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Emily Lim

25, January 2024

IB English, Period 2

Dr. Malashewski

Targeting Labor Conditions: Morals and Virtues

Morality plays have a common theme of pushing a lesson to the audience by having

characters personify different ideals and virtues. In David Mamet’s play Glengarry Glen Ross,

Mamet depicts moral lessons and ideals through characters to criticize the intense labor

conditions in the 1980’s. Mamet expresses his criticism of the labor standards through

personifying virtues into characters to further push his message across.

This work is evident in many characters, but most evidently in Shelly Levene. During the

late 1970’s - early 1980’s, unemployment rates and inflation rose, making it difficult for people

to maintain their jobs and a steady life. Levene is one of the only characters in the play who is

confirmed to have a family of some sort– it is confirmed that he not only has to take care of

himself, but of his daughter as well. The rise of unemployment rates had given Levene anxiety to

keep his job, forcing him to do whatever it takes to not be let go. He appears throughout the

novel, seemingly doing everything to keep his job. In the first act, Levene is seen pleading with

his boss Williamson to give him better leads, using excuses such as “They all kick out” (Mamet

22), and trying to guilt trip Williamson by pleading “A deal kicks out… I got to eat” (Mamet 17)

and “I’m asking you. As a favor to me?...John: my daughter…” (Mamet 26). The desperation

shown alone by Levene makes it evident that the economy during the time the play was written

was not stable, and the need to keep your job was important to provide for yourself and your

family. Williamson ends up refusing to help Levene by giving him better leads, so Levene’s
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desperation turns to crime: stealing the leads himself. Levene ends up partnering with Moss, one

of his co-workers, to steal the leads and to sell them for more money. Not only does he commit

crime, but he continues to boast about a lead he closes and the money he gets from it. Inevitably,

Levene is caught by Williamson, and it appears that his life will fall apart. Mamet personifies

many virtues in Levene: greed, the lack of patience, pride, wrath and more. The personification

of these morals are displayed as a result of the economy during the time. Levene had grown this

way and started to show these morals as unemployment was on the line and as his desperation to

stay stable for his daughter grew.

Levene is only one of the many characters who display personified vices, as all the

characters display one or more of these virtues and morals. For example, Moss displays wrath

and greed when he comes up with the idea of stealing from the company out of anger, confiding

in with Aarronow “Someone, someone should hurt them…someone should rob the office.”

(Mamet 37-38). He also displays envy when he shows jealousy and disappointment upon

discovering that Roma had closed a lead, leaving abruptly saying “Fuck the lot of you. Fuck you

all” (Mamet 71) on his way out. Roma displays greed, diligence and pride not hesitating to close

as soon as the competition starts and only caring about his prize for closing when the office is

robbed. Many of the characters resemble the virtues and morals in different ways, but it stems

from the same place: their desperation to keep their jobs and or their frustration from the intense

pressure and high expectations their jobs give them. Mamet utilizes these characters to criticize

his view on the work economy in the late 1970’s - early 1980’s, and emphasize the need for

change in the word industry.

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References

Chat GPT: https://chat.openai.com/share/33dfe189-07b8-4f8e-b12f-44ea696c4537

Nielsen, Barry. "Stagflation in the 1970s." Edited by Michael J. Boyle and Timothy Li.

Investopedia,

www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/1970-stagflation.asp#:~:text=Stagflation%

20in%20the%201970s%20combined,above%2021 %25%20to%20reduce%20inflation.

Accessed 30 Jan. 2024.