CLARIFICATION OF THE LANGUAGES A: LITERATURE PAPER 2 MARKING NOTES
MAY 2013 ONWARDS
The marking of Language A: Literature examination papers is based primarily on the assessment criteria that are applicable to all languages offered in the course. In addition, marking notes are written for subjects with large examining teams. Their purpose is to assist examiners in the application of the assessment criteria in relation to a specific task or question.
The paper 2 marking notes for the English, French and Spanish A: Literature specimen papers were produced as one document, addressing both standard and higher level. However, criterion B at higher level is different at the 4 and 5 mark range, with the additional demand for “evaluation”. In addition to making a comparison between at least two works, higher level candidates are required to show which of the writers, in their view, and based on evidence from the works, has made the most effective use of the convention(s) identified in the question. Arriving at this judgment (evaluation), candidates will demonstrate a detailed knowledge of the works and a critical appreciation of the way a particular literary convention can give further resonance to a text. Such evaluation is not required at standard level, where candidates must make “an effective comparison”.
To address this difference, from the May 2013 examination session, senior examiners will produce two separate sets of marking notes at standard and higher level, the wording of which will be the same, except for the additional mention of the evaluation requirement for higher level. This separation of marking notes will enable higher level examiners to reward appropriately the evidence of evaluation in response to the question.
HOME WORK BASED ON PAPER 2: Write at least 2 answers in the blog itself.
Points to remember:
- Remember to devote 2 hours completely for each one.
- Each answer will extend to atleast 900 words.
- In paper 2, you devote the only first 15 minutes for deciding and making mind map....rest must be spent in furious writing :)
- Though the questions will talk about " two or three plays" please confine yourself to TWO as your points will get diluted otherwise.
- Some of these options will be very vague or may not apply to your Drama options---I am expecting you to make very PERCEPTIVE and INTELLIGENT choices here!
Choose any two ( This will be part of internal evaluation in MOCKS): DUE DATE 06 JANUARY, 2013
1.Comparing the opening scenes of at least two plays, discuss what audience expectations are aroused and how.
2..“Drama explains individuals, not relationships.” Paying close attention to how individuals and relationships are presented in two or three plays you have studied, say how far you find this statement to be true.
3.In what ways and to what effect have your writers focused on either the darker or lighter side of life in two or three works you have studied?
4.There are many ways of achieving a memorable ending to a work of literature. In two or three of the works you have studied, how have your chosen authors made endings memorable?
5.“A literary work is not a mere play of the imagination, but a reflection of contemporary manners and customs.” Discuss the validity of this statement in relation to two or three works you have studied.
3.“There is no literature without conflict.”
How and to what effect is conflict used in two or three works you have studied?
COPY DOWN THE QUESTION AND WRITE THE ANSWER AS A PART OF COMMENT FOLLOWING THIS POST.
GREAT HELP: http://mrhoyesibwebsite.com/
from Rashmika:
1.Comparing the opening scenes of
at least two plays, discuss what audience expectations are aroused and how.
Opening scenes are one of the
most important parts in drama. They often give us an insight about the events
that will unfold in the future. The two plays, which I will compare, are both
from the same genre, tragedy: Macbeth and Agamemnon. In both the plays, the
opening scenes give us an introduction about the main characters of the play.
Firstly, The opening scene of Macbeth and the two scenes in which Macbeth
meets with the witches are of great importance to the play. Shakespeare’s genius can
be identified in the way he writes his beginning scenes. This can be largely
seen in act 1 scene 1 of Macbeth, which is also known, as the scene of
exposition. The desert, the storm, the appearance of the witches all helps us
prepare for a drama in which a human soul succumbs to the supernatural
suggestions of the evil. This scene takes place at an open heath where the
three witches are talking to each other. The witches immediately transport us
to the presence of evil with their queer rhyming couplets and incantations. The
sense of negativity instantly elicits an air of forbiddance on Macbeth’s
character and the theme of disaster is promptly set. The witches are heard
talking about battles, that are being fought and their victory. Shakespeare
uses these three “weird sisters” to provide authenticity for the plays original
audience and also stay faithful to the contemporary Elizabethan beliefs.
Secondly in the play
Agamemnon, the play takes place in a place Argos. The action begins by the
capture of troy by the Greeks. But we get to know this, in the opening scene.
