Gender and Authority in Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom (1976)

This article gives a feminist examination of Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom (1976). This play is in reality, Churchill’s feminist lens through which the playwright offers an account of interactions of gender and authority via the 17th-century witchcraft trials in England from a distinctly feminist standpoint. It is – as a research article – a freshly developed consideration of that age that might build a different sort of history to the authorized male-made. In a significant way, part from this article, is to assess Churchill’s in terms of form and substance. The dramatist personifies revolutionary ideas presented in a fresh and original way. She majorly concentrates on the female-subjective status via her dramatic depiction and also builds a new women’s portrayal through the eyes of women instead of men. Janelle Reinelt (1989)’s feminist theory and the problem of performance is adopted to set a focus on two major concepts, namely gender and class. The subject of Vinegar Tom deals with extremely sensitive themes such, subjugation of women within a masculine society, rights, gender formation, women identity and sexual orientations. Such controversial issues are depicted via the employment of several inventive instruments and approaches. The majority of Churchill’s use of theatrical elements consists of doubling, monologues, music, and songs. Taking everything into consideration, this article searches in Churchill’s Vinegar Tom dramatically, theatrically, and historically. Using a variety of theatrical approaches to historical reconstruction, it portrays Churchill as a self-identified socialist feminist.


Gender and Authority in Caryl Churchill's Vinegar Tom (1976)
A B S T R U C T This article gives a feminist examination of Caryl Churchill's Vinegar Tom (1976). This play is in reality, Churchill's feminist lens through which the playwright offers an account of interactions of gender and authority via the 17th-century witchcraft trials in England from a distinctly feminist standpoint. It isas a research articlea freshly developed consideration of that age that might build a different sort of history to the authorized male-made. In a significant way, part from this article, is to assess Churchill's in terms of form and substance. The dramatist personifies revolutionary ideas presented in a fresh and original way. She majorly concentrates on the female-subjective status via her dramatic depiction and also builds a new women's portrayal through the eyes of women instead of men. Janelle Reinelt (1989)'s feminist theory and the problem of performance is adopted to set a focus on two major concepts, namely gender and class. The subject of Vinegar Tom deals with extremely sensitive themes such, subjugation of women within a masculine society, rights, gender formation, women identity and sexual orientations. Such controversial issues are depicted via the employment of several inventive instruments and approaches. The majority of Churchill's use of theatrical elements consists of doubling, monologues, music, and songs. Taking everything into consideration, this article searches in Churchill's Vinegar Tom dramatically, theatrically, and historically. Using a variety of theatrical approaches to historical reconstruction, it portrays Churchill as a self-identified socialist feminist.

Introduction
Historiography preoccupies the feminist academicians and dramatists' imaginations. It is deemed of more significance as to undergo reexamination, rereading, and re-vision of historiographical issue(s), that is known as the philosophy of historical techniques. It might also refer to the act of creating historical events. In her article, Janelle Reinelt (2000) discusses Second-Wave Feminist scholars' contribution in the process of creating history, saying that: "At Oxford, women formed a group and challenged male hegemony with regard to the production of history" (p:21).

