Another important aspect is the similarities between Tom and the play's author Tennessee Williams; both have the same forename, both had pushy, nostalgic mothers and socially inept sisters, and both proceeded to leave their family, and responsibilities, to follow a career in playwriting. In order to fully comprehend Tom, and his psychology, it is necessary to analyse his motivations, which, in the majority of The Glass Menagerie, are negatively incited. These frustrations and resentments are densely spread over different aspects of his life; most evidently in his work, home and love. One of the most prominent of Tom's frustrations is his discontentment with his job as a poorly-paid worker in a shoemaking warehouse. This is primarily because he sees no future in it, and sees it as a necessity rather than an opportunity, complaining to Amanda “you think I'm crazy about the warehouse?...You think I want to spend fifty-five years down there in that – celotex interior!
Fidelity in Sam Shepard’s Plays In his plays “Buried Child” and “Curse of the Starving Class,” author Sam Shepard uses similar aspects in each play to emphasize particular issues. Whether it be flagrant topics such as alcoholism, or subtle issues like the American Dream, the correlation is found in both plays. The most intriguing relationship between the two plays, however, is the issue of fidelity, or rather infidelity, of the wife figures to their husband that is the main character of the play, and also the head of the household. Dodge, the father in “Buried Child”, also the main character, is the first person introduced to the reader, however the first lines are from Halie’s voice. In this introduction, a sense of tension can be determined between the husband and wife figures of this play.
Not only this, but throughout the play, we can see obvious feelings of revenge and compassion, especially in Act 4 scene 1 where Shylocks loss of revenge evokes our compassion towards the emotionally broken man. Both writers use their unique methods to explore the details of their characters inner- thoughts and feelings, and link these emotions into the reality of the time of their writings, and today, we as a modern audience, and as modern readers can look into these two pieces of literature and attempt to understand what the purpose of Austen's novel and Shakespeare's play is; to inform their audiences about the hard lives some people had then- and even
Gender Roles and Actions A world with inequality is an unjust world with constricted individualism. This realism exists in the short story, “Boys and Girls” written by Alice Munro where the narrator is battling against society’s tough pressure of gender inequality. In the person vs. society theme of “Boys and Girls”, the names of the characters also play a symbolic role with their actions and also their role in society. Characters such as Laird, the Horses, Mack and Flora, the narrator’s grandma and her two parents all contribute to society’s unequal pressure by conforming to it and this trend continues once the narrator fights back. Men and Women both have their respective stereotypes.
Alan Bennett centers the comedy in the play ‘The History Boys’ by revolving the plot on the opposition of two main characters, Hector and Irwin. Hector and Irwin are both teachers of the sixth form boys. Alan Bennett intentionally creates this opposition from physical appearance to teaching methods and the moral rights of life. Alan Bennett structures the plot so that the audience are able to constantly see the comparisons between the two characters actions when it comes to dilemmas and morality. Alan Bennett focuses on making differences in characteristics and physical appearance clearly visible throughout the play.
One has the impression that the letter represents the Puritan’s message that is drilled to the population in order to anchor it in their mind. The numerous occurrences of the scarlet letter combined with the hypotaxis style, gives a sense of a message being hammered to the reader just like a sermon: “the ignominious letter” (chap.2 p.52), “with the scarlet letter of infamy “ (chap.3 p.58) “the mark of shame” (chap.3 p.60), “at the token of her shame” (chap. 4 p.68). This is reinforced by the many metaphors of the flames of hell – “burning shame […] the scarlet letter […] seemed to scorch into Hester’s breast, as if it had been red-hot” (chap.4 p.67) ; “… burned on Hester Prynne’s bosom” (chap.14 p.148). One is invited to see the Puritans as ignominious as their
Katherine Watson, the teacher, challenges the girls by portraying liberal ideas to the students. Their choices in life enables Watson to teach about the freedom and choice. Ms. Watson in The Mona Lisa Smile, shows how women’s lives were controlled by social structures, and examines their attitudes as a reflection of society, which is dominated my male figures. In this case Ms. Watson tries to empower the school culture and social structure. James banks defines it as a “process of restructuring the culture and the organization of a school to bring about education equality and empowerment” (Banks, 40-41).
As a base for his play Shaw appropriates the Ancient Greek myth of Pygmalion along with aspects of Cinderella. He subverts the happy ending of the two stories to make his play ambiguous, leaving the audience to think about their behaviour within society. Through his conventions Shaw conveys an interesting view on society. 'Freedom or Death' an extract from the speech of Emmeline Pankhurst also conveys an interesting view on society as she was a leading women’s rights activist who fought for the right for women to vote. In Act 2 of the play Pygmalion, Eliza visits Professor Higgins to ask him for speech lessons.
HEDDA GABLER ANALYTICAL ESSAY IN THE PLAY HEDDA GABLER, PLAYWRIGHT HENRIK IBSEN UTILISES THE MEDIUM OF THEATRE TO COMMUNICATE HIS UNDERLYING IDEAS REGARDING WOMEN IN SOCIETY. Written in the early 1890s, Hedda Gabler was considered a symbol of shock and controversy to those fortunate enough to view the play at its release. The playwright, Henrik Ibsen, was at the forefront of exposing the realities of the lives of individuals that others preferred to disregard, and did this via the conveyance of various themes that challenged modern ideas. The play is about a housewife who dreams of freeing herself from the social conformities placed on women, and one who desires conflict and manipulates for amusement. Among these, confinement of society, masculine control and class distinction are constantly evident through all three acts while the protagonist, Hedda Gabler, is portrayed to have a misidentification of reality and desire for freedom, ultimately achieved in the most unorthodox of methods.
The Landlady Maddison Hyatt The creation of characters, and how the author presents his point of view to affect the audience by his use of writing techniques to challenge the readers thoughts about the two main characters. “The Landlady” written by Roald Dahl, published in the 1959, pin points his two main characters by stereotypes. Billy Weaver was constructed as a naïve, Seventeen year old boy compared to the Landlady who was made out to be an over caring, dotty, old lady. The author provides a view of the world in which women [especially older women] are caring of everybody, loves tea and fusses over people to display their love. Therefore men [especially younger men] are respectful towards the elderly, and even a little naïve.