Ratcatcher in Kindertransport free essay sample

The character of the Ratcatcher plays an important role in the play â€Å"Kindertransport† by Diane Samuels, not just as an antagonist but as a vital symbol in the play’s context. During these pages, Eva’s mother, Helga is reading Eva’s favorite book about the pied piper of Hamlin. But also, during this scene there is cross cutting between Helga reading the book and Faith (Evelyn’s Daughter) also reading the same book, but in a different setting. The Ratcatcher in this scene is portrayed as an evil and dark mysterious figure, whose ultimate plan is not immediately recognised, but towards the end of the scene, the Ratcatcher is the embodiment and symbol of separation, as the scene moves into another short scene which depicts Eva finally on the Kindertransport leaving her family and heading for a new life in England. This scene also depicts some actual accounts of the Kindertransport, as some children and parents alike thought that living in England would only be a short term arrangement as Eva states ‘see you in England’. We will write a custom essay sample on Ratcatcher in Kindertransport or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This is also dramatic irony as the audience knows that not all children were reunited with their families. Throughout the plot of â€Å"Kindertransport†, the Ratcatcher takes the form of other characters in the play, such as the Nazi guard on the train. In this scene, Eva is sitting on the train too petrified to move. This is ironic as the Ratcatcher is the personification of Evelyn/Eva’s fear and at that moment in the play, the audience would expect that a child of Eva’s age would be scared about leaving their family behind. The stage directions in this scene describe the emotion of Eva as being terrified and scared. This scene also shows what the Nazi supporters thought of the Jews as being scum as the officer takes Eva’s luggage and dumps it all on the train floor and draws a huge Star of David on her label. He also throws a sweet for Eva on the floor showing that he thinks he is of a higher standard than the Jewish children. The third time that the Ratcatcher appears in the play is when Eva has arrived in England and is being held in a sort of hostel. But in this scene, the Ratcatcher is not as terrifying to Eva as in the previous scenes. However in this scene the Ratcatcher is a bearer of bad news as he has told Eva her English family have not arrived. This is also dramatic irony as many people who are in the audience will know that some of the children aboard the Kindertransport did not get homes or the homes the children did find were not emotionally friendly. Another character that the Ratcatcher possesses is the postman. Now the postman is a character which embodies the views of most English people at the time, as many people where disrespectful or unaware of the backgrounds the children came from. An example of this is when the postman makes Eva salute Hitler. However, Eva is unaware what the postman is doing to her but still she plays along to what the man says. There is also another example of dramatic irony here as the postman says â€Å"thought he’d (Hitler) done wonderful things for your country†. But as the audience are aware Hitler was a mass murderer. The last character that the Ratcatcher embodies during the play is the train station guard. This character mainly embodies the suspicious views that Britons had about the German population, but he also shares traits with the postman. During this scene, the Ratcatcher is the full embodiment of Eva’s fear of being deported from her new found country. This scene contains a lot of interrogatives. This is a comparison between this and actual interrogations that the Nazi’s did on the Jewish people. In conclusion, the Ratcatcher is an omnipresent antagonist throughout the play. He embodies characters that have different social views based upon people’s thoughts and feelings of that time. He is Eva/Evelyn’s fear of separation and loss.