Paper 2 Notes
STRUCTURE: Introduction/Background - Bullshit through this space by o Writing the general synopsis of the texts o Redefine the question asked Describe which work is more effective in portraying the theme you’ve chosen o Which play is mo st effective in answering the question? Which writer is able to create a play which has more of what the question is asking for?
Thesis: Both playwrights effectively convey (PURPOSE/MESSAGE) through the literary techniques of (3-4 XXXXX) which is displayed by the playwrights development of the (WHATEVER THE QUESTION IS ASKING: SETTING, SYMBOLISM, PACE, RHYTHM…) Body: -
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First topic sentence Quote from Text 1 o Commentary on quote o o Quote from Text 2 o Commentary on quote o Concluding sentence with evaluation Second topic sentence Quote from Text 1 o Commentary on quote o o Quote from Text 2 o Commentary on quote o Concluding sentence with evaluation Third topic sentence Quote from Text 1 o Commentary on quote o Quote from Text 2 o o Commentary on quote o Concluding sentence with evaluation Fourth topic sentence Quote from Text 1 o Commentary on quote o o Quote from Text 2 o Commentary on quote o Concluding sentence with evaluation Fifth topic sentence o Quote from Text 1 Commentary on quote o Quote from Text 2 o o Commentary on quote o Concluding sentence with evaluation
Conclusion: Thesis restated
Key points summarized Thought provoking note or idea (Connection to media or other text that has been studied is usually a good idea) o
DON’T FORGET:
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You have ena shisto time: spend 20-25 minutes on an outline Critical analysis of style and language that the playwrights use Effectiveness of the writing and literary features Effect on the reader
Streetcar Named Desire [1947] vs. Death of a Salesman [1949] Themes:
1. The American drive toward progress and success a. Both are victims of modernity i. Willy 1. Cannot compete against the young men in the modern business world ii. Blanche 1. Cannot adapt to the coarseness of life in the new South iii. Rather than adjusting, both descend deeper into their idea of the idealized past, until they lose hold on reality altogether 2. Women: Stella and Linda a. Submissive Characters i. Stella: Supports and forgives her husband, defending him against criticism ii. Linda: Meek/timid around Willy 3. Reality vs. Illusion a. Blanche i. Prefers niceties and illusion ii. Wants to give the impression of being perfect to sell herself to others b. Willy i. Tells his family he makes more money than he does ii. The woman affair is more of a self-booster 1. Only hooked up with her after failing sales
QUOTES: 1. The American drive toward progress and success a. Streetcar Named Desire 1)Blanche: 1)Blanche: “I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.” (Scene 3) Old South values vs. New South values and she can’t adapt b. Death of a Salesman 1)Willy: 1)Willy: There’s not a breath of fresh air anywhere in the neighbourhood. *…+ They should’ve had a law against apartment houses . 2)Willy: 2)Willy: I don’t want change, I want Swiss cheese! 3)Willy: 3)Willy: Ben was rich! That’s just the spirit I want to imbue them with! To walk into a jungle! I was right! I was right! I was right!
Willy interprets Ben's tangible wealth as proof of the worth of his family and himself. He wants his son to be like his brother – unafraid – unafraid to go out and make their own success.
4)Willy 4)Willy: ‘Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? 5)Willy: 5)Willy: I am building something with this firm, Ben, and if a man is building something he must be on the right tra ck, musn’t he?
Ben implies that physically tangible results are central to a definition of progress and success. He sees no true value in Willy's life as a salesman.
6)Ben: 6)Ben: A diamond is rough and hard to the touch.
Ben's refrain, with words like "hard" and "touch" suggests the importance of concrete wealth. Willy is haunted by the fact that his life of work hasn't really amounted to anything tangible.
7)Willy 7)Willy: Nothing’s planted. I don’t have a thing in the ground.
The garden functions as a last-ditch substitut e for Willy’s failed career and Biff’s dissipated ambition. Willy realizes, at least metaphorically, that he has no tangible proof of his life’s work. Willy realizes that his whole career has built up to nothing. He worked for 40 years and has nothing to show for it. This leads to his obsession with seeds late in the play - it is too late to grow anything for his sons, but at least he can plant some vegetables, something that will outlast him and provide some use.
