Oleanna

by

David Mamet

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Oleanna: Act 3 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
John and Carol are seated in his office once again. John says that he has asked Carol here against his better judgement, and she admits that she was “most surprised” he asked her to come, and can leave at any time. John asks her to stay, and wants to know if they can “begin correctly.” Carol says that that’s what she wants to do, too, but now feels uncomfortable. John insists he’s grateful that Carol has come, and begs her to “hear [him] out.” Carol says that the “court officers” told her not to come, and she begins collecting her things—she is clearly having second thoughts.
The power dynamics have shifted even further, and taken on stranger, more complex configurations. John seems more desperate and defeated than ever—and yet Carol is not fully in control, and seems dogged by the same self-doubt and uncertainty she felt in the first act. This new dynamic shows that power is not as clear-cut as it seems to be, and suggests that things are on the verge of yet another shift.
Themes
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Carol stands up to leave, but John asks her calmly to stay. He tells her that if she will just hear him out, he will be “in [her] debt.” Carol asks what John wants to tell her. He shuffles some papers at his desk, and says that after reading “these accusations,” he feels he owes Carol an apology. Carol tells John that the events listed in the documents on his desk are “facts,” not accusations. The phone begins to ring. Carol reminds John that the tenure committee has found her accusations to be factual. John shouts “ALL RIGHT” and picks up the phone. He tells whoever is on the other end that he will call back later, but cannot talk right now.
John seems to want to level with Carol and apologize to her—but when she points out how inadequate his apology is, he becomes incensed, and his reaction suggests that his attempt to meet Carol in the middle is nothing more than an attempt to manipulate her into doing what he wants her to do: recant her accusation.
Themes
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
John hangs up the phone and regains his cool a bit. He tells Carol that he has spent time studying the indictment. She says that she doesn’t know what that word means. John explains that an indictment is a document in which things are “alleged”—Carol cuts off by telling him she “cannot allow” him to refer to facts as allegations. Carol says that this is not about what she “feel[s]” happened or what John feels happened—John’s superiors have looked at evidence and “ruled” that John is guilty and is not going to be given tenure because of facts, not allegations.
John is trying to keep from admitting that he has actually done things to Carol worthy of the indictment—but Carol is diametrically opposed to John, and wants to make him see that whether or not he actually hurt or humiliated her is not for him to decide. He is the one with power—for him to wield it in such a way would be obscene.
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
John says that the university is going to discharge him. Carol says they should—his own actions have brought him to “this place,” and now he’s angry. On top of everything, Carol suggests, John has only invited her here to try, again, to get her to “recant” by invoking the well-being of his wife and child. Carol accuses John of abusing his privilege and of feeling just as entitled as the “idiots” he rails against.
Carol wants to show John that he’s responsible for the things he says and does, but John doesn’t seem to be able to understand that there’s anything wrong with his actions.
Themes
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
Quotes
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John asks Carol if she has any feelings at all. Carol accuses John of comparing her to an animal just because she doesn’t “take [his] side.” He reiterates his question, and asks if Carol has any feelings. Carol replies that what she has is a responsibility—to the university and its students, and to her group. She speaks, she says, “for those who suffer what [she] suffer[s].” For her to overlook his behavior would be wrong, she says.
John is attempting either to manipulate Carol by further demeaning her, or trying to appeal to her mercy by pointing out that he’s human and fallible.
Themes
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
John asks what would “transpire” if Carol overlooked his behavior and forgave him. Carol berates John for using the word “transpire” when he could simply use the word “happen.” She accuses him of wanting “unlimited power.” She pulls out her notebook and begins reading from it—she has documented dates on which John spoke to female students in ways Carol felt was inappropriate. She recorded him calling a student “dear,” telling another she looked “fetching,” and calling a group of women “girls.” Carol closes her notebook and says that John’s exploitation of his female students is tantamount to rape.
Carol points out further just how entrenched John is in the elitism he claims to loathe. She also points out his sexist actions. Even though his comments are relatively benign, Carol wants to show John that the things he says carry a certain weight because of the power and authority he has. At the same time, Carol’s comments about John’s words being equal to rape is rather extreme, almost a parody of the feminist beliefs Mamet criticizes throughout the play.