Literature Review
Vinegar Tom is about a 17th-century English village featuring working-families' community of women "in which economic disparities combine with random misfortune to produce a witch hunt." (Kritzer, 1991, 87). A location by which even a faultless deed might be considered a fault  Such claims show how patriarchy, class, and gender are interconnected. This chapter investigates further. The word 'stereotype' will emphasize that these witches are not real but are labelled as such by patriarchy and capitalism.
Rewriting history challenges the male-dominated narrative. These academicians even prefer "herstory" over 'history.' Feminist playwrights like Caryl Churchill find 'herstory' inspiring. Nevertheless, feminist scholars do not restrict themselves to the community arena and the past records of women who held prominent positions; rather, they expand the histories to encompass Reinelt (2000) states that, "Personal, subjective experiences, domestic sphere activities and practices of reproduction and kinship systems are central to historical investigation" (p:21). For instance, the body of work that Churchill produced is reflective, in some manner, of the many features of feminist historiographical studies. Vinegar Tom, which was published in 1976, delves into topics such as gender roles, power dynamics, and the history of witch trials involving women in England. Caryl Churchill is the author of this play, which is significant since it provides as an example. In it, Churchill portrays the formation of women's identities through the wars and crises that occurred in England during the 17 th century. In this context, Churchill is meant to represent everyday women rather than historical personalities. Churchill used the technique of dramaturgy in order to reevaluate history in service of a definite goal. Such a goal is proved as Helene Keyssar (1984) argues that Churchill prefers to concentrate on women's concerns. This objective is demonstrated "challenge perceptions of rigid distinctions between men and women" (p:178). The assertions made by Churchill call into question the maledominated notions such as women's inability to historically record other women's stories.
Such an important remark to be noted us that the significance of the word 'make' in this context.
Men are the ones that 'make' historical events like wars, revolutions, and the social and legal systems that govern institutions, which ultimately become known as history. On the other hand, considering that females do not take part in any of these activities, it is not surprising that they are never given their deserved recognition. As for Parson's standpoint, who is prejudiced towards men. For Apetrei (2007: 19): "A reading of the seventeenth-century 'feminists' brings us right to the heart of that encounter. We find them struggling, within the limits of early modern theological discourse, to relieve the tension between the open heaven of their spiritual and intellectual experience and the narrowness of their horizons as early modern women. Out of this struggle emerged a remarkable critique of women's subordination. What is challenging about these women, however, is not merely that they were politically confrontational or that they transgressed cultural boundaries." Writers who are getting on in years have the opportunity to do a Caryl Churchill and reinvent themselves. The majority of contemporary playwrights are female. The notion that female writers are underappreciated is no longer prevalent. For instance, the Soho Theatre Company produced only plays written by women all of last year. This was not done as part of a plan; rather, it was done because those were the best pieces the company had. The young writer of the year has the emotional force and a sensibility of the 1990s. There are a lot of women that write, but in the middle of the 1990s, the classic genre was dominated by males such as the boyish play.
That was partially a reaction towards masculinity, and somewhat a reply in contrast to the feminist writers during the eighties. (Aragay, et al, 2007:146). According to Eckert & McConnell-Ginet (2013) the term gender is defined as: "is embedded so thoroughly in our institutions, our actions, our beliefs, and our desires, that it appears to us to be completely natural. The world swarms with ideas about genderand these ideas are so commonplace that we take it for granted that they are true, accepting common adage as scientific fact. As scholars and researchers, though, it is our job to look beyond what appears to be common sense to find not simply what truth might be behind it, but how it came to be common sense." (p:1)

Methodology
For analyzing this paly, Janelle Reinelt (1989)'s feminist theory and the problem of performance is adopted to set a focus on two major concepts, namely gender and class. The patriarchal issues of western thought are used to demonstrate the intertwining patriarchy with gender in analyzing the play. Terms like these are seen as the reason why women are oppressed, since men being of authority have power over the opposite sex (women). This male dominance makes women feel inferior. People think that gender also refers to the power that men have over other groups in a society where men are in charge. In a gendered society, problems related to men and manhood are given more attention than problems related to women and femininity. As a result, women are always at a disadvantage and are victims compared to men. (

Churchill Caryl (1938 -onwards)
Caryl Churchill is a dare writer who takes on the politics of sexuality. She put on the first performance of Downstairs in 1958 while she was studying English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. She wrote drama for radio, TV, and the stage. Her settings were straight and difficult, and her humour was biting. In her early 30s, when she was raising her children, she pushed the best women playwrights of England with her strong feminism. She did this starting with the teleplay 'The Judge's Wife', that became a widow who exhibited sympathy for her. In Owners,   Since that time, she has been forced to write or perform in a society in which her ideal of more democratization and equality is gradually becoming impossible. This has made it difficult for her to realize her vision.

Characteristic of Churchill's Playwriting in The 1990s
Caryl Churchill gives listeners a stern speech on the perils of capitalism in the late 20th century.
Within this dramatic setting, the lives of women are most likely to be put in jeopardy and destroyed. In a social and cultural economy that places a higher value on manufacturing than reproduction, her feminist critique focuses on the bonds between mothers and their children.
Churchill's mother opposition is examined in the 1991 restoration of Top Girls and The Skriker, which both provide evidence in favour of this claim. (1994). Churchill discusses the break between personal satisfaction and society and politics obligations in both Blue Heart (1997) and Far Away (2000). Both books were written by Churchill. (Aston, 2003) The seriocomic experimental play Cloud Nine (1979), which is about shifting cultural expectations for female sexuality, is becoming increasingly popular on both sides of the Atlantic.
Betty, a dedicated housewife who is represented by males, has a repetitive rhyming pattern in her speech. Betty asserts that she is a creation of man and that she rejects natural will in favour of "what men want." (Churchill, 1995, p. 1). Her robotic behaviour brings to mind Nora Helmer's infantile responses and folkloric dancing for Torvald in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Nora Helmer's character was written by Henrik Ibsen. (1879). (Churchill, 1979).
After that, in 1982, Churchill directed the topical drama Top Girls, which won the Obie Award for Best Drama and was about the societal and emotional repercussions of a competitive woman's climb to money and authority. The first scene of the play is a spoof on Plato's all-male symposia, and it is a fantasy feast scene. The heroine, Marlene, who has just been promoted to be the head of an occupation agency, finds herself in a difficult situation as a consequence of the decisions that domesticity forces upon her. (Fletcher, 2001). She has found that surrounding oneself with voices from the past provides her with the steadiness she seeks. The infamous Pope Joan, the Japanese courtesan Nijo, Geoffrey Chaucer's patient Griselda, and Dulle Gret, a character from a painting by Breughel, are all seated at the table. Gret visualises the Hellmouth paintings from the Middle Ages, which depict a scene that encapsulates the unavoidable perspective that is shared by all women: "We come into Hell through a big mouth." (Churchill, 1982: Top Girls, Act I: 27-28).

