Abstract Sophocles and Brecht were playwrights separated not only by millennia of time but also by the radically different cultural and social contexts of classical Greece and 20th century Europe. This being said, the paper shows that one of the striking elements of a comparison and contrast of Sophocles' "Antigone" and Bertolt Brecht's "The Good Woman of Setzuan" is how similarly they depict the forces that constrict and define women's identities in society. The paper argues that while the primary focus of both works is not specifically related to issues of gender and women's identities, both plays represent challenges to social codes.
Abstract In this paper, two idealistic heroines are examined from Brecht's "The Good Woman of Setzuan" and Shaw's "Saint Joan."
From the Paper "The German Bertold Brecht and the Englishman George Bernard Shaw were both innovative and controversial writers who were most active during the first half of the Twentieth Century. Brecht adopted communism and Shaw espoused socialism and free love. Both were radical gadflies and social critics who shocked their contemporaries with the activist philosophies and unpopular but progressive ideas of their plays and other writings."
Abstract This paper discusses the relationship between California Instruments, Inc. and the US Army. In particular, it focuses on the orders placed by the US Army to this company and how this has affected California Instrument's business and profits. The paper traces the history of the two company's relationship and the major players in the dealings. Also described is how California Instruments managed to pull together the deal, locating equipment and determining costs and prices.
From the Paper " The person put in charge by the Army was Dave Freeburg. He was accountable for the success of this procedure in due time. The Army had chosen CI due to the fact that they had previous experience and they also possessed the equipment required to accomplish the task. On behalf of CI, Henry Davis was the person assigned to take care of the order. His main tasks were to see to the fulfillment of the design specification, to create a Bill of Materials (BOM) and to elaborate the response to RFP. In two weeks time, David succeeded to draw up a draft of the proposal. "
Abstract The concept of the work team has grown in its application in the past decade. This discussion analyzes the use of work teams at Texas Instruments (TI). All TI employees receive team training to prepare them for work as team members. However, teams are only developed when they are the most appropriate solution to the problem-at-hand. Most importantly, TI is committed to self-directed work teams not simply work teams.
Abstract This paper describes the use of the instruments of war and their control that is being levied on the international community without much hope of success.
Abstract This paper reviews the musical structure and songs of Kurt Weill's "The Threepenny Opera" and discusses how Weill specifically used gestic music in the work. The paper explains that gestus is the portrayal of the theatrical moment that expresses the social relationships and attitudes with which the play is concerned. The paper then concludes that, in "The Threepenny Opera", the overall combination of music and lyrics plus the individual songs result in the creation of a new type of musical theater, which makes Weill's composition a minor work of gestic genius.
From the Paper "This satirical gest is thrust upon the audience at the very moment the orchestra strikes its first note of the performance. The instrumentation shuns the traditionally operatic string ensemble in favor of saxophones, trumpets, trombones, timpani, banjo and harmonium. The prologue's description of an opera "so cheap even a beggar can afford it" is followed by a mockingly pompous Baroque-like overture, which is harmonically minor and rhythmically plodding. The listener can almost imagine Weill's mocking grin as he first wrote the scale-based, repetitive melody and the Haydn-like sforzandos of every single beat."
Tags:brechtcontradictioninstrumentation, mac the knife, moritat-motif
Abstract This paper examines how the theatre of Brecht and Naturalist theatre are very different approaches to performance. It looks at how Brecht's theatre was centred on a political agenda and designed to convey messages on that agenda whereas Naturalism is about the art itself and bringing realism to acting, not much to do with politics at all. It studies the working conventions of both Naturalism and Brecht's Epic theatre and considers whether Naturalism can fulfil some of the functions of Brecht's theatre.
From the Paper "However, in a far more subtle way, Naturalism can also make points which promote comment on the social and political status of the time, and cause reaction within an audience fuelled by these. For example, a great part of "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen is a comment on the social status of the protagonist, Nora Helmer. In a contemporary society, her situation would be considered completely normal, in that she is portrayed as a housewife and mother with little or no rights independently of her husband, and before her marriage, her father. As a woman, she was a second class citizen; whilst having just as much intelligence and common sense as her male counterparts this is smothered and repressed so that she fits the mould of the "good little wife"."
