The Firstborn
by Christopher Fry
"The Firstborn" is Christopher Fry's poetic drama concerning Moses' attempt to free the Children
of Israel from bondage in Egypt, as told in the Bible in the Book of Exodus. It focuses on the plagues
which were visited upon Egypt because of the Pharaoh's refusal to let Moses' people go. These plagues
culminated in the death of all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, including the son of the Pharaoh.
The play was begun by Christopher Fry in 1938, but not finished until 1945. Although the chief protagonist of the play is Moses,
the character of Rameses (the Firstborn of the title) is central throughout. In the last scene Moses suffers a momentary spiritual death:
"I followed a light into blindness", at the moment when the firstborn's physical death creates the Hebrews' freedom, but his resurrection
from that to become a great leader is clearly hinted at towards the end, and carries with it something of the life of Rameses.
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Although this play deals with huge events, it is presented almost as a domestic tragedy, concentrating as it does on the
family of The Pharaoh, Seti the Second, with his sister, Anath Bithiah, his son, Rameses, and his daughter, Teusret, and
that of Moses, with his brother Aaron, his sister, Miriam and Miriam's son, Shendi.
Rameses' boyhood is almost the same as that which Moses himself had led as a member of the Egyptian court, and he and
Miriam's son, Shendi, create the frontiers of the central combat very differently from the lines laid down by accepted human conduct.
Rameses represents the innocence, humanity and worthiness which stand on the enemy's side. They do not alter the justice or
necessity of Moses' cause, but create a serious question-mark over the link between the ways of men and the ways of God.
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"The Firstborn" Set Designs
"And it came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle."
The scene shifts backwards and forwards between the Pharaoh's palace and Miriam's tent, and the design of these
ephasised the difference between the lives of the Egyptian court and the Hebrew slaves. The palace was light and airy,
with pale stone walls carved with figures of Egyptian gods, while the tent was dark and claustrophobic, propped up beside
the half-finished head of an Egyptian statue, to emphasise the subjection of the Hebrews by the Egyptians.
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The costumes of the characters also emphasised the differences between the two groups. The Egyptians wore white and gold,
with touches of glowing, bright colours and plenty of jewellery, while the Hebrews wore ragged brown and grey clothes.
The play raises all sorts of questions about great generalities, as well as the temporal events of the story: what it
means to use unlimited power in the service of a just cause; what it means to be seized by a purpose greater than oneself;
what painful sacrifices are demanded by justice from those who serve its cause.
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