Themes
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Education and Elitism Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
Quotes
Carol pulls John’s book from her bag. She reads from it, pointing out how inane and deliberately confusing the language within it is, and accuses John of “believ[ing] in nothing at all.” John tells Carol that he believes in “freedom of thought.” Carol replies that John actually believes only in a “protected hierarchy which rewards [him.]” She says she knows that he thinks her “full of hatred,” “repressed,” and desperate for “power and revenge.” John agrees that he thinks these things. Carol thanks John for his honesty, and says that she feels this is the first moment in all their interactions in which he’s “treated [her] with respect.”
John has told Carol how badly he wants to help students, having been made for years to feel stupid and incompetent himself. Carol alleges that John has lost sight of this mission, and become just as corrupt, hypocritical, and disconnected as the very people he rails against.
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Education and Elitism Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
Carol says that she came here not to listen to whatever John wanted to tell her, but to tell him something. He invites her to tell him what she wants to. She says that John hates that she now has power over him. He hates her power so much that the two of them will never be able to have a “free discussion.” John agrees with this assertion.
Carol admits and points out the new power imbalance between them, and suggests that it angers John so much that he actually respects Carol less. Surprisingly, he agrees with this assessment.
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Quotes
Carol explains that though John mocks higher education and calls its rituals “hazing,” she and many members of her group have overcome unimaginable “prejudices” and obstacles in pursuit of that education—and of the same security John himself pursues. At the same time, she says, in entering the institution, she and others like her subject themselves to the university’s power, and its arbitrary judgement of its students. Carol asserts that the joke John told, the language he used with her in their first meeting, and the act of putting his hands on her were not “trivial” or “meaningless.” John says that when he comforted Carol, the gesture was “devoid of sexual content.” Carol shouts that she says it was not—and whether it was or not is not for John to determine.
Carol wants to point out that in spite of John’s belief that because his intentions are good, he doesn’t have to examine his speech, behavior, or actions, there are consequences for the things he says and does. John, she says, doesn’t get to be the one to say how his actions affect others—that is for the people he interacts with to decide.
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John says he understands Carol’s point, and sees “much good” in her thinking. He asserts, though, that he is not “too old to learn” or change. Carol calls John a “little yapping fool” to think she is seeking revenge—what she wants, she says, is understanding. John says that none of it matters—his job is “over.”
John continues to try and get Carol to take pity on him, or simply consent to try to understand him—but she refuses angrily, and lambasts him for his attempts to manipulate her.
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Carol, incensed that John still wants to talk about his job, gathers her things and heads for the door. When she’s almost there, though, she turns around. She tells John that it might be possible for her group to withdraw its complaint—as an “act of friendship.” John asks what the group would “exchange” for its withdrawal of the complaint, but Carol says she’s not thinking in terms of an “exchange.” She’s thinking of what her group might “derive” from John.
Carol’s behavior in the third act—and in this moment in particular—suggests that she has been manipulating John perhaps since the very beginning of the play. She wants to “derive” things from him, and turn his own power against him in pursuit of the advancement of her own goals.
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Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
Carol tells John that her group will consider withdrawing its complaint and even speaking to the committee if John agrees to her terms. She produces from her bag a list of books which the group finds “questionable” and wants removed from the university curriculum. John laments the death of “academic freedom.” Carol retorts that just as John has an agenda, she and her group have an agenda. She is only interested in his actions—and if he wants her to speak to the tenure committee, he will do as she says.
Carol is now openly attempting to manipulate John into doing the bidding of her group. John has, all along, been the one thinking that he wants to remake the university from the inside—but he has benefited from being complicit in its systems for too long to be able to make any real change. Carol’s radical group is the one really changing things—and yet John will reveal the depths of his hypocrisy when he balks at their conditions for real change.
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Education and Elitism Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
John asks for the list. Carol hands it to him, and he reads it over. When he gets to the end, he realizes that his own book is on the list. He orders Carol to “get the fuck out.” Carol reminds John that his only chance of getting the group to “reconsider” is to agree to get the books removed from the curriculum—and to sign a statement. John, however, won’t even look at the paper Carol tries to hand him. He says he will not withdraw his own book, and begins rambling about how he wrote it so that one day his son would see it and be proud.
