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As you read or after you read, discuss the relationship between any of the following points (your choice) and the play you are reading. Post at least twice on some of the following topics by Tuesday, February 26. Also post at least once in response to a peer's comment. (Three total.)
Themes
* In the plays characters struggle between following personal paths (pursuing a passion, seeking self-understanding, etc.) and serving (following, agreeing with, sacrificing for) their families and/or society. Or, to put it a different way, In the plays families and societies often represent limits against which characters push.
* In the plays characters struggle to understand themselves and their relationships with family and society. Characters often harbor misunderstandings about themselves, their families, and/or their society that are re-examined over the course of the novel often because of dramatic revelations (of secrets, hidden history, etc.) and/or enlightening experiences.
Literary Techniques
While reading look for passages in which the playwright employs indirect characterization. After vacation we'll analyze these passages.
Track at least one object that functions as a motif (perhaps a symbol, perhaps an objective correlative) in the work.
Historical Context
Think about how the time and place (historical context) affect the relationship between individuals' identities, their families, and the society.
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17 comments:
I read A Doll's House, and both of these points are brought up throughout the novel. The first one about a character giving up everything for the family is what Nora, the main character, did. The name of the novel is actually quite revealing about Nora: she is a doll in a doll's world, living for someone that she believes she can save. All of her life, between her father and husband, she has been trying to please someone. She is not a real person. She lacks identity because she takes on everyone that is influencing he. She plays it safe.
The second point is also quite true. The novel focuses on Nora's hiding a secret from her past. When the truth comes out, she sees her husband for who he really is. She gave up becoming a person (self) to become a trophy wife. When her husband almost throws her out until the conflict is resolved, she sees that he does not love her; he loves marraige. She decides to leave him, and find who the person she has the potential to be is.
There are not any comments yet, so does anybody who has read this think that it is an episode of I Love Lucy gone wrong, or right? IT's like if Lucy decided that Ricky was using her and left. It's a bit random, but I could not focus on anything else to relate it to.
John Ryan
A Doll’s House
Themes: Throughout the play, the main character Nora is at the end of her husband Torvald’s short leash. Although pleasant and loving, the very idea of women’s liberation is foreign to Torvald, and until the very end of the play, seemingly foreign to Nora. She does, however, subconsciously develop an urge to seek out the righteous path rather than the chosen path. Her faith in society’s view of women is suddenly disrupted when she realizes the little freedom she has had in deciding her life’s course. The makeup of society at such a point, however, makes discovering the truth within herself difficult to discern. This is why she abandons all male influence in the end to reinvent herself.
Historical Context: This play isn’t very direct when describing the date in which it is supposed to take place. Simply by reading the views and customs of the characters, however, the reader learns that the story takes place long before any idea of women’s rights or equality was forced into the minds of the general public. When Nora expresses her desire to develop her identity free of society’s pressure Torvald responds, “You’re talking like a child; you don’t understand the world you live in.” This section indicates the values and beliefs of the time, of what a woman’s purpose is and where her responsibilities lie.
In response to Molly’s comments I’d like to say that I agree. I thought it was especially interesting, however, how unsure Nora was about her newfound goal to achieve an identity. She has never developed any confidence in herself, and does not know the person she will develop into. I thought that Nora’s dedication to personal freedom whether it turns her life for better or worse was a great human truth to bring about in a character who, until the end of the play, seemed very nearsighted and completely accustomed to her flawed society.
Dan Aloisio
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman creates a well-crafted way of struggling between following personal paths and serving family/society while simultaneously complying with both these routes. In one sense, Willy Loman sacrifices his relationship with others in order to strive at success in his job as a traveling salesman. He is away often, and Linda, his wife, is worried for his safety. This sacrifice is so pronounced that Willy continues the job even when he is not making any more money, persisting because he believes both in his sons and in his own ability to succeed. More so than this struggle, there seems to be a converse effect, where Willy’s hope for his sons creates such optimism in Willy that he is willing to work without pay just as an example for his sons. At the same time, Willy somewhat transcends the limits of these two paths by combining them, hoping to be successful vicariously through his sons’ success. This tension in the play is crucial to the understanding of Willy’s character.
In Death of a Salesman, the presence of seeds and flowers, especially the ability for the latter to form from the former, is a motif. In describing the more positive past, Willy and Linda remark on the beauty of their garden. However, throughout the years, as apartment buildings have sprung up around theirs, these buildings “crowded out” the light, making it difficult to plant. Willy returns to the garden later in the story, but nothing grows still. More important than its pervasiveness in the play, this motif parallels the hope of Willy’s sons. In the past, these boys, especially Biff, had bright futures, represented by a thriving garden. Later, when these boys have much less optimism for the future, there is no growth. It may even be significant that Willy is trying to leave behind something in the world that is living, but this somewhat distorts the parallel, so I am not completely sure of this relation.
