Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Act Two, Scenes 1-5

Scene 1

Setting: Prior's bedroom
Characters: Prior, Louis
Summary:
- Prior is in severe pain and refuses to go to the hospital.
- Louis is terrified and calls for an ambulance.
- While Louis is gone, Prior has an accident and faints.
- Louis is in despair over the situation.

Setting: Joe and Harper's home
Characters: Joe, Harper
Summary:
- Harper is experiencing drug-induced terrors.
- They discuss prayer, and Joe's childhood fascination with Jacob wrestling an angel.
- Harper is uncertain about her pregnancy.
- She suggests Joe should go to Washington without her and says she might leave him.

Setting: Hospital
Characters: Louis, Emily (nurse), Prior
Summary:
- Louis talks to Nurse Emily while Prior sleeps.
- Discusses Prior's ancestry and his own shortcomings.
- Louis expresses guilt over his perceived lack of devotion.
- Decides to take a walk to clear his mind.

Setting: Bar
Characters: Joe, Roy
Summary:
- Joe talks about Harper's addiction and their difficult relationship.
- Roy encourages Joe to go to Washington and offers to be a father figure to him.
- Roy reveals he is dying of cancer.
- Louis is seen at Central Park, engaging with a man for sex, which ends abruptly.

Setting: Hospital
Characters: Prior, Belize
Summary:
- Belize visits Prior, who expresses a desire for Louis's presence.
- Prior hears voices but finds them stimulating and doesn't want medical intervention.
- Belize promises to stay by Prior's side.
- After Belize leaves, the voice reveals it's a messenger, not a harbinger of death.

Louis's Character:
- Acts selfishly by leaving Prior, but is portrayed as human with flaws.
- Struggles with guilt and high standards for himself, making him unable to judge his weaknesses realistically.
- His story about Mathilde and the tapestry illustrates his mythological standards of loyalty.
- Represents the struggle of non-caregivers coping with illness.
Prior's Ancestry:
- Comes from a prestigious lineage but faces the end of the family line due to his health and sexuality.
- The metaphor of the tapestry symbolizes the breaking of the family line.
Themes of Stasis vs. Change:
- Prior's situation embodies the theme due to his static family history and personal desire for change.