The Beauty Remains
The Beauty Remains
“God has left the building.” That seems to be one of the underlying themes of Angels in America. The Angels are in uproar, their prophet – much like the biblical Moses standing before that little burning bush, like Jonah at the port city, convinced he can outrun infinity – spurns them, the world is in chaos, and everyone is dying, ill, hallucinating, sick with AIDS or heartbreak and God alone knows what else (though He doesn’t, since He’s gone). According to The Angel, “The King of the Universe: HE Left…And did not return…And bitter, cast-off, We wait, bewildered;…drear and barren, missing Him” (177).
God knows he abandoned his children, his angels, his artistic creations. He knows, so he hires a man who died because of his neglect, a man who died in an epidemic that burgeoned in God’s absence: Roy Cohn. And Roy tells him, “[Y]ou’re guilty as hell, no question, you have nothing to plead…” (274).
It’s too easy, too fast and simple and neat: The world is horrible, Chernobyl will occur, the San Fran in the sky is in ruins, because God wandered, because God couldn’t see what was in his own backyard. But unlike Dorothy, he had no magic slippers, no silver (or ruby, if you’re watching the movie) shoes to clink together and bring him back to his drab, safe, black-and-white world of Angels and no change. And yet, maybe not so simple. Doesn’t something similar happen to Louis, to Joe, even to Harper? They went out looking for more than they had – Louis, out of fear of death, Joe, because he finally saw, and Harper, because she couldn’t accept. And they suffered, lived through terror, sorrow, love, regret. And like God, their actions hurt others; their need for change led to the ruin of the San Frans of other people’s hearts. But unlike God’s actions, their changes — while they may not be what we call “for the better” — weren’t abandonment-lawsuit worthy. They were, simply, human. And humans hurt others, humans abandon others, and humans can still hate and love and forgive.
God was too large, too big to fail, we might say. But people are little. They can hurt each other, and yet still provide a sweet, slightly clichéd ending to a sad, but ultimately hopeful play. God was too perfect.
“DON’T YOU DARE DENY ME MY RIGHT TO
EXISTENCE
I MAY BE DAMAGED GOODS BUT
BEAUTY REMAINS” (Peiss 453).
For humans, the beauty always remains: the dignity, the respect, the life (Peiss 452). But for God, it’s too late. It always was. How ironic that God had to seek his defense in a man who seemed to die with no dignity, no respect, no life. God seeks man. As it always was.
On a side note, Tony Kushner’s has a brilliant sense of humor: Quoting The Wizard of Oz; Prior’s reactions to The Angel (ranging from comparing it all to Steven Spielberg [124] to blandly saying, “Go away” [149]); Aleksii Antedilluvianovich Prelapsarianov the Very Old Communist (the first part of his middle name in antediluvian, meaning antiquated or old-fashioned); calling Ed Koch (former mayor) New York’s “number one closeted queer” (156). Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire play.
Tags: angel, god, human nature