Churchill pointed out that Top Girls is a reflection on the techniques and perspective of Margaret
Thatcher, one of Britain's former prime ministers. Thatcher contributed to the continuation of the male-dominated authority as she has neglected the demands of women and by impeding the woman-engineered collectivism by which women were the main promoters. Churchill pointed 1000 out that the play is a criticism on her methods and view. (Kolbenschlag, 1988

Churchill's Vinegar Tom (1979)
This study analyzes Churchill's Vinegar Tom's themes and methods. Vinegar Tom is set in 17thcentury England. Churchill clearly uses history to address current social and political challenges.
The author, like many female playwrights that revise history, is greatly inspired by Bertolt Brecht (1976)   1002 theory that witchcraft existed in the minds of its persecutors, that "witches were a scapegoat in times of stress like Jews and blacks" (Churchill, 1985:129).
Churchill considers "witchcraft" as a fable fabricated by its persecutors. She even compares witches to women. She thinks patriarchy's "witches" are women. She also "discovered for the first time the extent of Christian teaching against women and saw the connections between medieval attitudes to witches and the continuing attitudes to women in general" (Churchill, 1985:129). Churchill utilizes history to represent modern women's socioeconomic predicament.
The drama takes place in 17th-century England. The drama is not historically-based event. Churchill (1985) claims that she: "didn't base the play on any precise historical events, but set it rather loosely in the seventeenth century, partly because it was the time of the last major English witch-hunts and partly because the social upheavals, class changes, rising professionalism and great hardship among the poor were the context of the kind of witch-hunt [she] wanted to write about…" (130). This is due to the play is based on a real event, many reviewers consider it a historical record of what women have been through and still on.
Churchill's play exhibits his form and structural innovation. It has 21 scenes. All save the final scene are set in 17th-century England. Seven modern-dressed singers perform. In this drama, Churchill portrays history in a unique way. In Feminism and Theatre, Gillian Hanna and Hulton (1978) explain why a new drama structure is needed: "We had a very real feeling that we didn't want to allow the audience to get off the hook by regarding it as a period piece, a piece of very interesting history. Now a lot of people felt their intelligence was affronted by that … [however] I believe that the simple telling of the historical story, say, is not enough" (p:10). 1003 This is again shows Churchill's response to reality and good plays as they exhibit Churchill's and other playwrights' views of women are suffering from because of the oppression caused by males.
Churchill's play Vinegar Tom combines gender and power in 17th-century England. The play's history of women's marginalization is fascinating. Thus, it concerns both past and present women. It was a 1970s British shout against gender bias. Churchill's depiction of 17th-century English witchcraft trials highlights women's oppression throughout history. Churchill attacks patriarchy in all its guises in this drama. Although women's subordination is cultural and context-specific, it is universal and appears to continue forever. Churchill compares 17 th century ladies to 1970s English women to show the universality of pain and persecution. Churchill As a drama, it deconstructs women's enslavement to males while addressing economic concerns.
Through her unique framework, she controls time. She establishes her female characters as subjects and gives them distinct identities by manipulating time.
Vinegar Tom calls women witches for defying patriarchy. These ladies lack money, riches, education, property, etc. Poverty hurts them. Their subordination is mostly due to their financial situation. Two of four women are hung because they are poor, with a low matrimonial status, age, and unorthodox sexuality. The final song shows how the four purported witches affected 1970s English women, Lament for the Witches, which is found in Scene XX. The song is spoken to the audience to: "Look in the mirror tonight. Would they have hanged you then? As how they are stopping you now. Where have the witches gone? Who are the witches now? Ask how they are stopping you now. Here we are." (Churchill,1985:176)  1004 Particularly, such a song, pushes women audience to contemplate matters that they encounter during the seventies in Britain.
Second Wave Feminism addresses these issues in detail: property ownership, low-paid works, gender roles of women as professions rather than workers, education, birth control and abortion

