Compare the ability of at least two playwrights to turn one or more of the following to dramatic use in their world: irony; mystery and suspense; menace; comedy.

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Compare the ability of at least two playwrights to turn one or more of the following to dramatic use in their world: irony; mystery and suspense; menace; comedy.

ESSAY C    

In both A Streetcar Named Desire and Hamlet, Tennessee Williams and William Shakespeare, respectively, demonstrate their abilities to create engaging plays which work on several levels in order to produce the desired effect.  One of the most important characteristics of these plays is the playwrights’ success in using their words to create the worlds surrounding their works.  Both Shakespeare and Williams effectively use irony in the aforementioned plays, both in the plot and with specific symbolism, to create mildly existential environments where effective irony is a confirmation of fate and justice.

        Immediately apparent to the reader upon completion of these two works is the glaring appearance of irony in the plays’ plots.  For example, in A Streetcar Named Desire, a great deal of dramatic irony is created when the audience is made aware of details that characters are ignorant to.  Blanche’s facade of morality is ironic when the reader is informed of the truth, as is her eventual committal to a mental institute when the audience knows about Stanley’s rape/sex.  Shakespeare incorporates similar dramatic irony into Hamlet through the same technique.  Examples include Laertes trusting of Claudius when in fact Claudius couldn’t force himself to feel repentant.  It is the use of this dramatic irony, based on the discrepancy between appearance and reality, which makes the plays’ plots engaging and interesting.        

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        Irony is not only employed by the playwright’s in the plots, but also in subtle symbolism which allows a multi-faceted portrayal of characters, and the fictional world in which they exist.  For example, Shakespeare employs subtle ironies in Hamlet as he develops the characters of Hamlet and Gertrude throughout the play.  Hamlet, for example, doubts the reliability of the ghost, remaining unsure of Claudius’ villainy, ironically almost believing his uncle over the father he appears to mourn over.  Hamlet’s insanity is also ironical, as it begins as a ploy simply to remove Claudius’ suspicions of his discovery, and ends with ...

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