Lay Lainey
Ower the glen
Daddy’s pet
An Mammy’s hen”
He is very nostalgic to try and create a link with Elaine. Robert reminds
Elaine that she was his favourite to try and make it difficult for Elaine to
follow through with her revenge. He comments on how Elaine is
“Honest and straight”, again complimenting her to make it difficult for her
to act against him. However, he also reminds her of how he used to
abuse her, “In the dark. And you were afraid of the dark, weren’t you
‘Lainey?’ This makes her vulnerable, as though he has some kind of
power over her. At the end of this section the stage directions tell us,
“Elaine thumps the door of the coal shed” and says, “You’re a mean old
Bastard”. The word ‘thumps’ shows Elaine has potential for violence
and her use of course language shows her frustration at the situation.
Section 3 – Robert and his wife
Through his interaction with the son and daughter we get a clear insight
into Robert’s relationship with his wife.
“She would’ve been happy with a cardboard box”, Robert is trying to
make excuses for giving her the cheapest coffin he could find. He is also
being facetious, as she liked recycling, so he is belittling her values and
principles.
He also shouts, “She counted the bloody toast”. This shows that while
he tried to selfishly take a disproportionate share of the family food the
mother would try to stop him. Again, he berates her for this as though
she were the one at fault. The fact he tells her to “belt up” suggests he
was aggressive, perhaps even physically and had no respect for her
whatsoever.
Section 4 – Robert and Stephen
It is clear that Robert doesn’t respect his son. Robert says, “You never
had an original idea in that thick skull of yours.” This shows Robert does
not love or value his son. He belittles him at every opportunity.
Stephen thought he had a good relationship with his mother but he is
distraught to find out the money he had been sending her had been at
the request of his father. His father tells him this to try to ruin the
relationship Stephen had with his mother, to suggest that it was
insincere and built on lies. It appears he is determined to destroy
Stephen. He further humiliates him by saying, “You loved it, when you
were a wean. Couldny get you off her. Suck her to death, you
would’ve” and then sickeningly, he continues, “Even after the mild dried
up”. Perversely, he seems to be suggesting some kind of sexual
relationship between mother and son. He cannot accept that Robert
loved his mother and she loved him in return. Because he cannot have
a relationship on normal terms he demeans any that can, trying to lower
it to the base levels he is familiar with. His degradation of his son is
complete when he asks him why he has no children, “Trouble in the willy
department? Is that it? No hard enough? Plasticine willy an all?” He is
questioning his son’s masculinity, suggesting he is not a ‘real man’
because Stephen is not aggressive and abusive like himself. After all
this Stephen still wants to understand his father’s treatment of him and
begs him to tell him what he did wrong. Robert replies, “I tried to tell
you. But you kept coming back like a wee puppy dog. It just annoyed
me”. Elaine is much stronger so Robert admires her but by comparing
Stephen to a puppy dog we see that Robert detested Stephen
weakness, neediness and vulnerability. We are also reminded that
Robert killed Elaine’s puppy and wonder how far he would go to destroy
Stephen.
Section 5 – Elaine and Stephen argue
Elaine – “Don’t let him win now, Stephen. We’ve always seen it through
because we were a team. Us against him. Don’t let him win.” This
shows her domineering personality coming through. We see clearly
now that she is controlling, just like her father. She is trying to
manipulate her brother by uniting them in a common cause – them
against Robert. This also shows that, like Robert, Elaine sees the
situation as a game, something to be enjoyed with a winner and loser.
She doesn’t have as much at stake emotionally as Stephen as she only
cares about winning. Stephen begins to realise the similarities between
the two when he says, “When you’re telling your stories I see him – him
belittling us – not you, never you – me and mum. Making a fool of us”.
We can see from this Stephen’s jealousy of his sister but also a growing
realisation that he does not want to be part of this situation anymore. At
the end when Elaine asks him, “What does it mean for us”, Stephen
simply “walks away”. He has given up on both his father and sister. He
is tired of the game and wants to move on with his life. The audience is
pleased to see Stephen find the strength to walk away, although we
sympathise that he hasn’t found the answers he wanted.
Section 6 - The conclusion – Robert and Elaine
After Stephen walks away, Elaine tries to walk away too. The stage
directions tell us “She walks”, “She stops, “She walks”, “She stops”.
She is no longer as committed to her revenge and yet, every time she
tries to walk away Robert says something to bring her back, showing his
complete control over her. He brings up the issue of Elaine’s dog he
killed years before but he tries to justify his actions by saying, “I hit her
too hard. That was all”. This suggest that he thinks what he did doesn’t
matter, that he doesn’t understand the lasting effects of physical and
emotional abuse. He trivialises it, as he trivialises his abuse of his own
children. Robert could now get up and leave but he keeps saying, “I
need your permission”. He is trying to humiliate Elaine, knowing that
victory is important to her and her pride, he wants her to admit defeat.
The playwright’s use of ellipses lets us know that Elaine is lost for
words, struggling with what she wants to do and what she has to do.
Robert has weakened her to the point she knows she has lost so finally
she says, “come out then”. This would humiliate Elaine as she was so
desperate to beat him and so the reader is left dissatisfied with the
conclusion.