This one selection from the play touches on one of the ideas that I happened to find the most interesting; Warren's loathing of her own brother's patriotic ways. Throughout The Group, Mercy preaches the importance of gaining freedom and escaping British oppression. She details the Sons of Liberty and their pursuit of freedem and attempts to persuade her readers that they, in fact, are doing absolutely nothing wrong. It can easily be understood that her purpose in composing the play was to hopefully convince Britain to hault, or at least decrease, their oppressive ways. Towards the end of the selection from Act II, Scene iii, it is quite obvious that Mercy is very patriotic herself. She rages about how she is unforgiving and phrases such as, "To equal liberty, conferred on man..." easily make her cause apparent.
One of the very first things that is addressed in this portion of the play is her brother, Brutus, and his stand against the Tory cause. From previous reading, one would assume that she would not only be proud of her brother, but also support him; however, that certainly appears not to be the case. Her use of diction around these lines pushes her point even further. Warren doesn't simply say that she "disapproved," "disliked," or "did not support" her brother, she felt it best to say she "hated" Brutus." I feel as though "hate" is one of the strongest words available to show dislike or even loathing. Yet, in the next breath, she is proclaiming his stand as "noble," thus acknowledging that it was loyal and most likely the best thing to do. I got the impression that, in Mercy's eyes, it would have been the right thing to do for anyone who wasn't her brother. Due to previous knowledge, we know that "Brutus" was Mercy's brother who resisted the Tory sympathizers and was brutally beat for it. This really swayed my opinion of Mercy and almost made me believe that, although she believed in her cause, she felt best to hide behind her words and the pages of her play. She supported the fight against the Tory's, and even felt strongly enough to write about it; however, when it came down to it, she really wasn't willing to sacrifice her own, or her loved one's, well being. I honestly believe she meant well; but, then again I have to question just how much she believed in her cause if she wasn't willing to allow herself, or her brother, to take a physical stand of resistance.
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Jennifer,
You've done a good job of close reading and attending to the diction of the passage, but remember that the character (Meagre) doesn't always voice the author's (Warren) view. Your idea that Warren supported sacrifice for the revolution in theory but not in practice, at least not when it was her own brother who was being sacrificed, is very interesting. Did you see other evidence in the play for this claim?
Kelly
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