Angels in America

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Angels in America
Angels in America is a play that was written by Tony Kushner. It was performed in theaters in 1991and made into a miniseries in 2003 starring some great Hollywood names that included Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. The play is not only enthralling, but it is also entertaining and very educative. It focuses on real issues such as the scourge that is HIV/AIDS, societal reactions to homosexual relationships and ethics at the workplace. At the time of its release, society was not as accommodating as it is today in matters of sexual orientation and life-threatening diseases. The following paper will highlight the issues that the play focuses on and how society treats real life individuals who are represented in the play.
After reading the play and watching the mini-series, I was filled with a profound sense of anguish, pity, and sadness. The biggest of the three emotions was anguish. I felt annoyed that characters such as Roy Cohn exist in real life. He represents a particular group of individuals who believe they are above everyone else. To him and people like him, some lifestyles such as gayism are responsible for terminal diseases such as HIV. His arrogance is portrayed when he tells his doctor that the virus is only for the gay and there was no way he could contract it. Instead, he refers to it as “liver cancer.” He also epitomizes unethical behavior in the office and will do anything he wants. He even confesses to having been involved in the execution of Ethel Rosenberg.

Reading the play also filled me with sadness. This is because it is clear that people are still segregated based on their sexual orientation. This is despite the freedoms that the US Constitution guarantees. Further, as long as an individual’s lifestyle does not interfere with another person’s freedom, then who is anyone to judge how they live. Being a gay or a lesbian is a choice and as long as that choice makes people happy, then so be it. The fact that men or women still choose to hide behind marriages and conceal their true feelings shows just how much people are afraid of the society. Joe was married to Harper for a long time, and it was only after his chance encounter with Louis that he truly discovered who he was and what he felt. His mother, who believes that being gay is “ridiculous,” represents the society.
On the other hand, my heart went out to characters like Harper and Prior. Throughout the course of the play, they had to endure significant heartbreak and stigma due to circumstances. Joe, who was Harper’s husband for an extended period discovers he is gay and this breaks Harper’s heart. It is only natural that Harper would feel that way given the time they had spent together. Luckily for her, Joe’s mother comes to comfort her after she sells her house. Prior, on the other hand, has been diagnosed with HIV. Such a diagnosis comes with a severe stigma, and even his partner Louis grows weary of taking care of him once he meets Joe. However, he does find some comfort in the unlikeliest of sources which is Harper.
In summary, I believe that the play was well written and tackled real issues. The concepts explored by the playwright include ethics, HIV/AIDS, marriage, and homosexuality. He did a magnificent job in depicting almost all kinds of characters in the play that are seen in the day-to-day life. It is an enjoyable novel that all should aspire to read.