Dramatic Literature and Theater Art - Assignment Example

Week 1: Antigone by Sophocles Sophocles’ Antigone is a play that puts emphasis on morality in quite a tragic way. It is a play that depicts a conflict between two somewhat different assertions, namely, the claim of the state to the submission of an individual and the claim of the individual to abide by one’s own conscience, in particular in relation to obeying the commandments of Heaven. Superficially, one could interpret the play to be representing two principles, which are, in the name of maintaining order, the state should be respected and obeyed at all times, and that an individual is expected to obey the unwritten rules of morality even in the face of what the state rules. Antigone narrates the story of the main character, Antigone, who is the daughter of Oedipus, and her struggle to properly bury her brother against the ruling of Creon, her uncle and the new King of Thebes. It is a narrative the clashes the law of the gods or what is referred to as the ‘unwritten law’ against the laws of humanity. In the story, the literary style of tragedy is emphasised by the sequence of the events from order to chaos. The two main characters in the story were the tragic heroine Antigone and realistic but worn out ruler Creon. Both Antigone and Creon mostly played important roles in the story; however, the former was the character who initiated important changes in the kingdom through her firmness towards the attainment of personal desire. A quite unusual feature of the play is Antigone herself because of her inherent complex character. She seems to shift directions constantly throughout the play and there is nothing in the play wherein you would know exactly what she will do next for the reason that she is extremely unpredictable. Week 2: Everyman After being called upon by Death to the presence of his master to make a calculation of the life which was loaned to him, Everyman looks for advice and camaraderie for the perilous journey. Several gave their pledge to accompany him but merely a handful fulfilled their promises. Later on, he learns to decide rightly what genuinely matters to the wellbeing of the soul confronting death, although not without quite an amount of misery that ironically normally generates laughter from viewers. The theme of man called upon by death was an everyday topic throughout the fifteenth century. Recurrent warfare, spread of deadly diseases such as bubonic and pneumonic plague, death from starvation, and sins made death a common and normal public experience. There are a lot of characters in the play which embodies various personality traits and characteristics of the central characters. Some of the symbols used are Five Wits, Discretion, Beauty and Strength. The play is quite unusual because Everyman’s explanation of death does not mirror the physical ugliness and chronic morbidity that portray the Dance of Death. Undoubtedly the play is less an explanation than a thoughtful celebration of the process of Christian dying. Through the shared and balancing mediums of theatrical action and dialogue, the play makes graphically clear to its viewers the absolute reality of death, and guides it with orderly simplicity in the ways, both human and divine, which God has placed at the worldly disposal of humankind that he could evade the fires of hell and deserve eternal salvation. Therefore, the developing emphasis in the play centres on the limitless mercy of God as contrary to his fair dealing. Week 3: Rome and Juliet In this play, a long bad blood between the families of Montague and Capulet disturbs the city of Verona and brought about heartbreaking outcomes for Romeo and Juliet. Vengeance, hidden love and secret marriage compel the young ill-fated lovers to mature quickly, and destiny made them commit suicide in hopelessness. Opposition and conflict are dominant theses throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet portray the relationship and interaction between three well-known and powerful families or houses in the city of Verona. One of the most dominant features of Romeo and Juliet is the characters’ expressions or language. The characters pledge, curse, drive out each other, and in general play with the language through excessive use of action verbs. Furthermore, the play is inundated with the use of rhetoric, clever remarks, ironies, and double meanings. Also, even the use of names is questionable, with Romeo being asked by Juliet the name of his that strips away her right to love him. The play as well deals with the theme of dictatorial law and order. Several of the plays of Shakespeare have characters who embody the inflexible force of the law, such as Romeo and Juliet’s Prince Escalus. In this play, the law tries to put a halt on the civil turmoil, and even casts out Romeo at the middle. Though, similar to The Comedy of Errors, the law once again looks like to be a side concern, one which cannot fight with the much powerful passions of love and hate. Week 4: School for Scandal The plot of the story is in a chronological order of events or ordinary cause and effect narrative. Events are ordered both chronologically