The twelve-pound look J. M. Barrie
Some words on the author.
J.M. Barrie is rated as the foremost English dramatist of the day and his plays, taken together, make the most significant contribution to English drama since Sheridan. Practically his entire life has been given to the writing of the novels and place, many of the later having their heroines conceived especially for Maude Adams, one of the America’s greatest actresses. He was born in Kirriemuir Scotland in 1860. He received his education at Dumfries and Edinburgh university. His first work in journalism and letters was done at Nottingham, but soon he took up his work in London where he now resides. Sir James M Barrie’s literary labors have been very fruitful. The professors love story, The Little Minister, Quality street, What Every Women Knows are well known to everyone.
What’s with the title?
The title “The Twelve Pound Look” is significant because it refers to a scene in the play where the character of Sir Harry Sims is admiring himself in a mirror, practicing his “twelve-pound look” which is the expression he uses when he is dealing with his wealthy clients.
The title of the play, “The Twelve-Pound Look,” refers to the price Harry pays for a portrait of himself that he commissioned to be painted. The title is significant because it represents Harry’s obsession with his own image and his belief that his wealth and status are what make him important. The cost of the portrait is not only a monetary value, but it also represents the weight and importance Harry places on his appearance and social status.
However, as the play progresses, it becomes clear that Harry’s obsession with his image is hollow, and his true worth as a human being is not determined by his wealth or status. Ultimately, the title serves as a commentary on the superficiality of social status and the importance of inner worth and self-respect.
The title also refers to a woman’s calculation of the amount of money she would need to save in order to leave a stifling marriage and strike out on her own. Furthermore, the title can also be interpreted as a commentary on the societal expectations placed on women during the time period in which the play is set. The character of Kate is a successful woman who has achieved financial independence, but she is still expected to conform to traditional gender roles and to be subservient to her husband.
The title therefore suggests that despite Harry’s achievements, her value in the eyes of society is still determined by her husband’s status and the amount of money he paid for his knighthood.
Overall, the title “The Twelve Pound Look” is significant because it highlights the themes of societal expectations, the commodification of worth, and the ironic nature of social status.
A glimpse of the play.
Harry Sims is a successful businessman, He’s practicing the kneeling, scraping and backward exiting that will be required of him on the great day, and his apparently adoring wife is helping out with the rehearsal, standing — or rather sitting — in for the officiating monarch. A professional typist has been sent for, to handle the thank-you notes that the almost Sir Harry is sending to his multitude of well-wishers. When she arrives, she proves to be briskly efficient, with an impressive keyboard speed and an even more impressive ability to guess in advance what the letters will say. She seems to be a figure from Harry’s past.
Harry, on hearing about the arrival of typewriter sends his wife downstairs so she can “tell her the sort of things” about him as “he prefers to keep a wife in the house for that purpose”. After some time, he confronts the lady himself. Once recovered from his initial shock, he alternates between sneering at her and upbraiding her, professing pity at the life, so materially and spiritually impoverished, that he fancies she must be leading, and contrasting it with his own existence, surrounded by the wealthy and powerful and rising steadily through their ranks. She hits him where it hurts by remarking on how boring his social circle must be, how paranoically preoccupied with who’s in and who’s out. Gently but firmly, she demolishes all his preconceptions, especially the ones about her. She even has some compassion for him, though not as much as she has for his wife, and the future wives of the two boys she learns he has fathered.
What’s the plot about?
The play starts with Harry Sims who is practicing for receiving the title of a knight with his wife Lady Sims. He is a proud man and favors honor on the other hand his wife is a beautiful, illiterate and naïve lady who fears his husband. 8 After their practice, Harry instructs Lady Sims about the person who was about to come to answer letters. Kate, a simple and intelligent lady came as a type-writer and Lady Sims who was impressed by her personality instruct according to his husband.
After the arrival of his Harry, it reveals that Kate was his former wife and left him to be an independent person by creating a misunderstanding in his mind. Then Kate clears all the misunderstanding and tells him about her success, criticize him and inform him about his price in her eyes. She also reveals about the mental condition about his current wife which proves to be true at the end of the play when she questions about the price of the type-writer.
Analysis of the characters of play.
An interesting feature of J.M. Barrie is the complexity of character. His characters are often designed to be multidimensional with complex desires and motivation. He tends to explore the inner lives of his characters, layering their traits and showing how their experience and past shape their actions and personalities. Such is the case with most of the characters of this play that often give an impression of being one-dimensional, but an in-depth analysis indicates otherwise. “The Twelve-Pound Look” is a one-act play written by J.M. Barrie. The play centers around the character Harry Sims, a wealthy businessman, and his interactions with his wife, Kate, and his new typist, Miss Jones. A minor actor is Harry’ Butler Tombes.