John’s comment made me consider the path of struggling between personal paths and serving family/society as a possible continuation of development throughout the play. In John’s case, it seems as though the character gradually develops a desire to serve personal paths over serving her family (in the form of her husband). In Death of a Salesman, it may also loosely apply that Willy devotes time to his job when things are good, and as things go bad, depends more on hopeless optimism in family, which as a whole appears to be more of a development than a static conflict of struggle or agreement.
Melanie Tobey
A Doll’s House
In A Doll’s House, Nora is withheld from being who she truly is by her husband and family. Nora lives the lifestyle that she is accustomed to which is being a housewife. She is only able to discover who she truly is and what she wants when Krogstad threatens to reveal the truth of a secret loan that Nora took out to save her husbands health. At first Nora fights to hide the truth but then let’s go and wants her husband Torvald to read the letter that Krogstad wrote. To the reader it seems that Nora uses the letter as an escape to end things with Torvald and to end pretending to be this doll like figure that Torvald idolizes. Through Torvald reading the letter Nora gains the strength to leave Torvald, her children, and the person she was pretending to be to discover who she truly was.
When Torvald’s health was in danger Nora had to take out a loan behind Torvalds back so they could have the money to help him get better. If Nora hadn’t followed this path of going behind Torvalds back and getting this money there wouldn’t have been the certain circumstances that led to Nora leaving Torvald and her children. It is clear that Nora struggled to keep the loan a secret and was an existential dilemma for Nora once Krogstad chose to blackmail her. When Nora eventually gives up on hiding her secret it causes her to face the fact that she does not want to be with Torvald. In the end, the truth causes Nora to realize who she is.
In response to Molly’s comment, I agree with what she says about Nora not being a real person and the identity crisis that Nora struggles with. Nora is not a real person because she is not being who she is meant to be and wants to be. I also agree with John in how Nora lacks confidence because if she had confidence she wouldn’t have gotten herself into the situation she was in.
The play An Enemy of the People occurs in a southern Norwegian town. The play was written in the early 1900’s, the descriptions of the characters cloths make this obvious. To me language had the same kind of feel as the writing in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, which makes sense as both stories were written about the same time. The female characters Petra (Dr. Stockmann’s daughter) and Mrs. Stockmann were very outspoken and this was acceptable to the male characters, unusual for the time period. These outspoken women characters may be why the play did not become very popular during the author Ibsen’s lifetime. The play gives a sense of equality to all the characters, perhaps Ibsen has created a utopia for his at first friendly characters, or maybe things were just different in Norway. Did anyone else find that the play you read was set in a utopia turned distopia for an individual?
In the play the motif of origins is very prolific. Before they present their arguments characters tend to assert there generally humble origins and their devotion to the town. Family names are very much a part of the identities of the people of the southern Norwegian town in which the play is set. It is taboo to not fight with relative or close friend. The main character Dr. Stockmann becomes the so called “enemy of the people” when he chooses to fight and argue with the morals of his brother and the authorities in the town.
It sounds like the other plays had characters that did not have firm identities. In An Enemy of the People the characters were very sure of their place in society, the main theme of the play was social pressure and fighting the power.
Emily Munroe
Blood Wedding
Theme: The themes spoken of in the blog are clearly evident in this play. I found that these themes were mostly shown through the character, the Bride's actions. According to her family and society it made more sense that she marry the Bridegroom, for he was wealthier and fit for a husband, yet she really wanted to be with Leonardo. The Bride goes along with marry the Bridegroom until the celebration afterward where she finally allows her true feelings come to a head and runs away with Leonardo. It is as if the Bride can't suppress her feelings anymore and allows her life to take its tragic turn. This is also true of Leonardo who holds back his feelings until he realizes he cannot anymore. Leonardo accepts his fate and almost allows himself to die.
Historical Context: This play showed the family and society lifestyles of the time period. It contained many references to wedding traditions. It told how the Bride would wear a wreath on her wedding day and how the Bridegroom gives her orange blossom to wear. There were many references to loyalty to families. It said towards the end of the novel how the celebration split in two after the bride ranaway; the Bride's family and the Bridegroom's family. Family followed family even if their side was in the wrong.
In response to Dan's comment on John's comment of the struggle between following a personal path or that of one's family, I found this as a main theme through Blood Wedding. Unlike what they have read, in Blood Wedding it was as if no matter what path was followed tragedy did as well. Leonardo followed his own path and was killed and the Bridegroom followed that of his family and was killed. To be honest, I am not sure what to think of this.
