The Play Dantons Death - Literature review Example

A. Lorena López Clark Lunberry LIT 3043 August 01, 2008 Danton’s Death: Conflict between Danton and Robespierre The French Revolution is one of themost remarkable events in the history of mankind and also one of the extremely notorious in terms of loss in human life and damages. The play Danton’s Death vibrantly depicted the horrible experiences of the people of France during the outbreak of the revolution. Many conflicts of human existence have been explored by the play such as the unprivileged and the privileged; virtue and practicality. The differences between the social groups in France in this historical period were portrayed in the play through the routine interactions occurring between the Deputy of the National Convention and the Members of the Committee of Public Safety; the former organization was headed by Danton whereas the latter was controlled by the charisma of Robespierre. The stark difference between the two opposing groups is highlighted by the confrontations that occurred between Danton and Robespierre. However, the scenes in the play prior to the heated arguments between the two leaders emphasized the large gap between the aristocrats and the masses, which continued to plague the people. In Act 1, Scene 4, this passage shows the sad fate of those who were not able or do not have the conscience to deceive their fellow people: “You have rumbling in your bellies, they have stomach cramps; you have holes in your jackets, they have warm coats; you have calluses on your hands, they have silk gloves. you work and they sit on their asses; you earn the bread and they steal it; when you want back a few coins of your property they’ve stolen you have to go whoring and begging; they are thieves and must be killed!” (Mueller ). This moving statement was uttered by a First Citizen who is experiencing a lot of grief which then consequently represented the majority of the people of France who were not happy with their economic status in relation to the mounting riches and fame of the aristocrats. The entire plot of the story, the aristocrats lifestyles were blamed as the source of all wickedness brought about by their disapproval in life, whereas the poor are just happy with a piece of bread. The deep rift between the masses and the aristocrats in the French Revolution is further justified by the play’s colorful depiction of the life of the wealthy such as Camille Desmoulins, Herault-Sechelles, Lacroix, and most importantly Georges Danton. In the opening part of the play, an immediate hint on the progress of the story was already revealed. The setting was like a club for wealthy individuals, where they can gamble, play cards and other games that demand high finances. The conversation inside the room was quite intense because the issue being discussed was politically sensitive, which was the illegal executions of selected individuals. The guillotine was mentioned a lot of time, which provides indication to the reader that the revolution being staged was very bloody. In the play, enlisted all the unlucky people who were sacrificed for the sake of the success of the revolution; first to be beheaded were the royalists, next were the moderates called Girondists and then the large scale violence become a horrifying phenomenon of this time. The progress of the play showed that the guillotine victims are sometimes a civilian who was completely innocent from the politics of the nation. The other contradicting pole explored in the play is Danton and Robespierre arguments regarding virtue and morality. In Scene VI, the confrontation between Danton and Robespierre led to the issue of virtue and practicality. This statement by Danton to Robespierre clearly demonstrates that the former is completely against the latter’s extreme Puritanism: “Robespierre, you are disgustingly virtuous. I’d be ashamed to walk around between heaven and earth for thirty years with that moral expression on my face and only for the miserable pleasure of finding others worse than self.” (p 21). For Danton, Robespierre’s extraordinary righteousness is an insult to the human race. Danton is implying in his statement that Robespierre is nothing but a false prophet, a person aiming for greater power through the support of the masses. Moreover, Robespierre’s almost saintly words obviously appeal to the ordinary citizens of France which reveals the underlying objective of the revolutionist, which is the amassing of power under the guise of an upheaval aimed on the liberation of the people. A. Lorena López Clark Lunberry LIT 3043 August 01, 2008 Leonce and Lena: The Tragic and Romantic Love Affair In a seemingly fairy tale setting, the comical love story of two individuals from two different kingdoms took place. In Buchner’s play Leonce and Lena, just like in Danton’s Death, he made use of contradicting elements to explain the undergoing plot of the story. The dual realities of life, particularly between the impoverished and the affluent and the tragic and the romantic, are the main themes of this narrative. The main characters of the story, Leonce and Lena were from similar social backgrounds which also contributed to their fate as individuals. However, in order to give spice to the rather commonplace story of a prince and a princess, the author placed a humorously witty and sensible character to contrast the dullness of Leonce and Lena’s situation, Valerio. At the opening of the play, the reader is given a hint that Leonce and Valerio are from two different social groups, the former a privileged whereas the latter the ill-fated. Several scenes in the play established this fundamental difference between these two characters in order to illustrate the irony of life, which is the more you taste hardship, the more you will appreciate the beauty of living. In Scene 1, Valerio expressed his deep gratitude towards life by reversing the difficult reality of his existence. This passage uttered by the poor Valerio, “You will find no calluses disgracing my hands; the earth has tasted no drop of the sweat of my brow, I am virginal in face of toil…” (Mueller 78) provides the reader with a fresh and positive perspective of Valerio’s life. On the contrary, the prince Leonce who has all the conveniences and luxuries of life remained bitter and pessimistic in the best half of his life. In the conversations between the prince and Valerio, the contrasting aspect of their lifestyle and standpoint is highlighted by Leonce’s