Its a woman's world...

I find the role of women in Glengarry Glen Ross to be very interesting in peculiar. I would first like to note that the assumption that David Mamet is anti-feminist or misogynist is, I feel, completely ludicrous. Making the judgment solely on Glengarry Glen Ross, it seems to me that Mamet is making the opposite point. In a world where men are seemingly in control, it is the women surrounding them whose actions affect (both directly and indirectly) our main characters. In fact, the women of the play, at first, seem to play as a force of good or reasoning against our mostly despise-worthy cast of real estate salesmen. First we start with Mrs. Lingk, who stops her husband from making a purchase of land they probably don’t need and don’t have the money for. She stops her husband from being conned or taken control of by another man, for that matter. From this we can see that Roma is nothing compared to the control that Mrs. Lingk has over her husband. No matter what Roma says or what tricks he plays on Mr. Lingk, Mrs. Lingk is still the commander over her husband. It’s an interesting idea seeing as how the characters spend a great deal of time manipulating others only to be thrown off by what these men would like to call “the weaker sex”. Even odder it is that they constantly use femininity as an insult towards one another. Possibly to downplay how inadequate they really are. Even if a woman causes Roma to lose a deal, it is Levene who truly feels the wrath of the other sex. First there is Levene’s daughter, who I doubt would ever want to bring about her father’s demise, but nonetheless contributes to it. Her age is never specified, but I do get the impression she is fairly young. I’m not sure where this came from specifically, but the “ill-daughter-in-a-hospital-bed” cliché usually refers to someone in the 7-12 demographic. Her (perceived) age still does not stop her from being an influence on Levene. It is most likely because he needs money for her sickness that he decides to break into the office and steal the leads. It is his love and desperation that drives him to that act. With all that being said, I am sure that the result would have been the same if it was a son rather than a daughter, but Mamet picks a girl for this role to further illustrate his purpose for women in this world. Earlier I said that women could be looked at as a force of good, but that is not entirely true. Harriet Nyborg who cons Levene shows that even the other sex is capable of these men’s trickery, and can even trump them in it. Harriet’s motivations are not clear (she probably just wanted to get rid of some crappy crumb cake) and her husband’s involvement in the scheme could have been greater or smaller than hers. None of this is made perfectly clear. What is clear, however, is that because of her Levene has been taken advantage of. He is the subject of his own games. The final “fe-nail” (female + nail, Ha!) in the coffin is Mrs. Lingk. After Williamson blows Roma’s sale, Levene accidently exposes himself as the thief who broke into the office and stole the Glengarry leads. Because of a woman who Levene has no connection with at all, he is now exposed and sent to jail. This right here shows us how far the women in Mamet’s universe have control. Almost everything is at their will or because of their actions. The men in the story may have the ability to manipulate and control language for their own means, but it is the women who have the final call on what happens. The men’s words and language which they hold in such high regard is nothing but air.