Abstract The paper discusses Bertolt Brecht's political opera, "The Threepenny Opera" which was first performed in 1928. The paper shows that during this period of time, three distinct and separate political and economical philosophies were on a collision course in Germany: fascism, socialism and communism. It shows that while Brecht was struggling to write this opera, Hitler's first attempt attempt to grab control of the government occurred in 1923 and communism was becoming popular. The paper discusses how communism is reflected in two ways: Brecht mocks both class differences and belief in God.
From the Paper "Brecht reflects elements of both socialism and communism in some points in the play, such as when Peachum is giving out licenses to beg. That the needs of the poor could be so easily corrupted seems to be a condemnation of a government that would allow people to survive by begging. Peachum uses Filch's need to be allowed to bed as a platform to criticize society's apathy toward the poor. He describes five types of human misery. Each example is a beggar harmed by something the middle and upper classes view as progress in one way or another: one is in an auto accident while another is wounded in war."
Abstract This paper examines how in his play, "Life of Galileo", Bertolt Brecht describes the ordeal the famous scientist was forced to undergo as he juggled his personal values and views against those of the mainstream society in which he lived. The paper provides a scene-by-scene examination of Brecht's original play to identify these religious and scientific conflicts, as well as Brecht's treatment of the scientist's response to these conditions.
Outline:
Review and Discussion
Conclusion
From the Paper "Scene I. Here Galileo introduces his concept of a new age of enlightened learning, where even "fishwives" will enthusiastically attend school and study advanced topics such as astronomy. Galileo states he first became aware that the Old Guard's days were numbered came when, as a young man in Siena, he watched "a group of building workers argue for five minutes, then abandon a thousand-year old method of shifting granite blocks in favour of a new and more efficient arrangement of the ropes. Then and there I knew, the old days are over and this is a new time" (7)."
Abstract An analysis of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children", this book report delves into the themes of motherly love, sacrifice, survival, courage and heroism. A close analysis of the book, the relations between the characters, and the messages that author Brecht is sending the reader, this report in particular emphasizes the strength and admirable qualities of the main protagonists.
From the Paper "Nothing tests our mettle better than adversity, and there is no adversity greater and more trying than war. This appears to underlie Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children, which is sharply and precisely set against the Thirty Years? War in certain parts of Sweden in 1624 and thereafter. Mother Courage's valor and grit in nurturing her children and sustaining them by keeping her selling business hefty or surviving have been told and re-told, but the undertones never wear out and continue to reverberate how this brave mother- woman- person's instinct to survive leads her to be more than herself in each stroke of tragedy. I view Brecht as proposing that the survival instinct will move a person to go quite far and do quite everything ? and anything in any way -- for those he or she loves and for himself or herself, or perish. I view Brecht's characters Mother Courage and son Eilif as standing firmly for this life as if it is all there is, and with Swiss Cheese and Kattrin doing something else out-of-time and out-of-this-world but more heroic and more memorable."
Tags: Sweden, history, Thirty Years' War, literature
Abstract This paper discusses how Bertolt Brecht is justifiably famous as one of the greatest political dramatists and whose self-contradictory Marxist didactics have made him the subject of a love-hate relationship on both sides of the Marxist divide. It explores how a detailed scrutiny of his earliest works betrays a startling cognizance of his future developments and how, despite the fact that much of his later work was a direct response to world events, one finds that their nature, and, to some degree, the events that inspired them, can be found foretold in the umbra of his origins. In particular, it looks at how the metaphors and mythologies of Brecht's first play, "Baal", both predict, foreshadow, and, to some degree, determine the political atmosphere and ramifications of his future life and body of work.
From the Paper "BAAL has also been heralded by many as a nigh-prophetic work in terms of its discussion of the logical extensions of decadence, of revolution, and of the artistic individual within the proletariat mass. This play addresses issues that would not be entirely raised until after the 2nd World War and not fully understood until well into the Cold Wars. Some insight into the way in which Brecht's earliest work addresses issues budding at the time of his death can be seen by comparing the original BAAL to a latter-day reworking of the play called The Dream Engine (a radical anarchist piece released at Amherst College in 1969 and heralded by some as the first true rock opera)."
This paper discusses the life and works of one of the most instrumental contributors to mathematical and scientific theory in the last few centuries, Sir Isaac Newton.
