"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Williams is attributed with furthering "Domestic Realism" in Modern American Drama. Discuss his exploration of the emotional burdens of ordinary life within the domestic setting. Consider how the: Dialogue, setting and stage directions add to the effectiveness of the family dynamics exposed. Throughout the play of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" various members of the family are at loggerheads. However, this comes to a climax in this passage as Big Daddy's imminent death is confirmed and the question of the heir to the estate becomes an important issue. The Oxford Companion to American Literature describes the play as "depicting bitter, abnormal family tensions". These family tensions are clearly seen in this passage. Big Daddy is dying and the only characters who appear to be more concerned about his death than the estate are Big Mama and Maggie, "Precious Mommy. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry". Maggie is sorry for the death of Big Daddy and all the petty arguments surrounding it. "Big Daddy is not going to die" This denial of what the doctors have claimed as inevitable is evidence of her not wanting Big Daddy to die. Mae and Gooper, however, seem to be desperate to get rid of him. "Eventualities have to be considered and now's the time". This is inhumane of Gooper and he is wrong when he claims, "now's the time". Big Mama is still discovering Big Daddy is going to die and Gooper is
"Death of a Salesman is a play about love". Arthur Miller.
"Death of a Salesman is a play about love" "It's all relationships. I wanted plenty of space in the play for people to confront each other with their feelings..." [Conversations with Arthur Miller, edited by Matthew C Roudine]. Love in the Loman family either brings them together or tears them apart. During the play we see the different ways in which they express their love for each other. There's the love between Willy and Linda, Willy and 'the woman', Willy and Biff and the lack of love between Willy and Happy and even the love and admiration that Willy has for Charlie. The love between Willy and Biff is the most controversial of all, a love so powerful that it does more harm than good. Biff and Willy have different ways of expressing their love; they both detest confrontation and rarely express their feelings for each other. If we go back to when Biff is in high school we can see why. The relationship between Willy and Biff was at an all time high for the play. The fatherly-son activities such as rooting for Biff at football games, praising his accomplishments and defending him from the critical comments of Bernard shows us the father Willy could be. Once Biff finds out about Willy's affair with the woman we see the side of Biff that is expressed throughout the rest of the play. Part of Biff still loves and admires his father, but the other half (the half that
"Each of these two characters is fundamentally incomplete." Examine the contrasting personalities of Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski in the light of this comment.
Oct 13 Daniella De Silva "Each of these two characters is fundamentally incomplete." Examine the contrasting personalities of Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski in the light of this comment. To examine these characters, their backgrounds must first be uncovered. Blanche is a middle aged, former Southern Belle. She grew up in a dream world, on a beautiful country estate called Belle Reve. Her entire childhood was spent doing whatever it was that she pleased and being waited on by the family's servants. She was never forced to work hard, unlike Stanley. He grew up in America: More than likely right there in Elysian Fields. He too enjoyed his childhood, although they were very different from each other. Stanley has had to work hard all of his life for things that he wanted or cared about. These different upbringings and ideas on life create their personalities to clash continually. Blanche, although she portrays quite a self-controlled character, has endured some tough situations. She mentions in the play how while trying to hang on to Belle Reve and her childhood, she, "stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it." She also mentions her dead husband and how the music, especially the Varsouviana makes her reminisce on him and the homosexual situation. She tries to escape from the reality of these things by "misrepresenting things" to people
Explore What a Streetcar Named Desire has to Say About Male and Female Roles in the Society the Play Depicts?
