Angels in America: the Play that Captured Emotions and Implications of the AIDS Crisis

Abstract

Within modern society, the idea of the rebel or exile has the unique potential to repulse and fascinate simultaneously; when characters in literature, for example, stray from what society considers to be normal, for the betterment or damage of that society, events are set in motion that captivate the reader and allow for a fuller understanding of that character. This rebellion and positive or negative deviation from the norms of society is not always apparent.

In this paper, a specific character from the play "Angels in America" will be identified, analyzed and discussed from a wide variety of viewpoints. Furthermore, in the instance of this particular character, the thesis will be proven that through a skillful blending of a real-life character with fictional nuances, the playwright demonstrates the enigmatic nature of the rebel who fluctuates between darkness and light, goodness and evil, while all the while grappling with inner demons and ultimately, the confrontation of mortality and the consideration of what is truly good and truly evil in the final analysis.

The Role of the Character in the Play

"Angels in America" is as much a highly dramatic work as it is a detailed character study and social commentary about the high water mark of the AIDS crisis in New York, one of the epicenters of the disease in America, and the lives of individuals who are directly and indirectly impacted by the disease. Keeping this in mind, the characters lives eventually intersect, and in some cases, seem to overlap in terms of common emotions, traits, fears and rage. In the midst of all of this emotion and chaos emerges the most fascinating and complex character in the play, Roy Cohn, who in reality was one of New York's premier attorneys and powerbrokers whose power and influence in reality was destroyed when he was infected with the AIDS virus and eventually died due to complications from it. In the play, the semi-factual/semi-fictional character of Roy Cohn serves the role of antagonist, driving forward the plot and using his cunning, power and deceit to manipulate others as he faces ultimate destruction.