Analyzing literary works: drama - Essay Example

no. Analyzing literary works: drama Drama is one of the most used literal works by wishing to depict how the society operates. There are various categories of dramatic plays that writers rely on to pass their intended messages. This essay aims at analyzing the similarities between comic plays, tragic plays, and realist plays in terms of characters, the themes, how the plots are built. In order to better understand these similarities and differences in terms of type of play, the characters, the development of the plots, and the climaxes, the essay uses “Sure Thing”, “Othello”, and “Twilight: Los Angeles”. Type of play “Sure Thing”, a comic play by David Ives and Othello, a tragic play by William Shakespeare are similar in that both are romantic films that depict the struggles that couples go through in relationships. However, whereas “Sure Thing” is a romantic comedy in which the couple ends up together, Othello is a tragedy which ends in the deaths of the main couple. In “Sure Thing”, Bill and Betty start of on a rocky path when the former tries to engage Betty in conversation in a restaurant by asking whether the seat next to her is taken, to which Betty relies that it is, completely disinterested in Bill. According to Shakespeare, there is mutual attraction between Othello and Desdemona, despite contrary claims by Iago (74). Twilight Los Angeles, on the other hand is a realist drama by Anna Smith, in which the negative effects of racial marginalization are well depicted, motivated by the violent riots of 1992 in Los Angeles. The play is centered on the feelings and experiences taken from the actual words of people from all walks of life who formed the Los Angeles community of 1992. The characters Betty and Bill are the main characters in “Sure Thing”, while Othello has Othello himself, Iago, Cassio, and Desdemona as the main characters. In twilight Los Angeles, Smith herself plays the role of all the characters in the play, a role that demands that she change her voice to sound like more than twenty five people whom she interviewed. There is no protagonist and antagonist in sure thing, thus making the play different from the other two. In Othello, the protagonist is Othello, who is busy commanding his army to avert the invasion by the Turks. According to Shakespeare, the antagonist, Iago, plans to destroy Othello whom he hates for promoting Cassio, who is younger and less experienced, to the position of a lieutenant (5). In twilight Los Angeles, although the play contains the voices of many people from divergent classes and ethnicities, the main protagonists are the black people who tell of their suffering in the hands of the whites, Although the play contains the voices of many people from divergent classes and ethnicities, the main protagonists are the black people who tell of their suffering in the hands of the whites, particularly the authorities, who are the antagonists. Is the plot developed by situations, the characters, or both? In order to ensure that the plot within a play develops in such a manner that the audiences’ interests are maintained, writers use either situations, characters, or both. “Sure Thing” and “Othello” are similar in that the writers use both situations and characters to develop the respective plots. Ives uses the character of Bill, as a patient and determined man, to build up on the constant rejection by Betty. The situation in which Betty alleges that the seat next to her is taken, later on claiming that she is waiting for somebody and that they are late, to finally admitting that the seat is not taken also helps build the plot. In Shakespeare’s Othello, the plot is mostly built by the Iago who takes advantage of situations to orchestrate Othello’s fall. Particularly, Iago takes advantage of the army celebrations for the destruction of the Turkish army by a storm, to get Cassio extremely drunk. Iago then convinces one of the officers to start a fight with Cassio, making Othello is very displeased and stripping Cassio of his rank (Shakespeare 34). Iago then convinces Cassio to approach Desdemona and ask her to persuade Othello to give him back his job, while at the same time planting ideas in Othello’s head about an affair between his wife and Cassio. Iago executes the plan by having Desdemona’s handkerchief stolen by his wife Emilia and planted among Cassio’s belongings, signifies an affair between the two. Smith’s realist play is different from the aforementioned plays, as it builds its plot from the various situations in which people find themselves. For example, Smith impersonates Theresa Alison and tells of how her son Dewayne Holmes was shot five times for belonging to a gang. The riots are, therefore, fuelled by all the injustices that have been committed against black people over the course of American history. In addition, it is clear form the play that the riots stemmed from misunderstandings and poor mentalities. For instance, by impersonating Stanley Sheinbaum, Smith narrates how he once held talks with peaceful gang members to try and understand them, only for his LAPD partner to question his loyalty. Essentially, the mentality of black is inferior to white is what led to the chaos (Twilight: Los Angeles). This means that most of the times, when gang members of the black community meet with law enforcers, chaos are bound to take place. In simple words, and from Smith’s play, racial profiling is to blame for the chaos and tensions of 1992 in Los Angeles. Climax The three plays have different climaxes and conclusions. In Ives’ “Sure Thing”, Betty finally allows Bill to take the seat next to her and the two engage in a conversation about the books they have read and how interesting they were. The climax is when Bill asks Betty whether she will love him and cherish him forever, to which Betty replies “yes”, then they head out to the movies. In Shakespeare’s play the climax is when Othello starts mistreating his wife, and eventually kills her for being adulterous (Shakespeare 88). Emilia, Iago’s wife discovers Othello’s deed and raises alarm but Othello defends himself stating the handkerchief as evidence. Emilia realizes that Iago had used her and exposes him, but Iago kills her. Othello is enraged and stabs Iago although not fatally, and then he commits suicide. Cassio, whom Iago had tried to murder earlier, is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that Iago is punished for his crimes. In some sense, Iago does succeed in destroying Othello although he also destroys himself and his promotional prospects in the process. There is no real climax or conclusion in smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, although by the end one is able to see how political instruments have affected the American dream by encouraging class and ethnic tensions. Summary and Conclusion The comparison of the three plays shows that there are a number of similarities among the three or between two given plays. For instance “Sure Thing” and “Othello” both plays illuminate the struggles of being in a relationship. Similarly, “sure thing” and “Othello” use the characters and the situations they are confronted with to develop the plot in the respective plays. Among the differences is that the three plays are of different types, with “Sure Thing” being a comedy, “Othello” a tragedy and “Twilight: Los Angeles” a realist play. Additionally, “Twilight: Los Angeles” is different from the other two in that it builds its plot from the situations and not the characters. Lastly, all the three plays have different climaxes, with “Sure Thing” ending on a good note; “Othello” ends tragically, while “Twilight: Los Angeles” does not have a real ending. Conclusively, the main similarity among the three plays is that they are all dramas and the main differences have to do with the types of play, the characters and the conclusion of the plays. Works cited Ives, David. Sure thing. 2013. Web. 2013. Twilight: Los Angeles. Dir. Levin Marc. Perf. Anna Deavere Smith. Offline Entertainment Company, 2000. Film. William Shakespeare. Othello. California: Saddleback educational publishers. 2011. Print. Read More