The opening scene in the play Agamemnon is also knows as the watchmen scene.
The watchmen on the roof of the Agamemnon palace sees a signal fire in a very
far distance that tells him that Troy has been captured. The importance of this opening scene is that
it reminds us that we are not with Agamemnon, but still reminding us about
Agamemnon who is the protagonist of the play. At the opening scene the play is
set back on the home front, where things have taken a very different turn
during his ten year absence, mainly because Clytemnestra is in control and on
his return Agamemnon will have to confront these changes.
As we can see in both the
plays the opening scenes have given us quite a lot of information about what is
the current situation and what is going to happen. Also something, which one
can notice while reading both, the opening scenes are that both are set in a
destructive setting and are finally something related to victory.
The audiences reaction to
these opening scenes in some or the other way relate to their opinion on the
play as a whole. Another reason it upholds the anxiety of the audiences is
because in both the plays the opening scenes arise a sense of mystery and
tragedy. The opening scenes usually give the audiences small details of the
further happenings that will lead to the obvious anxiousness of them wanting to
watch the complete play.
For example in the opening
scene of Macbeth the witches chant a verse “ fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air”. The couplet with which the witches take their
departure is a confession of their creed. All that is good, "fair,"
to others is evil, "foul," to them, and vice versa. This applies to
both the physical and the moral world; they revel in the "fog and filthy
air," and in every sort of mischief and evil doing from killing swine to
entrapping human souls. Similarly in
Agamemnon the victory of Troy in the beginning of the play that creates a
positive filled environment and thus encourages the audiences to watch furthers
and also make assumptions about the play. Another incident is when the three
witches are talking in the opening scene the audiences will quickly relate to
the bad omen and also the use of words like paddock calling. By this at that
point of time the audiences are sure of the negativity which is filled in the
environment and also foreshadow the bad that is going to happen further.
In
both the plays the sense of anxiousness is obvious and it will thus keep the
audience to watch sit and watch the play so thus arouses their senses.
The
audience usually expects a very good beginning because it will give them a
clear view of the whole play. If the beginning interests them, they will
automatically be keen on watching the whole play. Both the plays have a
extraordinary, in which all kinds of elements are present and which can make a
play successful.
Therefore
I would like to conclude by saying that it may be that the primary
influence upon the conception and creation of a play is that of the audience.
An audience allows a play to have only the emotion and meaning it chooses, or
else it defends itself either by protest or by a closed mind.
So the better the beginning the better the response of the play.
Thanks a lot madam.
ReplyDelete1. Ma'am, "any two"-does it mean we have a choice to write from literallly any two plays that we have learned? (for example... doll's house, agamemnon, blood wedding..etc )or two books that we were given to write our p2 on?
ReplyDelete2. can we have plays next to us when we are writing essays??
In what ways and to what effect have your writers focused on either the darker or lighter side of life in two or three works you have studied?
ReplyDeleteWith the evolution of drama from the ancient times, the themes addressed by dramas have also become more complicated and subtle. In ancient dramas the “dark side of life” was generally represented by individual emotions like greed, hatred and anger and the choices made on the basis of these emotions. In modern dramas, this “dark side” is also represented by the negative consequences of a societal life. Modern comedies like “Pygmalion” or “Importance of being Earnest” look at the dark side through a comic lens such that, though the audience leaves laughing, they also leave with new thoughts lingering at the back of their minds about the flaws of the society. In Pygmalion, a social satire, Bernard Shaw uses exaggerated versions of stereotypical characters belonging to various classes in the society to create humour. When the audience laughs at these characters, they laugh at some aspects of themselves. Thus catharsis leads to understanding of the flaws in the class system. In Importance of being Earnest, a comedy of manners, common ideas and mannerisms of the higher class are exaggerated to create humour where the higher-class audiences laugh at some aspects of themselves. Thus catharsis drives home the occasional foolishness of the higher class. It is interesting to note that in both works, exaggeration is used to create humour, which drives home a point about the “dark side of life” due to catharsis. These works differ in what was exaggerated and what techniques were used to achieve this exaggeration.
