A Taste Of Honey

- An Overview
Presented By:
Sinora Coutinho EG -2018011

Reiya D’Cruz EG – 2018012

Alrhea Furtado EG – 2018020

Dierdre Gomes EG – 2018023

EGC – 104 – English Drama

ISA –II
Semester – IV
Department Of English
Goa University, Taleigao

1
 TABLE OF CONTENT
SR.NO TITLE

1. AN INSIGHT INTO THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR –

Shelagh Delaney

2. STRUCTURE AND THE SIGNIFICANCEOF THE

TITLE

3. SUMMARY

4. CHARACTERS

5. THEMES

6. SOCIAL ISSUES

7. CONCLUSION

8. REFERENCES

2
 An Insight Into The Life Of The Author – Shelagh Delaney

“Nothing passes. Everything stays with you. Everything

makes its mark.” ― Shelagh Delaney

British playwright Sheila Mary Delaney was born on November 25, 1938, in Salford, Greater
Manchester, England. She was the daughter of a Salford- born mother, Elsie Tremlow, and an Irish
father, Joseph Delaney, a natural storyteller. The spelling “Shelagh Delaney” was born nineteen
years later, in 1958, as “the product of her own pen”. She chose her new first name because she
believed that it was the Irish spelling of Sheila, a link to her heritage, and in doing so revealed
much about her disposition for self-reinvention.

As a young girl Delaney’s education was inconsistent, marked by attendance at three primary
schools and her failure of the eleven-plus qualifying examinations for grammar school. She was
admitted to the Broughton Secondary School and, after a fair record of achievement, she was
transferred to the more academic local grammar school. At fifteen, she took her General Certificate
of Education, passing in five subjects. While she was still in school Delaney became interested in
drama and writing. She went to the Salford Hippodrome Theater and also to the movies as often
as three times a week. At seventeen, Delaney left school determined, “to map her own escape route
from the life she was meant to aspire to”. She held a number of jobs in succession, she was part of
the “Beanstalk Generation”, which was supposedly flourishing in an era of increased prosperity
and employment, but the work bored her. Then as a shop assistant, she was often found “resting”
under a clothes rail. She worked in a “dead-end” job as an usherette in Manchester Opera House
which allowed her to watch plays in the evening and wander around the bomb sites and new-builds
of Salford during the day. Later she also worked as an assistant researcher in the photography
department of a large industrial firm. So since Delaney was a working-class woman in Salford, in
the 1950s, who had left school at an early age. She spent her wages on books and theatre tickets,
and she wanted to be a Writer.

Looking back at this period, Delaney in one of her interviews recalled: “I didn’t know what to do
with myself … I knew I wanted to do something … I was lucky. I thought I could write”. Beginning
by recording fragments of conversation she overheard in the street, on the bus, in the office
canteen, she started working on a novel of which no traces remain now except in the play that

3
followed. In the end, it was a performance, in 1958, of Terence Rattigan’s Variation on a Theme
a ridiculous play, from Delaney’s perspective, about “safe, sheltered cultured lives in charming
surroundings” that brought her own first play into being. Convinced she could do a better job, she
wrote A Taste of Honey in two weeks the story of a young working-class woman who gives birth
to a mixed-race child out of wedlock.

Gifted with an ear for dialogue Delaney stated,” I write as people talk”. She was writing about the
people around her at a time when those people were, finally, starting to be considered worth
listening to. When she was eighteen she wrote the script for “A Taste of Honey” where she wanted
to realistically portray the lives of people from the working class. She sent the play to Joan
Littlewood who ran a theatre company in London and she was impressed.

In 1958 “A Taste of Honey” opened at the Theatre Royal in London and was very successful.
Critics were impressed by the play’s originality, directness and humour and called it “a witty
tragedy”. In contrast with the popular plays of the time, this play dealt with contemporary issues
which were considered as shocking because, for instance, you get an insight into the attitudes of
ordinary people, including racist, sexiest and homophobic views. The play won Delaney an arts
council grant, and she sold the film rights. It opened on Broadway in New York in 1960, with
British actor Joan Plowright playing Jo and British-born Angela Lansbury playing Helen, her
mother. Plowright received a well-heel for her portrayal of the high-spirited and headstrong Jo. A
film version was released in 1961; the screenplay was co-written by Delaney and the film's
director, Tony Richardson.

Following A Taste of Honey Delaney's career faltered somewhat. Her second play, The Lion in
Love (1960), was nowhere near as well received as her debut. In 1963 Delaney published a
collection of short stories, Sweetly Sings the Donkey. She then moved into writing for film and
television, where she enjoyed moderate professional success. In 1985 Delaney returned to the
spotlight with her screenplay for Dance With a Stranger. The film was based on the life of British
model and nightclub hostess Ruth Ellis (1926–55), who shot her lover and was hanged for it in
1955. Also in 1985 Delaney was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Delaney died of cancer on November 20, 2011, in Suffolk, England. Delaney is best remembered
for her portrayals of working-class women, particularly in A Taste of Honey, a play highlighting
and questioning the social tensions stemming from different opinions in working class, race,

4
gender, and sexual orientation in Britain during the time period of the 1950’s. In addition, the
mother-daughter relationship being strained by poverty, sexism, and racism, yet the lessons taught
in the play are done so through humor and optimism.

SHELAGH DELANEY’S WORK WAS GREATLY INFLUENCED BY:

I. KITCHEN SINK REALISM

Although she worked as a playwright, Shelagh Delaney is considered one of the pioneers of kitchen
sink realism, a British filmmaking style that presents simple and unsentimental portraits of
working-class British life in the 1950s and 60s. This inclusion is perhaps based on the film
adaptation of A Taste of Honey (1961), directed by Tony Richardson (1928–91), a key figure in
the kitchen sink movement in drama. Like the kitchen sink realist films, Delaney's play A Taste of
Honey presents a slice of working-class life.

II. RACE AND RACISM IN GREAT BRITAIN

Britain was a colonial power, and at its height, the British Empire included many colonies,
provinces, and territories around the world. Imperial subjects sometimes moved from these far-
flung territories to Great Britain, but others were brought there unwillingly before the British
Parliament abolished slavery in 1833. Throughout the 19th century black people who lived in Great
Britain were often confined to the trades of footman, coachman, soldier, or merchant seaman. After
World War I (1914–18), there was a new wave of Caribbean immigration to Britain, and increased
immigration also followed World War II (1939–45). Although Great Britain did not have an
elaborate legal codification, or laws and rules, of racism like the United States or apartheid South
Africa did, racism existed. A perceived "color bar," an implied social barrier based on skin color,
kept black people out of many professions. In 1931 a League of Coloured People was formed to
fight racial discrimination in Great Britain.

