[Music] welcome to this video on willie russell's blood brothers in the next few minutes i'll use just 10 quotes to help you get an understanding of this thought provoking play one key theme of the play is summed up in the opening quote so did you hear the story of the johnston twins as like each other as two new pins of one womb born on the self-same day how one was kept and one given away the simile as like each other as two new pins suggests that they are identical in every way and their similarity is reinforced by the term self same and the fact that one will be kept mickey and one given away edward then invites us to think about how much the social environment affects people's chances in life he's gone he's gone up to heaven love he's living with jesus and the angels mrs johnston pretends that edward is dead but the real meaning here is that edward is now in a kind of heavenly realm as a middle-class child he's blessed with a brighter future than is possible for the son who's remained with her in fact elsewhere she says mrs lyons has is a palace the dialogue goes on to say that he'll have everything he wants and be well looked after i don't want her to hold the baby richard she's i don't want the baby to catch anything babies catch things very easily richard mrs lyons appears to be worried that edward might catch a disease from mrs johnson but she's actually worried that edward might become infected by mrs johnston's chaotic way of living that's why she wants to keep edward isolated from any interaction with the johnston family they they say that if either twin learns that he was once a pair they shall both immediately die mrs lyons is playing on mrs johnston's superstitious nature here this idea of the power of superstition is frequently reinforced in the play with narrator referencing the role of the devil the bogeyman and lines about things that are supposed to lead to bad luck like shoes on the table killing a spider breaking a mirror and this quote also foreshadows the deaths of mickey and edward who actually do die within moments of discovering that they are twins this next exchange the first time that edward and mickey meet is very informative edward says what's your name michael johnston but everyone calls me mickey what's yours edward lyons do they call you eddie no notice the different registers they use edward is used to being called by his full name in mickey's world names are shortened and informalized his brother is sammy not samuel mickey also calls his mother mam where edward calls his mummy these variations tell us a lot about their social class you'll notice later that sammy refers to linda as mickey's tart this is the type of language that would never be used in the lions middle class household it was more of a prank really i'm not sure i'd let him mix with the likes of them in the future just make sure he keeps with his own kind mr lyons edward mickey and linda have just got into trouble with the police but whereas mickey's mother has been threatened with court over her family's behavior the police interpret the very same behavior by edward as a mere prank and there is a massive irony in the fact that the policeman is encouraging edward to stay with his own kind and not mix with the johnstons because who are edward's own kind culturally it's the lions family but biologically it's the johnston's so we can see here how prejudice affects the way we are treated by society halfway through act two linda edward and mickey reached the age of 18 and this moment of transition to adult life brings their differing futures into focus the narrator says and only if the three of them could stay like that forever and only if we could predict no changes in the weather and only if we didn't live in life as well as dreams and only if we could stop and be forever just a teen they've reached a threshold adulthood and the effects of having different upbringings are about to be magnified that's why the playwright makes use of something called anaphora here that's the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of a line and this amplifies the conditional and only if but the conditions are impossibilities the weather always changes dreams do not match reality and they cannot remain 18. while no one was looking i grew up and you didn't because you didn't need to just three months later the changes are already painfully apparent mickey has lost his job and linda is pregnant their lives are diverging rapidly from edwards mickey has had to grow up meaning he now has the cares of an adult while edward is still protected from such concerns because his social class has given him the opportunity of a university education you you why did you give me away i could have been i could have been him and then years later after spending time in prison mickey finds out the terrible truth but for a twist of fate he could have been edward he could have had bicycles and holidays and a big house he could have gone to university he could have been a counselor making speeches to the public and do we blame superstition for what came to pass or could it be what we the english have come to know as class this is the question that echoes in our heads at the end of the play was it superstition that led to the deaths of mickey and edward on the same day or was it the english class system that led to initially identical characters towards vastly different life experiences almost certainly the conclusion to be drawn is that either of these boys could have succeeded but the system meant mickey faced huge prejudice and pressure to conform to the expectations of his class and the fact that they both die is also a message eventually such inequalities will have negative ramifications for society however much people try to insulate themselves by just remaining with their own kind so do look out for some of these features as you read and watch this play and i hope that this video has given you some useful insights that will help you to get greater enjoyment from willie russell's blood brothers give a thumbs up if you enjoyed this video and subscribe now so that you never miss any of my future [Music] posts