In Pygmalion, the strongest technique used to explore the dark side of life in a lighter vein was characterization. Shaw’s characterization in this work is very subtle. Several layers of characterization were brought out by Shaw’s intricate and opinionated description of the settings and the body language of the characters. For example in the beginning of act three, while describing Mrs. Higgins house, details like “the ceiling is not so lofty as it would be in an older house of the same pretension”. Shaw expects the audience to be perceptive enough to notice this detail on stage and intuit that the house was relatively new. “There is a portrait of Mrs. Higgins as when she defied the fashion in her youth…” is another example of how a close look at the portrait informs the audience of her rebellious side. Similarly in Act two Higgins is described as “violently interested in anything that can be studied as a scientific subject and careless about himself and other people including their feelings” and his manner is described as “carrying from genial bullying to stormy petulance” and “entirely frank and void of malice”. When read, these inform the reader a lot about Higgins as a character. However since a drama has seen, not read, these characteristics have to be conveyed through the actor’s body language, which the audience then had to perceive and understand. Hence Shaw merely
Continued:
ReplyDeletecontrolled what the audience saw and expected them to be perceptive enough to intuit the rest.
Apart from intricate descriptions, Shaw also brought characterization through dialogues. Higgins’s disdainful attitude towards others is brought out by dialogues like “Shall we ask this baggage to sit down”. Similarly dialogues like “Take all her clothes off… wrap her up in brown paper” brings out his insensitive attitude. The dialogue “Here I am, a shy, diffident sort of man…” inform the audience of his ignorance of his own flaws. Similarly Eliza’s dialogues like “I am a good girl, I am” and “I got my feelings same as anyone else” bring out her strong morality and self-respect.
Shaw used a stereotypical character to represent all classes of society. Higgins represented the educated class, while Doolittle represented the lower class. Similarly Mrs. Higgins represented the stereotypical woman of the upper middle class while Pickering represented the stereotypical man. Clara, Freddy, Mrs. Eyensfordhill and Mrs. Pearce each stereotypically represent a particular class or segment of the society. By using intricate characterization, each stereotype was exaggerated. Eliza was the only non-stereotypical character. The interaction of the exaggerated stereotypical characters with Eliza leads to the occurrence of obviously foolish events, which the characters do not anticipate, creating humour. However the exaggeration also makes it easy to see the role played by each character in the chaos. Hence at a subconscious level, the audience walks away with an understanding of how their behavior is sometimes foolish and could contribute to chaos without their knowledge. Eliza’s experience in Higgins’s apartment also brings out the disparities in the lifestyles of people belonging to different class, thus acting as eye openers to the unaware audience.
Like in Pygmalion, the humor in Importance of being Earnest does not lie in the plot. Moreover Oscar Wilde also uses stereotypical characters. However since the work is a comedy of manners, attempting to light-heartedly criticize the upper class, all the stereotypes pertain to the upper class. However there is no intricate characterization like in Pygmalion. These characters are used as mere representations. Algy represents the typical upper class man in the town, while Jack represents the typical rich man in the town. Cecily and Gwendolyn, in their own ways, represent the new age girls with romantic rebellious ideas. Lady Bracknell represents the typical mother and Miss Prism represents the typical governess. The humour is created through the blatantly honest, but foolish dialogues in which the characters reveal what they are truly thinking. All the characters use high language as is expected of people belonging to their class. However
Continued:
ReplyDeletethe content of the dialogues is extremely foolish. This probably brings out the message that the upper class is not as perfect or intellectual as they appear to be.
The honest dialogues like bring out unspoken truths about a society that appears to be perfect. Dialogues like “Truth is never… a complete impossibility” “Even men of… extremely susceptible to physical charms of others” “Men are so cowardly aren’t they” and “at the end of the season… probably not much” are indicative of this. Dialogues also suggest at the superficiality of the society like when Lady Bracknell says “now to minor matters” after asking a series of ridiculous questions or when Gwendolyn says “I hope you always look at me especially when there are other people around”. Some dialogues also bring out avoided truths about general beliefs in the society, like “in married life 3 is company and two is none” and “The only way to behave with a woman is make love to her if she is pretty and to someone else if she is plain”
Dialogues also help in bringing out how several social customs are followed more as a compulsion. For example Jack’s matter of fact tome while explaining why he is Earnest in town, makes it evident that he maintains a strict manner towards Cecily only because it is expected. Similarly Lady Bracknell’s unreasonable demands to “produce parents” also suggest that it is not the parents she cares about, but the image.