2. Women a. Streetcar Named Desire 1)Stella: 1)Stella: He smashed all the lightbulbs with the heel of my slipper. Blanche: And you let him? Didn't run, didn't scream? Stella: Actually, I was sorta thrilled by it 2)Mitch: 2)Mitch: Poker should not be played in a house with women.
During Stanley's tantrum at the poker game, Mitch twice remarks that women and poker are a bad mix. This characterizes Mitch as someone who believes women are soft and gentle and should be protected from the roughness of poker. But it also shows that he doesn't blame the individual Stanley - for his actions, but instead blames the poker game, as though the testosterone stirred up were unavoidable and necessary.
3)Stella: 3)Stella: But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark - that sort of make everything else seem - unimportant.
Stella is explaining her overwhelming love for Stanley in terms of physical passion. Blanche correctly sums this up as "desire," just like "that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter." Blanche can recognize desire, but she tries to pretend she can't, and refuses to get on board. She cannot experience desire separately from shame. Stella's contentment with her relationship is completely foreign to Blanche.
b. Death of a Salesman 1)Linda 1)Linda: Willy, darling, you’re the handsomest man in the world Willy: Oh, no, Linda. Linda: To me you are. The handsomest. 2)Linda: 2)Linda: But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person. 3)Linda: 3)Linda: I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear. And there’ll be nobody home. 3. Reality vs. Illusion/Appearances (I would focus on this one, the others I can’t seem to find as many quotes for.)
a. Streetcar Named Desire 1)Blanche: 1)Blanche: …You know I haven’t put on one ounce in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left l eft Belle Reve. 2)Stella: 2)Stella: And admire her dress and tell her she’s looking wonderful That’s important with Blanche. Her little litt le weakness! 3)Blanche: 3)Blanche: “I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.” 4)Blanche: 4)Blanche: “And turn that over- light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” 5)Blanche: 5)Blanche: “I know I fib a good deal. After all, a woman's charm is 50% illusion.” 6)Blanche: 6)Blanche: “I don't want realism. I want magic! (Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth.) ” Blanche masks her regrets and mistakes with lies and deceit 7)Stella 7)Stella: “You didn’t know Blanche as a girl. Nobody, nobody was as tender and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her, and forced her to change.”
Blanche’s charms helped her socially when she was younger, but hurt her after she matured into adulthood. Stanley’s Sta nley’s pragmatism is far more suited to the real world than Blanche’s poetry and flirtations.
8)Stella: 8)Stella: I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley.
Stella is the interesting character in the final scene. Her sister says that Stanley raped her. Stella's only options, therefore, are to either believe Blanche - and leave Stanley - or to consider Blanche's story a lie or a delusion. Even though Stella knows deep down that Blanche was telling at least a partial truth, she must now follow her sister's example and embrace illusion over reality, in order to continue living the life she had before Blanche ever came to New Orleans.
t he kindness of strangers” 9)Blanche 9)Blanche: I have always depended on the This is not only her final line but perhaps also her finaly lie There is no indication in the play that strangers have ever shown her much more kindness than her family or ‘friends’ b. Death of a Salesman 1)Willy: 1)Willy: “As long as you’re well liked you’ll be fine.” 2)Willy: 2)Willy: “If a man is building something, he must be on the right track.” 3)Willy: 3)Willy: When that team came out- [Biff] was the tallest, remember? Linda: Oh, yes. And in gold.
Willy and Linda place great importance on Biff's appearance when he was a high school football star, as if that had something to do with his talent. The very fact that he was so attractive made them positive that he would one day be successful.
4)Willy 4)Willy: He’s heading for a change. There’s no question, there simply are certain men that take longer to get —solidified. How did he dress? Linda: His blue suit. He’s so handsome in that suit. He could be a— anything in that suit! 5)Willy: 5)Willy: *turning to Ben+: Business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me, of course. Actually ends up killing him, heh. 6)Willy: 6)Willy: In 1928 I had a big year. I averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in commissions. Howard: Now Willy, you never averaged — Willy: I averaged a hundred and seventy dollars a week in the year of 1928!
7)Biff 7)Biff [crying, broken]: Will you let me go, for Christ’s sake? Will you take that phony dream and burn it before something happens? 8)Willy: 8)Willy: Oh, Biff! [staring wildly] He cried! Cried to me. [He is chocking with his love, and now cries out his promise.] That boy —that boy is going to be magnificent!