A Doll’s House
Theme : While reading this novel I found that Nora was constantly battling between pleasing society ( her husband & father) and pleasing herself. When Mrs. Linde finds out about Nora's secret she is applaud that Nora would go against the expected values of all woman of making a business deal. While Nora has different values of those of society or rather a different version, it is a constant push and pulls between her and Mrs. Linde. As well as with her husband when she wants to eat the macaroons or experience other simple pleasures. It is not until the end however when the letter Krogstad wrote is read that she sees how different she is from society ( her husband).
Motif: The motif of letters was found throughout the novel. All of the changes or fear of changes came through letters. The initial letter from Torvald to fire Krogstad being the first, then the letter incriminating Nora from Krogstad. The next letter from Mrs.Linde to Krogstad , the letter from Krogstad releasing Nora from the deal, and finally Dr. Rank’s calling card with a black X on it symbolizing his death. All of these letters were the reasons for change within the play, which ultimately leads to Nora discovering the truth about her self.
In response to Molly's comment I could defiantly see Lucy & Ricky bantering over Lucy's shopping habits and the eating of macaroons just as Torvald and Nora do in the beginning of the play. Although this author seemed to have a different idea for the overall effect of the play versus the producer of I Love Lucy.
John Castellucci
An Enemy of the People
Theme: The struggle of an individual against society and family is clearly present through Dr. Stockmann's actions. It is in that struggle that the story is shaped, and in this story Ibsen shows us the power that a majority can have over an individual, even when the individual has just cause on his side.
Historical Content: I thought the glorification of Dr. Stockmann's rebellion odd for this point in time. The writing was very lbieral, having the protaginsts directly attack the government and going agaisnt it's wishes.
In response to Erin;s comment- I agree about the outspoken women in this novel. Both Mrs. Stockmann and Petra always voice their opinions which would have been odd for this point in time.
Motifs in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”: Throughout the play, I noticed several motifs continually recognized by the characters in the play. Most interesting and curious to me were the repetition of hands, money, and fog. Each of these three clearly represent a deeper and underlying tension within the family, and are either apparent onstage or mentioned notable times. Hands are most directly linked to Mary – as her hands are now nervous and knotted with years of age and wear. Many characters (especially Mary herself) seem aware how much her hands have changed over time – a possible manifestation of her emotional state. They also correlate to both her previous dreams, to either become a nun (hands for praying) or become a pianist (hands for playing…I’m sorry I couldn’t resist). These dreams, of course, which never happen because she falls in love with Tyrone. To touch quickly on the other two, money is connected to Tyrone’s frugality as well as Jamie’s lack of appreciating the value of a dollar. Fog, in its most obvious sense, implies a foggy sense of mind, which Mary (with her continuous morphine addiction) finds herself in. Fog distorts reality – as does the men’s alcohol which leads to their drunken state by the end of the play.
Literary Techniques in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”: Eugene O’Neill wanted to focus the play entirely around this family on a single day from late morning until midnight. In order to successfully do this – and to capture the audience in the plight of this family – he had to make the dialogue a delicate mix of poetic and realistic. He manages to do this by making the dialogue between the characters conversational. It does not seem rehearsed, yet still has its moments of eloquence (because it is clear these more articulate thoughts have been expressed, or at least thought about, before). Sentences vary from run on sentences during arguments and monologues to unfinished thoughts that trail off as the characters’ minds wander. The play never gets too wordy, but stays true to the time period (1912). Also, the characters quoting different authors (Shakespeare, as one example) did not seem forced considering their acting background.
Peer Response for Long Day's Journey into Night:
In response to Dan's note on Willy Loman, I also noted personal sacrifice on the part of one of my characters - a choice that seemed to torment her. An abandonment of personal identity could be found within the character of Mary Tyrone. Though we read different plays, I had not considered this reluctant sacrifice. In "Long Day's" Mary constantly seems to be reflecting on the past, when she gave up her previous dreams to marry her love, James Tyrone. It wasn't until the present time, after 36 years of marriage, that she truly recognizes how much she of her own ambition she gave up, and now feels completely alone.
Reading through Dan's comment on conflicts of sacrifice, I realized Mary's own battle, though it was one recognized by herself too late.
Ben Tavares
An Enemy of the People
Themes: Dr. Stockmann's struggle involves both his public and private life being at stake. Being married, Dr. Stockmann has more responsibilities than the "young open-minded liberals" he feels so strongly about. When he pushes against society, his family risks facing the same kind of prosecution. Even his relationship with his brother is strained because of their conflicting public lives. None of this, however, stops Dr. Stockmann from following through with his plan.
Literary Techniques: Most of the characterization I gleaned was from characters talking about other characters. As for more active characters, such as Dr. Stockmann, his way of speaking seemed very energetic, especially when he is giving a speech. The discursive way of speech and the overt stubborn argumentative natures of the characters also provide insight into the character's demeanors.