Thus Importance of being Earnest, unlike Pygmalion is not subtle. In this work, most dialogues blatantly spell out the flaws of the society, but because of the high language and the context in which they are delivered, they seem surreal and funny. Hence in the process of laughing at the flaws of the society, the audience also becomes consciously aware of these flaws. Thus Wilde effectively criticizes the customs, without being hurtful.
Pygmalion leaves a lot of scope for personal involvement because of the subtlety and thus each person can take something away. However some of the aspects of characterization through setting and body language are too subtle and hence it is possible that the audience misses those critical points. Hence for a general audience, Importance of being Earnest is more successful in opening the their eyes towards the “dark side of life” the work wanted to explore, because it was blatant and very hard to miss.
Actual essay:
ReplyDelete“A literary work is not a mere play of the imagination, but a reflection of contemporary manners and customs.” Discuss the validity of this statement in relation to two or three works you have studied.
Most literary works in general, and dramas in specific, have human interaction as a core element. Therefore when people are significantly affected by the society they live in, it is natural that any drama reflects some of the contemporary manners and customs. However each drama varies in the way these aspects are reflected and the role these cultural and/or societal factors play in the context of the drama itself. In Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”, the customs and manners of America in the 1900s are inherently reflected in the realistic portrayal of the American dream affecting Willy Loman’s life. Contrastingly Oscar Wilde’s “The importance of being Earnest” is less realistic and more exaggerated in its portrayal of the upper class of London in the 1800s. However beneath the layers of exaggeration, contemporary customs and manners are blatantly reflected. The similarity between both the plays is how the language used reflects the language spoken by the society that the characters represent.
The protagonist of Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, is consumed by a desire to achieve the American dream. Thus the crux of the play itself reflects the contemporary belief that anyone can be successful in America. Through Willy Loman’s perspective, success is defined as being “well-liked” and it is established that “not finding yourself at the age of thirty four is a disgrace.” In Willy’s mind he has failed in his life not just because he has to work on a commission, even after working for a company for thirty-six years, but also because his son Biff was still “lost at the age of thirty-six”, while Charley’s son, Bernard was very successful. Thus Willy’s definition of success and failure reflect a society where personal meaning lay in success.
Willy Loman lived in the past because he could not reconcile with his present. Through the effective use of flashbacks and music, the audience follows Willy on a desperate and yet often unconscious journey of sieving through memories to explain his failure. There were several memories that flowed into each other which seemed to reflect times when he was most happy and hopeful. In these memories, Willy and his sons, polished the car together while saying to Biff, “The first thing we gotta… big branch over the house”. They discuss about hanging a hammock “right between those two elms”. At the end of the task, Willy says proudly “Terrific. Terrific job boys.” This reflects the custom of the father-son bonding during manly chores. They also discuss about the “girls behind Biff” and “the game” he was going to play. Willy’s pride is evident when he kisses him and says “Oh, wait’ll I tell this is Boston”. This reflects the high status given to sportsmen in the society. Hence aspects that made Willy happy and hopeful, reflect what made everyone happy and hopeful in general.
Similarly there were parts of the flashbacks where Willy was unhappy. In these memories, Willy is happy in the beginning about the money he earned in commission, until he realizes that he owes “odds and ends… hundred and twenty dollars by fifteenth”. He then loses his confidence and begins to contradict himself. The Chevrolet, which was the “greatest car ever built”, becomes “the goddam Chevrolet” whose “manufacture should be banned”. He changes his initial stance that he was “very well-liked” and that he “was sellin’ thousands and thousands”, to “People don’t take me”. He says, “I respect Charley”, when he initially said, “Charley isn’t well-liked”. This reflects the effects of consumerism and indebtedness in the society, which made one detest the things they bought, lose self-confidence and develop negative self-image. This reflects how the custom of borrowing money that was supposed to make them happy, actually made people unhappy.
ReplyDeleteThus though the play is a product of Miller’s “imagination” that wove a story about how an ordinary man was affected by the American dream, it inevitably reflects the contemporary customs and manners.
