Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land: Analysis of Major Characters
"Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land" is a play that explores themes of power dynamics, sexual politics, and the complexities of personal relationships within a parliamentary setting. Central to the narrative is Maddie Gotobed, the new secretary to a Select Committee investigating sexual misconduct among Members of Parliament (MPs). Despite her seemingly submissive role, Maddie navigates her encounters with various MPs, collecting intimate tokens that symbolize her interactions with them while ultimately asserting her own agency by framing the committee’s resolution in a way that privileges personal privacy.
The play features a cast of characters, including Cocklebury-Smythe, McTeazle, Chamberlain, Withenshaw, and French, each representing different facets of political ambition and moral ambiguity. Cocklebury-Smythe is depicted as ambitious, longing for a position in the House of Lords, while McTeazle and Chamberlain embody the hypocrisy of their roles as they urge Maddie to forget their past rendezvous. Withenshaw serves as the committee chairman, struggling with a resolution that lacks substance, and French emerges as a detail-oriented member advocating for a more progressive stance. Supporting characters Arthur and Bernard provide an additional layer of commentary on cultural stereotypes through their discussions about American life.
Overall, the play critiques the intersections of personal and political lives, showcasing how power can be both wielded and subverted in intimate contexts. It invites audiences to reflect on the ethical implications of privacy, consent, and the often murky waters of political conduct.
Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Tom Stoppard
First published: 1976
Genre: Drama
Locale: London, England
Plot: Farce
Time: The 1970's
Maddie Gotobed, the new secretary to the Select Committee of Members of Parliament, which meets in an overspill meeting room in Big Ben. Voluptuous and inexperienced, she evidently has been involved in affairs with all the male members of Parliament (MPs) on the Select Committee, which has been commissioned to investigate sexual misbehavior in the House of Commons. Each member, as he arrives, slips her a pair of lace panties, evidently left at their last rendezvous, so that by the end of the play she has collected a drawer full of “knickers.” Maddie is nobody's fool, however, and by the end of the play it is she who dictates her own text for the committee's resolution: that MPs have as much right to private life as any other citizens and that as long as they break no laws, their privacy should not be broken to indulge public curiosity.
Cocklebury-Smythe, the first of the MPs on this committee. He longs to move into the House of Lords. Like his fellow committee members, he urges Maddie to put out of her mind the various restaurants at which they have met.
McTeazle, the second of the nearly interchangeable MPs. He pulls Maddie's panties from his briefcase at the end of a long, huffy speech explaining recent press allegations of bad behavior among MPs. He, too, urges Maddie to forget the locales of their meetings, some of them the same places she has met Cocklebury-Smythe.
Chamberlain, another of the lecherous MPs on the committee. Although he has a wife and family in Dorking, he still writes Maddie a note instructing her to forget more restaurants.
Withenshaw, the chairman of the committee. He is from Lancaster, as his speech sometimes betrays. He may be the author of the original draft of the resolution, a cliché-ridden document that says nothing and that is rapidly being revised in several directions by the committee members.
French, the stickler for detail on the committee. He is the member who moves to scrap Withenshaw's resolution in favor of Maddie's.
Arthur, a junior Home Office official. He and Bernard are making a preliminary review of an American's application for British citizenship. His attempt to tell Bernard about the United States becomes a heroic monologue in which he catalogs every cliché about American life as he surveys the American landscape from Long Island to California.
Bernard, a very senior (and very deaf) Home Office official. He tells Arthur a long story about how he once won a five-pound note from Lloyd George, but he sleeps through Arthur's monologue.