Explore What a Streetcar Named Desire has to Say About Male and Female Roles in the Society the Play Depicts? Set in the years immediately following the Second World War, A Streetcar Named Desire displays the typical roles of both men and women within both home and life in general. With men portrayed as leaders of the households and women simply cleaning up after them. Through Tennessee William's usage of dialogue, specific descriptions of characters both in stage directions and from other characters and finally in lighting and music changes depicted in the stage directions, he illustrates to the reader of modern society how men and women coexisted in the mid 1900's in comparison with life today. It almost seen as if women are dependent on men financially. A fine example of this would be Blanche contacting Shep Huntleigh for financial support. Also women would look on men for emotional support, Blanche uses their praises where as Stella tends to use hers and Stanley's sexual activity as a form of emotional support. William's uses both Stella's and Blanches dependence on the men in their lives to expose the treatment of women and the fact that these women see male companionship as their only means to achieve happiness, Blanche for example thinks that her relationship with Mitch will allow her '...to rest! I want to breathe quietly again!' which shows the reader that
How does Arthur Miller show that Salem society has the capacity for what started with just 'dancin' to end with the deaths of innocent people?
How does Arthur Miller show that Salem society has the capacity for what started with just 'dancin' to end with the deaths of innocent people? During the 17th century in Salem, the church and government were very closely intertwined and the government was based on a rule of religion. At the beginning of the play, the community is still relatively new and many fears and tensions abound. This however, is unusual in a puritan society such as this one. The girls' stories are believed because of the inherent fears present in Salem society. Arthur Miller incorporates different types of fear into the play; these show how the society has the capacity for the events which unfold. As the community has been established in a 'new' land, there is a fear of isolation as they are in a new land. This fear of isolation leads to insecurities. There was also a fear of God and the unexplained. The people's knowledge of the world at that period in time would have been very limited. Therefore, certain phenomenon that could be explained by scientific theories today, would have remained an enigma back in the 17th century. Arthur Miller uses this fear of the unknown to create uneasiness within Salem's community. Furthermore, he used the witch trials to give residents something to blame the unexplained fears on. Tituba led the girls to the woods and performed a ritualistic ceremony. The Puritans
A street car named desire - How do the play's settings contribute to its dramatic effect?
How do the play's settings contribute to its dramatic effect? You might like to consider; * The Kowalski's flat * It's surroundings * The wider American Context The play and its author beg the question; how does the absolute appearance of surroundings affect an audience's compassion to the drama that the play perceptibly emits? The play unquestionably needs dramatic effects to capitalise the story and also to induce and consume an audience. If, without the use of incarcerating dramatic effects from the surroundings and manipulating them into supplying the story's tension, then it would ultimately not receive the same desirable reaction that is needed to illuminate the play. The depicted ideas of the eminent and radiating title tempts the audience with certain evocative ideas, but are ultimately confronted with a whole new concept of a darker and more dramatic story line. The audience can automatically sense this with the contrast of the title with the melancholy and hoary surroundings of the old corner building, emancipating an 'atmosphere of decay', betrayal, self embrace, ugliness and death. This contrast creates a poignant conflict between ideal standards the audience had prepared themselves to see. Whilst the synchronisation between ethnic groups and the humbling sounds of the "blue piano" are heard in the opening scene, these merely act as a façade for the
How important is the character Alfieri in the play "A View from the Bridge"? Consider his role in the action and how miller uses him as a dramatic device.
How important is the character Alfieri in the play "A View from the Bridge"? Consider his role in the action and how miller uses him as a dramatic device. In the play "A View from the Bridge" the character Alfieri has two important roles, the narrator and the character. As a narrator he gives us information on what will happen and what has happened in Red Hook and the lives of its occupiers. The idea of the narrator originated from the Greeks, and Alfieri refers to the Greek in his conversation with us "...since the Greeks were beaten." As a character he is an advisor to Eddie and later Marco. He acts like a prologue and an epilogue to the play, creating suspense. Alfieri plays an important role as a narrator; he introduces the theme of justice. In the beginning, for example, Alfieri tells us, to meet a lawyer on the streets of Red Hook is unlucky an that "In Sicily, from where their farthers came, the law has not been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten." This tells us that the people of Red Hook do not abide by the law. This could be because of the way they were brought up, having there own view there own justice, which wasn't as Marco later says "in a book." The theme of law and justice recurs through the play, it is important to the conflict and the tragedy later on because what Eddie done is approved in the law but in the minds of the people it is not, and
The Importance of Being Earnest - 'We live, as I hope you know, Mr Worthing, in an age of ideals' what are these ideals in the context of the play in Act One, and how does Wilde present them to the audience?