“The importance of being Earnest” is different from “Death of a Salesman” because its plot does not revolve around a single realistically portrayed character. Instead, as a comedy of manners, it revolves around a set of exaggerated stereotypical characters. Hence unlike in Death of a Salesman, in this play the contemporary customs are not reflected during the course of the play, but are rather the focus of the play itself. Hence instead of dialogues under realistic conditions indirectly reflecting the customs, in Importance of being Earnest, dialogues under exaggerated and unreal conditions blatantly and directly reveal the manners and customs. The aim of a comedy of manners is to satirize social customs. Hence the reflections about manner and customs brought out by the dialogues come with a value judgment of silliness attached to them which is absent in Death of a Salesman.
The blatant dialogues bring out unspoken truths about manners and customs in a society that appears to be perfect. Dialogues like “Even men of… extremely susceptible to physical charms of others” “Men are so cowardly aren’t they” and “at the end of the season… probably not much” are indicative of this. Dialogues also suggest at the superficial manner adopted by the upper class like when Lady Bracknell says “now to minor matters” after asking a series of ridiculous questions or when Gwendolyn says “I hope you always look at me especially when there are other people around”. Dialogues also help in bringing out several social customs and how they are followed more as a compulsion. For example Jack’s matter of fact tone while explaining why he is Earnest in town, makes it evident that it is expected of him to maintain a strict manner towards Cecily and that is why he does it, not because he believes in being strict. Similarly Lady Bracknell’s unreasonable demands to “produce parents” also suggest that she cares about his parents only because it is customary.
Since The importance of being Earnest is a comedy of manners, the audience is informed about the flaws of the contemporary customs and manners by Oscar Wilde. However in Death of a Salesman, since the impact of these aspects is an inherent part of the plot, the audience themselves evaluate the effects of the contemporary customs and manners in their lives. Hence there is more catharsis in Death of a Salesman than in Importance of being Earnest.
The opening scenes of a play are one it’s very crucial parts as it opens the play and also sets the pace of the way the play will be unfolded. The opening scene also directly or indirectly gives introduction to the lead actor or actress. The plays I want to use to evaluate are from the same genre, tragedy, Macbeth and Agamemnon. In both the plays the opening scene introduces the spectators and the readers to the leading role or the protagonist, and also gives us a glimpse to the way the play is going to unfold. In the play Macbeth, the opening scene is started with a negative impact, there are three witches which are shown to be talking among themselves and they also indirectly introduce us to Macbeth who is the protagonist of the play, the story unfolds with the opening scene, where we get to know that the witches are plotting something which involves meeting with Macbeth and also tells us how they will be attached directly or indirectly with the outcome of the play in the future.
ReplyDeleteAlso the play Agamemnon is from the same genre that is tragedy, in this play the scene opens when a guard who resides in the rooftop of the palace is tired and sick of his duties as the empire is at war and the king is out to fight, it unravels what kind of mentality the people of the castle are having and they were also skeptical about their kings return. But after a while the guard sees the beacon which signals that they have won and that the king is alive which sets a very happy mood to the ambience and then we see the guard something about dangerous plans and plots which are taking place in the castle and that he is better off without talking about them.
Both the opening scene of the plays indirectly introduce us to the main character and also gives a feeling about what is going to happen in the play and even a bit of the plot and the background is show in the opening scenes in some of the plays. The expectations of the audience depends on the opening scene of the play even the attention which the audience is going to pay depends on the opening scene, if the opening scene especially in a tragedy is full of mysteries and is promising, people will be glued to the seat and would enjoy every part of it. The audience gets aroused if they see that the plot is kind of known to them and they are bound to think about what the outcome of the scene is going to be that is what will appeal to the audience and that is what will make the audience also see if the play was worthwhile. Nowadays no one will be going for the name and fame that the playwrights gain and will only watch it because of the content and not only now even people at that time would have been appreciating it because of its quality. The other aspects which would appeal to the audience is the quality of the actors, how good are they and also that how well are they compatible with the character which they are playing.
The audience’s expectations are raised when they see the opening scene in Agamemnon because the guy talks about them winning and thus they think that whatever happens after this is positive, but towards the end it shows that he talks about something else happening in the castle which he is better off not talking about, which increases the anxiety in the audience about what he is talking about and what is the matter which is going on in the castle.
continued...
