Glengarry Glen Ross

The absence of women in Glengarry Glen Ross is something that most people don’t particularly take notice of at first. Its one of those things that you might think about while you’re watching the movie but you don’t really stop to think about it until after you’ve watched it. In my case, after I watched it the first time, when I went back and thought of the movie, I honestly thought that because of the things that happen due to the women in the play or movie, they were in there and I just couldn’t remember them. Now obviously, that isn’t the case. True enough, they do influence the happenings of the movie but they do it without actually being in the movie itself. You could look at this one of two ways. The first being that Mamet is showing his sexist attitude and purposely leaving women out of this film. The other way to look at this is by thinking that he is showing the audience the power that women have over men. Almost like he is paying homage to them.

The fact remains that it is because of the women that the dramatic events unfurl in this story. Without each of them, this story would not have been possible. If it hadn’t been for Levene’s daughter, he never would have been desperate enough to steal those leads. It also seemed to me that Levene ended up being the most influenced by the women in the play. First with his daughter, then with the “ex,” then with Mrs. Nyborg, and finally by Mrs. Lingk. Truly, the only other man affected by a women would be Roma and even that interaction isn’t as bad as it could be or as bad as Levene’s. In his case he only loses a sale which in turn loses him a car as opposed to Levene who ends up being arrested for his troubles.

If you think of the role of women in this movie as a sort of “guiding hand” it makes it easier to see how the events of those men are affected. As for the women themselves, they never really do anything is so major that it is plot changing. They simply say something or do something that in turn causes a ripple effect throughout the rest of the characters. Lingk’s wife is perfect example. She tells him that he can’t buy the land so he goes down to the office to cancel the deal. Just from this one action, the rest of the character’s lives are changed. Levene is sent to jail, Roma loses his car, Moss we don’t ever learn what happens to but we assume he is arrested too, and Aaronow, we don’t really learn what happens to him, but he and Roma get a bite to eat and we hope for the best because he was the only decent character in the whole movie. As I said earlier, it is a lot easier to think of the role of the women as a invisible hand because truthfully, that what it is.