Harry Sims: The play begins with the introduction of Harry Sims, the major protagonist of the story, a successful businessman and a typical member of the British upper-class, who is ‘to receive the honor of knighthood in a few days’. He’s seen busy rehearsing the ceremony with his wife, practicing the kneeling, scraping and backward exiting that will be required of him on the great day, and his apparently adoring wife is helping out with the rehearsal, standing — or rather sitting — in for the officiating monarch. He is initially presented as a confident and arrogant man who believes he has complete control over his wife and his household. However, as the play progresses and he ends up with a tense encounter with his ex-wife Kate, it becomes clear that Harry is deeply insecure and harbors a fear of losing his social status and authority. He is shocked to learn that his wife has become more self-sufficient and independent during their separation, and he struggles to maintain his composure when confronted with the reality of his own limitations. Ultimately, Harry is a complex character who represents the traditional gender roles and societal expectations of his time, and the play highlights the changing roles and expectations of men and women in society.
The majority of the plot rotates around him, as the writer tends to use him as typical representation of a patriarch, using his title and wealth to reaffirm himself as he even said:
“I’ll tell you; I’ll be worth a million yet”
Initially shown as a man of pride and honor, the writer soon exposes the actual dark, stubborn personality of a seemingly noble man thus, making him a round character with complex inner life.
He is also a static character who doesn’t undergo any significant change, though the glimpses of insecurity that we see at the falling-action may depict otherwise but, this fear is the one he harbored since the elopement of his ex-wife, whereas his egoistic nature stays the same till the very end. He brazenly claims to know his wife when he actually doesn’t.
“I suppose I know my wife.”
Another element of his personality is the increasing superiority complex that drives him to undermine the value of women even though ironically, he is secretly much affected by his exwife’s status. His character is explained using both direct and indirect characterization, where the writer explicitly portrays that the only driving force for him is his title and success without which he is nothing but a clump of insecurity that grows on the discouragement of women’s significance in the society.
“One’s religion is whatever he is most interested in, and yours is Success.”
Overall, his character covered the themes of patriarchy, insecurities, lethal success, aristocracy and superiority complex.
Kate: The second major character is Kate, Harry’s ex-wife, who has separated from him for 15 years ago to pursue her own interests and self-improvement. She is a strong and independent woman who has gained confidence and knowledge during her separation from her husband. She was one of the female employees of The Flora Typewriting Agency and was summoned to write thank you letter on the behalf of Harry Sims. She is a more multidimensional character that may not seem one superficially.
Being a round character, as an empowered woman completely opposite to lady Sims, many of her traits are defined and described through direct and indirect characterization, where the narrator introduces her as:
“She is a mere typist, dressed in uncommonly good taste, but at contemptibly small expense, and she is carrying her typewriter in a friendly way rather than as a badge of slavery, as of course it is. Her eye is clear; and in odd contrast to LADY SIMS, she is self-reliant and serene.”
She is a career-oriented woman trying to free herself from the shackles of patriarchy, where her personality is much relatable as she sympathizes with her husband who as a patriarchal man fearing the existence of an empowered woman.
“Harry; I was even sorry for you, for I saw that you couldn’t help yourself.”
There are two points of notable confusion here. First, classifying her as a static character. on the outer edge, she seems like a dynamic character, as a woman that went through a major character development from being the wife of Harry Sims to an independent typist, but this was a part of her past she was introduced in the play as an already established woman until the very end what we are able to see is the same resolute career-oriented woman, who took pride in the “eight Shillings” that she earned, not being intimidated by her husband, which makes her a static character.
The second point of contemplation arises when we are posed with a question, whether she is a protagonist or an antagonist. Now to understand this concept, we need to break down the 10 character sketch into pieces. On one hand, we know that this play primarily focuses on Kate’s growth, she is someone who represents the struggle for empowerment that women faced in 20th century, as she challenges the traditional patriarchy and drives the plot. Thus, we end up naming her the protagonist. While on the other hand in this attempt she also asserts herself in the face of her husband’s arrogance, opposing his views and beliefs.
“Success is a fatal gift.”
