Misery Loves Company: Roy Cohn and Joe Pitt

In Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, two of the most polarized characters are Roy Cohn and Joe Pitt.  Roy Cohn represents all that is unholy - greed, power, deceit and murderous revenge, while Joe Pitt emerges as a man of conviction; with a clear sense of right and wrong making him an unsung hero despite his own self-deception about his homosexuality.  The central conflict between Roy and Joe is the moral dilemma posited by a job position Roy has offered Joe in the Department of Justice for The Reagan Administration.  Roy Cohn is a man of extravagance who lives not in an apartment but owns the whole building as the spirit of Ethel Rosenberg sarcastically announced.  The bravado of Roy is a ploy to morally deceive Joe's better judgement and his faithful belief that Roy is fundamentally a good person is rocked to the core.

In the beginning of the play we are introduced to Roy and his phone.  His phone is the most significant element of his existence as it justifies his ego.  With a simple touch of a button he can reach any person in the government - all the way up to The President himself.  This makes Roy undermined his actual governmental position with threats, blackmail, theft and countless other illegal affairs.  In Act 2, Scene 6 Roy says talking on the telephone is what he does best.  He is in a restaurant with Martin Heller (a colleague who works in The Justice Department) and Joe Pitt discussing the possibility of Joe accepting his proposition.  Roy asks Martin to rub his back, calling him dear and ultimately Roy complies.  The act of rubbing Roy's back by Martin is a statement on the authoritative and powerful position Roy has.  He asked Martin to do this to coax Joe into accepting the job by showing him how he can get anything done for him - even as simple as getting a back rub by a man of obvious stature in The Justice Department.

Conversely, Roy is met with the faithful, God-fearing conscience of Joe Pitt.  Deeply rooted in his Mormon faith, Joe is not swayed by the promise of riches and power.  Instead, he is honest through and through regarding his interest in the job and the opportunity is offers.  It is not, however, in the sense of greed but rather duty and accomplishment that Joe considers the position.  The juxtaposition of Roy's negation of any type of moral fiber and Joe's pure of heart perspective of politics creates a whirlwind of turmoil in their relationship.

Roy Cohn is clearly a miserable man.  The threat of him being disbarred and trying to manuever Joe into accepting a Justice Department position to clear his name (see Act 2, Scene 6) is a testament to Roy's conivining, self-serving and desperate way of living.  He wants to stay a lawyer just as his Daddy was until his "bitter last day on Earth".  He does not care the cost of others, morally nor Earthly for that matter.  He would gladly sacrifice another life to ensure his position in the government.  A clear indication of this is seen when he talks about Ethel Rosenberg and how he had an active role in getting her the death penalty even though her execution was in no way justifiable.

The derisiveness of Roy's actions comes to a head when Joe turns down Roy's offer.  It is with this one action that unleashes Roy's fury.  He accuses Joe of being weak saying "you think you're above being alive?" (Act 3, Scene 5).  Politics, Washington and The Justice Department are Roy's holy trinity.  To deny yourself such power would be blasphemous.  However, it is in his anger that you see Roy's utter desperation for someone to cross over to his very lonely, cold side of life.  He attacks Joe, who is dumbfounded by Roy's violent outburst and you see the relationship completely unravel.  Roy could not control Joe or assert any type of power over him that would ultimately aid in Roy's success.  Instead, Joe represents Roy's failure in both life and politics.  Joe was Roy's last pawn - the final card to his last hand on Earth.  And yet, Joe refused to compromise his ethics and his standards ultimately destroying Roy.  Roy tried very hard from the beginning to placate Joe by listening to his concerns about Harper to confiding in him about his "cancer".  In the end, however, Roy recanted everything by severing all ties with Joe and denying being sick in any way.  The scene ends with Roy on the floor in terrible pain - the pain and consequence of discovering your own mortality admist terribly dark secrets.