A Taste of Honey depicts racist attitudes on the part of the white characters Helen and Jo. The
character referred to only as "The Boy," Jimmie, remarks that Jo is one of the only white girls he's
met who doesn't care that he is black. Even so, Jo looks at The Boy as foreign and exotic, imagining
the tribal life of his African ancestors. However, The Boy answers that "his people" come from
Cardiff, in Wales. The Boy works as a nurse, and this occupation is historically accurate. In 1946
the National Health Service Act established an extensive public health system called the National

5
Health Service. The large system immediately needed many nurses, and it was understaffed.
Caribbean and other colonial people and were recruited to cope with the shortage.

III. HOMOSEXUALITY IN 20TH-CENTURY GREAT BRITAIN

In A Taste of Honey, which is set in 1958, Jo befriends a young gay man, Geof. Jo refers indirectly
to "people like you," while Helen unleashes a string of insults at Geof, including "pansified little
freak." Geof is eager to marry Jo even though Jo says their love is not the "marrying" kind.
Presumably, Geof's eagerness to marry is because being gay was still illegal in Britain in 1958. A
heterosexual marriage would have given him some safety. Only a few years earlier, in 1952, the
British mathematician Alan Turing (1912–54) had been convicted of "gross indecency," or
homosexuality. Some speculate that his death by cyanide poisoning, ruled a suicide, was caused
by the social and professional ostracism following his conviction.

In 1957 the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Great Britain issued the
Wolfenden Report, named for committee chair Sir John Wolfenden (1907–85). Based on findings
in psychoanalysis and social science, the report recommended decriminalization of homosexuality
in Britain. However, it was not until 10 years later that the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 was
passed, decriminalizing sexual acts between men age 21 or older. Delaney was writing well before
this date.

Structure And The Significance Of The Title

Delaney decided to change the form of A Taste of Honey from a novel to a play. This was because
she was disappointed with most of the theatre that existed in the 1950s. She said that she was
inspired to write the play after watching British playwright Sir Terrance Rattigan's play Variations
on a Theme (1958). Rattigan's play, in turn, which was based on Camille, a play by French writer
Alexandre Dumas (1824–95). There is also a novel version of the play titled The Lady of the
Camelias (1848). After seeing a production of Terence Rattigan’s play. Delaney was convinced
she could write a better play herself. She felt that the play, like so many productions of the 1950s,
did not challenge its audience in any way. Instead, it portrayed the lives of middle class people
who lived rather blessed lives and did not face the struggles and challenges that so many members
of the working classes faced on a daily basis. When she had completed the play she sent it to Joan
6
Littlewood who ran the innovative Theatre Workshop Company in London. The company was
dedicated to performing plays that depicted working class life and working class characters so
Shelagh Delaney’s play would fit in perfectly. When her play was finished, Delaney sent it to Joan
Littlewood who was so impressed with A Taste of Honey that she decided her theatre company
would perform it.

Several changes were made to the original play. Peter became a much more aggressive character
and, contrasting to Delaney’s planned ending, Jo did not get taken to hospital to have her baby.
Littlewood also encouraged her actors to improvise around their characters and these
improvisations helped to shape the final script but much remained as Delaney had initially written
it.

Shelagh Delaney's aim was to write in the way people talk and so she "chooses" the language of
ordinary working-class people and uses fast-moving conversations. Short sentences and quick,
witty comments are characteristics of these dialogues. The people also jump from one subject to
another in the middle of a speech which shows how the author tried to copy the way of a real
conversation. Often they are not talking directly to the other person but to a third party, possibly
the audience. There are also scenes of swearing although foul language is only used when the
characters are either drunk or in conflict. Most of the comical and funny elements come through
the dialogue in quarrels and confrontations. The action takes place within a flat and on the street
outside. The flat is dilapidated, run-down, draughty, dirty and situated in the industrial part of
Manchester close to gasworks, a slaughterhouse, a canal and a cemetery. This gives the image of
the social situation in this area.

STRUCTURE

The structure of A Taste of Honey is simple. There are two acts in the play and each act is divided
into two scenes. The main character in the play is Jo and the drama unfolds in the 1950s over a
period of nine months, from the time she moves into the flat with her mother Helen, to the moment
at the end of the play when she is about to give birth to her baby. The action begins in winter just
before Christmas and spans a few weeks and then the happenings of the following summer are
told. Throughout the play, music is important. In the original production each character had their
own individual signature tune which was played when they entered or left the stage.

7
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE

The title phrase "A Taste Of Honey" may refer to a verse in the Bible, 1 Samuel 14:43. In this
passage Saul has issued an order that no one should eat food before he has revenged himself on
his enemies. Jonathan tastes some honey, and he confesses to Saul, "I tasted a little honey with the
tip of the staff that was in my hand; here I am, I will die." In the play Jo has a brief moment of
happiness with a sailor, spending the night with him. Like Jonathan, who breaks Saul's rule, Jo
goes against the social rules of her day. She violates taboos by engaging in premarital sex and an
interracial relationship. Jo becomes pregnant and, like Jonathan in the Bible, she asks whether she
must be punished for seeking a small portion of happiness. 7

Summary

Written when she was 19, Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey is both a landmark of ‘kitchen
sink’ realism and of feminist drama.

Teenage Jo lives with her single mother Helen, a woman who is hardened by life, an alcoholic and
‘a good time girl’. The play begins with them moving into a shabby flat. Jo has ideas about being
an artist, but they’ve moved so often, that it’s made education and study impossible for Jo. Now
she just wants to leave school and find a job so that she can stand on her own feet.

The confrontations between mother and daughter intensify after Helen’s younger boyfriend Peter
arrives and makes her a more-or-less sincere offer of marriage. Jo’s boyfriend, Jimmy, a young
black sailor, also offers to marry her, even though he will be going away to sea for six months.

The relationship between Jo and Helen is volatile and messily co-dependent. Although there is
resentment between them, there is also affection. The first act ends with Helen telling Jo that her
real father was ‘a not very bright man’ who she turned to because her marriage was sexless.

In Act 2 it is revealed that Jo is now pregnant and her boyfriend is still away at sea. She is living
alone in the same rundown flat. She comes home with Geoffrey, a gay art student who has been
asked to leave his former lodgings, and asks him to stay with her. They become friends and he too
offers to marry her, though it is clear that ‘it is not marrying love between us’ (them). He attempts
to reunite her with Helen, but this does not go well.
8
In the second scene of Act 2, Jo is not far away from giving birth when Helen returns to the flat
after discovering that Peter has had an affair. Helen forces Geoffrey to leave. When Helen
discovers that the father of Jo’s baby is black she becomes distressed and abandons Jo again. The
play ends with Jo alone and going into labour, unaware that Geoffrey has also left.

