Theory Questions: "Blackbird"

When reviewing the play "Blackbird", I began to think about it from a Feminist perspective. We discussed in class and at our literary conference that Una's character differed quite a bit from reading the play to actually seeing her character acted in the play itself. When reading the play, Una was most often perceived as a girl that was completely taken advantage of and more than likely had no idea what was really happening to her at such a young age. Our culture suggests that any girl whom is that young would not know what they are feeling or doing when it came to "love", but Ray seemed to think differently. The way her character was portrayed in the play itself was much more abrasive and almost psychotic. This may be due to the director, but looking at it from a feminist perspective, it could be because her gender suggests that any issue dealing with love and intimacy provokes an "over the top" response because she is a woman. We see a bit of interdeterminacy due to the fact that we don't even find out if there is something deeply wrong with Una or if all of her issues are because of the events taken place at such a young age. The fact that Ray suggests that Una knew what she was doing and knew exactly what was happening when she was only twelve years old puts women into a mold in a way. I would venture to say that is the situation was reversed, and the "victim" was a twleve year old boy, that many would stray from assuming that he knew what was going on and knew what love was.

1. How does the author of this poem suggest that Una is a victim and a culprit at the same time?

2. Similarly, how did the director and actors of the play that we saw suggest this?

3. Although both are equally represented, is Ray's character considered secondary to that of Una's in the play because of the way he seemed to have carried himself?