Long Day's Journey into Night: Can One Successfully Escape Reality?
Long Day's Journey into Night: Can One Successfully Escape Reality? Tragedy is not a circumstance, or collection of circumstances, that is unknown to most people. It is a painful experience stemming from misfortune and suffering. Some writers choose to recreate this experience on paper. Eugene O'Neill, for example, is one such playwright who took episodes from his own life, disturbing as they were, and shared them with the rest of the world in the form of brilliant and dramatic plays. O'Neill uses tragedy in his plays to pull his audience into the world he has created. In Long Day's Journey into Night, he turns reality into fiction in that he creates his tragic characters, the Tyrone family, based on his own family and the events of one summer in 1912. This reality, however, is not a bright one, and most people would prefer not to have to go through it, nor does this family want to face all the troubles in their lives. In Eugene O'Neill's play, Long Day's Journey into Night, each of the four members of the Tyrone family attempts to escape from reality in his or her own ways. Can it be done? The two brothers, Edmund and Jamie, use similar methods to avoid having to face their significantly less-than-perfect lives. One way is that they use alcohol to drown any thoughts of Edmund's sickness or their mother's addiction that might creep into their heads. Also Jamie, because he
Escaping Reality.
Present by: Sarah Pinsonneault Assignment Presented for the Course Families in Conflict Taught by Prof. Yves Saint-Pierre Second Essay-1200 words Due: April 16th, 2003 Cegep John Abbott College The passage that I have chosen starts on the bottom of page 170 and ends at the top of page 173. Tyrone In a low voice. Thank God he's asleep. Edmund looks up with a start. I thought he'd never stop talking. ... ... Tyrone Heavily. I wish to God she'd go to bed so that I could, too. Drowsily. I'm dog tired. I can't stay up all night like I used to. Getting old- old and finished. With a bone-cracking yawn. Can't keep my eyes open. I think I'll catch a few winks. Why don't you do the same, Edmund? It'll pass the time until she- In Eugene O'Neill's play, Long Day's Journey into Night, he turns reality into fiction in that he creates his dramatic characters, the Tyrone family, based on his own family and the events of one summer in 1912. This reality, however, is not promising, and most people would prefer not to have to go through it, nor does this family want to face all the troubles in their lives. In Long Day's Journey into Night, each of the four members of the Tyrone family attempts to escape from reality in their own ways. Through the use of one of the passages in this play I will demonstrate some of the ways the characters in this play try to escape
Explore Sheriff's presentation of the theme of the effects of war on soldiers' emotions in 'Journey's End'?
Explore Sheriff's presentation of the theme of the effects of war on soldiers' emotions in 'Journey's End'? 'Journey's End' by R.C. Sherriff is set in World War One, in 1918 when the war was coming to an end. Throughout the play, Sherriff has shown the various effects that World War One had on soldiers both the experienced and the inexperienced, ranging from alcoholism to cowardice. I think Sherriff's intentions of doing this, was not mainly to show the futility of war like many dramas of this genre do, but actually to focus of the comradeships that developed in such difficult circumstances such as that of Stanhope's and Osborne's and how these helped the soldiers cope in various ways. The effects of war on the individual are most obvious in the character of Stanhope, whose personality has undergone a complete change. The audience only knows him as the war-weary, cynical, and embittered man of three years war experience who now, unless doped with whisky, would go "mad with fright". It is only retrospectively, through the character of Raleigh, that the audience begins to understand that he wasn't always like this. Raleigh reveals him as "old Dennis", someone to admire even if it is simply because he was a "jolly good bat", his view is emphasized by the stage direction "(suddenly brightens up)" which shows that Raleigh clearly hero-worships Stanhope, the word "brightens"
How does Bennett present different teaching styles in 'The History Boys'?