Characterization:

FEMALE CHARACTERS:

Delaney provides the audience with a completely different perspective of lives of working-class
people, especially women. She provides a detailed study of female characters, Helen and Jo and
focuses on their behavior, relationships and communication between them rather than on the plot.
Her characters were praised for their honest and realistic voices. The play was singled out for its
accurate description of working class lives Shelagh Delaney believed in social protest and was not
afraid to speak. She rallied for a more realistic theatre, one which depicts the working class
environment of many British citizens. For instance, a female protagonist, who had an interracial
relationship, who is pregnant without being married and who has a homosexual friend In her play,
Delaney challenges stereotypical ideas of motherhood, pregnancy and roles of women in a family.
Delaney’s unconventional attitude towards motherhood is depicted by boyh the characters of Jo
and Helen

1. JOSEPHINE (JO)

Jo is a seventeen-year-old witty, sensitive character whose rebellious impulses can be seen as the
direct result of her feelings of abandonment. She shares a strong bond with her mother Helen, the
two women’s vicious fighting often demonstrates their profound knowledge of each other but Jo
feels emotionally and materially abandoned by her mother. This troubled relationship leads Jo to
yearn for economic independence from Helen, but at the same time she also reveals her deep
longing for her mother’s love and, more generally, her desire for her mother to be more present in
her life. Jo’s artistic sensibility expresses itself through her drawings, but she does not seem
optimistic enough about her talent to want to develop it in any structured way. Throughout the
play, she alternates between youthful optimism and feelings of despair, as she attempts to cope
with her pregnancy and the daunting prospect of motherhood. Abandoned not only by her mother
but by Jimmie, the father of her child, her cohabitation with Geof reveals her need for a stable

9
emotional presence in her life. She is grateful to Geof for making her feel loved and taken care of.
Jo’s relationships with Geof and Jimmie also reveal her open-mindedness, as she proves herself
disinclined to judge others based on their skin color or sexual orientation.

The major characteristics that one gets to see in Josephine’s character are:

• INSECURE

Jo’s insecurities are mostly a result of the relationship she has with her mother. Through leaving
her alone to spend nights with a variety of men, Helen has made Jo feel insecure and as a result Jo
expects little from others. Even when her boyfriend proposes marriage, she seems unable to believe
that he will actually return to her when he is next on leave for six months’ time, telling him, “I’ll
probably never see you again. I know it.’’

This feeling of insecurity along with the knowledge that her mother pays more attention to her
male friends than to her, has encouraged Jo to become independent and self-reliant. She realizes
from a young age that the only person she can truly rely on is herself and so she becomes quite
isolated.

JO (to Helen): ‘’You’ve certainly fixed everything up behind my back.’’

This comment to Helen is made by Jo when she realizes that Helen has made plans for a future
with Peter that does not include her. As much as Jo dislikes Peter and as much as she struggles to
be independent from Helen, she only feels like this because of her insecurity, which has been
caused by Helen’s casual neglect towards her.

Jo is torn between needing Helen’s care, love and attention and trying to prove that she is mature
and no longer needs anything from her mother. Lines such as the one above suggest this is not
always the case and that she still feels insecure and annoyed that Helen is intent on making a life
without her.

The fact that Jo and Helen move around so much also contributes to Jo’s lack of friends and later
in the play she admits that Geof is the only friend she has, “Look, he’s the only friend I’ve got, as
a matter of fact.”

• INDEPENDENCE

10
Jo is fiercely proud of her independence, even though it is sometimes compromised by her feelings
of insecurity and her need for love and attention from her mother Helen. There is little doubt that
Jo is glad of Geof’s company but her need to prove herself to be an independent person sometimes
results in her making hurtful remarks to him.

JO [To Geof.] Nobody asked you to stay here. You moved in on me, remember, remember?
If you don’t like it you can get out, can’t you? But you wouldn’t do that, would you,
Geoffrey? You’ve no confidence in yourself, have you?

Jo is sometimes very rude to Geof and misuses the fact that she knows he would never leave her
on her own. At times she is keen to prove that she is the strong one in their relationship and this
leads to her making hurtful comments to Geof. It also seems as if she is testing him in order to see
how far she can provoke him before he will leave.

• CRITICAL

Jo has every reason to be critical of Helen. She is a selfish mother who throughout Jo’s childhood
has always put her own needs first. Jo realizes that the local children are only filthy because their
parents do not care for them. She is quick to point this out to her boyfriend as she does not want
him to blame the children themselves for being dirty.

BOY… The children round here are filthy.

JO…..It’s their parents’ fault.

When her boyfriend criticizes the children for their lack of cleanliness, Jo is quick to come to their
defense, reminding him that it is not their fault but the fault of the adults who are meant to be in
charge of them.

The lack of care the local children have been shown reminds Jo of the lack of care she has been
shown by her own mother. This reinforces the fact that she blames Helen for the lack of care she
was shown as a child. Jo remains critical of her mother’s behavior throughout the duration of the
play.

2. HELEN

11
At the age of forty, Helen leads an unstable life that revolves around drinking and her romantic
relationships with lovers, whom she depends on financially. Helen is a fun-loving, hard-drinking,
former party girl is also characterized for a domineering attitude and a tendency to follow only her
selfish whims without considering the effects of her actions on others. She was once married to a
man she calls a "Puritan," who she says never had sex with her. Instead, she had her first sexual
experience, while married to the "Puritan," with another nameless man she says was intellectually
disabled. Helen is sentimental about herself, as when she recalls her early triumphs singing in a
pub or her childhood pleasures like climbing the cliffs of Shining Clough in England. But when it
comes to Jo, Helen is unsparingly critical and pessimistic. Helen has an ambivalent relationship
with her daughter Jo. While she occasionally demonstrates heartfelt concern for Jo’s troubles, she
seems incapable of making decisions that will actually serve Jo’s interests or make her daughter
feel loved and supported. Likewise, she seems to have an ambivalent relationship to money; she
looks down on poverty even though she herself is incapable of providing for herself or her
daughter. She therefore abandons her daughter midway through the play to live with Peter, her
new lover; despite seeming to have a vague distaste for him, she stays with him for she needs his
money. Her insensitive attitude toward Geof, and, later, toward the information that Jo’s child is
the product of an interracial relationship, demonstrates her inability to accept behaviors that
deviate from what she considers to be acceptable social behavior. While her intolerance and
aggressiveness often prove harmful to others, she rarely seems concerned with anyone’s feelings
but her own.