The enigma that is John is further complicated in this passage. John is prideful, it seems, to the point of self-destruction—and yet it is unclear whether he values his ideals out of a genuine sense of duty to his students and the university system more broadly, or out of an outsized, misplaced amount of spiteful pride.
Themes
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Education and Elitism Theme Icon
Quotes
John confesses that he hasn’t been home in two days—he’s been living a hotel, “thinking [things] out.” The phone begins to ring. John lets it. He tells Carol that he understands that he owes her a debt—but sees her demands as “dangerous,” and will let the tenure committee “do whatever they want to [him]” rather than ban his own book from the university. Carol tells John to answer the phone.
John reveals just how sad and desperate he has become. At the same time, he hews to his own personal pride and principles—no matter what, he will not allow his own beliefs to be silenced. This can either be seen as noble, or self-absorbed to the point of stupidity.
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Education and Elitism Theme Icon
John answers the phone. It is Jerry. He tells Jerry that things are all worked out, and asks him to tell Grace that he’ll be home soon. John begins stuttering, confused, as Jerry tells him something. He is obviously angry and upset, and says that “she’s here with me.” Jerry hangs up on John, and then John sets the phone down. Carol says she “thought [John] knew.”
Jerry has just revealed something terrible to John—and it is clear that in spite of what John previously thought, things are not going to “work out” for him.
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John asks Carol what’s going on. Carol replies that “according to the law,” John tried to rape her. As she was leaving the office the last time she visited, he “pressed [his] body” against her. Her group, Carol says, has informed Jerry that they may be pressing criminal battery charges and attempted rape.
Carol makes it clear that she—and her group—want to punish John even further by pressing formal charges against him. John is genuinely confused, and almost unable to believe what’s really happening to him.
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John, in shock, sinks into his chair. He tells Carol to get out—he needs to talk to his lawyer. Carol agrees that he probably should do so. She gathers her things and prepares to leave. The phone rings, and John picks it up—it is Grace. He tells her that he can’t talk right now, calling her “baby.” He tucks the phone under his chin and tells Carol to get out of his office. Carol asks if his wife is on the other end—John tells her it’s none of her business.
John has been trying to act, more or less, in what he feels is good faith towards Carol, and has even attempted to appease her throughout the third act. Now, though, after learning that she is trying to destroy not just his professional life but his personal life as well, he wants nothing to do with her—he is done trying to get through to someone who clearly only wants his destruction.
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
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John resumes his phone conversation, assuring his wife—whom he again calls “baby”—that things are going to be okay. As Carol walks towards the door, she calls over her shoulder, warning John not to call his wife baby. John drops the phone, stands up, rushes over to Carol, and begins beating her. He calls her a “vicious little bitch,” and accuses her of trying to destroy his life “with [her] political correctness.” He knocks her to the floor, and says he’d never rape her—he wouldn’t even touch her “with a ten-foot pole.” He calls Carol a “cunt,” and then picks up a nearby chair and raises it over his head.
When Carol tells John not to call his wife “baby,” she’s policing his speech and making a comment about how he talks to the women in his life. John is so incensed by this comment that he’s driven to intense violence and hateful, demeaning speech. In this passage, one of two things could be happening—Mamet makes things ambiguous, as always. Either John confirms that he has, perhaps all along, harbored the resentments, gendered prejudices, and lewd thoughts Carol has suggested he has—or her actions have driven him off the deep end and drawn out parts of him that he’s never even  acknowledged. Either way, it’s clear that a lot of anger has been simmering just below the surface of John’s calm façade all along.
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Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
Quotes
After a moment, John calmly sets the chair down and goes back over to his desk. He begins arranging some papers. Carol, still lying on the floor, says quietly to herself: “Yes. That’s right.”
The play’s ambiguous final line can either suggest that Carol has been hoping for this violent outcome all along, so that she can use it as further ammunition against John—or, on the other hand, that while she didn’t anticipate or encourage John’s violence, she’s not shocked by his desire to harm her in retaliation for her questioning his speech.
Themes
The Desire for Power Theme Icon
Sexual Harassment and Political Correctness Theme Icon
Hypocrisy and Manipulation Theme Icon
Quotes