In Response to Erin's Comments:I had never thought about it in the context of a utopia vs. a distopia. I am unsure of whether it is really a utopia though. It just did not seem that extravagant to me. More just like a promising town gone awry. Maybe we can bring that up in class.
Theme: In A Doll's house this theme is very true. Nora is caught in a society where women are in the shadows of there husbands. Nora wants some independence that her husband rather her not have. Through out the play she is catering to what her husband wants and also trying to please herself. She knows that there is a whole different life that she hasn't experienced yet.
Motif: Two objects that seemed to have some significance in the story were letters and sweets such as macaroons. The letter was what helped Nora realize she was living a life that she didn't want, ultimately helping her find herself. The macaroons are something that her husband doesn't want in the house but she buys them anyway. Showing a sort of separation between the two of them.
I agree with Molly's comment. It is like Ricky getting upset with Lucy for her bad habits, but in the end Lucy would leave and never come back. In a sense it is I love Lucy gone wrong.
Kayla Silva
A Dolls House
Nora in Dolls House is the perfect wife who will do anything for her husband to keep him happy. She lives a fake life of an obediant wife. Nora is not happy with her life and has struggled with pleasing people. Such as her husband and before him her father. She does not have her own identity because she has been formed by the opinions of others her whole life.
I think that the motif of secrets is one of the strongest in the play. Nora hides a big secret from her husband and little secrets also. When her secret is exposed she sees how her husband really does feel about her. He does not love her he loves how she is a "trophy wife." When Nora sees this she is done being a perfect wife and being fake.
I agree with Jessica and Molly with the whole I Love Lucy episode. It would be an episode gone wrong if Lucy left Ricky!
Willie
Juno and the Paycock
Themes: Politics is highly stressed in this play, and seems to be intertwined into almost everything. This is not only strictly related to government politics, but politics within the family. Boyle's need to be called Captain Boyle is an example of role assigning, often fought over and bickered about in politics.
Talking about the idea mentioned
about sacrifice and serving society, O'Casey uses poverty to give a perspective on this. Poverty is seen at almost every level in the play. Responsibilities and work ethic are seen in a light to be more important than values. Survival over passion, in a way. This is not saying that this is the case in every situation, however. Juno is mostly the one who holds this idea, while many of the other characters are very much absorbed in their values-- almost unaware of reality.
Historical Context: The play takes place in Dublin, during the war-torn 1920's. The working class scene helps to emphasize the conflict between work and passion. The fact that it is happening during war also evokes a sense of duty.. I think that the war can be viewed as passion and work: many people simply do it to fulfill their duty, while others have a passion for their country.
Dan mentions, "struggling between following personal paths and serving family/society while simultaneously complying with both these routes." Though the context between Death of a Salesman, the play he read, and Juno and the Paycock are not the same, this same general idea applies. Juno is a selfless character that is much concerned with the affairs of others, but also recognizes her need for work and drive.
Medea
Theme: The theme of revenge is apparent in “Medea” since all her actions are carefully planned in order to gain control against the men who have attempted to leave her hopeless and desperate. She is not one to follow orders especially once she discovers Creon has plans to banish her and her sons out of Corinth. In the play family and society create limits for Medea and she willfully avenges their actions which have hurt her. Along with revenge, the theme of female empowerment is suggested. Jason and Creon do not see Medea as a threat and treat her as if she can easily be replaced and controlled. The way which they brush her aside cause her further outrage and her actions become that of what a man. I was surprised by Medea’s killing of her sons and how blinded with anger she becomes. It expected the play to show woman as nurturing and lovely towards their children.
Motifs: A motif that I thought appeared in the play was the representation of how different Medea was from the typical Greek woman. The way in which she murders her sons is opposite of how a good-natured woman would have been to her family. What is, however, overly exuded by Medea is her devotion to her husband and how her love for him turns her angry, The play also has the motif of the Greek society and its rules. Medea stands for everything not typically expected of her society and she sees their control over the people is like a “disease.”
I find Dan’s and John’s comments both enlightening in the statement about struggling between personal paths and serving one’s family. In “Medea” she does every possible to not serve Jason after he leaves her. She becomes disgusted by him and does everything possible to rid herself of his thoughts and presence.
I read A Blood Wedding. The play heavily focused on the themes of family, relationships and the role of woman. There are many interesting ties between the characters, which all reveal a different perspective of how a family should operate. The bride is heavily impacted by her father as well as the expectations from her society. The groom's mother places burdens on both the groom and the bride. She believes a woman should be "walled" in in a house and devote her life to her husband and children. The bride manages to break from tradition and expectation and runs away on her wedding day. She is overtaken by her passion for an ex-lover, Leonardo. Her lust and passion proves to be more powerful than expectations and outside pressures from family. In the end, both of the bride's lovers die.
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