From the opening of the play, Helen is presented as a selfish, thoughtless woman and mother. The
conversations Helen has with Jo make it obvious that her daughter’s needs have not been taken
into consideration when she planned their move into the new flat, as she tells Jo, You’re going to
have a shocking journey to school each day, aren’t you? It must be miles and miles.

Their constant quarrelling implies that their relationship is a turbulent one and that they have
difficulty communicating with each other. Helen also enjoys drinking whiskey and regularly needs
a glass or two of alcohol to sustain her, such as when she discovers the father of Jo’s baby is black.

There are times when Helen does show some signs of caring for Jo, such as when she offers to
send her to art school or when she suddenly turns up when Jo is in labour. However, she is also
extremely selfish and puts her needs above those of her daughter.

12
The characteristics in Helen’s character are :

• SELFISH

Helen thinks nothing of dragging Jo from flat to flat as long as she herself is happy. She does not
care that this disrupts Jo’s schooling or that it makes it difficult for Jo to make any friends.

HELEN [To Jo.] … It takes me all my time to look after myself, I know that.

Here Helen is being very honest about her selfish tendencies. It takes Helen a long time to look
after herself, leaving very little time to look after Jo. This is why Jo has been left to fend for herself
from a young age whilst Helen has been busy selfishly leading her own life.

• REALISTIC

Helen has a realistic view of marriage and relationships. She does not believe in romantic love and
prefers to see relationships as a way of getting by in life.

There is an implication that Helen is sometimes paid by the men she has relationships with but
Shelagh Delaney has said in various interviews that Helen should not be considered to be a
prostitute. Helen is also very practical and down to earth when it comes to what to expect from
life.

HELEN [To Jo.] … Listen Jo, don’t bother your head about Arabian mystics. There’s two
w’s in your future. Work or want, and no Arabian Knight can tell you different. We’re all
at the steering wheel of our own destiny.

Helen says this after Jo talks to her about seeing an advertisement for a Sheik who offers to look
into people’s futures. Helen is extremely skeptical about this and warns Jo that everyone’s life is
made up of work or want. She is reminding Jo that she needs to keep her feet on the ground, that
she will have no time for romantic dreams and that if she wants things in life she will have to work
in order to pay for them.

• UNPREDICTABLE

During the play Helen reveals herself to have a very unpredictable personality. She can be cruel
and insensitive but there are times when she can be quite tender-hearted.

13
This proves to be particularly the case near the end of the play. Helen is cruel to Geof, viciously
teasing him and forcing him to leave the flat. However, at the same time she displays more
maternal affection towards Jo than she has previously done.

HELEN [To Jo.] I wasn’t nasty to him. Besides, I couldn’t talk to you in front of him, could
I? Hey, wait till you see these things for the baby.

Helen says this to Jo after Jo accuses her of being rude to Geof. Helen has indeed been very rude
to Geof, calling him a bloody little pansy, but there is a surprising change when she talks to Jo
with sudden generosity about all the new things she has bought for the baby.

MALE CHARACTERS:

Delaney’s decision to focus mostly on Jo and Helen, results in male characters losing their
importance in the play. Their roles are rather symbolic compared to the importance of the female
characters. This is especially the case of Jo’s boyfriend, who becomes the father of her child. By
impregnating Jo, he forwards the plot but his role in future is rather unimportant. This is
emphasized by the fact that in the script he is simply referred to as Boy.

1. GEOFFERY

Geof’s full name is Geoffrey Ingram, he is an art student who becomes very good friends with Jo
when she is pregnant. He is homosexual although this is not explicitly stated in the play and has to
suffer emotional torment because of this, particularly at the hands of Peter and Helen. Jo tells him
she has always been curious about "people like you," but Geof won't discuss his sexuality with
her. He moves in with Jo after he is kicked out of his apartment. Even Jo gently taunts him telling
him, “You can stay here if you’ll tell me what you do. Go on, I’ve always wanted to know about
people like you.”

It is hinted that he has been thrown out of his flat because he is homosexual. Geof cares deeply for
Jo, even offering to marry her so that he can stay close to her and he does all he can to help prepare
Jo for childbirth. Apart from this, homosexuality was still illegal in Great Britain in 1958, the year
the play is set and marriage would give Geof cover and shield him from harassment.

He sometimes demonstrates affection toward her in a purely non-sexual way, and sometimes
seems to want a romantic relationship with Jo, behaving in a rude, forceful manner to make her

14
accept his advances. In the end, his gentleness and meekness keeps him from standing up to
Helen’s domineering attitude, and ultimately forces him to leave Jo, whom he had wanted to
accompany through her pregnancy and childbirth. Although it’s unclear what the play’s title refers
to exactly, it’s possible that it refers to the sweet but fleeting taste of genuine, selfless love that Jo
receives from Geof.

The characteristics in Geof’s character are

• RESPONSIBLE

As Jo’s pregnancy progresses it is Geof who encourages her to realize that preparations must be
made for the arrival of the baby. He ensures Jo eats well and helps keep the flat clean.

GEOF (To Jo)… You’ve got to buy all sorts of things for the baby. Clothes, a cot and a
pram I can make things too. I’ll help

.Here Geof is being extremely responsible and practical and is planning ahead for the birth of Jo’s
baby. He is listing the equipment she will need and is also offering to help her make some of the
clothes.

• CARING

Geof displays a very caring attitude towards Jo, even when she is moody and rude. He gets in
touch with Helen when he feels Jo should have her mother with her and begs Helen not to tell Jo
any scary stories about giving birth. Even though he has just lost his home, his caring attitude
means he puts Jo’s needs before his own.

GEOF [To Jo.] Before I met you I didn’t care one way or the other – I didn’t care whether
I lived or died. But now . . .

This shows just how much Geof cares for Jo. Before he met her, Geof’s life lacked meaning but
since meeting Jo he has found a true friend he can care for and this is something that continues to
give him endless satisfaction.

2. PETER

Peter is younger than Helen but he still pursues her, making it obvious that he finds her sexually
attractive. His last name is Smith, wears an eye patch, prompting The Boy to nickname him "the

15
Pirate King." He is something of a rogue and keeps photographs of other women in his wallet. Jo
sees him as a womanizer with a string of girlfriends. When Jo catches a glimpse of these
photographs in his wallet, she asks: They’re all women, aren’t they? I bet you’ve had thousands of
girlfriends. What was this one with the long legs called?

The main thing that attracts Peter is alcohol. He views Jo as an impediment to his drinking and
partying with Helen. He enjoys spending the money he earns as a car salesman, but as the play
progresses a darker side to his character is displayed when he easily becomes aggressive and angry.

The characteristics in Peter’s character are

• HOMOPHOBIC

Peter is aggressive towards Geof and rude about him when he first meets him in the flat.

