The Power of Political Persuasion

Abstract

Both Tony Kushner’s play Angels in America and Muriel Spark’s novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie are compelling criticisms of varying political attitudes. Characters in Angels in America work to expose the political injustices that riddled Reaganite America during the late 20th Century, whilst Miss Brodie directs a corrupted quasi-dictatorship amongst her students in Marcia Blaine School in Edinburgh. Despite the varied settings, characters across both texts are presented with damning fates due to the power of political persuasion. Kushner took influence from German playwright Bertold Brecht in an attempt to bring to light the inequality and discrimination within the political sphere (Fisher 6), promoting what critic Frank Rich called a ‘searching and radical rethinking’ of American political drama (New York Times, 1992). Similarly, Spark’s ‘novel of Fascism and fascisms’ (McQuillan 4) undermines Jean Brodie’s totalitarian vision, again inviting audiences to rethink and critique the conventions and limitations of certain political policies.