Written in 1956, Shelagh Delaney’s play, A Taste of Honey, exposes the emerging disparity between Motherhood and Womanhood. The Mother figure, Helen, represents a modern Woman. She is a distortion of any previous concept of the representation of Motherhood. Through analysis of the play’s dialogue, Delaney’s depiction of ‘Mother’ suggests the disavowance of all of its previous meanings. This is embodied when Helen remarks, “[…] bearing a child doesn’t place one under an obligation to it” (60).
Society’s idealized concept of Motherhood became complicated by the emerging legitimization of Womanhood as an independent state of being (office). This created a dichotomy in which there was an entanglement between Motherhood, which is idealized as complete devotion to a child (“Other-focus”) and Womanhood, which is the expectation of becoming a complete individual (“Self-focus”). Delaney’s Mother-figure represents a perversion of the office of Motherhood. The dialogue embodies a duality of a person engulfed in “Self” – a Woman devoid of the qualities of a Mother, but holding the office of both.
This idea results in the play’s dialogue showcasing Helen as almost totally self-focused. Delaney gives us a representation of Motherhood being nothing more than biological. Helen disavows ever being conscious of the title of Motherhood in the first place, stating “Have I ever laid claim to being a proper mother?” (35). Helen rejects any responsibility beyond biology: “[…] bearing a child doesn’t place one under an obligation to it” (60).
Delaney’s ‘Mother’ tells her child how much better and wonderful it will be to be free and self-centered. We note one example when Helen spits, “Don’t worry, you’ll soon be an independent working woman and free to go where you please” (15).
The character of “Helen” is described to the reader in a single phrase: “HELEN, a semi-whore” (7). She is introduced from the start as the direct opposite of the idealized version of a Mother, who must set an example of decency and purity. Helen is obedient to the office of Womanhood. She focuses exclusively on self-satisfaction and self-enjoyment. Delaney’s ‘Mother’ is promiscuous and crude in the presence of her very own child – exhibiting behavior inappropriate in the idealized Mother.
In Act I, Scene I, Peter offers the possibility of sensual pleasure. Faced with this situation, the idealized Mother would be concerned with displaying lewd behavior in front of her own child. When Peter makes sexual advances to Helen, the Woman (not the Mother) neglects to conceal his intentions from her daughter. Helen’s only concern is her personal desire for privacy. She tells her child, “Well, do something. Turn yourself into a bloody termite and crawl into the wall or something, but make yourself scarce” (17). Delaney offers the reader another portrayal of Helen exhibiting qualities of a Woman, but not those of the idealized Mother; we are presented instead with a Woman who orders her child to go get some “whiskey” for her (7).
Irony is presented through outward admission, as Delaney subtly uses the character of Jo as a literary vehicle to create conflict in the text in order to pervert the idea of Helen’s title as Mother. Helen responds to her daughter’s defiance and expresses to Jo the expectation of obedience to her title as Mother, countering:
HELEN: Children owe their parents these little attentions.
JO: I don’t owe you a thing.
HELEN: Except respect, and I don’t seem to get any of that. (8)
There are glimpses of Helen exhibiting traditional Mother-like behavior in the play, but these are rare. In one instance, the Mother criticizes her daughter’s sexual activity:
HELEN: You had to throw yourself at the first man you met, didn’t you?
JO: Yes, I did, that’s right.
HELEN: You’re man mad.
JO: I’m like you.
HELEN: You know what they’re calling you round here? A silly little whore! (62)
The daughter points out the irony in Helen suddenly deciding to impose Mother-like virtues. Jo retorts, “Well, they all know where I get it from too” (p. 62). Delaney illustrates another instance of Helen’s own inner admission of parental responsibility with, “Can you give us a quid, Peter? I’d better leave her some money … she can’t live on grass and fresh air” (34). This outward admission is important in that it shows Helen is conscious of the Office of Mother and subsequently wants to obey the traditional role of not abandoning her child without sustenance. These lines, in the end, help synthesize Helen’s, “I had to be with you at a time like this, hadn’t I?” (80), for when Jo becomes pregnant, both outward and inner admissions are combined to show that Helen “had” to be responsible to the title, and to her daughter. Thus, obedience to the title was forced upon her, just as biological Motherhood was inflicted on her. This offers another glimpse of Motherly behavior – what Jo had referred to as “the famous mother-love act” (64).
