DNA: Characters (AQA GCSE English Literature)

Characters

The best way to revise the characters in Dennis Kelly’s play DNA is to understand that they symbolise a range of ideas and present some of its central themes. DNA is a microcosm, which means that each character represents different elements of modern society.

In your GCSE English Literature exam question on the play DNA, your character analysis should focus on how Kelly’s characters represent a type of person. Consider how and why Kelly portrays their relationships, or how and why he creates contrasting characters.

You will find character analysis and character profiles for:

Main characters

• Leah

• Phil

• Adam

• Mark

Minor characters

• John Tate

• Cathy

• Brian

• Richard

Leah

• While Leah is an unlikely protagonist, her constant challenge to the status quo, and her empathy amidst the nihilistic group, arguably makes her a voice of conscience:

  • She serves as an outspoken advocate for justice and compassion

  • She challenges Phil’s criminal plans, and the other characters’ silent complicity 

  • She tries to steer the group from further cruelty and delusion, especially Phil

• Leah’s belief that Phil is the only one she can talk to suggests that these two characters are separated from the others by their shared intellect:

  • Indeed, the play predominantly consists of scenes with Leah and Phil in a field

  • Leah’s monologues are significant in Kelly’s delivery of his ideas as she foregrounds the playwright’s views when discussing humanity, the nature of reality, and personal responsibility 

• Nevertheless, Leah’s friendship with the group, and her relationship with Phil, makes her a dubious hero, despite his depiction of her as thoughtful, intelligent and talkative: 

  • Kelly shows how she is ignored as a result, and how her sensible ideas are dismissed by groupthink

• The increasingly disturbing scenes take a toll on Leah, and Kelly portrays the way their treatment of Adam is the ultimate turning point for her:

  • This may signify that the function of this climactic scene is to suggest ideas about redemption and people’s ability to change

• Her continuous reference to change (that the world has “changed”, that it is possible to “change”) presents a criticism of repetitive cycles: 

  • Her departure follows her words earlier in the play, that if you can change “one thing” you can “change the world”

  • Any hope to be found in the play's ending or resolution is through Leah’s character, who is not “doomed to behave like people before us”

Phil

• Phil’s character is complex, and his function in the play is as the main antagonist: 

  • Kelly juxtaposes Phil’s silent, detached nature in dramatic scenes with Leah, who is, conversely, talkative and very sensitive

• Kelly portrays Phil’s indifference through the motif of food:

  • While Leah expresses her deepest thoughts and attempts to engage him, Phil’s focus on food emphasises his callous self-absorption 

  • The banality of Phil’s snacks contributes to the naturalistic style of the play and creates dark humour; while Leah discusses deep questions, Phil spreads jam on a waffle, or eats a “Toffo” or “Starburst”

• Kelly presents Phil’s corrupt leadership as the catalyst for the escalation of violence and criminality:

  • Significantly, Phil puts his coke “carefully” on the ground as he takes control

  • Phil’s cold nature is perceived as calm assuredness by some of the group

  • His manipulation of science to hide the crime implies his Machiavellian nature

  • Phil’s callous attitude to Adam is that he is simply in the way

  • His delusion can be seen in his use of “happy” to describe victims’ feelings  

• Phil conveys one of the play’s key themes about change and redemption: 

  • His realisation in the final act could be seen as a moment of anagnorisis

  • Kelly shows that this comes too late; as he puts his arm around Leah and gives her a sweet, she dismisses him and leaves the field 

• Phil’s doomed fate is implied in the final scene:

  • Richard’s calls for Phil to return are ignored, implying Phil’s complete detachment 

Adam

• Adam, or “a boy” as the script introduces him at first, is presented as an innocent victim:

  • The term “a boy” may present the way he is treated without identity or humanity

  • Kelly portrays the influence of peer pressure, and the impact of bullying through Adam, as Mark and Jan describe the torture he endures in vivid detail

• Kelly depicts how quickly Adam is dehumanised, and how the group avoids reality:

  • Mark and Jan pretend Adam did not suffer, and downplay his death

  • Mark and Jan suggest he enjoyed them daring him to do dangerous tasks

  • Leah says that, after his death, the town moved on, and was “happier”

• His name, though, signifies his return as a “new” person, perhaps referring to the biblical Adam, who is considered the first man:

  • Kelly may suggest a connection between innocence and religious ideas

  • Imagery used to describe Adam’s experience in the dark hole, and his escape to the “light” suggests a symbolic spiritual awakening, as well as a physical rebirth 

  • Stage directions state that Adam looks at the others as through they are “Aliens”

• Adam represents the subjective nature of reality:

  • The group plan an array of cover-ups to hide the circumstances of his death

  • Phil reasons with Leah that as everyone believes Adam is already dead, nothing will change if they kill him, and the play’s resolution suggests this is true

Mark

• As Mark and Jan open each act, a little like a chorus, Mark’s character may represent the voice of the town:

  • He is portrayed as a gossip in his dialogue, which introduces events in each act

• Mark’s dialogue is comedic: he creates misunderstandings with his one-word exchanges

• However, arguably he represents one of the darker characters in the play:

  • While presenting as a joker, his casual language hides his true nature

  • He suggests Adam’s torture was “just a laugh”, and refuses personal responsibility for his part in Adam’s abuse and “death”

• The ending of Kelly’s play is a criticism of Mark’s behaviour:

  • His future seems bleak: the audience is told he is shoplifting

John Tate

• Initially presented as the leader of the group, Kelly presents John Tate’s dominance over the friendship group as fragile:

  • His extreme threats to others are not taken seriously

  • For example, he tries to ban the word “dead” and threatens to “bite” the “face” of anyone who does not comply

• John Tate functions as a contrast to Phil in terms of leadership:

  • While Phil is calm and controlled, John is uncertain and expresses his “stress”

  • His intimidation tactics do not work, and while Phil’s tactics are similar, his calm demeanour allows him to take over from John

• In the resolution, audiences are told that John has “found God”, although, once again, he gains no respect from others:

  • Richard mocks him when he says that he “runs round the shopping centre singing and trying to give people leaflets”

Cathy

• Another member of the group, Cathy represents the influence of corruption and violence and is portrayed as profoundly nihilistic:

  • Her words expose her as callous and without purpose

  • She believes the chaos following Adam’s death is “better than ordinary life”

• However, her lack of principles presents Kelly’s ideas about the dangerous influence of corrupt leadership:

  • Her desire to please Phil presents her as a loyal servant

  • She takes the “initiative” in the framing of a postman, hoping it will please Phil 

  • Phil’s focus on Cathy in Act 3 highlights how he exploits his power, instructing her to carry out his evil deeds while maintaining his own security 

• In the final scene, Cathy’s new love for violence shows how events lead to a perpetuation of the bullying in the town:

  • She is now a gang leader, and “running things”, bleakly reminding the audience of Kelly’s warning about repetitive cycles of violence

Brian

• Brian is another of the group’s victims:

  • Brian’s wish to be truthful with the authorities is ignored by most of the group, and he is forced to obey when they violently threaten him

  • His mental decline worsens, particularly after Phil threatens to throw him off the “grille” to “rot” with Adam’s “corpse”

• Notably, he is the only teenager to stand up to Phil and John Tate, and spends much of the first two acts refusing to do their bidding:

  • Kelly portrays how his clear distress at Adam’s death, while appropriate, is perceived as weakness by most of the group

• By presenting Brian as sensitive and honest, Kelly raises questions about the normalisation of violence and corruption:

  • Kelly shows how Brian’s focus on nature is perceived as abnormal by Mark in Act 3, highlighting how the pleasures of life are viewed by the nihilistic teens

• At the end of the play, Brian is described as on “stronger and stronger medication”:

  • Kelly suggests the normalisation of violence can lead to trauma and profound anxiety 

Richard

• In Act 1, Richard is shown as clear-headed, with an understanding of right and wrong:

  • He refuses to stop saying “dead”, and tells John that he “shouldn’t threaten” him

  • However, Richard’s need to be “mates” with John overwhelms his principles

  • In Act 2, he goes along with the group’s story, telling Leah that the police have the “evidence”, which she challenges 

• By Act 3, Richard takes the place of Leah, discussing clouds and dandelions with Phil, and urging him to return and leave the field:

  • Richard’s reference to the “universe shifting” mimics Leah’s ideas about reality 

Sources 

Kelly, D. (2021). DNA. Bloomsbury Publishing.