How does Bennett present different teaching styles in The History Boys? Bennett presents three contrasting teaching styles in the History Boys through the characters of Hector, Mrs Lintott, and Irwin. All three of the characters have their own unique attitude towards the boys' impending Oxbridge examinations, putting the boys in the difficult position of having to keep a reasonable balance between teaching and learning styles whilst making every effort to maintain the good-humoured relationships they have with each of their teachers, as well as striving to achieve well in their examinations. Whilst Hector brands the boys' Oxbridge aspirations as 'silliness', he has a dedication and love for knowledge which he imparts during his lessons, and generally, to his students. While on the subject of General Studies, he quotes 'All knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use', which encapsulates, in one phrase, how highly he values any kind of knowledge as well as how he tries to teach the boys. It shows that Hector sees knowledge as precious- he has an unconventional kind of teaching style which he sees as vital to the boys' education of life in general, and of particular importance is that the boys are aware of this. As Timms says, 'Mr. Hector's stuff's not meant for the exam, sir. It's to make us more rounded human beings.' when the boys are questioned
Equus Essay. In the play Equus by Peter Shaffer, Shaffer uses this passage to convey that Dysart is beginning to lose confidence in his profession of psychiatry
Essay Question 1: How does this passage show us the beginning of Dysart questioning himself and beginning to understand Alan? In the play 'Equus' by Peter Shaffer, Shaffer uses this passage to convey that Dysart is beginning to lose confidence in his profession of psychiatry and begins understand Alan's love for his god Equus through the use of various language devices such as tone, dialogue and repetition. This extract is the opening of scene eighteen just after Alan questions Dysart's relationship with his wife. The playwright presents the audience with a situation where Dysart is confessing to Hesther about his marriage and explains to her why he "didn't go in for them" (kids). Dysart refers to the Strang case as "the usual unusual" at the start of the play showing his dismissive attitude toward his patients, not knowing the extremities of this particular case. Due to Alan probing questions about Dysart's marriage he is left reflecting on whether they got married to soon accentuated by the repetition of "brisk". But the tone developed in the first half of this scene is not so much tragic as humourous because Dysart is cracking jokes about his marriage describing Margaret (his wife) and him as "Doctor and Doctor Mac Brisk" implying the "briskness" of their marriage. The audience is able to infer that Dysart is losing confidence in his profession and Alan an edge over
Examine the different levels of comedy in Synge's Playboy of the Western World.
Examine the different levels of comedy in Synge's Playboy of the Western World. In the play The Playboy of the Western World Synge shows different levels of comedy through visual presentation, language and irony. The language in the play and its figures of speech and slang makes the readers get a feel of Irish culture as it is rich and typical of the Irish. In the first couple of pages of the play we see the characters say such things as "God bless you," and we may initially be fooled into thinking that Mayo villagers are very religious people and the comedy here is in the fact that as the play progresses we realize that it is just in fact a traditional way of greeting. We are further shown that they are not very religious people when Christy says "with the help of God I did (slay my da), surely, and that the Holy Immaculate Mother may intervene for his soul." It is clearly not of God to kill people or owe another and so bringing God in and praising him for fuelling a deed that is so against his teachings again convinces us of the comedy in this play. Another aspect of the language that brings in comedy is that in figures of speech and slang some of the things that the characters say are not to be taken literally but a deeper meaning should be looked for. An example is when Philly says "Did you strike golden guineas out of solder, young fellow, or shilling coins itself?"
How important is context to our understanding of Churchill's Top Girls?
How important is context to our understanding of Top Girls? The fact that Churchill grew up just before the beginning Second World War tells her background to the audience. What she faced and went through, like the lack and struggle for food and shelter. “I was horrified by the lack of equality across class, gender and race”- Caryl Churchill England by that time- the 1980s was completely riven with the political instability, the liberalization of sexuality and the period of economic growth. The context of the play is mainly to do with these times but also about Margaret Thatcher, when she came to power and Britain was believed to have more power and influence over industry than the government. Thatcher was known to break the power of the unions, as she promised that when she will be elected and she was. Churchill’s success started to grow in the 1980s and it was sudden appearance and shock to society of a woman being a playwright during this period. “Between 1959 and 1980 only 8% of the plays produced at the Royal Court were by women and most of these were by Caryl Churchill.” The context of Top Girls is feminism too, which occurred from the period in the 1970s when the focus on the unpaid labor women did around home began. This was symbolic as a woman being subordinate to the man. A lot of playwrights, including Churchill, wrote plays with the historical
In The Silver Tassie. How does OCasey use the structure of his play in a powerful way?
