Abstract This paper examines Ibsen's "A Doll's House", the story of Nora Helmer, a woman who has been given a certain role in society and has never had the opportunity to question that role or determine who she really is. It evaluates how one of the major themes of the play is self identity, versus the role that society places upon people and how this theme is expressed through the changing character of Nora. It discusses Nora's character and her transformation through the story showing how her transformation is really just a change in the role she chooses to play and not a change in her actual character.
From the Paper "These events are the ones that change Nora's character so that she begins to become aware of herself. At the beginning of the play, Nora is a child, by the end she has become aware of the situation and has matured enough to understand that she needs to find out who she is It is in the play itself that we see her grow up, when her beliefs about her husband are finally shattered and she comes to a new understanding. She then comes to see that her father and her husband have seen her as a doll to be played with and that she is not seen as someone with her own opinions or her own will. She realizes that her whole life has been based on illusion, not reality. It is this realization that forces her to make her brave choice at the end and decide to leave her husband."
Abstract This paper examines the character of Katherine; discussing the various techniques used by Shakespeare to establish the theme of the play "Taming the Shrew". It also answers the question whether Katherine was tamed eventually or not.
From the Paper "Taming The Shrew by William Shakespeare is a comedy play tactfully and purposely divided into five entertaining acts (Plot Structure). The induction highlights the possible reasons for the play's existence followed by an introduction all the characters playing a vital role in developing the theme of the play and the development of the gist of the story, in the first act (Plot Structure). The taming (the main purpose of the play) of the female lead begins in the Act II and III with Katherine getting married to Petruchio. The climactic act is the act IV when the aim of cultivating and changing Kate to a productive human being is accomplished (Plot Structure). The final Act V establishes the connection and creates harmony between all the characters of the play and brings forward the implied meaning of Katherine's portrayal (Plot Structure) as a shrew."
Abstract This paper analyzes the Strindberg play, "Miss Julie" and describes how to present it in theatre production. The paper describes the character dialogue of the actors, the nineteenth century setting for the stage and props. It further illustrates the lighting effects, which allude to observing something that the characters want hidden from the audience.
From the Paper "In August Strindberg's Miss Julie, the use of setting helps advance the theme and conveys meaning to the audience not only through the visible setting but also in terms of off-stage space. For the current production of the play, the basic description in the text will be followed, though the set need not be as naturalistic as originally intended. What is important is that the set suggest a large kitchen in an aristocratic home at the end of the nineteenth century. The script says that the roof and side walls of the kitchen are hidden by drapes and borders, so they need be little more than suggestions of walls and ceiling. To the rear, on the right, is an arched exit porch, and through this can be seen a fountain and trees, which can also be suggested rather than naturalistic in design. The important kitchen props are a large stove, a kitchen table, some chairs, an ice-box, a sink, and some shelves. Prominent in the side wall is a large speaking tube, which becomes an important symbol of the master of the house and so which should be given special emphasis through size and position."
Tags: stage, props, dialogue, miss, julie, lighting, nineteenth, century
Abstract This paper reviews William Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar" and examines how it was accepted and performed at the time in Elizabethan England. It provides a history of the Globe theatre where many of Shakespeare's plays were performed beginning with "Julius Caesar" and examines life in the theatre district of London at the time. It attempts to analyze why the play was so popular when it first came out and why a subject such as tyrannicide was presentable in a country governed by a monarch. It looks at how it contained all of the political and social intrigues necessary to make it a timeless classic and all the puerile blood and gore that was needed to entertain a group of theater-hopping commoners in what was considered London's seediest neighborhood.
From the Paper "The play was written and performed in 1599 at the Globe theater in Southwark, London. Southwark is located on the south bank of the Thames river, and was traditionally considered the vice district. This section of London was home to 10% of its population, and more than its share of the city's beggars. In 1594 the Lord Mayor, Sir John Spencer, asserted that parts of Southwark were "very nurseries and breeding-places of the begging poor" who swarmed the streets of the City. He estimated the number of these beggars at 12,000, and requested a meeting of several local magistrates in an attempt to banish them from the City or prevent them from crossing the Bridge."