Here we need to keep two things in mind, first Sir Harry Sims is the first major protagonist that instigates the play and secondly, the character of Kate and Lady Sims revolves and branches out of his character. Thus, when a derived character like Kate, having goals and motivation in conflict of first major protagonist, serves as an obstacle to his desires of strong hold over women she ends up becoming an antagonist. Hence, Kate can be both a protagonist and an antagonist where she is a protagonist in context of the play and an antagonist in context of Harry Sims.
All in all, her character identifies with the themes of feminism, self-reliance, challenging the patriarchal spirit, financial independence and contentment.
“LADY SIMS has a maid for buttoning and unbuttoning her, and probably another for waiting on the maid, and she gazes with a little envy perhaps at a woman who does things for herself.”
Kate represents a departure from traditional gender roles and societal expectations of women in her time, and her character is a symbol of the changing attitudes towards women’s roles in society.
Lady Sims: Another important character is that of Lady Sims (also known as Emmy).
[She] ‘is the wife of Harry Sims, a good-natured woman. At the beginning of the play she is seen wearing her presentation gown, and personating the august one who is about to dub her Harry knight’.
Initially shown helping her husband in his practice Lady Sims soon gets shunned by him. Later on, she becomes perplexed by Kate’s self-reliance which leaves a deep impression on her.
She is neither a major character (as her actions are not driving the plot), nor a minor character (as she is significant enough to contribute to the overall message of the play and different themes). She is a secondary character that accentuates the support and influence of the main characters Harry and Kate.
She is a round character where her personality is described through both direct and indirect characterization. Initially shown as a contented woman, believing that her husband is an honorable man who provides her life of luxury, she serves as an exact representation of the privilege of a class and status of women that was influenced by patriarchal men. However, as the play progresses her characters turn out to be flawed, having a submissive nature perspective on life, and inferiority complex in face of Kate’s abilities.
“As a first impression she rather likes the woman, and the woman, though it is scarcely worth mentioning, rather likes her. LADY SIMS has a maid for buttoning and unbuttoning her, and probably another for waiting on the maid, and she gazes with a little envy perhaps at a woman who does things for herself.”
She is a slightly dynamic character as well, where we see a transition from her being a delusional, dependent rich wife to a slightly inspired one — as her final question to her husband about the cost of typewriter shows the glimpses of her stepping towards desiring independence and breaking free from the limitations of privileged yet restricted life.
LADY SIMS. [Dutifully.] I’m sorry; I’ll go, Harry. [Inconsequentially.] Are they very expensive?
SIR HARRY. What?
LADY SIMS. Those machines?”
Overall, she represents the themes of effects of patriarchy, typical gender roles, social class, and self-worth.
Tombes: The only minor character of the story is Tombes, a flat character having little time in play with few traits exposition, all of which remain same till his last scene making him a static character.
He appears in the rising action as the butler in Sir Harry’s household and is depicted as a servant who is dedicated to his job and respectful of his employer’s social status. Throughout the play, Tombes is shown to be polite, well-mannered, and obedient to Sir Harry’s commands. A representation of the era’s conventional servants keenly aware of the social hierarchy and is quick to defer to his employer’s wishes and holds pleasure in pleasing his master as he shows contentment with calling Harry “Sir”:
“Beg pardon, sir, but it is such a satisfaction to us.”
Overall, the characters in “The Twelve-Pound Look” are used to explore themes of gender roles, societal expectations, and the changing roles of men and women in society. The play highlights the struggles and insecurities of men who have been conditioned to believe they have complete control over their wives and households, as well as the empowerment and independence of women who are challenging these traditional roles and expectations.
What are the themes of the play?
Success: “The Twelve Pound Look” by J.M. Barrie is a play that explores the theme of success in a satirical manner. The play revolves around Harry
[Sims, a successful businessman who is] ‘to receive the honor of knighthood in a few days’.
Harry is a man who is obsessed with success and the trappings of wealth. However, Harry is not content with just financial success; he also desires social status and prestige.
The play’s central conflict arises when Harry’s wife, who he left many years ago to pursue his career, returns to him. She has become a successful writer and is now financially independent. This threatens Harry’s sense of superiority and success, as he feels that he must remain in control and dominant over his wife.
Throughout the play, Barrie uses humor and satire to critique the idea that success is measured solely by financial wealth and social status. The play suggests that true success is not found in material possessions or societal position, but rather in personal growth, integrity, and happiness.
In the end, Harry’s obsession with success is revealed to be hollow and empty. His wife, who has found success on her own terms, is the true victor. The play suggests that success should not be measured by external factors such as money or status, but rather by personal fulfillment and happiness
Gender Roles: Another aspect of the theme of success in “The Twelve Pound Look” is the idea of gender roles and expectations. The play was written in the early 1900s, a time when women’s roles in society were changing. Harry’s wife, who has become a successful writer, represents a new type of woman who is breaking free from traditional gender roles.
