High Tor the Play - Essay Example

The Dutch crew sail off in their ship called The Onrust. Skimmerhorn and Biggs are arrested by the police on suspicion of being involved in the bank robbery since the Orangeburg envelope is found on them. The Indian, John, is now blind and very ill. He gives instructions to Van on how he desires to be buried. Van and Judith reconcile. Van excuses his former attraction for Lise as being his loneliness for Judith.

3. The robbery in Nanuet is done by three incompetent robbers. They meet Judge Skimmerhorn's head on the mountain of High Tor. He asks them to run some errands for him for a total of ten bucks.
They leave their satchel of $25000 behind accidentally. This shows how greed for five dollars advance money has cost the robbers a bigger amount of their loot of twenty-five thousand. Dewitt finds it and in turn, leaves it to Biggs and Skimmerhorn. This subplot develops the characterization of Biggs and Skimmerhorn. Biggs says the bank president is his friend but he has no scruples about appropriating the stolen money. He manages to convince Skimmerhorn to keep the money for themselves. Skimmerhorn has no legal or moral scruples and is corrupt despite his position as a judge. He uses this as leverage to get Biggs to increase his share of the High Tor deal to 50% of the profits.

4. Van and the Indian have the final satisfaction of getting a good deal out of High Tor. Van gives the condition that the Indian burial ground be left sacred and untouched. The Indian is happy with this term. The Indian tells Van that High Tor is harsh and; “’ There's wilder land, and there are higher mountains, in the west.’” John means that Van should find better land with the money he gains from the sale of High Tor. Van explains that it is better to sell High Tor than to live on the grudge of holding on to the land without being able to develop it for its good. It is symbolic that the Dutch crew leaves High Tor when their long-awaited ship arrives. The parallel arrival of Skimmerhorm Senior is staged to coincide with the fallout of the ghostly protection of High Tor. When the land is released to be sold, The Onrust arrives to carry her sailors home.

5. The Dutch crew is unhappy that they are trapped on the mountain that has ruins of past generations. The male sailors turn to drink to spend their time. Lise feels depressed and she confides in Dewitt. Dewitt tells her that a possible remedy is to fall in love with a modern man, whom he calls a magician. He too, seeks love from a modern-day woman, Lise, but she rejects him. The Dutch crew has been stranded on High Tor for so many years that they are weary of waiting for their ship called The Onrust. When it suddenly appears one day, they make the immediate run for it and leave High Tor.

6. I would watch the play if I had the chance to do so in 1937. It is a great play on the prevalent social, political, and economic issues like materialism, the decay of old values, machination, industrialization, the advance of civilization on virgin territories, profiteering selling land, prejudice, and injustice.

7. Van Dorn decides to sell High Tor when John tells him that the rough terrain would make ruins of anything that man does to it. John feels secure that no matter what construction is done to High Tor, there will be ruins because the land is destined to have ruins. The land can protect itself and does not need Van holding onto the property to protect it from industrialists like Skimmerhorn. The one part of the land that Van explicitly protects is the Indian burial ground that he has stipulated with Skimmerhorn Senior. Van would like to give the land a chance to be developed since he has heard Lise speak about the past generations that tried to civilize the land. Lise shares the same opinion with John. They believe that the land will eventually emerge as the winner in the fight against the violation of its soil.