'We live, as I hope you know, Mr Worthing, in an age of ideals' what are these ideals in the context of the play in Act One, and how does Wilde present them to the audience? In 'The Importance of Being Earnest', ideals are a dominant theme, and to that end are critical in determining the actions of the characters. Wilde is typically subtle in his presentation of these ideals, and consequently many of them come to be used as a means for satirising the society depicted. It is important to establish from the outset that Wilde's presentation of ideals utilizes the different characters as bastions for the various ideals, and in doing that subjects them to scrutiny when ridiculing their respective characterizations. One of the most important ideals presented is fittingly one of the first to become apparent; that being the division of the classes and the social status that they entail. On line 1 of the play, Algernon asks Lane, after playing the piano in the adjoining room: 'Did you hear what I was playing. Lane?' Lane's response: 'I didn't think it polite to listen, sir' is indicative of various aspects of his position. Firstly, his butlership requires that he should abstain from partaking in any activity considered to be distracting to his duties, of which listening to the piano would be one. Secondly, his position in society, that of one of the lower classes, demands utter
Look again at Scene 9 of Streetcar named desire - How do you imagine you would feel as a member of an audience witnessing this scene? How does T.W. evoke these feelings in his audience?
Look again at Scene 9 of 'Streetcar'. How do you imagine you would feel as a member of an audience witnessing this scene? How does T.W. evoke these feelings in his audience? Scene 9 of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is a tense scene that runs up to a climatic end. In this scene, Mitch finally learns the truth about Blanche. In the starting directions of this scene, Blanche is depicted as being, 'seated in a tense hunched position,' which is similar to her initial arrival to the house, in scene 1, in which she sits, 'very stiffly.' This is a reference to the nervousness Blanche feels, and a feeling of uncertainty and incongruousness that relates back to the feelings she felt on her arrival. The reference to the 're-covered' chair is yet again another depiction of Blanche's attempts to cover up the truth, and bare reality. The 'Varsouviana' plays 'in her mind,' and this, and the 'scarlet satin,' blood coloured robe, serve to remind the audience of the death of her husband, Allan. Blanche is overcome with a 'sense of disaster,' such as the one she felt when she lost her first love through, she feels, her own doing. Once again, she feels she has lost out on the chance to love, and being stood up by Mitch throws her in that she knows of the precocious nature of her past, and no matter how much she runs, she knows she cannot escape it. Here we see, again, another of Blanche's vices,
Visual and Sound Effects in A Streetcar Named Desire
To What Extent are the visual and sound effects important in "A Streetcar Named Desire"? Visual and sound effects are often as critical to the illustration of themes and ideas in a play as the characters themselves, due to the more nuanced ideas they represent. In "A Streetcar Named Desire", visual and sound effects are important in the development of the themes of madness, desire and sex and death. They are also essential in the illustration of the motifs of light and bathing and the symbols of shadows and cries and the varsouviana polka. However, there are a number of other themes, motifs and symbols in the play that are entirely dependent on the actual journeys of the characters, and in no way developed by the visual and sound effects presented. The visual aspect of "A Streetcar Named Desire" was clearly very important to the author; partly perhaps as a result of his interest in the cinema. His stage directions are very detailed, aiming to create an atmosphere that would heighten the impact of the action, though the visually recurring symbols Williams presents. Firstly, throughout the play there is a continual reference to light. It is used in the form of bright sunlight, on the morning following Stella's beating at the hands of Stanley, indicating that they have settled their grievances. It is used in the form of candlelight for the amorous isolation of Mitch