Harry, on the other hand, represents the old-fashioned view of a successful man who is dominant and in control. His obsession with success is tied to his need to maintain this traditional gender role and his fear of being emasculated by his wife’s success.
Through the character of Kate, Harry’s wife, the play challenges traditional gender roles and suggests that women can achieve success and independence. However, the play also suggests that men can be threatened by women’s success, as it challenges their traditional role as the breadwinner and head of the household.
Overall, “The Twelve Pound Look” explores the theme of success through the lens of gender roles and societal expectations. It suggests that success should not be defined solely by financial wealth or social status, but also by personal fulfillment and the ability to break free from traditional gender roles.
Feminism: The Twelve-Pound Look’ is interesting because it advocates feminism and women’s financial independence, at a time when most ‘feminist’ plays and stories were more interested in lampooning the women’ suffrage movement. Barrie wrote ‘The Twelve-Pound Look’ in 1892, when Englishwomen were still getting arrested (and ridiculed) for seeking the right to vote. This film version was released in 1920, shortly after women in Britain received the vote at long last.
‘The Twelve-Pound Look’ is also interesting for another reason, because it depicts the effect of the typewriter upon society, and how this machine helped women gain financial independence. When originally invented, the ‘typewriting machine’ was intended for men only. The word ‘typewriter’ referred to the machine’s operator, not the mechanism itself, and all ‘typewriters’ were men … because the machines were only used in office situations, and respectable women did not work in offices. Eventually someone discovered that long narrow female digits were better suited to a typing keyboard than stubby male fingers, and gradually women were employed as typists … in many cases, getting their first chance to earn wages and participate in a workplace.
Kate’s marriage, when becomes extremely unbearable, led to her scraping together £12 to buy a typewriter, so that she can leave her husband and earn a living as a typist. Years pass. Harry Sims divorces Kate, but she earns a respectable living and learns self-reliance.
Patriarchal society: “The Twelve Pound Look” is a play by J.M. Barrie that was first performed in 1910. The play explores the theme of patriarchal society through the character of Harry Sims, a successful businessman who believes that he has complete control over his wife, Kate. 13 Harry’s belief in his own superiority and his entitlement to control Kate’s life is a clear example of the patriarchal attitudes that were prevalent in early 20th-century society. He views Kate as a possession rather than a partner, and he treats her with condescension and disrespect.
SIR HARRY: I flatter myself that whatever I say, Lady Sims will accept without comment. [She smiles, heaven knows why, unless her next remark explains it.
KATE: Still the same Harry.
Kate, on the other hand, begins to question the assumptions that underlie Harry’s behavior. She realizes that she has been living in a state of subservience, and she rejects this role in favor of a more independent and self-assertive identity.
Kate: So, I didn’t give you up willingly, Harry. I invented all sorts of theories to explain you. Your hardness — I said it was a fine want of mawkishness. Your coarseness — I said it goes with strength. Your contempt for the weak — I called it virility. You want of ideals was clear-sightedness. Your ignoble views of women — I tried to think them funny
Through Kate’s journey, Barrie shows that the patriarchal attitudes that were common in his time were not only unjust, but also harmful to both men and women. By challenging these attitudes, Kate is able to reclaim her dignity and assert her own agency, while Harry is forced to confront the limitations of his own worldview.
In conclusion, “The Twelve Pound Look” offers a powerful critique of patriarchal society, showing how it perpetuates inequality and stifles individual growth and development. Through its exploration of gender roles and power dynamics, the play remains relevant to contemporary discussions about gender and identity.
Women and Identity: Originally staged in 1910, The Twelve-Pound Look is a surprisingly modern examination of women’s identity and place in society, challenging traditional patriarchal ideas with a light touch. Still set in the Edwardian period, the story focuses on Harry Sims who is excitedly looking forward to his impending knighthood for services rendered, supported by his wife, Emmy. He is full of preening self-importance until the arrival of a freelance typist to write up his correspondence. She turns out to be his first wife, Kate, who suddenly and mysteriously “bolted” years before. As the truth of her departure emerges, Harry’s sense of his own superiority and his belief that he understands women is steadily crushed. Kate’s independent life throws into question Harry’s, and society’s, concepts of success and how we judge human worth.
