Blasphemy in John Osborne's A Subject of Scandal and Concern and Luther

John Osborne's early plays, A Subject of Scandal and Concern and Luther, emerged out of the author's anti-nuclear activism and his anger regarding the role of Britain's political leaders in the escalation of Cold-War tensions that led to the Berlin Crisis of 1961. An effort to examine and redefine blasphemy in personal terms led Osborne to dramatize the trials of two historical figures - George Holyoake and Luther - whose conscientious objections against orthodox belief led to their being put on trial for blasphemy. These plays suggest that Osborne came to view blasphemy as a form of hurtful speech (blasphemia) used by Church and State to silence and punish those who speak out conscientiously against orthodox religious belief. The manner in which Osborne dramatizes the unhappy domestic lives of Holyoake and Luther, read in the context of the playwright's own troubled relationships, suggests that he recognized that the crime of blasphemy also resulted when personal conviction or conscientious action brought suffering upon friends and family. Despite electing to dramatize historical cases of blasphemy, Osborne wanted his audiences to recognize that both the charge and offence of blasphemy and submission to orthodox viewpoints had very dangerous consequences in the Cold-War era.