Despite Biff's admission that he is a failure, Willy convinces himself that Biff will still make it big. Willy follows this delusion to his death, killing himself in order to help his son.
Streetcar Named Desire [1947] vs. A Doll’s House [1879] Themes:
Appearance vs. Reality Gender Roles Choosing to live in a lie, rather than in reality
QUOTES: Appearance vs. Reality Streetcar Named Desire o Reality vs. Illusion/Appearances I llusion/Appearances” IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION) (SEE “ Reality
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A Doll’s House
Helmer: From now on, forget happiness. Now it’s just about saving the remains, the wreckage, the appearance. (Act 3) He has shown himself to be obsessed with appearing dignified and respectable to his colleagues Torvald’s reaction to Krogstad’s letter solidifies his characterization as a shallow man concerned first and foremost with appearances o Here he states explicitly that the appearance of happiness is far more important to him than happiness itself Helmer: I must try and appease [Krogstad] some way or another. The matter must be hushed up at any cost (Act 3)
Gender Roles Streetcar Named Desire o Mitch: Poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women (Scene 3) Meaning that women have to be soft and gentle, unlike men Taxa; women are the weaker gender A Doll’s House o Nora: One day I might, yes. Many years from now, when I’ve lost my looks a little. Don’t laugh. I mean, of course, a time will come when Torvald is not as devoted to me, not quite so happy when I dance for him, and dress for him, and play with him. (Act 1) On the subject of telling Torvald that she borrowed money Nora shows that she has a sense of the true nature of their marriage She recognizes that Torvald’s affection is based largely on o her appearance Nora is not as naïve as she pretends to be o
She has an insightful, intelligent, and manipulative side that acknowledges, if only in a small way, the troubling reality of her existence Nora: Free. To be free, absolutely free. To spend time playing with the children. To have a clean, beautiful house, the way Torvald likes it. (Act 1) Message of the play is that Nora cannot find true freedom in this traditional domestic realm She will later come to realize that she can’t depend on Torvald if she expects to be free Nora: How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me anything! (Act 1) By rescuing her husband, Nora has emasculated him, at least by the standards of the society they live in Helmer: Almost everyone who has gone to the bad early in life has had a deceitful mother. *…+ It seems most commonly to be the mother’s influence. (Act 1) The site I got this from literally says, “ We We think this wins the award for most offensively chauvinistic statement from Torvald” Nora: Christine is *…+ frightfully anxious to work under some clever man, so as to perfect herself (Act 1) Nora cleverly manipulates Torvald by taking advantage of his stereotypical views of man/woman relations Helmer: It is already known at the Bank that I mean to dismiss Korgstad. Is it to get about now that the new manager has changed his mind at his wife’s bidding. (Act 2) This threat to his power is unacceptable to Torvald Helmer: I would gladly work night and day for you *…+ but no man would sacrifice his honour for the one he loves. (Act 3) Fairly self-explanatory Essentially, this is the opposite reaction to what Nora expected. She expected him to put his honour on the line for her when he found the letter, but he didn’t
Lies and Deceit A Streetcar Named Desire o Reality vs. Illusion/Appearances I llusion/Appearances” IN ” IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION) SECTION) (SEE “ Reality
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A Doll’s House
Helmer: Hasn’t Miss Sweet Tooth been breaking rules in town today? *…+ taken a bite at a macaroon or two?” Nora: No, Torvald (Act 1) Nora lies on about every page of the play This is the first one of which the audience is aware It seems pretty innocent to lie about cookies but it belies a much larger gulf in their marriage Nora: It was necessary he should have no idea what a dangerous condition he was in. It was to me that the doctors came and said that his life was in danger (Act 1) It’s interesting that all Nora’s lies to Torvald stem from an act of love Helmer: My little songbird must never do that again. A songbird must have a clean beak to chirp with-no false notes! (Act 1) The danger of Torvald finding out about Nora’s deceit is the essential tension that drives most of the play