PETER [To Jo.] “And don’t bring that little fruitcake parcel either! [Mumbles.] I can’t
stand the sight of him. Can’t stand ’em at any price.”

Peter is homophobic and rude and he doesn’t care who knows it. Although the play is set in the
1950s when people were generally less tolerant of homosexuals, Peter cares little about openly
offending Geof. His use of the word fruitcake to describe Geof is particularly offensive.

• WOMANIZER

Peter makes it obvious to Helen that he is sexually attracted to her. He flirts with her and sings
songs to her. However once the initial attraction has worn off, Peter thinks nothing about chasing
other women and even taunting Helen with this information.

PETER [To Helen, Jo and Geof.] … He hadn’t been home for two weeks and do you know
why? He picked up a couple of grapefruit on a thirty-two bust, rich, young and juicy . . .

Here Peter is being particularly hurtful to Helen. He is telling Jo and Geof about how he left her
for two weeks to be with another woman. He is now using words like sour-faced old bitch to
describe Helen and commenting negatively on her age. He no longer finds her attractive and does
not care if he hurts her emotionally.

• AGGRESSIVE AND RUDE

16
Although Peter can appear to be quite a charming man, as the play develops a darker side to his
character is revealed. In the initial stages of his relationship with Helen, Peter pays her
compliments, telling her he finds her figure most agreeable and he also presents her with a bouquet
of flowers. However, he later turns against Helen, has an affair with another woman and is
particularly aggressive towards Jo and Geof.

PETER [To Helen.] … “I don’t like the smell of unwashed bodies, woman. I dragged you
out of the gutter once. If you want to go back there it’s all the same to me.”

Peter calls Helen woman instead of calling her by her name and this is particularly degrading. It
shows how aggressive he can sometimes be when he talks to her. He also talks about having
dragged her out of the gutter which again suggests how angry he is.

3. THE BLACK SAILOR/THE BOY

Jo’s boyfriend, a black sailor from Cardiff who is about to leave for a six-month trip with the Navy,
is an affectionate but unreliable character. He is not on stage for long, since his part in Jo's life is
brief, He was originally trained as a nurse. Jo tells Geof that he is called Jimmie but otherwise he
is not named in the play. In the cast of characters he is referred to simply as Boy. While he declares
his love to Jo, asks her to marry him, and promises her to return, he fails to deliver on his promises,
thus leaving Jo to cope with the consequences of their relationship (her pregnancy) on her own.
Despite his generally self-confident attitude, he expects Jo to feel shame at being seen in the street
with him because of his skin color, and is surprised to realize that Jo is truly indifferent to the
interracial nature of their relationship. He appears to care for Jo whilst he is with her and is tender
and caring when she has a cold. However, he also makes it clear that he enjoys a good time with
his friends and that the engagement ring he gives Jo means that he expects them to enjoy a certain
amount of sexual intimacy.

The characteristics in Boy’s character are:

• LIGHT HEARTED

One of the reasons Jo is attracted to Boy is because he can make her laugh. In the time they spend
together, they often tease one another but in a lighthearted and tender way.

17
 BOY [To Jo.] “Honey, you’ve got to stop eating. No more food, no more make-up, no
fancier clothes; we’re saving up to get married.”

Here we see Boy exchanging playful banter with Jo. This is completely different to the quarrelling
and bickering that is such a feature of Jo’s relationship with Helen.

• TENDER

Jo’s boyfriend abandons her after promising to return in six months’ time when his next leave is
due. However, whilst he is with her, Boy is tender and caring and shows genuine signs of affection
for her

BOY [To Jo.] … Yes, you’ve got a bit of a temperature. Have you been eating?

Jo has not been shown much tenderness in her life. Her boyfriend, however, stays with her over
Christmas, seems to be genuinely concerned that she has a cold and offers to make her a cure. He
is tender towards her and often embraces and kisses her. Although Jo makes it clear she does not
want to be kissed all of the time, she is grateful for the company of her boyfriend when she is alone
in the flat.

Themes

i. HAPPINESS, DARKNESS AND DEATH

There are several references to darkness and death in A Taste of Honey. Jo is afraid of the dark
inside the flat although she welcomes the approach of winter, telling her boyfriend, Doesn’t it go
dark early? I like winter.

She dislikes the darkness in the flat as she has never got used to being left alone at night whilst
Helen goes out socializing. Even in daylight the flat itself is dark and dreary and overlooks a
slaughterhouse which brings with it connotations of darkness and death.

Jo tells Helen that she had a dream about her the previous night. In the dream Helen’s body was
found buried under a rosebush, another macabre link to the theme of death. A short while later
Helen describes her bed as a coffin, Like a coffin only not half as comfortable, and does not shy
away from talking about her own mortality when she says that one day she too will have to use a
coffin.

18
Interestingly, the three men in the play are all linked to the color black in some way. Geof always
wears black shirts. His reason is that they are cheap, good clothes cost money, he reminds Jo when
she tells him that his black shirts make him look like a spy. Peter wears a black patch which gives
him a look rather like a pirate, perhaps reflecting his roguish ways.

Jo’s boyfriend is black and he refers to himself as Othello, a black army general from the play by
William Shakespeare. This is a reflection of the interracial relationship between Jo and her
boyfriend. Othello marries Desdemona who, like Jo, was also white.

During the play, blackness is not always seen as a negative thing. Jo’s boyfriend may leave her but
he at least stays with her when she is alone at Christmas.

Geof may be recognizable by his black shirts but he is a force for good in Jo’s life and although Jo
hates the dark inside buildings this is only when she is left alone in them. She can still appreciate
the beauty of a dark winter’s night.

The theme of happiness forms a contrast to the references to death and also links with the title of
the play. A Taste of Honey is a biblical reference to the First Book of Samuel, Chapter 14, and
Verse 43 where Saul says to Jonathan, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was
in mine hand, and, lo, I must die.

This is a reflection of the belief that everyone is entitled to their own taste of honey or their own
piece of happiness, however small. Several characters enjoy their own small taste of honey during
the course of the play and not all of them suffer because of this, something which the biblical
reference suggests many people can expect to do (and, lo, I must die.)

When he stays with her at Christmas, Jo’s boyfriend offers her a small taste of happiness. She is
left pregnant because of this but this does not mean she will have to suffer.

Indeed, when she is left singing a nursery rhyme at the end of the play there is a suggestion that
she has come to terms with her impending motherhood. There is also the possibility of Helen
staying with Jo and facing up to her own responsibilities as a mother. Helen and Peter might have
had a taste of happiness together but neither one seems to particularly suffer after their relationship
breakup.