Delaney sometimes offers dialogue which leads us to believe Helen is about to display success as a Mother – only to be jarred back to the reality that she is focused on herself. It is through this combination, however, that the disparity to the title of “Mother” fluctuates throughout the play, and begins to be perverted; for wherever there is obedience to that title, there is also disobedience. Helen responds to Jo’s drawings with, “I think I’ll hang this on the wall somewhere. Now, where will it be least noticeable?” (14). Delaney is playing with the language. The first part of the passage presupposes virtue, while the second part undermines this respect with raw sarcasm. The implications of Delaney’s use of language here leave the reader conflicted. The compliment has been undermined through sarcasm.
This conscious disavowance strikes against the expression of parental responsibility, and culminates in (subconscious) disparity of self later in the play, with:
HELEN: […] I’m going to see you through this whether you like it or not. After all, I am …
JO: After all you are my mother! You’re a bit late in remembering that aren’t you? (64)
Here Delaney has offered both a representation and a misrepresentation of the title of Mother. By switching between obedience and disobedience, the text perverts the condition in that there is no clear distinction of role – there is only semi-distinction of office.
Jo expresses her need for a parental figure, to take care of her. She questions Peter in front of Helen, “Don’t you think I’m a bit young to be left like this on my own while you flit off with my old woman?” (34)
Another distortion showing the entanglement of the two offices is a Mother willing to leave her child alone for an entire week while the Woman pursues her own pleasures, but then puts on the hat of Motherhood by leaving her daughter money for food. As noted earlier, Helen asks, “Can you give us a quid, Peter? I’d better leave her some money. We might decide to have a weekend at Blackpool and she can’t live on grass and fresh air” (34). Here, Mother and Woman collide.
As shown through dialogue, Delaney’s ‘Mother’ has been self-centered from the start. She shows no defensiveness about behavior that has had negative effects on her child. The idealized Mother would sacrifice her own goals in devotion to her children. We see instead the other extreme – a Woman seeking self-fulfillment and who determines her own future. We see a Mother who gives no apology for not making choices to help her child. This becomes apparent when Helen remarks on Jo’s artistic ability:
HELEN: It’s very good. Did you show them this at school?
JO: I’m never at one school long enough to show them anything.
HELEN: That’s my fault, I suppose.
JO: You will wander about the country.
HELEN: It’s the gipsy in me. (14)
This reveals a Woman who is the antithesis of idealized Motherhood. The stereotypical “good” Mother is often portrayed reading nursery stories to a small child cuddled on her lap. The text instead reveals a Woman holding the title of Mother while rejecting these nurturing habits. When Helen comes upon Jo’s collection of books, she remarks, sarcastically, “What has she got here? Look at ‘em. Selected Nursery Rhymes, Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales, Pinocchio. Well, you certainly go in for the more advanced types of literature” (34). Thus, we learn that not only did this child have to read nursery stories to herself, but that this Mother mocks the whole idea of nursery rhymes.
In A Taste of Honey, Shelagh Delaney presents the dichotomy of Womanhood vs. Motherhood, and creates a character who functions at one extreme of that dichotomy. Her character, Helen, epitomizes the woman who has not reconciled these two very different states. Through analysis of the plays dialogue, we have encountered a totally self-focused Woman, whose behaviors toward her daughter reveal that she considers herself, indeed, a Mother only in the biological sense. Fifty years after Delaney wrote her play, we still acknowledge the challenge facing women trying to “juggle” the roles of mother and woman.
Works Cited
Delaney, Shelagh. A Taste of Honey. New York: Grove Press, 1956.
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