The Play “Anne Frank”

Anne Frank is often portrayed to be “An ordinary teenager forced into an extraordinary situation.” I can agree with this statement to an extent but it is also clear that she is quite talented. This essay will examine the play ‘Anne Frank’ and look into how she is as a person in the play, how she develops throughout the two years she is in the attic and explore the way in which she interacts with other characters.

The play is about Anne Frank; a Jewish girl and her family who are forced into hiding as a consequence of living in Nazi Germany at the time. They hide in an attic for two years and although they have their differences, they learn to get along. However in November 1945 they are exposed and are taken away by the green police.

Anne Frank has very mercurial emotions but for most of the time she is playful and at times very childish:

“Peter, where are you going? Come dance with me!” (Page 17)

This also shows how forward she is with other people and immediately she expects them to like her, but however learns differently when Dussel is introduced. From this quote, it is easy to see how energetic Anne usually is and how hard it must be for her to keep quiet for ten hours a day. However, she manages to cope well, studying hard during this time. As well as being very confident she is very intelligent although you wouldn’t guess it:

“Anne you got excellent in history today… and very good Latin.” (Page 22)

This shows that although she acts very childish she is actually very clever and can get down to her work when she has to.

Throughout the play, it is obvious that Anne matures and is not quite so childish; she starts to get a lot more Philosophical and starts questioning things a lot more. At the start of the play, she is very positive:

“You know what? I’m going to think of it (the attic) as a boarding house!” (Page 13)

At this present time, she obviously doesn’t know much about what is going on and thinks that they will be getting out any time soon. She doesn’t seem to bother much about were she is and is very happy despite their current situation. Anne is very enthusiastic at the start of the play but her enthusiasm seems to die down as the play goes on. She is a lot more knowledgeable, her feeling change towards Peter and she is much more negative:

“What’s the good of thinking of misery when we are already miserable?” (Page 81)

This shows how forward she is with her feelings towards the end of the play. She has been kept locked up for two years now and it is starting to get unbearable. She can’t run around or live her life like any normal child and now has a very different attitude towards this than she used to, partly because she knows a lot more now.

Whilst Anne was in the attic, she met lots of know people and the relationship between her and her mother also started to change as she grew older:

“I’ll sit right here beside you until you fall asleep…ANNE: I’d rather you didn’t, will you please ask father to come?” (Page 43)

Anne later regrets saying this but she started to like her father a lot more. She then gave her mother an “I’ll do anything you want me to” card and her father a scarf she kitted herself for Hanukah but the knitted scarf took a lot more effort and time so it is obvious she still likes him better. When Dussel was first introduced into the attic they weren’t all happy with him being there as he shortened their food supply but Anne, being polite, greeted him with a smile:

“Let me help you…” (Page 39)

As Anne gets to know Dussel better she starts to dislike him a lot more and Dussel, used to being on his own, isn’t enjoying sleeping next to a girl who has nightmares all of the time. As her relationship turns sour with most of the adults there, she turns to Peter and enjoys being with him a lot more as he is the only person in the attic who is around her age. This also shows she is growing up and does not want to be around her family as much anymore, although she is forced into that situation.