and nonchalantly which makes the plot quite perfect. Moreover, the plot of the play is out of the ordinary and well-thought-out. Some characters conspire to disrupt the relationship of Sir Peter and Lady Teazle. The plan is arranged by Lady Sneerwell and others which is carried out by Joseph Surface through tempting Lady Teazle. Lady Teazle abandons her husband and starts an affair with Joseph. The plot is carried out well but exposed at the end. On the other hand, both Sir Oliver and Charles Surface presented dissimilarity. They are somewhat misrepresentations. They are the dummies in the disposal of the dramatist. They act upon what their roles embodied by their names. The characters of play have their individual importance through their names. The characterisation of Sheridan adopts from the Ben Johnson’s theory. He alters this theory. He creates one particular attribute or limitation emerges and plays on it. For example, Joseph is completely exposed; there is no strength and roundness which presents wit. The wit is produced by such characters for the reason that their weaknesses indicated by their names. Sheridan’s School for Scandal is regarded to be his magnum opus. It is made up of a sequence of fast-paced scenes that represents modern bad habits through the behaviours and actions of the characters. It is an assault on superficiality of human behaviour and emotions. Week 5: The Three Sisters In a small town in Russia at the closing stages of the century, three sisters, namely, Olga, Irina, and Masha and their only brother Andrei reside but wish everyday of their homecoming in Moscow, where life is pleasant, motivating and meaningful. But at the moment they are living in a melancholy of discontentment. Combatants from the neighbouring military base give them some company and community, but nothing can be sufficient to restore Moscow in their aspirations. Andrei got married with a girl from a province, Natasha, and starts to live a life of much less purpose and value than he had dreamed of. Natasha begins to manage their family in her own liking. Masha, even if married, craves for the urbane life and begins flirting with Vershinin, a military officer with an unwell and desperate wife. Even the brightest, most cheerful of the sisters, Irina, begins to hesitate in her aspirations until, at last, misfortune strikes. In spite of the reality that they have been living in the small Russian town for over a decade and that their home is teeming with visitors, the three sisters feel utterly sad in the small town. Moreover, they acquired better education that the people around them, which separates them intellectually. Although Vershinin informs them that the is uncertain there could even exist such a town that is so dull and so miserable that it does not require rational, civilised people, it is apparent that they do not share his cheerful point of view and his capability to look to the future. Week 6: Pygmalion The arrogant and intellectual Professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, lays a wage with his colleagues that he can ensnare Eliza Doolitle, a flower seller from London, from the sewers and make her an urbane and refined lady. However, he finds out that this entails dealing with an individual with thoughts and schemes of her own. In the play, Shaw questions beauty as an individual value. One’s point of view of beauty in another individual is illustrated to be a decisively complex issue, reliant on a considerable number of factors that are not constantly aesthetic. Eliza, arguably, is the one and the same individual from the beginning to the end of the narrative, but as she is practically invisible to a Cockney-speaking flower businessman Freddy, he is completely enthralled by what he sees as her unique beauty and elegance when she is presented to him as an urbane woman of society. The play, in terms of character structure, provides an overview of the central characters in the story, or the small world of London society. One unusual thing about the play is Higgins himself who shows inconsistencies with his character. He is in the vocation of teaching right conduct, even though lacks them himself. Moreover, Higgins is a bright and talented man, but he is insensitive to the sentiments of the people around him. Another obvious inconsistency is that the external appeal of Higgins serves to conceal his bullying character. He controls Eliza and other people around him to fulfill his own interests, without any consideration for her feelings. Week 8: The Shadow of a Gunman The Shadow of a Gunman narrates the tale Donald Davoren and Seamus Shields, two young men who live in one room in an apartment building in Dublin. The urban context of the play reminds the viewers that the play addresses the average poor of Dublin who do not have the financial means to pay for their own homes, and as well functions as a valuable metaphor to illustrate the mechanism by which urban impoverishment has resulted into houses being segregated and families living along with strangers. Certainly, in this play, the neighbours are frequently the main characters and turn out to be surrogate families for the central