“Angels in America” is a play written by Tony Kushner. This play is a gay fantasia that portrays the lives of and problems 5 homosexual men have had to face with the public and with each other during the Cold War era when homosexuals were not welcomed. Roy Cohn, who is a character in the play, is a lawyer who denies being a homosexual and had contracted a HIV that has put him in the hospital. Roy has occasional interactions with a ghost of someone whom he had gotten killed in the past, Ethel Rosenberg. Kushner’s use of Ethel Rosenberg in his fantasia as a ghost who isn’t necessarily haunting but just appearing when Roy is in pain helps develop the key theme about denial in the play and shows the readers another viewpoint of Ethel than the one people knew and how she had changed Roy.
Ethel Rosenberg has …show more content…
They were under trial for their crimes but the judge had been persuaded by Roy who imposed that the death penalty is the only valid punishment that they deserved. Roy is portrayed as malicious, selfish man that only ever cares for himself and never for others. Roy hates people that have no power in society that is why he is a lawyer since he has the power to do things that others cannot. Roy has a sexual preference of men but he doesn’t call himself a homosexual. “Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks around with guys.”(1.9.118-121).Since homosexuals had no significance in the 1900s, he did not want to be considered one of them. Roy was in denial of the truth with the fear knowing that if it goes public, he will lose all his power. Women were also considered as merely housewives and nothing had no place in the social ladder of power but for a women to do something big such as Ethel Rosenberg, it would be considered being non-womanly for women in their time and some to call her a traitor to women. Since Roy
Ethel Rosenberg has …show more content…
They were under trial for their crimes but the judge had been persuaded by Roy who imposed that the death penalty is the only valid punishment that they deserved. Roy is portrayed as malicious, selfish man that only ever cares for himself and never for others. Roy hates people that have no power in society that is why he is a lawyer since he has the power to do things that others cannot. Roy has a sexual preference of men but he doesn’t call himself a homosexual. “Roy Cohn is a heterosexual man, Henry, who fucks around with guys.”(1.9.118-121).Since homosexuals had no significance in the 1900s, he did not want to be considered one of them. Roy was in denial of the truth with the fear knowing that if it goes public, he will lose all his power. Women were also considered as merely housewives and nothing had no place in the social ladder of power but for a women to do something big such as Ethel Rosenberg, it would be considered being non-womanly for women in their time and some to call her a traitor to women. Since Roy