Abstract The paper discusses the play 1944 play "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams whose plot draws loosely on autobiographical material from the writer's own life. The paper shows how the play describes the main character (Tom Wingfield)'s anguished struggle between the call of duty towards his mother (Amanda Wingfield) and sister (Laura Wingfield) and his desire to ?live his own life.? Tom is also the "narrator" in the play who often moves in and out of the action. The paper discusses how, apart from the use of a narrator, "The Glass Menagerie" is notable for the use of music, screen projections and lighting effects that helped to create a dream-like effect that is appropriate for a ?memory play.? This was unusual for the time and challenged the naturalistic convention of plays of the period.
From the Paper "The play is divided into seven acts and opens in the run-down St. Louis apartment of the family sometime in 1937 with the narrator Tom reflecting on his past memory. By speaking directly to the audience through the narrator the playwright makes a deliberate departure from the naturalistic convention of plays at the time. The essential characteristics of all the characters in the play are established quickly at the beginning with the use of this technique. Amanda is a loving but nagging and meddlesome mother who annoys Tom by her demanding ways. She is also apt to live in the past and far removed from the present realities of her life as she often recalls the days when she was a young Southern belle and a single evening in her past when seventeen gentlemen suitors came calling on her."
This paper uses three different literary works, Anton Chekhov's ?The Lady with the Pet Dog," Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler" and Leo Tolstoy's ?The Death of Ivan Ilyich," to discuss the role that marriage plays in society.
Abstract This paper examines the role that marriage plays in society, both past and present. The author uses three different literary works, "The Lady with the Pet Dog," "Hedda Gabler" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" to illustrate how marriage has maintained itself as an institution of society over the years. The main characters in these three stories demonstrate how societal pressures often lead people to marry for the wrong reasons and how loveless, or meaningless marriages often occur for different reasons. Hedda is forced to marry because she is a woman, Ilyich marries only because society expects him to take a wife and Gurov finds himself in a loveless marriage that leads him to an affair and his finding true love. The author uses these characters to send the message that marriage without thought can often have serious consequences that destroy lives.
From the Paper "In the play Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen also makes a comment on the institution of marriage in society. Just as in ?The Death of Ivan Ilyich,? marriage is a requirement of society and something people must accept. Ibsen offers his views on the implications of this by focusing on the impact on the woman in the marriage. It is noted that the woman has the least control in a marriage, the woman being seen as inferior and powerless to the man. The main character, Hedda Gabler, is aware of this, with the play being her story of how she reacts to these controls. Hedda is a female with a character that is difficult to contain. She is not the character who accepts restrictions placed upon her, but is fiercely independent. The fact that she has no choice but to accept marriage shows just how certain the role of women is in society."
Abstract The paper details the themes of false love and true love in both plays and gives the definition of love as well as the lesson of love according to each play.
From the Paper "False Love is embodied primarily by Lear's two daughters, Regan and Goneril. When their father demands a declaration of love, the two girls offer grand declarations of love, which are also however false. These declarations win them the promised prize of land and marriage to foremost members of society. The love of their husbands is also false, since it is based upon how much the girls can offer in a material sense.
The further romantic pursuits of the sisters also prove their love to be false. When Regan's husband dies, she competes with her sister for Edmund's love. This not only shows her romantic love to be false, but also her love for her sister. This is also proved by the fact that they ultimately turn against each other in their conspiracies."
Abstract Arthur Miller revelled in exposing the frailties of society and human nature. In his plays "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible", he explores American society and what drives its citizens. This paper endeavours to compare and contrast the themes posited by Miller in "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible" and how these themes are conveyed by the plays? characters and plot.
From the Paper ""Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible" both explore how individuals define themselves by the society they live in. However, the definitions that emerge are different among the leading protagonists of each play. In "Death of A Salesman", the themes of success and failure are explored through the dialogue and actions of the main character, Willy Loman. "Death of a Salesman" relates the tale of a man facing failure in American society, known for inculcating amongst its citizens the importance of success."
From the Paper " The purpose of this paper is to compare the ways in which Romeo's and Juliet's characters are developed by their love. Romeo and Juliet is a play about fate, about love, and about the tragic consequences of poor timing. Both Romeo and Juliet are, in one sense, characters whose fates are caught up in the web of intrigue woven by their families and by a society, which condones family feuds. Their lives are not their own. Swept away by the great passion of first love, their attempts to alter their family heritage and to unite in marriage causes their tragic deaths. Shakespeare develops the characters of Romeo and Juliet in the light of the purity of their love, and contrasts these innocents to those who would control their lives, their feelings, and their actions. By using the power of love as a device of character development, Shakespeare has painted a(...)"
