Crichton An Aristocrat in Heart

James Matthew Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright. He is one of the very few modern dramatists who began to write plays to portray real people whom he loved. He wrote several successful novels and plays in his lifetime. The Admirable Crichton is an example. It’s a social satire about an aristocratic family and their butler who are isolated on a tropical island. Crichton, the butler, is wiser and more experienced than his employers so he is the way of their survival. What makes this work impressive is the way Barrie chooses to write, using the ideas of hegemony and the master-slave relationship. Gramsci believes that the ruling class maintains its dominance over society through Coercion and Consent (hegemony). He states that through hegemony, the ruling class uses certain norms and values to persuade the subordinate class that its rule is legitimate. His theory of ‘cultural hegemony’ explains how states use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies. This study tries to shed some light upon the idea of hegemony in the play and the way it can manipulate people like Crichton. By using this type of analysis, we can view that Barrie has his way of reflecting the English society which is constructed through the power and domination of a group over others.