19
Little is known about what happens to Geof after he is forced to leave the flat and his friendship
with Jo behind but he is the character it is possible to feel most sorry for. His life revolves around
Jo and Helen takes that away from him when she decides to reinforce her own maternal role.
Therefore, Geof could be said to be left suffering due to experiencing his own taste of honey.

ii. MOTHERING: ASSISTANCE AND DANGER

The play begins and ends with Jo in the suffocating maternal embrace of Helen, who oscillates
between abandoning her, demanding to be taken care of, and rushing in with chaotic and
overwhelming offers of maternal care. In between, Jo and Helen enter other relationships, but these
too have something maternal about them. Peter, Helen's drunken lout of a boyfriend, says he likes
older women like Helen. He compares himself to Oedipus. In Greek mythology, Oedipus discovers
the woman he has married is actually his mother. In remorse, Oedipus blinds himself. The one-
eyed Peter jokes that he has done the same thing, except that he scratched out only one eye. The
men in Jo's life are also maternal. The Boy, or Jimmie, is a male nurse, and when Jo is sick he
urges her to drink warm milk. Jo explicitly compares Jimmie to her mother, saying Helen used to
leave her alone at every Christmas, but "last Christmas I had him." Geof also mothers Jo, helping
her get ready for childbirth, acquiring a basket for the baby to sleep in, and making baby clothes.
It seems as if Jo, having had such an unsatisfactory mother, can't help but repeat the relationship
with everyone else with whom she shares intimacy. At the start of the play Jo says she doesn't want
to be like Helen; she doesn't want to get married. But in becoming pregnant by a man she is not
married to, she becomes like Helen anyway.

Throughout the play Jo rejects the role of mother. A Taste of Honey shows a dark side to
motherhood. The mother who can care for a baby can also abandon or neglect or kill it. Helen
frequently abandons Jo. But Jo also has this side, the lethal mother. When Geof gives her a doll so
she can practice holding a baby, Jo flings it away, saying, "I'll bash its brains out. I'll kill it." When
Helen finds out Jo's baby's father was black, she says she will drown the baby. Motherhood is
ambivalent in A Taste of Honey, a desired and occasional source of relief but a real source of
danger and abandonment.

iii. DESTINY AND CHOICES

20
One theme of A Taste of Honey is that women, and perhaps people generally, have limited control
of their destinies. Jo and Helen each try to shape their destinies, partly through choices having to
do with marriage and motherhood. Thus, their choices are constrained, from the start, to what have
been traditionally seen as women's concerns. Jo, at the threshold of adult life, often makes
pronouncements about her destiny or her choices. She claims she will not marry, given the example
of Helen. Helen's problem seems to be that she is not married and is raising a child alone. But Jo
may be right to see Helen as an example of the ills of marriage. Judging from Helen's life, marriage
leads to abandonment and poverty.

In Act 2, Scene 2 the theme of destiny becomes explicit when Jo reads in the newspaper about a
"Sheik Ahmed" who will "draw up for you a complete analysis of your character and destiny." But
Helen expresses skepticism about people's ability to shape their destinies: "We're all at the steering
wheel of our own destiny. Careering along like drunken drivers." Helen's statement begins by
suggesting that people are in charge of their destinies. But like drunk drivers, they have damaged
their ability to steer in a very bleak and unsupportive social environment.

iv. WOMEN'S ART

A Taste of Honey focuses on working-class women's lives, and one of its themes is women's art—
both art made by women and art about women. At the beginning and end of the play, Jo's drawings
and the possibility of her becoming an artist are highlighted. But Jo lives a stunted life, apparently
too dragged down by poverty and other hardships to flourish as an artist. She bitterly envies Geof,
who goes to an "expensive" art school, a choice not available to Jo. Jo's drawings are sketches of
herself and her mother. Thus, her drawings are analogous to Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of
Honey, a sketch of two women's lives, with elements from the artist/playwright's own life.

Delaney alludes to the difficulties women face in pursuing art when Jo says, in Act 1, Scene 1,
"What I wouldn't give for a room of my own!" This statement is an allusion to an essay by British
writer Virginia Woolf (1882–1941), "A Room of One's Own" (1929). In this essay Woolf claims
that women's ability to become writers has been sapped by the financial and educational
disadvantages they face in a male-dominated society. Artistic freedom and a writing career, Woolf
argues, require financial independence and freedom from domestic duties. The "room of one's
own" in the essay's title represents this freedom and independence. But Jo doesn't have this in A

21
Taste of Honey. She must she share a bedroom with her mother, and her lack of privilege also
pushes her into a life of work and motherhood that leaves her unable to be an artist.

Jo alludes to the idea that motherhood might both stand in the way of making art and also be a
kind of substitute for it, if a poor one. Geof looks at Jo's drawings, and he finds them wanting. He
says they are shapeless and "sentimental." Since the drawings are of Jo and her mother, and they
are also created by Jo, Geof seems here to be symbolically criticizing women's art, both art by
women and art about women. Somewhat defensively, Jo shifts the subject to her pregnancy. She
says, "They say love creates. And I'm certainly creating at the moment."

Social Issues

I. CLASS, AND RACE

Shelagh Delaney’s play depicts characters who live at the margins of 1950s English society. Their
nonconformity highlights the generational shift that is beginning to take place, as English social
life and culture undergoes a transformation, becoming more mixed and more diverse. Although
Helen tends to categorize people according to what constitutes socially acceptable behavior, Jo
defends the opposite point of view, according to which social differences can be met with love and
respect. Among all the characters in the play, Jo proves the most capable at accepting others’
differences without judging or belittling them, instead giving people the freedom to be themselves.
Through Jo’s character, the play reveals the potential for a diverse group of people to live together
in harmony through openness and mutual respect.

Throughout the play, Jo is confronted to characters whom society has marginalized in different
ways, because of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. Instead of seeing these differences as a
source of shame, Jo accepts them and embraces the diversity of the people around her. In this way,
she proves that social diversity can be a motor for love and compassion. Jo first subverts societal
norms by engaging in a relationship with a black boy. When Jimmie kisses her in the street, he
notes with surprise that Jo is not afraid to be seen with him. Rather, she is the first person he has
known who does not actually mind his skin color. His surprise highlights the conservative attitude
that English society had at the time toward interracial relationships, as well as Jo’s unique qualities
of tolerance and respect.
22
In contrast with Jo’s open-minded acceptance of diversity. Helen is often brutally judgmental,
proving more concerned with abiding by society’s expectations than with respecting people’s
independence of thought and behavior. While Jo has found peace and joy in her cohabitation with
Geof, Helen is unable to treat Jo’s friend with respect. Instead, she attacks him for being too
feminine and considers his attitude unacceptable. She derogatorily calls him a “nursemaid” and a
“pansified little freak,” telling Jo that she could have found herself “something more like a man.”
Helen’s lack of compassion toward Geof reveals an entrenched prejudice toward homosexuals and,
more generally, a rigid understanding of how women and men should behave according to
society’s expectations of them.