characters. A great deal of the play has the attributes of a quite light comedy although with profound political suggestions. An arrangement of residence neighbours come to pay tribute to the male protagonist. In an attempt to make an impression on the tall, coy Minnie Powell, Davoren was unsuccessful to refute the lies. Increasingly dubious individuals show up including the landlord, a young candidate and a couple of Protestantism. The political remarks are quite understated, as the case in point pro and anti the IRA’s position spills out in the middle of the comedy. One alteration from later instances is that both religions could exactly be housed together in virtual agreement. Sean O’Casey wrote with the conflict for autonomy still unmarked in the public mentality, provides this ironic black or tragic comedy a fresh and vibrant importance. In an airy space of miserable sadness and poor plumbing, Aidan McArdle completely captures the wistful thinking of Donal, an idealistic poet and a wretched coward, pleased to be wrongly regarded as a fugitive gunman if it helps draw the elusive attention of Minnie, arrogance with disastrous outcomes. Week 9: The Good Person of Szchewan The play revolves around the water carrier, Wang, who explains to the viewers that he is living in a city outskirts waiting for the prophesied appearance of quite a few important deities. Eventually the gods appear and make a request to Wang to find them accommodation for the night. They are exhausted, having journeyed very far in search of righteous individuals who still live up to the ideals that they, the deities, have laid down. Instead they have stumbled upon nothing but wickedness, deceit, greed, and selfishness. The same happens to be true in Szechwan; nobody will accommodate them, nobody has the time or capacity to be sensitive to other people’s needs, nobody except the young poor Shen Te, whose sincere innate generousness cannot permit her to pay no attention to anyone in need. Brecht’s fascination in the theme of historical materialism is obvious in the play’s description of modern morality and unselfishness in social and economic aspects. Shen Te’s selflessness contradicts with Shui Ta’s entrepreneurial ethics of oppression and exploitation. The play indicates that economic structures establish a society’s moral codes. Brecht underlines the patriarchal realms of capitalism through making Shen Te have a male counterpart, a phallic character capable of wielding influence and seizing what he wants without conscience. Many audiences will agree that the play is quite difficult to understand which will frequently leading into stylistically incoherent interpretations. Though, the play is frequently regarded as one of the most available models of Brecht’s notion of epic theatre, amusing and non-dramatic, though others will think it is too isolated. Week 10: Death and the King’s Horseman The play develops upon this narrative to put emphasis on the role of Elesin, the King’s Horseman. Based on a Yoruba custom, the passing away of the Chief should be accompanied by the ceremonial suicide of the Chief’s Horseman for the belief that the soul of the Horseman is important to guiding the Chief’s soul in ascending to the spirit world. If not the spirit of the Chief will roam around and punish the Yoruba people. The initial half of the story narrates the procedures of this ceremony, with the strong, life-affectionate character of Elesin living out his last day in festivity prior to the beginning of the final process. Similar to several African cultures, the Yoruba have an elementary idea that life is a cycle. The dead are always remembered; they pay homage to their ancestors and view them as guides and friends. The unborn are as well honoured and cherished, and the newly born could actually be ancestors reincarnating to physical form and life. The most emotional moments in the life continuum are the instances of conversion from one form of existence to the next specifically, the channel into the physical dimension at the time of birth and the path into death. The responsibility of Elesin as the king’s horseman is to perform the passage from life into death in a ceremonial way, to remind the whole community through his demise that life is a cycle. However, if one would examine closely the play, it is not actually the clash of old and new civilisations. The conflict at the heart of the story is not between Africa’s Yoruba religion and the colonial existence of Britain. Civilisations have to possess an extent of equality before they can be concluded to clash. It cannot be considered the greedy foreign civilisation of England, which obtained power in Nigeria primarily through the demolition of its intricate religion, to be identical to Yoruban culture. References Cooper, Charles W. Preface to Drama: An Introduction to Dramatic Literature and Theater Art. New York: Ronald Press, 1955. Styan, J.L. Modern Drama in Theory and Practice. Vol. 1 & 3. n.d. —. The English Stage: A History of Drama and Performance. 1996. White, Martin. Renaissance Drama in Action: An Introduction to Aspects of Theatre Practice and Performance. London: Routledge, 1998. Read More