I have chosen these plays as there is a prominent progression of identity for the main characters in each play and I want to show how this is influenced by other factors and characters in the play and the events of the time that each play was written.

I am going to explore how other factors in each play influence the identity of each character and the approach to identity in general.

Bent was first performed at London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. The main theme in the play is sexuality, and how Max oscillates over his true identity. Bent is set in 1934 in a pre-war fascist Germany. Hitler was in power and the Nazi rule was in progress. Among Hitler's intimates was Ernst Rohm, commander of the S.A. - the Nazi storm troopers. Unlike others in the Nazi Party, Rohm was openly homosexual. He frequented gay bars, belonged to a homosexual organization called the League for Human Rights, and publicly advocated the repeal of Paragraph 175. Rohm established a kind of gay network within the S.A. One of

One of the main characters in Bent is Max. He is a homosexual and throughout the play we can see how the expression of his identity changes with the advice from other characters and events of the play.

In the concentration camps, the prisoners have to wear symbols on their uniform. If you’re a Jew you wear a yellow star, if you’re gay you wear a pink triangle, political is a red triangle and a criminal is a green triangle. Pink is the lowest.

Wallace was a cricketer, and the best all-rounder in the West Indies. He didn’t believe that it was right for the captain of the cricket team to be white, so he got the whole team to strike unless he was picked as captain. However, the rest of the team broke the strike and Wallace was the only team member not to go on tour. This is why he turned to drink.

Errol talks to Shelley as if she is the whole white population, but really Shelley hasn’t got a clue what Errol is talking about.

Some topics in this essay:
Berlin Wagnerian, West Indies, Caribbean Alvin, Max Rudy, Unfortunately Max, Marshall’ Alvin, Vernice Errol, Caryl Phillips, Hitler Rohm, Bent Max, west indies, act scene, characters play, act scene page, true identity, black people, strange fruit, main characters, scene page, white people, hide identity, main theme play, factors play influence, tries hide identity, main characters play,