Abstract This paper explains that Sir Isaac Newton advanced a whole new system of mathematics, including systems of physics and calculus, which were revolutionary during his time and continued to be
observed long after his death. The author points out that one of Newton's most significant contributions is his basic laws of motion often call Newton's Laws. The paper relates Isaac Newton would never have described himself as a 'scientist' because the word was not coined until more than a century after his death; he was a reclusive Hebrew scholar and Classicist who wrote more about alchemy and theology than the natural world, and his posthumous reputation is riddled with contradictions.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Life of Mathematician
Significant Contributions
Comparison to Present System
Conclusion
From the Paper "Newton's laws of motion can generally be described through example and demonstration and represent a continuation of thought and inquiry into questions of physics. For example, many scientists before Newton could think of explanations for the continuation of movement of a given object due to force and velocity, but could not demonstrate it in a scientific way in the same way that Newton could with his laws of
motion. Using force and velocity, Newton made important mathematical relations that showed up in real world examples. For example, if someone was riding on a horse, they were going the same speed as the horse, then their velocity remained constant, but if something changed their velocity, it would differ from the velocity of the horse, and they
may change velocity in direction of proportionate force. Newton also contributed the commonly repeated maxim that each and every force (action) has an equal and opposite force (reaction). This is a very significant contribution because it represents a basic precept of modern physics."
Bertolt Brecht's 'The Good Woman of Setzuan' portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society and the delicate balance needed to survive within it.
Abstract An analysis of Bertolt Brecht's play 'The Good Woman of Setzuan'. Throughout the play Shen Te juggles her promise to be good with the necessity to be bad. The author finds through the protagonist and the creation of her doppelganger, 'The Good Woman of Setzuan' portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society, and the delicate balance needed to survive within it as seen in Shen Te's struggle as a good woman leading the life of a prostitute.
From the Paper "Shen Te, a good woman, a prostitute, and the only one willing to take three gods into her home is rewarded with 1000 silver dollars, with which she is to "above all be good"(712). This mission tears her in two. Shen Te and her doppelganger Shui Ta are in a delicate balance of power. Shen Te needs to keep her promise to the gods by being a good woman, helping those around her in need. Because Shen Te is too good, those she helps threaten to ruin her own survival. To remain a good woman Shen Te must create someone to fight for her. Like parents, both Shui Ta and Shen Te make up the whole of one unit. Shen Te is a nurturing, sweet mother-type while Shui Ta becomes a strict, disciplinarian, father-type. Through the protagonist and the creation of her doppelganger, Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan portrays the struggle to be good while living in a corrupt society, and the delicate balance needed to survive within it."
Abstract In this essay, the writer analyzes the different forms and purposes of theater offered by Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht in their works and philosophies. The writer discusses the purpose and goals of the two playwrights and their impact on audiences.
From the Paper "The theater of Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht is radically different with respect to the purpose and goals of the respective playwrights with respect to the impact of their works on audiences and society. If Artaud's theater of cruelty and Brecht's epic theater are distinct then so are their goals for audience impact. Artaud hoped by showing images of man's cruelty to man, audience members would experience a form of delirium whereby they would experience trances and inspiration leading to personal change ... "
Tags: Epic Theater, theater of cruelty, individual, society, truth, psyche, illusion, social change, revolution, interaction, audience
Abstract This paper explains that "The Monster" by Bertolt Brecht tells an important story about human nature through the use of elements such as plot and relationships. The author points out that the plot is important as the impact of the story is heavily dependent upon its structure and, in particular, upon its conclusion. The paper relates that, in a similar way, it is the relationships between the characters in the story that, reinforced by plot, convey the story's theme about human nature.
From the Paper "The short story "The Monster" tells an important story about human nature through the use of elements such as plot and relationships. As this answer shows, plot is important as the impact of the story is heavily dependent upon its structure and, in particular, upon its conclusion. In a similar way, it is the relationships between the characters in the story that, reinforced by plot, convey the story's theme about human nature. In outline, the story tells of an event at a Russian film studio where a film is being made of a horrible event in Russia's past in which a bloodthirsty governor - the "monster" of the story's title - was responsible for the deaths of many Russian Jews."