Independence: Since leaving her husband, Kate has to support her life. That is why she decided to have a job. She is described as a typist. She is glad to do her job and is very proud of her being a typist. It can be seen from the way she carries the typewriter. She thinks being a typist is not reflection of slavery but power to stand on the dignity as human being.
“These sentiments carry him off light-heartedly, and presently the disturbing element is shown in. She is a mere typist, dressed in uncommonly good taste, but at contemptibly small expense, and 14 she is carrying her typewriter in a friendly way rather than as a badge of slavery, as of course it is. Her eye is clear; and in odd contrast to LADY SIMS, she is self-reliant and serene.”
From the quotation above, it can be seen that Kate considers about her appearance although it seems cheap in Sir Harry Sims and Lady Sims’ point of view. It is also described that Kate has clear eyes and is independent. Her self-reliance or independence can be seen from the way she works for her life. She supports her life without relying on someone else as Sir Harry Sims’ new wife, Lady Sims, does.
In conclusion, “The Twelve-Pound Look” is a powerful exploration of the themes of feminism, power, control, self-worth, education, and the nature of marriage and relationships. Through its portrayal of strong female characters who refuse to be defined by societal expectations, the play challenges traditional gender roles and highlights the struggle of women to achieve equality in a male-dominated society.
Time for some literary devices exploration.
“The Twelve Pound Look” is a one-act play by J.M. Barrie. The play uses literary devices to create meaning and enhance its impact on the audience. Here are some examples of literary devices used in “The Twelve Pound Look” with textual references:
Irony is a situation in which there is a contrast between expectation and reality. The play “Twelve Pound Look” is filled with irony. For instance, the title “Twelve Pound Look” is ironic because it refers to the value of Harry in the eye of his ex-wife. As Harry has become a knight, has high status in society and is respected and envied by all, but in the eye of his ex-wife his worth is only Twelve pound which she gathered and left him. As from the textual reference when Harry asked Kate about his worth, she replied;
Harry: I tell you I am worth a quarter of a million.
Kate: That is what you are worth to yourself. I’ll tell you what you are worth to me: exactly twelve pounds. For I made up my mind that I could lunch myself on the world alone if I first prove my mettle by earning twelve pounds; and as soon as I had earned it I left you.
Harry is a dignified, proudy and attention gaining person. He cares for hounor and used to get complements from others. But when Kate came to reply for Harry’s letter, Lady Sims described his character ironically. As from the text she said;
Lady Sims: I should explain that my husband is not a man who cares for honours. So long as he does his duty.
There is also an ironic statement of Harry Sims against his wife that she is satisfied with her married life. As he said to Kate according to the text;
Harry: I’ll thank you if ever there was a woman proud of her husband and happy in her married life, that woman is Lady Sims.
But in contrast Lady Sims was afraid of her Husband as described earlier in the play.
“She must be an extraordinary proud and happy woman, yet she has a drawn face and shrinking ways as if there were some one near her of whom she is afraid.”
Also, she dares not enter the room without his husband’s permission as in the text;
[There is a timid knock at the door.]
Lady Sims: May I come in? Harry: It is Lady Sims.
Kate: I won’t tell. She is afraid to come into her husband’s room without knocking!
And also, there was a twelve-pound look in lady Sims’ eyes as described by Kate. So, Harry’s statement that Lady Sims is happy and proud of her married life is a prominent irony.
There is also irony of situation in the play, where the audience knows more than the characters do. For example, the audience knows that Harry’s wife has become successful and wealthy, while he still believes she is the same person he left years ago.
We can also sense the presence of humor in this play. As we can see the foolish and naive Harry whose foolishness creates humor. For Example; Kate told him about the selfishness of his friends by using the literal word “fate” which he really though as fate. As from the textual reference;
Kate: How you beamed at me when I sat at the head of your fat dinner in my fat jewellery, surrounded by our fat friends.
Harry: They weren’t so fat.
Symbolism is used in this play to convey meaning and to create a deeper level of understanding. For example, the “Twelve Pounds” represents the value and worth of a person i.e Harry Sims. Also, the type-writer represents the independency and freedom of the person like Kate. It also represents the struggle of women for independence and rights during 19–20th century, when women start to use type-writer to earn their living.
What’s the dialogue like in play?
The dialogue in the play is witty and clever, with characters using puns and wordplay to convey their emotions and thoughts.
Some thoughts on the play.
Well as much as the critics may have noted this play as a feminist play, it's all about success and how it success obsession can eat up all your relations.
Until next time, have a nice day.
Sara Davil.
