How Brian Clark avoids Senintimentality in Whose life is it Anyway Essa

‘Whose life is it anyway?’ follows the story of ‘Ken Harrison’, a man who tries to exercise a choice over his own life or death after being completely paralysed from the head down. Harrison received these horrific injuries after being involved in a car accident 4 months before the story starts. He is now in constant care within the hospitals walls being treated and cared for by the medical profession. The play centres on Harrison’s determination to exercise a choice over his own life or death with the medical bureaucracy fiercely opposing. The play leads as he takes the medical staff to court to try and exercise this right officially. This play is seemingly unsentimental in which Harrison responds to his plight with wit and clarity and argues his case with power and persuasion. As this play focuses on ones mans wish to die and the issue of euthanasia we as the audience would expect the play to be very emotional. With the storyline, Clark could have easily made this play the opposite of what it actually is, powerful and fast moving. As Harrison had been though such a terrible ordeal we would expect him to be full of self pity and self indulgence and therefore make the play emotional and miserable. Ken is first seen in Act 1, the first impression he makes on the reader is one of a happy and untroubled man. ‘I used to dream of situations like this†¦ lying on a bed being massaged by two beautiful women.’ This is the first of many comical references Ken makes throughout the play, this is a very strong tool that Clarke uses to avoid sentimentality in his play. It shows that Ken isn’t self indulgent but rather making the best out of his current situation. He is expressing how he feels in the form of humour. This is less emotional than s... ...as purposely avoided. To asses how successful Clarke has been in bringing this serious issue to life we first need to consider our own right to personal choice. Clark has made it very obvious that our own personal choice can sometimes be defied by something as small as the medical bureaucracy. However he has also showed us that with determination, wit and clarity we can argue our right to make our own personal choice. Euthanasia is untimely a very sad issue which is normally dealt with sympathy and self indulgence, Clarke has brought this issue to life and has handled it exceptionally well, he has shown both the comical and sad sides to the debate without showing bias to any side. He has successfully avoided sentimentality in his play by using many different narrative tools such as comedy and rationality and has in the end stopped the play becoming over emotional.