Peter Grimes or ambiguous the various characters are. Pears was certainly the intended Peter Grimes, and it is likely that Britten wrote the role of Ellen Orford for Joan Cross. The work has been called "a powerful allegory of homosexual oppression", and one of "the true operatic masterpieces of the 20th century", but the composer's own contemporary (1948) summation of the work was simpler: a subject very close to my heart — the struggle of the individual against the masses. The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual. Though as the writing of the libretto progressed, certain versions showed Grimes'
Thomas Grimes Thomas Grimes Sir Thomas Grimes or Grahme was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1624. Grimes was the son of Thomas Grimes, citizen and haberdasher of London and of Peckham and his wife Jane Muschamp daughter and co-heir of Thomas Muschamp, of Peckham. He was knighted at Hanworth, Middlesex on 2 June 1603. He was J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey. In 1614, he was elected Member of Parliament for Haslemere. He was re-elected MP for Haslemere in 1621. In 1624 he was elected MP for Surrey. Grimes married Margaret, daughter of Sir