Drama: Focus on the play Wit by Margaret Edison - Essay Example

The protagonist in the drama Wit by Margaret Edison vividly represents a round character. Dr. Bearing, the main character in the play, is presented as a dedicated student of the Holy Sonet. At the start of the play, we see her struggling with this complex literature under the stewardship of her father. Further on, she becomes a lecturer at the University. Therefore, she is depicted as a tough teacher who appeared not very concerned with her students’ personal problems. Later on, she becomes a subject of scientific research after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

This character, therefore, conforms to the standards of a round character. Edison therefore emphasizes roundness through the use of Dr. Bearing’s dynamism from being a student, to being a university lecture and eventually an invalid. At the end of the play, I was left with a myriad of questions in my head. For instance, although the major question that kept ringing in my head was is science and art giving us the strength to fight eminent death? This is illustrated through the inevitable death of Dr.

Bearing even after offering herself for medical experimentation that apparently bear no fruits. Moreover, the themes of the play are themselves ironic. Wit shows Dr. Bearing as arrogant even mean to some extent but as the play unfolds, it brings about an element of compassion. Furthermore, the main character presents some traits that I can personally relate to. More specifically, her commitment to literature, both as a student under her father and also as a lecture are characters I found appealing.

She also fights her cancer with courage and hope. However, her apparent lack of understanding and coldness towards her students and the nurse at the hospital were inappropriate to me. Later on, during the last stages of the play, Dr. Bearing craves for a little kindness, something she had lived without much thought of. Fortunately, she receives this kindness from one of the nurses taking care of her. But the fact that Dr. Bearing is sorrowful and realizes that she should have offered more kindness to others, especially her students, is something I find admirable in this character.

At this juncture, I evaluated myself and all the times I had been unkind came flashing back in my eyes. The direction of the scenes in a play actually plays a very important part in the delivery of intended messages and building of the featured themes. For instance, the first part of the play depicting the early days of Dr. Bearing’s childhood ought to have a more homely ambience. Here, Edison intended to portray the care she received from her dad, who encouraged her to put her all in the reading and comprehension of the Holy Sonet.

He was patient with her and gave her the will to go on with her ambitions an abated by its complex nature. Later, as a lecturer, the stage arrangement should represent a college setting probably incorporating aspects on community and togetherness that is the norm in any university settings. It is also important to illustrate the challenges and struggles of college life, a theme that is developed in the play. Finally, in the last scenes of the play, the stage should be arranged to give a feeling of somberness and regret in order to satisfy the intentions of the play writer.

Hospitals environments always bring a sense of suffering and sadness. The suffering and regret of Dr. Bearing should be well represented by creating the stage with this fact