Sharon Maj How does O’Casey use the structure of his play in a powerful way? In The Silver Tassie" by Sean O'Casey is an expressionistic play that mainly focuses on the First World War, written in 1928, the extracts that I am examining are Extracts B1 and B2, these focus on two time periods from past to future renditions from before and after the war, it shows the contrast between life before and after the war, and how the main character Harry is portrayed by the life before the war where he is shown to be strong and attractive in comparison to the future where he’s shown as weak mentally and physically, I will focus on the way the author uses structure to convey powerful meanings throughout the two extracts. In the first Act, the author uses large amount of stage direction which gives wide indication to what is happing in the scene creating vivid detail to the play. Harry is shown as a hero as he won a football match on his last day before leaving for the war, he has a positive status as when he was “carrying… On their shoulders” and everyone was standing “Up…Up” the repetition shows that everyone is respecting him and they are excited and feeling happy about the victory. Harry is also being shown as “healthy stomach, lusty limbs” which emphasize that he is good looking and strong, the audience like him as he is being shown as the hero of that
What conflicts and tensions arise in Act 1 of 'Arcadia'?
What conflicts and tensions arise in Act 1 of Arcadia? One of the driving forces behind Arcadia is the contrasts, conflicts and tension. While there are many pairs of opposing characters, there are less obvious clashes; conflicts of schools of thought and mindsets. In Arcadia there are two types of knowledge: love and academia, which are in constant conflict throughout the text. It is only the proposition of marriage, the intellectual justification for sex, which allows a resolution between the two forces. The theme of love vs. intellect is touched upon in the first pages of the play. Thomasina interrupts her lesson with Septimus by asking what carnal knowledge is. Sexual knowledge always acts in conflict with intellectual knowledge, and here it gets in the way of the lesson. Thomasina also remarks on the conflict between emotion and intellect in relation to Cleopatra. Her question is prompted by Septimus himself who was found having sex with Mrs. Chater in the gazebo the day before. Thomasina describes Cleopatra as making ‘noodles of our sex’ because she was weakened by love and laments the loss of knowledge in the great library of Alexandria as a result of her sexual desire. Thomasina heralds Queen Elizabeth who would not have been tempted by love to give away land or power. Hannah is, like Thomasina's Queen Elizabeth, unswayed by romantic passions. She believes, as
How is the prison service presented in scene 6 and other parts of "Murmuring Judges" by David Hare?
How is the prison service presented in scene 6 and other parts of the play? Hare uses the characters to present the flaws of the prison service, the relationship between Irina and Gerard becomes intimate. The prison service is presented as a corrupt institution that does not follow through or particularly care about prisoners. Hare uses Irina to highlight the blemishes and fraudulent nature of the prison system as she becomes Gerard’s ‘friend’. In this scene, Hare presents Beckett world-weary and as not particularly sentimental but there is some sense of emotion and irony there, ‘I think the prisoners like it why else do they keep coming back?’ and ‘watch the shit-packages’, this shows the ironic tone he uses when talking to Irina. Hare uses pragmatism to describe Beckett; he is a sensible character, not an idealist, ‘Only by us, Miss Platt. It’s left to us’. This shows that he has accepted the tragic reality of the prison service and that it will not change for the better. The corruption is rooted too deep for any sort of reform, however much people try. Financing in prison during the 1980s was kept low despite the growing number of prisoners during that period of Margaret Thatcher’s conservative government. During the 1980s, there were 51 criminal trials, public enquiry proved the most searching examination of penal policy, which shows that the