A woman should be an illusion. ~Ian Fleming: A musing on Glengarry Glen Ross

In the play Glengarry Glen Ross very few women are actually intended to be present on the stage but there are many hidden behind the men that do appear on the stage throughout the play. Mamet does not seem to have a very high opinion on women if you draw your conclusion from his writing. In the entire play there does not seem to exist a woman who is not a drain or a drawback to whichever man she is attached to. This is very disturbing to me. Am I simply a drain? And if so, am I only a drain to the men I am connected to or do I pull the whole society of men down with me? Quite frankly this idea disgusts me. Women are so much more than nagging or lying wives or sick daughters. I actually pity Mamet, think if the relationships he has had in order to construct this view of women.

In the play though women also have a secret power, to bring about the downfall of men. This is a very important point to consider because it could just change your opinion on poor, old Mamet. Instead of writing him off as a chauvinist, why, Mamet could actually believe in the hidden power of women sine he uses a woman to ultimately bring the downfall of Levene. Could Mamet secretly be a member of the Ya Ya Sisterhood? Most likely not but it is nice to dream.

This is the second play that we have read of late that contains an absence of the presence of either a particular woman or women. It is always interesting to me why writers leave out a gender in a piece but I think I could have figured out why they do it. Shakespeare and Mamet are actually making the feminine more powerful by not giving it a direct voice. The absent mother and the discovery of the feminine of Lear is more striking than the image of the Madonna and the whore that we are presented with the daughters. Mamet uses simply the idea of a presence of a certain woman to show the audience who really committed a crime and to bring about justice.

I would certainly be interested to know of Mamet's true intentions of why the women of his play are vengeful, draining, and the hand of justice. Unfortunately, this may be just another interpretation of the Madonna and the whore. Either you are a nagging bitch of a wife, a lying schemer, a sickly daughter, or you are God's right hand. God help you if you are woman if is simply normal - filled with both good and evil but then again, you would not be interesting, you would only be ordinary.

I have to take the positive approach, although I am sure that it is not the approach Mamet intended, and believe that the woman is a strong force in the play because the actions of a woman ultimately lead to the solving of a crime. Still, I hold out for the day when I do not have to be a Madonna or a whore but I can simply be me.