TITLE OF PLAY

THE TWELVE POUND LOOK

The title of play “£12 look” refers to the

calculation of amount of money that Kate would
need to save in order to leave a stifling marriage
and strike out on her own.

In the play when Kate revealed her ex husband

Harry sims that why had she left him, she said to
him that she was oppressed with his hardness and
pity mindedness .She was appalled with his
religion of success and his natural paucity of
higher emotions. She knew that he kept her in
classy lavishness just to satisfy his esteem and to
make other woman envy and spite his wife.

She decided to leave him .So, she bought a

typewriter, learnt typing , get through friends some
work and she left him as soon as she paid for the
typewriter with her primary earning which is about
12 pounds. She told him the whole scenario to
make him realized that for her his worth is only
£12 but he still considered him a quarter of
million.

Again the title “The 12 pound look” was used by

Kate during her conversation with her ex husband
Harry Sims When she said to him that “if I was a
husband, I would often watch my wife whether the
12 pound look is not coming into her eyes.” Here
the title 12 pound look gives the symbol of
freedom.

Freedom from Harry’s cruel world where she

was treated like a slave, as an object ,where she
had no right to give her opinions and to express
her feelings. She was just spend her life according
to the dictatorship of her husband and she was
there only to please her husband by commending
him. His coarseness and hardness compelled her to
leave this aimless and worthless life and to enjoy
her self respect , independence, self-assurance and
self reliance.

The play 12 pound look gave us the idea that one

can rely on his or her own decisions. According to
Emerson, “It’s better to trust yourself”. It's also
highlight the woman decision making power and
the determination of a woman to fight for her
pride.

The play 12 pound look signifies the role of one

woman to inspire the other woman .As kate had
inspired lady Sims to that extent that at the end of
the play there was a 12 pound look in the eyes of
his second wife lady Sims who, when Kate had
left , asks him the price of typewriter but he failed
to recognize that 12 pound look.

So, in short the play 12 pound look is a satire

towards the society in Victorian era. As in the
theory of satire is not mere a humor to ridicule a
person but it has the intention of correction.