Churchill's Vinegar Tom (1976) and Gender Politics
Alice loves sex with any male she likes. She has an illegitimate kid and is uninterested in marriage. She continuously opposes society's sexual roles for women. She had sex with a stranger in the first scene and does not seem to care when the guy asks her about her guilt: Man: So you think that was no sin we did? The "Man's response to Alice's plea reflects his patriarchal upbringing. Churchill's unidentified guy embodies any patriarch's response, proving the point. Susan informs Alice that her local reputation as a prostitute is similar., "no one's going to marry you because they know you here" (p:147). Thus, society echoed her denunciation of patriarchy and its gender norms. Her unusual sex views have earned her the moniker "whore." Jack accuses Alice of bewitching his sexual organ after failing to seduce her. Jack, sexually unsatisfied after three months without sex with his wife due to erectile dysfunction, approaches Alice, who even in dreams can stimulate him, and demands sex. He even bribes her with apples and money Alice really needs. After being rejected, he accuses her of being witch. Awkwardly, Susan falsely accuses Alice of witchcraft to protect herself from the witch hunters. Susan was tortured and imprisoned for seeing and aiding Alice's witchcraft. Poor housewife Susan. She gets 3 children and multiple failures. Though her well-being is terrible, her spouse makes her pregnant every year. Susan's situation shows her spouse views her as an item. She can only submit to her spouse and procreate in society.
Yet, Susan does not complaint against her spouse as "he doesn't beat" (p:147). She sees herself as better than Alice, a "whore" with little hope of marriage. Again, patriarchy has used marriage to victimize women to survive. Women do not recognize this and control other women, reinforcing patriarchy. Susan's words don't affect Alice. Instead, she faces arguments and brings her to Ellen, the herbal healer to "be rid of it" (p:155).
Susan's abortion is denounced. She feels terrible for breaking maternal norms. In reality, Packer, the witch finder, convinced Susan of witchcraft: "you went to this good witch, and you destroyed the child in your womb by witchcraft" (p:167). The patriarchies thrive to force Susan to confess: "I was a witch and never knew it... I didn't know that I was so wicked" (p:174). Thus, Susan yields to male-imposed evil that women cannot protect their bodies. Blaming both Ellen and Alice for her 'sin' of drinking herbal medicine. Thus, Susan symbolizes defenseless women undergoing being ignored and patriarchally dominance by men. Working-class midwife Ellen "earns her own living outside of the monetary system and worked outside the sanctioned medical/male establishment" (Reinelt, 1985: 32). She has shunned for her single-mother income. She is accused of witchcraft for helping women flee bad circumstances.
Her charge shows that society dislikes her as a lone woman working outside patriarchal income standards. She defies the monetary-based socio-economic system by asking for tiny presents instead of getting paid money for her works. Her counsel to Betty, the wealthy landowner's daughter of and the only stayer of the witch-hunting, to get married reveals the difficulty of living under patriarchy. Betty's counsel: Ellen is not a witch who harms others. She is a flesh-and-bones lady who cares about others.
Susan chose to terminate her kid. Ellen just assisted Susan escape her suffering and illness.
Nevertheless, she is tormented, humiliated, and hung in a public plaza.
Betty, the daughter of the landowner, avoids this catastrophe partly because she is part of the upper-middle class and partly because she marries and accepts the traditional position of women.
Betty was first portrayed as a rebellious girl. She refuses her parents' request to marry a wealthy guy and wanders the hamlet at night. Her parents consider her isolation crazy. Betty says: "Why am I tied? Tied to be bled. Why am I bled? Because I was screaming. Why was I screaming? Because I'm bad. Why was I bad? Because I was happy. Why was I happy? Because I ran out by myself and got away from them-and Why was I screaming? Because I'm bad, Why am I bad? Because I'm tied. Why am I tied? Because I was happy. Why I was happy? Because I was screaming." (149) Betty's statements indicate her condition's inevitability. She tries to escape but fails. Her parents restrict her. Instead, she is treated as a hysteric by a male doctor who tortures her into accepting the forced marriage. Betty regularly flees her residence to Ellen's. She eventually gave up to the patriarchal agents for fear of being suspected of witchcraft.: "I'm frightened to come anymore.

Conclusion
Vinegar Tom (1976) highlights how patriarchy limits women's independence. Women must conform to stereotypes, and any divergence is penalized. They are thieves, prostitutes, forced to confess, depressed, or shackled to bleed. If this fails, women are suspected of being witches and allotted to witch finders, patriarchal operatives established to torment unusual women, and executed. Thus, Vinegar Tom highlights the authority dynamics in male-dominated civilizations that drive women to adopt marginal gender roles and identities. Women who leave this community are shunned and punished. These feminist ideals may seem outdated to modern audiences, but they force them to rethink their power relations and body control. Theatrical representations of plays like Vinegar Tom empower women by creating new venues for them to discuss their bodies and sexuality. Feminist theatre may aim towards this. The feminist theatre RC (Raising Consciousness) Project matches the show perfectly.