Nora: Ah, dear Dr. Rank, that was really mean of you. Rank: That I’ve loved you just as deeply as somebody else? Was that mean? Nora: No, but that you came out and told me. (Act 2) Not only does this show that Nora has known all along, but that she was rather upset that he revealed the truth Mrs. Linde: They must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on. (Act 3) Mrs. Linde seems to hope that the truth will heal t he Helmers’ marriage, when in fact it destroys it Helmer: How I am punished for having winked at what he did! I did it for your sake, and this is how you repay me (Act 3) Helmer’s record isn’t as spotless as he makes i t out to be He admits that he i gnored some of Nora’s father’s wrongdoings
Helpful Links: http://www.slideshare.net/AENovak/comparison-and-contrast-of-the-men-in-a-dolls-house-and-astreetcar-named-desire
Streetcar Named Desire [1947] vs. A Glass Menagerie [1945] Themes:
Lies and deceit Drugs and alcohol
QUOTES: Lies and deceit Streetcar Named Desire o
(SEE “lies and deceit” IN deceit” IN THE PREVIOUS SECTION) A Glass Menagerie Tom: To begin with, I turn back time. I reverse it to that quaint period, the thirties, where the huge middle class of America was matriculating in a school for the blind. Their eyes had failed them, or they had failed their eyes, and so they were having their fingers pressed forcibly down on the fiery Braille alphabet of a dissolving economy (Scene 1) Just as all the members of the Wingfield family have retreated from reality, so has the rest of the country Choosing to ignore what is going on around them o Amanda: Temperament like a metropolitan star! (Scene 1) Amanda fails to recognize that Tom is truly mad at her, treating his snapping comment as a joke Amanda: Not one gentlemen caller? It can’t be true! There must be a flood, there must have been a tornado! (Scene 1) Despite repeated attempts that her children make to explain Laura’s current situation, Amanda remains blind to the facts
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[Laura draws a long breath and gets awkwardly to her feet. She crosses to the Victrola and winds it up.] (Scene 2, stage directions) Just as Tom uses the movies, Laura uses objects such as the Victrola and her glass menagerie to escape esca pe reality Laura: I’m crippled! Amanda: Nonsense, Laura, I’ve told you never, never to use that word. Why, you’re not crippled, you just have a little defect – hardly noticeable, even! (Scene 2) Amanda is blinded by a mother’s love to the actualities of Laura’s situation Amanda: Let me tell youTom: I don’t want to hear anymore! (Scene 3) Tom chooses to forcibly shut out reality, choosing instead to escape to the movies Amanda: A fire escape landing’s a poor excuse for a porch *she spreads a newspaper and sits down, gracefully and demurely as if she were settling into a swing on a Mississippi veranda] (Scene 5) Amanda’s body language and motions serve to identify the great magnitude of her self-delusion Tom: Laura seems all those things to you and me because she’s ours and we love her. We don’t even notice she’s crippled anymore. Amanda: Don’t say crippled! You know I never allow that word to be used! (Scene 5) Amanda establishes roles and obligations within her family to help her avoid having to deal with reality Tom: [Laura] lives in a world of her own – a world of little glass ornaments, mother…she plays old phonograph records and – that’s about all (Scene 5) Tome fully understands Laura’s retreat from reality Amanda: You don’t know things anywhere! You live in a dream; you manufacture illusions! (Scene 7) Ironically, Amanda accuses Tom of manufacturing m anufacturing illusions, not recognizing that she herself is guilty of the same thing Drugs and Alcohol Streetcar Named Desire o [She springs up and crosses to it, and removes a whiskey bottle. She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink] (Scene 1) Notice that drinking is essentially the first thing Blanche does in the Kowalski home Blanche: Now don’t get worried, your sister hasn’t turned into a drunkard, she’s just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty! (Scene 1) Stella seems to be the only per son that Blanche doesn’t attempt to conceal her alcoholism from Blanche: No, one’s my limit (Scene 1) Blanche recognizes that her drinking threatens her reputation This is why she tries to hide it all the time; it contradicts her Southern belle persona Blanche: The show let out at eleven and we couldn’t’ come home on account of the poker game so we had to go somewhere and drink. I’m not accustomed to having more than one drink. Two is the limit – and three! [she laughs] Tonight I had three (Scene 3)