From the Paper "This paper examines the various themes to be found in Medea,
the play by Euripides, the 5th-century playwright and friend of
Socrates (70-115). Euripides? play dramatizes the well-known legend of the journeys of Medea, granddaughter of Helios, god of the sun, and her husband Jason. According to this Greek legend Jason, an Argonaut, travels to Colchis on the Black Sea, where, with the help of Medea, he manages to secure the Golden Fleece. Medea, who is a sorceress of significant power, facilitates her escape and that of Jason from Colchis, chiefly by murdering her own brother. When Jason returns to his native Iolcus, he finds that his uncle, Pelias, has cheated him of his father's throne. Medea takes it upon herself to intervene again, on Jason's behalf, in the struggle by getting the daughters of Pelias to slay the ruler. And, once again, the couple takes flight and begins their lives(...)"
Summary & analysis of plot (life in hell), thematic structure, existentialist approach, characters & relationships, stark style and author's life related to play.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 3 sources, 1987, $ 55.95
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre. The plan of the research will be to summarize and analyze the play with a view toward providing a definition of its main ideas. To this end, examination will be made of the pattern of ideas emerging by means of the work, as well as of the means by which these ideas are expressed.
The plot of No Exit is quite straightforward. Garcin, Inez, and Estelle have arrived in hell and are to share a room for eternity. Why they are in hell is simple enough. Garcin was a political journalist who informed on his friends. Inez was a homosexual who seduced her cousin's wife. Estelle, a fickle nymphomaniac, killed her baby before its father's eyes and drove him to suicide. But the cause-and-effect nature of the characters' histories is not the core of the play. Rather, the (...)"
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to compare and contrast the characters of Stella and Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams? A Streetcar Named Desire.
Tennessee Williams? A Streetcar Named Desire, set in the Elysian Fields district of New Orleans, opens to the sound of a tinny piano playing Negro blues tunes, music that according to the author ?expresses the spirit of the life that goes on here" (p. 13). This spirit is one of desire, suppressed passions, and illusions played off against a sordid reality. These themes are embodied in the characters of Stella Kowalski and Blanche DuBois, who are sisters. Stella is a gentle young woman from a background obviously quite different from that of her husband,
Stanley, whose first act in the play is to throw his wife a (...)"
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to discuss the theme of free will and predestination in two plays: Racine's Phaedra and Calderon's Life Is a Dream. A comparison and contrast will be made of the conflict between free will and predestination in the two plays.
Predestination is usually viewed in a negative way in drama, regarded as an unfortunate destiny that leads to doom because of predestined events. Racine's Phaedra is a classic example of this. Free will is the ability to choose freely, insinuating that an individual's choices can be made freely without external constraints, or fate determining the outcome. Calderon's Life Is a Dream is an example of how free will can alter predestination.
Honor in Life Is a Dream acts the same way passion does in Phaedra. Calderon's concept of honor and Racine's concept of (...)"
This paper analyzes the repression of young boy by his parents and psychiatrist, his sexuality, spirituality and love for horses in the "Equus" by Peter Shaffer.
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 6 sources, 1991, $ 47.95
From the Paper "The play "Equus" by Peter Shaffer deals with what Grant has called "the forces of reason against ecstacy". The character Alan Strang is a young boy who yearns for the sexual and spiritual ecstacy that he associates with horses. However, Alan is repressed and forced to fit into a rational society which is represented by his father, his mother, and the psychiatrist Dysart. The father, Frank Strang, is opposed to organized religion; nevertheless, he himself is a symbol of the authoritarian aspects of organized religion in that he demands blind obedience from his son. The mother, Dora Strang, represents the emotional aspects of organized religion. As such, she inadvertently teaches Alan to identify with the sufferings of Christ. The character of the psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, reflects the conflict between ecstacy and rationality by being ... "
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine The Plain Dealer by William Wycherley. The plan of the research will be to set forth the outline of the story, to position the play in the appropriate social and dramatic context, and then to explore meanings that various critics have attributed to it. In this regard, the antecedent of the play, Le Misanthrope (Mis.) by Moliere, will be cited so as to show how The Plain Dealer offers the English version of a story that becomes more than an adaptation--an updating of Moliere's style of social comment on one hand, and a criticism of the Restoration society for which Wycherley wrote on the other.
The Plain Dealer charts the efforts of the surly, asocial Captain Manly, betrothed to Olivia and betrayed by her and his best friend Vernish, to not only reclaim the fortune he had..."
