Jack Frost: A Chartist Play in Five Acts (1841)
What is significant about the date of composition—that is, where in the trajectory of the fate of the Charter and Chartism does it appear?
According to the introduction, what marks this play as unusual among Chartist plays?
What are some plot elements that are paralleled in John Watkins’ life?
What purpose is served by the prologue and epilogue? Do these deliver the same message? (prologue advocates an uprising; epilogue suggests support for the Charter--seems less violent)
To what conceptions of Britishness does the play appeal?
What is the effect of placing the epilogue directly after the prologue rather than at the conclusion of the play?
What are some allegorical touches in the play? (Utopian, teetotaler and Chartist combine)
Are the names of Frost’s children significant? (Britannia will carry on his mission; Henry named after British sovereign) The name of Parson Coal?
What function does religion serve in the play--both official religion and Jack Frost's own views?
For what purpose is biblical language used? Are there resemblances between Jack Frost and the historical Jesus? (sacrificed for the good of the people)
Does this play reflect Watkins' reading of Shakespeare?
Is blank verse an appropriate medium for the drama? How are stock or representative characters used to make points? (middleman, lawyer, parson, teetotaler, utopian)
What are some political messages conveyed by the play, and what do we learn about the Charter? (greed and heedlessness of employers, need for combination) Do these messages agree with Marx's views in the Communist Manifesto published later in the same decade?
What purpose is served by choosing as a hero someone endowed with education and fortune? (132-33; Aristotelian fall from high to low) Is it significant that he himself does not advocate violence, and that he seeks to educate others?
Do you think that in this context he is an ideal leader?
How do the working-class leaders Albion and Shell differ from Frost in their views and actions? (eager for action, Shell wishes for vengeance--136) How do these reflect divisions in the Chartist movement at the time?
What is the fate of the more impulsive working-class leaders? (Shell is killed)
What purpose is served by the use of blank verse throughout?
What tensions in family life are presented, and what significance are they given? (Frost must overcome opposition within his own family)
What is the significance of the final reconciliation scene between Jack Frost and his wife?
To what code of manliness does this play appeal? Are there inherent tensions in presenting the Chartist leader as entirely resolute and also as a loving family man?
Is the manner in which Frost is captured significant? (a bounty on him, betrayed)
Are there any comforting aspects to the ending? (daughter Britannia will carry on his ideals; Henry decides to support the cause; the bystander Neutral resolves to support his fellow working-people)
Does the play end well? Is it dramatically appropriate that Frost be exiled rather than hung?
What seems its final messages or warnings? Do you think its audience would have been inspired to carry on the Chartist cause or to avoid the dangers which have destroyed its protagonist and other revolutionaries?
Is this play successfully dramatic? Appropriate for its purpose? (provides Chartists with a history and asserted ideals, publicizes the cause)