In addition, while Jo initially believed that her mother would not mind knowing that her boyfriend
was black, Helen reacts with shock at the news, realizing that walking around with a black baby is
even more shameful than being called a slut or a whore—the names that her daughter has already
been labeled. Instead of supporting her daughter, she shows fear and decides that she needs to go
have a drink to process this piece of news, thus demonstrating that she is more concerned about
her social reputation than her daughter’s happiness or well-being.

Helen’s rejection of people who do not conform to society’s norms extends to her very self. Despite
having very limited financial means and leading an economically unstable life, Helen looks down
on poverty, therefore refusing to accept that she is poor herself. Not only does she ultimately call
the district she has chosen “rotten” and unfit to live in, but she also mocks Jo’s ragged appearance,
telling Peter to buy a needle and cotton for Jo since “every article of clothing on her back is held
together by a safety pin or a knot. If she had an accident in the street I’d be ashamed to claim her.”
The harshness of Helen’s comment is unjustified, given that she is the only wage earner in the
family and is therefore responsible for her daughter’s appearance. It indicates the shame she feels
surrounding her poverty, which she projects unfairly onto her daughter. The opposition between
Helen and Jo’s attitudes represents the difficulty many people face in accepting social change and
becoming more inclusive. Helen’s reaction thus highlights the conservative and prejudicial nature
of society. However, Jo’s indifference to her baby’s skin color or to Geof’s homosexuality suggests
that generational change is already well underway, and that people can learn to handle unfamiliar
social issues in a positive and compassionate manner.

23
In addition, the fact that Jo is bringing a mixed-race baby into the world serves a concrete signal
that society is indeed becoming more socially diverse, regardless of what opinions other people
might have on the issue. Jo’s personal experience thus has the potential to make inter-racial
relationships more visible in society and, perhaps, over time, to make inter-racial relationships
seem normal and acceptable. In this way, Jo becomes a powerful promoter of the idea that social
diversity does not need to involve exclusion and rejection, but that it can be met with love and
care.

II. MOTHERHOOD

Delaney deviates from the concept of motherhood as it is understood traditionally. Conventionally,

motherhood implies a capacity to mother a legitimate child. It implies love for children. It is a
source of warmth, and security. Delving deep, the institution of motherhood was created by the
male. It is for male. Controlled by the male, it is a product of patriarchy. The dramatist depicts
mothers unconventionally. The mothers in the play, Helen and Jo do not accept their traditional
role prescribed by the patriarchal culture. Helen opposes the conventional duties of a mother. She
can’t provide a stable home to Jo. She is described by the writer as a semi-whore. She is selfish
and marries with Peter. Her character distorts the idealization of mother as a powerful source of
love, warmth and care as expected from traditional mothers. The relationship between mother and
daughter is characterized by feelings of abandonment, and painful disjointedness. Rejected by her
mother, Jo tells: “She had so much love for everyone, but none for me”, Jo dislikes being a mother.
Both raise pertinent questions about their stereotyped images of a mother, a daughter and a woman.
As characters of a kitchen-sink drama, they display their anger, tension and frustration against
male-developed conventions. They exhibit their wrath against the male-dominated establishments.

III. GENDER

The playwright also raises some radical issues concerning gender. It is important to note here that
the idea of gender as a socially constructed concept was not developed during 1950s. The term
“gender’ was provided its theoretical space after 1960. When the play was staged, homosexuality
was considered a crime in society. With its corruptive power, it was not accepted in a family. The
playwright has rebelled against the popular notion and portrayed the character of Jo as someone
who is caring and responsible. She also reflects a realistic condition of such homosexuals. Delaney
presents the character of Jimmie who is loved by Jo. In an era when blackness was traditionally

24
implied as inferiority, vulgarity and ignorance, she radically portrays love between a black sailor
and white girl. This inter-racial relationship is not condemned. Moreover, it also proves Jo, a
powerful girl who can take decisions. She shows that the English family is far from being
homogenous. The dramatist has portrayed a disrupted family life of post-war period. Jo herself
occasionally expresses her frustration with rigid gender categories. Her recurrent complaints (“I
hate babies;” “I hate motherhood;” “I don’t want to be a mother;” “I don’t want to be a woman”)
demonstrate that she associates womanhood with motherhood, and that she embraces neither. Geof
finds Jo’s attitude surprising, since he thought motherhood was natural in women, but Jo only
replies: “It comes natural to you, Geoffrey Ingram. You’d make somebody a wonderful wife.”

This inversion of traditional gender roles, subverting the idea that the woman is supposed to take
care of children and that the man should not invest energy in the household, was highly unusual
for the time. Jo embraces the idea that family roles are not necessarily fixed, but that each person
should be free to take on the roles that best fit their personality and desires.

IV. PREGNANCY

Teen pregnancy is perhaps one of the most significant issues within the text that a contemporary
audience can relate to, as it is still a primary concern within today’s society. It is clear that during
the second act, Jo is embarrassed and ashamed that she will be a teen mother; we know this as
Geoff states that she will not leave her flat:

“She won’t go out anywhere, not even for a walk and a bit of fresh air.”

It is evident that this is a common feeling amongst teen mothers of all eras, as even within our own
society, teen mothers are made to feel alienated and condemned. Jo even risks the health of her
own baby, to avoid judgment, as she does not go to the clinic for regular checkups.

The attitude that Jo has to her pregnancy is identifiable to the contemporary viewer as it is familiar
to the attitudes of our own civilization towards teen pregnancy. Jo’s pregnancy, interests the
audience as it communicates a different aspect to her personality.

V. SEXUALITY

In addition to racial diversity, Jo also embraces sexual diversity. Her friend Geoffrey is constantly
criticized for his feminine qualities and his homosexuality. Jo herself initially asks him provocative

25
questions about his sexual life, hypothesizing that his landlady threw him out of his previous
apartment after seeing him with a man. She expresses her curiosity about “people like [him],” thus
immediately categorizing Geof as a member of a taboo demographic. When Geof reacts with
anger, Jo realizes that she was rude and disrespectful, and apologizes for being so insensitive. As
the two of them get to know each other, Jo appreciates Geoffrey for who he is, admiring his
capacity to take care of the home and to give her emotional support—two intimate activities that
bring her joy and comfort, but are not traditionally expected of a man.

