Witch Of Wall Street Essay, Research Paper

A musical based on the life of America?s first great female financier, Hetty

Green After watching the play, The Witch of Wall Street, and giving it a lot of

thought I have analyzed the questions we were given and decided that just

answering one wouldn?t do the play or the storyline any justice. Therefore I

have decided to run through the play in segments answering all five questions in

the process of doing so. 1- Describe the plot of the play. 2- Describe the

obstacles and opportunities Hetty Green had in the result of her success. 3-

What were the main benefactors and antagonizers. The lifetime accomplishments of

Hetty Green all started at a young and tender age when she would hang around the

docks her father owned, where she was instilled with a certain attitude towards

business. She was quite a tomboy, understanding the lingo of the whalers and

learning the business. She was her fathers pride and joy, quick to numbers,

always giving him the answers he wanted. Her mother, who was an ill and frail

woman, was unhappy that she wasn?t like other girls her age. While her father

blamed her mother for not even being able to produce a son, Hetty, mature and

sensitive for her age continued to only do one thing; be the best in her

father?s eyes. Competitiveness, the need to be successful and the desire to be

only the best reigned her persona. Hetty?s mother warned her daughter that her

father was a shrewd and selfish man. She made sure to tell Hetty that when she

died, the entire business would belong to her, despite her father?s words?

She warned her daughter not to trust anyone, while Hetty would cry to her,

promising to make her happy, be rich and successful and buy her mother a

beautiful big house. After her mother died, Hetty was introduced to the cold

brutality of the world and it was the first notch of trust she lost in her

father. Right after the funeral the lawyer announced that all assets would

belong to Robinson. Hetty protested to her father questioning what would happen

to his promise of Robinson and Daughter? To which her father, aptly – as was his

ability to do, turned the entire scenario around, first slapping her and

throwing a huge guilt trip on her, which made her apologize for not trusting

him? Robinson and Daughter would do just fine in his hands? As Hetty grew

older, watching the docks, little did she realize that her father was scheming

and running the business according to his desire without consulting her. One day

as she was watching the big ships with her father, she noticed something odd and

questioned where they were going? After her father tried to dodge the question

for a little bit by marveling at how pretty and tall she has become, he answered

sheepishly that they were going to be sunk and sold for the war efforts. This

was an investment for himself (as he thought) for after the war. Hetty is struck

by a forceful thought; she can never trust anyone. This part of her growing up

had a major effect on the way she conducted her business. Hetty grew up with a

protective shell, juggling the balls in a way to keep both her parents happy,

having to keep up with her father?s ridiculous expectations. He himself

wasn?t able to keep his word; she lost trust in him at a young age. When Hetty

grew older and attended a school for fine young girls she was quick to realize

that she was an outcast, she had no social skills, she had no interest in the

petty things other girls her age wanted and was on an extremely different

wavelength than the rest of them. This formed her to a greater extent. She was a

tough nut to crack and for one reason ? she learned that the best defense

against the world was beating them at their own game. Hetty was still unmarried

at the age of twenty-five. Once again, her father, the cunning shrewd man that

he was, got her to play his game, and set her up to get married to a man named

Mr. Green. He was wealthy, high society and a dashing handsome young man. To her

father this was merely another business deal, which would allow him to die in

peace. As a married woman, Hetty has many responsibilities. She gave birth to

two children, and live with her husband in London. Yet the burning desire to

keep involved in business drove her to the London Stock Exchange where she put

her husband to shame by being the only woman on the floor. She bought and sold,

ruining her husbands? deals, which he thought would be successful in covering

the debts he accumulated in her name. When Hetty got a letter from a big banker

named Huntington that they were holding her assets un till she would pay off

Green?s bills, that was when she hit a major turning point in her life. She

felt she was cheated by a man again. She swore she would plunge into business

with no one to stop her. She swore by money, determined to pay back Green?s

bills, and invest with the little she had left over and promised sweet revenge.

Her policy became ?Money don?t lie, it is a powerful friend?. While all

this was going on Hetty?s son Ned needed treatment for an injured leg. Hetty

was so obsessed with the fact that doctors were just ripping her off, and she

delayed treatment until he needed his foot amputated. The doctor?s comments on

that were ?we argued about the bill, she was more concerned about money than

her son?s leg?? As she grew older, she realized the mess she created. Her

son ended up marrying a prostitute, and her daughter has become withdrawn and

shy ? an old spinster. Every banker and investor in America feared her, and

they all prayed that her lunch was good as she was know to say the market

depended on that. She grabbed every deal in the making, getting the gold,

leaving a grave for the ones following her to be buried in. She had the power to

pull guns on big bankers, and played around with big banks making deposits and

withdrawing ridiculous amounts of cash randomly, which of course they wouldn?t

have? At the end of her life, Hetty watched her husband die, and on her way

back from the funeral released a press statement saying that when she would come

back from mourning she?d rip the market apart for the fun of it?. Such was

the control she had. 4- If you were Hetty Green what would you have done

differently 4- Do you think she was a success of her working life? What a

powerful and strong person she was! Hetty Green was definitely a success in her

business aspects. To her it was all a game, which she was manipulating. She was

a wise entrepreneur, who made amazing investments and was obviously very

successful. However the way her personality and style were formed was in an

unhealthy way. She was raised with the wrong mindset, but then again perhaps if

she was raised differently this would never have been the outcome of her. She

would be like any other little rich girl, who would have their head buried in

different matters. But somehow this little relationship I have formed with Hetty

says to me, no matter how she would be raised the power inside of Hetty Green

would have erupted at one point and she still would have conquered the JP

Morgan?s, Cisco?, and Huntington?s of those times with her brilliance and

ability to trade. I feel that in some aspects Hetty Green was a failure. Her

children were being raised emotionally by their father, as he was the one taking

care of their young daughter?s new party dresses and she was neglectful of her

son?s health. However at the end of her lifetime Hetty was struck with regret

and strong memories. She questioned herself on the situation of her son?s

health- ?what?s the price to set me free, what?s the price of

forgiveness?? She realized that certain things money couldn?t buy? Money

certainly cannot pay off the mess she made within her family. However, the end

of Hetty?s life must have made her happy. Her son ends up being quite happy

with ?Miss Harlot? and her forty-year-old daughter gets married to a

sixty-year-old man, who truly cared for her. And Huntington who has no choice at

all, he is in way too deep comes to her for a loan, expecting nothing from the

haughty Hetty, is given to major surprise as she gives him the money saying

?not much of a game, without any players?.? No, Hetty wasn?t able to

change everything she had already done, but she was able to change the little

left in her future? She was a success after all, leaving behind a fortune and

setting a lot of important examples in the business world. And I?m sure Hetty

Green died in peace.