Mitch still doesn’t realize that Blanche is lying about her drinking habits *The rapid feverish polka tune, the “Varsouviana,” is heard. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape.] (Scene 9, stage directions) This is a key stage direction from Williams because it lets us know WHY Blanche drinks the way she does Indeed many of her actions and words have to do with o escaping both her past and the harsh reality of her current situation [Blanche rushes about frantically, hiding the bottle in a closet, crouching at the mirror and dabbing her face with cologne and powder] (Scene 9) Blanche tries to hide both her age and her drinking o Two things that threaten her potential m atch with Mitch Mitch: I told you I don’t want none of his liquor and I mean it. You ought to lay off his liquor. He says you been lapping it up all summer like a wild-cat. (Scene 9) This is meant to be insulting to Blanche because her alcohol consumption is incongruent with her stereotypical over-the-top femininity [Blanche has been drinking fairly steadily since Mitch left. As the drinking and packing went on, a mood of hysterical exhilaration came into her and she has decked herself out in a somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown and a pair of scuffed silver slippers with brilliant set in their heels.] (Scene 10) Alcohol is fuel to the fire, as far as Blanche’s mental illness is concerned o She uses it to further delude herself A Glass Menagerie Amanda: I don’t believe that you go every night to the movies. Nobody goes to the movies night after night. Nobody in their right minds goes to the movies as often as you pretend to. (Scene 3) Amanda combines all her fears of bad behaviour into her single fear that Tom will be a man who drinks Amanda: Promise, son, you’ll – never be a drunkard! Tom: [turns to her grinning] I will never be a drunkard, Mother Amanda: That’s what frightened me so, that you’d be drinking! (Scene 4) Just as Amanda ignored the problems of the present by focusing on the past, she blinds herself to Tom’s bigg est problems by focusing instead on an absurd fear of alcoholism Amanda: Find out one that’s clean-living – doesn’t drink and ask him out for sister! (Scene 4) Amanda’s concern for alcoholism is excessive Extending both to her son and to her daughter’s pot ential o suitor Amanda: Tom, he – doesn’t drink? Tom: Why do you ask me that? Amanda: Your father did! Tom: Don’t get started on that! Amanda: He does drink, then? Tom: Not that I know of!
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Amanda: Make sure, be certain! The last thing I want for my daughter is a boy who drinks! (Scene 5) Only toward the end of the play does William’s reveal the source of Amanda’s concern over alcohol Her husband drank o Amanda: Old maids are better off than wives of drunkards! (Scene 5) Amanda’s fear of alcoholism is so great that she even compromises her desire for Laura to get married at any cost
Death of a Salesman [1949] vs. A Glass Menagerie [1945] Themes:
Lies and deceit
QUOTES: (Just see this section for “lies and deceit” of each play for quotes, I’m tired and have an exam tomorrow, too)
It’s a good idea to use DRAMA TERMS like exposition, climax and falling action - Since the topic we are doing is “Drama” these words will get you a long way
More Drama Terms (these are from the review packet, omitting ones we do not need) Allegory - A symbolic narrative in which the surface details imply a secondary meaning. - Allegory often takes the form of a story in which t he characters represent moral qualities. - A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Alliteration - The repetition of consonant sounds - Ex. Fetched fresh Especially at the beginning of words o Antagonist - A character or force against which another character struggles (usually the protagonist) * Aside - Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience - Note heard by the other characters on stage during a play fourth wall ” ” ) - Breaking of the fourth wall (See “ - Ex. Shakespeare’s soliloquies in Hamlet (“To be or not to be” speech) o Voicing inner thoughts Assonance - Repetition of similar vowel sounds - Ex. “I rose and told him of my woe”
* Catastrophe - Action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement (or falling action) of a play - Ex. Duelling scene in Act V of Hamlet (between Hamlet and Laertes) where Hamlet dies, along with Laertes, King Claudius and Q ueen Gertrude - Ex. Willy’s death * Catharsis - Purging of the feelings of pity and fear - Relief of emotion from the audience - According to Aristotle: The purging of feelings occurs in the audience of a tragic drama - Ex. When Stanley rapes Blanche the audience experiences a catharsis, since the tension that has been building up with Stanley and Blanche finally breaks. Blanche then breaks down at which point she is taken away to a home Character - Imaginary person that inhabits a literary work - Characters may be: Major o Hamlet in Hamlet o Minor Mitch in Streetcar Named Desire o Static (unchanging) Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire
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(I had to include him somewhere in here since all the girls are in love with him)
Dynamic (capable of change) Stella Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire
(In the last scene of the play, Stella becomes like Blanche and rejects the reality that Stanley raped her sister and choses to continue living with him as if nothing had ever happened. This is an example of how, like Blanche, Stella covers her past in order to escape from it.)
