Blood Brothers- Mrs Lyons Dana Fey 11B1

What we know already Mrs Lyons is the spoilt housewife of a successful, rich business man. Although wealthy, Mr Lyons showed little kindness or affection towards his wife due to his busy schedule. Mr and Mrs Lyon is desperate to have children and start a family but is unable to. But when the news breaks that Mrs Johnston is having twins she cant help but strike at the opportunity to take one of the children. When finally faced with having one of the children she becomes very selfish and stops Mrs Johnston from seeing the child. As the play progresses she slowly begins alienating herself from the world and taking Edward with her. Taking on Edward makes her even more paranoid as she is afraid of someone telling him the truth. As a result of this paranoia she tried to attack Mrs Johnston

Mrs Lyons influence on the story Overall Mrs Lyons has a bad influence in the play. She influences the story by manipulating Mrs Johnston in to thinking she could give one of her babies a better life. This creates the entire base line of the whole story. She does this by using her place in the hierarchy of society and her wealth as way of showing all the benefits she can give to her unborn child. She makes her point stronger by saying “You’ll be able to see him everyday as you came to work”. Giving her a peace of mind. Then when the children were born and one was given to Mrs Lyons she then grew greedy towards Edward and fired Mrs Johnston from her job so she had no contact with him. Making the upbringing of Mickey a lot harder since he wasn’t able to access as many opportunities as Edward due to the lack of income. Then further on in the play you see Mrs Lyons try to attack Mrs Johnston as a result of paranoia. The paranoia is driven by her need to keep the illusion that Edward is her son.

My interpretation of mrs lyons: I think Mrs Lyons is lonely, especially with her husband working all the time away from home. So as a result of loneliness she tends to spoil herself with expensive purchases bought with her husbands money. But what I think that what Mrs Lyons really desires is love and affection like a child's unconditional love for their mother. But unable to have children of her own and with her husband against the idea of adoption she is forced to take drastic measures. She is a very manipulative character and she uses her wealthy lifestyle to get what she wants. She shows throughout the play that she is a very selfish character especially when it comes to Edward and that she is willing to do anything to get her own way.

Willy Russell’s ideal behind mrs lyons I think Willy Russell created the character Mrs Lyons to show that money can’t buy us everything. I think he also taught us not to be selfish and manipulative because it can drive us in to madness. Also through Mrs Lyons he showed us to except our fate instead force it because some things aren’t meant to be and if you force it can take a turn for the worst.

Any Questions…