Although in the 1950s homosexuality was considered to be more of a social problem than
something evil, the prevailing attitude was still quite negative and even hostile. Since family was
seen to be the cornerstone of the nation, the influence of homosexuality on the family was
perceived as something that could corrupt the entire social structure. Although some of the
homosexual elements of A Taste of Honey were censored when in production, the text itself has a
more understanding attitude towards homosexuality than what was common in representations at
the time, showing that homosexuality can exist within the family structure without corrupting it.
Delaney depicts Geof as a rather stereotypical homosexual, someone who is effeminate, gentle and
artistic, and ultimately powerless. A Taste of Honey was published and performed at a time when
open discussion of homosexuality was not possible, but in its own way it helped pave the way for
a more versatile and unconventional approach to different sexualities.

As this sexual socialization was understood as one of the major tasks of family, the influence of
homosexuality was seen as a kind of contamination that could corrupt both the family and through
it the social order itself. A Taste of Honey portrays that it is not homosexuality that can have
destructive power over the family, but rather biological motherhood that tends to have a negative
effect on the construction of stable identities. Geof’s homosexuality is never addressed openly, as
this was not permitted at the time due to censorship, but there are several instances where his
sexual preferences are strongly implied. Geof is a gentle and emotional art student. He is portrayed
as being quite “feminine” and he is the only person in the play who does all the things that women
were supposed to do within the family structure: cooking, cleaning, taking care of the household,
nurturing, and preparing for the birth of a child. There are numerous instances where Geof’s
homosexuality is indirectly implied.

26
Although Jo does seem to be rather blunt and quite insensitive at times, she seems to care sincerely
about Geof and she does not want him to go away. In the end she does not force the issue, and
actually seems to prefer Geof’s company, as Geof’s homosexuality makes him an undemanding
partner. Homosexuality, then, is a positive issue in A Taste of Honey, especially for Jo, and
although never referred to directly, Geof’s sexuality assumes great importance in the play. Through
Helen and Peter, Delaney depicts the prevalent social view of homosexuality. However, Jo
represents a completely different view, even though she can be quite insensitive when it comes to
exposing and addressing Geof’s sexuality. Both Jo and Geof enjoy the mutual understanding they
share, and find comfort in each other. In A Taste of Honey Geof represents a homosexual whose
role within the family is to nurture, not to corrupt, whereas biological motherhood is presented as
something rather destructive. Another theme relating to homosexuality and family in A Taste of
Honey is the representation of nurturance. Portraying this nurturing quality in a man and denying
it to the women of the play was something rather unique, and is a clear reversal of gender roles. In
some sense both Jo and Helen are portrayed as rather “masculine” characters. Both are the head of
the household, independent, articulate, and making their own money. Helen does not deny or hide
her sexuality, and has not allowed motherhood to diminish her sexual activity. Jo is also a quite
ambiguous character with her denial of womanhood; even her name, “Jo”, is not gender specific.
Whereas in other plays of the period women functioned far more as objects than as subjects, in A
Taste of Honey the women are at the center of the action, taking the place traditionally occupied
by men. Similarly, Geof represents the reversed role of a man who is “feminine” and nurturing. A
Taste of Honey destabilizes the concept of family by representing the institution of family in a
completely new light. Unlike the traditional representations of family at the time, where the action
within the family unit revolved around the male figure and his identity, Delaney’s family consists
solely of women. It is implied that Helen has had multiple partners, but they, as well as Jimmie
and Peter, only briefly enter the family arena, and quite quickly are expelled from its sphere.
Delaney’s family excludes men from the family unit altogether. The only man who is allowed
within this family, that is Geof, is actually more “feminine” than the women of the play, and
eventually even he is driven out by the return of biological motherhood. In some sense, then, family
becomes an asexual structure centered on women. Thus, sexuality in A Taste of Honey is seen as
something undesired and unwelcome in relation to the family. Thus, A Taste of Honey shows an
emergent change in the way that homosexuals were depicted in drama. As De Jong argues, in a

27
Taste of Honey “the homosexual is humanized and brought in from the cold”.126 It is shown that
unconventional sexualities can function within the family without destroying this basic unit, and
indeed add a new dimension to it. Nurturance is not only confined to women, and thus motherhood
is not necessarily gender specific. The socially validated family structure and traditional gender
roles become negotiable, flexible and less rigid. The relationship between family and sexuality is
thus redefined, and the concept of a nuclear family is shown to be unstable.

Conclusion

A Taste of Honey is concerned mainly with personal relationships. There are no direct references
to the wider world, nor does it express any particular opinions on that world rather the whole play
revolves around the relationships between a mixture of people, especially concentrating on the
relationship between Jo and Helen.

What makes the play quite radical is the way in which Delaney breaks all sorts of social, sexual
and racial taboos, and reinvents the institution of family. By portraying characters of Jo and Helen
belonging to a fatherless family where motherhood is something that is thrust upon women
whether or not they are willing to accept it Secondly, Jo and Geof lives as a completely
unconvetional family, that is an asexual family. And lastly the race of Jo’s baby is also questioned.

A taste of Honey put forth the distinction of the views towards sex from both women and men,
where in the play men are allowed to be frivilous when it comes to sex but women have to pay for
their taste of honey. Overall the issues pertaining to Gender, Womanhood, Motherhood and Race
are also questioned.

To conclude, it can be stated that Delaney reflected the reality of the working class in this play.
She had provided power to the powerless. She had provided a stage to the woman, blacks,
homosexuals and the poor youth to raise their issues. Through this play, the playwright had
provided us a new narrative on the institutions of motherhood and family. She displayed her
difference with the traditional approach to race, sexuality and gender. Her questioning of the rigid
structures of conventions prevalent in her age in this play makes the work remarkable in literary
history.

28
 References

• “New Biography of Shelagh Delaney Who Wrote the Ground Breaking Tastes of
Honey.” Off The Shelf - Festival of Words, 23 Sept. 2019, www.offtheshelf.org.uk/new-
biography-of-shelagh-delaney-who-wrote-the-ground-breaking-tastes-of-honey/.
• “Shelagh Delaney.” The British Library, The British Library, 15 Nov. 2016,
www.bl.uk/people/shelagh-delaney.
• “Shelagh Delaney Quotes (Author of A Taste of Honey).” Goodreads, Goodreads,
www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/41349.Shelagh_Delaney.
• York Notes "A Taste of Honey", 1999
• Legros, Christine. "A Taste of Honey." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 20 Jun 2018. Web.
14 Mar 2020.
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zg7kqty/revision/1
• Course Hero. "A Taste of Honey Study Guide." Course Hero. 20 Sep. 2019. Web. 14
Mar. 2020. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/A-Taste-of-Honey/>.
• https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4e8b/6e8c6a3d190582f3e49c05ae42eb5adba813.pdf

29