conscious denial of the reality of poverty. In Act II Scene IV, Leonce decides to end his perceived sad existence by committing suicide but this attempt was stopped by his drinking buddy Valerio. In this instance, Valerio expressed his observation of the prince, which was an impulsive act for a follower of the romantic tradition; Leonce is a weakling in the face of emotional excesses. This statement by Valerio, “breaking the glass when he’s drunk to his sweetheart’s health” (96) proves the point that Leonce is feeble when it comes to the matters of the heart. Aside from the author’s interpretation of the contrary concepts of poverty and wealth, he also engaged his text on the effective combination of tragedy and romanticism in the overall character of the story. Even though Leonce has a personality that is fragile and has a negative outlook towards life, his heart remains open for love. The only thing that Leonce cannot accept is the fact that his life is dictated by the people around him, particularly his father King Peter, hence making his disposition shabby at moments of life challenges. Since the direction of Leonce’s life is already planned and required no further contemplations and actions, he sees life as a monotonous and emotionally tiresome undertaking thus making him tragic and romantic as protagonist at the same time. Likewise, Lena, the princess from the Kingdom of Pipi agreed to be married to Leonce, has a similar gloomy circumstance making her the female version of Leonce. In Act I Scene IV, Lena expressed her deep mourning to her governess; this passage pictures precisely the emotion that Lena has at that given moment, “O God, I could love someone, I could!... until the time when the woman who tends us in death takes our hands apart and folds them across our breast. But why must they nail two hands together that have never sought one another” (88). Leonce and Lena accept their tragic realities and maintain a tight hold on their passionate and dreamy point of view. The arranged wedding between Leonce and Lena produced an intense feeling of sorrow for both of them. They admit that they have the capacity to love someone but it should be built from their freedom to choose someone, which they will consider dearly for the rest of their life. A. Lorena López Clark Lunberry LIT 3043 August 01, 2008 Aguirre, The Wrath of God: The Making of a Despot Werner Herzog, the writer and director of the movie Aguirre: The Wrath of God combined objectively historical and fictional events. He weaved the entire plot of the story on the fascination brought about by the adventures of the conquistadores in South America for the fulfillment of a selfish purpose, to exploit the riches of the fabled lands. The motif of the story is rather hard and cruel because of murders, deception, betrayal and greed. However, Herzog softened the masculine context of the story by including two important women in the lives of the daring conquerors, Inez who is the wife of the first-in-command leader Ursua and Flores who is the daughter of the shrewd and brutal Aguirre. Aside from the hard and soft backdrop of the story, an emerging theme is prominent, the clamor for leadership, and to hoard not only wealth but also power. In 1560, the conquistadores from the powerful nation of Spain attacked the jungles at the foot of the Andes Mountains under the leadership of Gonzalo Pizarro. Casualties from the Indian inhabitants rose to considerable numbers due to the high-powered weaponry that the Spanish troop had. Yet, despite the availability of an advance technology, the conquistadores faced difficulties in navigating the intricate ecosystem of the Amazon. Pizarro then decides to send a small group which would be liable for exploring the narrow mountainous paths through the great river; included in the commissioned men for the perilous task is Don Lope de Aguirre. However, insecurity and greed intensified within Aguirre because he is placed only second-in-command to Ursua which is a further insult to him because he is positioned under a general commander, Gonzalo Pizarro. In the scene where Aguirre stands behind Gonzalo while he is giving out commands to the small expedition team is a symbolic representation of levels of power. Because of Aguirre’s emotion regarding hierarchies of the expedition, he is not able to contain himself and uttered the prophetic statement, “Nobody can get down that river alive”. This sudden burst of sentiment suggests that Aguirre has planned an evil deed that would bring him enormous wealth and power which was then supported by the subsequent events experienced by the small troop crossing the great unknown river. In another scene, an exchange of conversation between Aguirre and Gonzalo hinted on the former’s hidden plan; Gonzalo, while guiding his troops said, “from here it’s downhill” and Aguirre responded with the meaningful statement, “now it’s downhill”. This brief exchange between the two leading figures of the story showed that at the surface Aguirre is giving respect to the Spanish nobleman by promptly responding to every announcement made. However, when analyzed on a deeper level, one can see that Aguirre was implying a resistance to the expedition’s agreed upon methods and objectives and indicating a warning of his secret plan. The goal of Aguirre to seize the leadership from the people in command was forged by his desire to create a pure dynasty which will be incestuous in nature since only individuals within the bloodline will be permitted to have sexual relationships with each other. In the last statement screamed by Aguirre, “I, the Wrath of God, will marry my own daughter and with her I will found the purest dynasty the world has ever seen. We shall rule this entire continent. We shall endure. I am the Wrath of God!” it movingly shows Flores position in a wicked plan which was larger than her life. Because of this rather strange objective, Ursua and the other soldiers of the small team suffered early deaths at the hands of Aguirre. The wife of Ursua displayed the softer side of the conquistadores’ fate by taking care of her husband when he was injured because of Aguirre’s treachery. She strongly symbolized a woman that was strengthened by the nature of their loved ones’ occupation. Likewise, Flores, the daughter of Aguirre was represented as an innocence that was situated in the callous world of greedy men. Work Cited Mueller, Carl Richard. Buchner: Complete plays and Prose. New York: Hill and Wang, 1998. Read More