Characterization - The means by which writers present and reveal character - Usually writers typically reveal characters through their speech, dress, manner, and actions - Ex. Readers come to understand the character Miss Emily in Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” through what she says, how she lives, and what she does * Denouement - Resolution of the plot of a literary work, untying of the plot - The final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot. - The events following the climax of a drama or novel in which such a resolution or clarification takes place. - Ex. The denouement of Hamlet takes place after the catastrophe with the stage littered with corpses Dialogue - The conversation of characters in a literary work Diction - The selection of words in a literary work
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Writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values
* Exposition - The first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot, in which necessary background information is provided Ibsen’s A Doll’s House : begins with a conversation between the two central characters, a - Ex. Ibsen’s A dialogue that fills the audience in on events that occurred before the action of the play begins, but which are important in the development of its plot o Tl;dr: the introduction * Falling Action - Action following the climax that moves the work towards its denouement (see denouement ) or resolution * Climax - The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story - Represents the point of greatest tension in the work - EFFECT ON AUDIENCE Audience is most interested; dramatic tension o Death of a Salesman: Biff seeing Willy with his mistress o Streetcar Named Desire: Stanley rapes Blanche o Conflict - A struggle between opposing forces in a story or play - Usually resolved by the end of the work - Internal or External conflict may occur Connotation - An idea or feeling that a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning Denotation - The dictionary or literal meaning of a word Figurative Language - A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words - Examples: Hyperbole/exaggeration, litotes/understatement, simile and metaphor * Flashback - Interruption of a work’s chronology to describe or present an incident that occurred prior to the main frame of a work’s action - Writers often use this to convey c onvey the richness of the experience of human time - This happens a lot in Death of A Salesman The woman, Willy’s brother (Ben), Biff flunking math et c. o * Foil -
A character who contrasts and parallels the main character in a play or story Examples: Laertes, in Hamlet , is a foil for Hamlet o
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Eunice/Steve (couple upstairs) in Streetcar Named Desire are foils of Stella/Stanley Mrs. Linde in A Doll’s House, i s a foil for Nora
Foreshadowing - Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story Ibsen’s A Doll’s House - Ex. Ibsen’s A Fourth wall - The imaginary wall of the box theatre setting - Supposedly removed to allow the audience to see the action - The fourth wall is “broken” when asides to the audience occur But only if the actor addresses the audience, not when they are speaking their o thoughts Gesture - The physical movement of a character during a play - Gesture is used to reveal character - May also include facial expressions Hyperbole - A figure of speech involving exaggeration Irony -
A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen Verbal irony: characters say the opposite of what they mean Situational irony: opposite of what is expected occurs Dramatic irony: when the audience knows something the character does not
Metonymy - A figure of speech in which a closely related term is substituted for an object or idea - Ex: “We have always remained loyal to the crown” “Crown” represents the King and Queen o Monologue - A speech by a single character without another characters response Narrator - The voice and implied speaker of a fictional work o (Not the author) - Ex: A Glass Menagerie: The brother is the narrator Plot -
The unified structure of incidents in a literary work
Point of view - The angle of vision from which a story is narrated (See Narrator) Protagonist - The main character of a literary work - Ex. Hamlet in Hamlet
Recognition - The point at which a character understands his or her situation as it really is -
(This is the word for the catharsis for a character, since it is the audience that experiences a catharsis, not the character)
* Resolution - The sorting out or unravelling of a plot at the end of a play, novel or story Reversal - The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist - Ex. Blanche going to the insane asylum place Rising action - A set of conflicts and crises that constitute the part of the play’s or story’s plot leading up to the climax Setting - The time and place of a literary work that establishes its context * Subplot - A subsidiary or subordinate or parallel plot in a play or story that coexists with the main plot - Ex. Mrs. Linde & Krogstad’s relationship in A in A Doll’s House Syntax - The grammatical order of words in a sentence or line of verse or dialogue - Organization of words and phrases and clauses in a sentece Tragic Flaw/Harmatia - A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero - Examples: Hamlet: Never goes through with hi s plans, always fids excuses o o Blanche: Ignores her past o Willy Loman: Lives in a world of lies Tragic hero - A tragic hero is the main character in a tragedy. - A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into suffering - Ex. Blanche, Willy or especially Biff Understatement - A figure of speech in which a writer or speaker says less than what he or she means - The opposite of exaggeration