ReplyDeleteWhereas in Macbeth the opening scene shows us that three witches are talking among themselves, in those times they were connected with bad omen and also with bad luck thus when they yalk about Macbeth, the audience relates the bad luck with Macbeth and also works out that Macbeth will be in trouble after they get a hold of him.
In both the plays the element of mystery is evident and that most probably fuels the desire of the audience to sit down and look at the play as it fuels their imagination and thus it arouses their senses more.
Even the language has a big effect on them as the people will be expecting the language which they used to speak during that time as that will bring more appeal to the play. The audience is appealed more when the play is played the audience is anticipating every move to be something which has not been shown before and also that it appeals to their senses and make them think.
Thus I would say that audience’s exceptions go up every time a new play was played because they would want to see something new and unique which would usher them to call to their senses and to use it and decipher the mysteries or succumb to it and be mesmerized by how the plot opens up and marvel at the way the actors make the story line into something which cannot be put into words.
Comparing the opening scenes of at least two plays, discuss what audience expectations are aroused and how.
ReplyDeleteUnlike novels, plays are performed in the public and are written keeping the theatre-goers in mind. Thus the importance of the opening scenes of plays in arousing audience expectations cannot be over-emphasized. For some plays which have the relatively formal ‘opening scenes’, this function of arousing expectations is done mainly in the first scene (which is typically short). An example of such a type of scene can be found in Macbeth (by William Shakespeare), where the opening scene is a mere 12-verses long and successfully arouses premonition in the audience. However, in some plays, this function of arousing expectation is incorporated into the first parts of the play and there is no separate scene just for this. Instances of this are The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde) and Pygmalion (George Bernard Shaw). In such plays, the opening moments can be found in the expository scene that is implicit in the first Acts of the plays.
The opening lines of The Importance of Being Ernest provide a strong hint about the kind of mood that is going to prevail in the play. When Algernon asks his butler if he heard him playing, the butler replies ‘I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.’ By eyeing the setting of the play, the audience can discern that Algernon belongs to one of the higher sections of society. The butler’s (at first, quizzical) repartee is an expression of the playwright’s exaggeration of the etiquette and mannerisms that are almost a prerequisite of being in that social class. These first 2 lines are in themselves an emblem of comedy of manners, a genre which satirizes the typical aspects of one class by producing stock characters. The prose following these first 2 lines too builds on this expectation of light-hearted comedy. The topics of marriage and divisions of the classes (which are to be notable themes of the play) are subtly introduced in the first parts of the play. Algernon creates sardonic humor by remarking that marriage is so ‘demoralizing’ that married couples do not keep good alcohol in their houses. He also goes on to remark that the ‘lower orders’ have no ‘sense of moral responsibility’ as a class. By doing this, he is showing the pomposity of the higher classes and revealing himself to be a hypocrite. Dialogues which anticipate the future (such as Jack’s wish to marry Gwendolen) create anticipation and curiosity in the audience. The main theme of appearance vs. reality and the attempts of the characters to hide the reality is also introduced here – ‘It is a very ungentlemanly thing to read a private cigarette case’ says Jack in the process of obstructing Algernon’s revealing of his deception.
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DeleteEliza is the protagonist of Pygmalion and her character is introduced in the opening scene. Her constant expression of ‘I’m a respectable girl’ is uttered first at the same time Higgins is introduced. The introduction of Higgins as an impertinent note taker is a warning to the audience about what to expect of him as his character unfolds before us. His imitations of her accent-‘Cheer up, Keptin’ are symbolic of his wicked sense of humor and how this is going to govern his relations with Eliza in the future and his sharp ability to sense a person’s origin from his speech (‘I can place any man within six miles’) is (ironically), a prequel to the dislocation of Eliza’s identity after Higgins teaches her. Pickering too is introduced in this scene. His dialogues ‘you have a right to live where you please’ and ‘Anybody could see that the girl meant no harm’ are reflective of his erect character and astute sense of right and wrong. The audience is made aware of Eliza’s financial conditions (she calls herself ‘poor girl’) and the bet that Higgins makes about her ‘I could pass that girl off as a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party’ arouses the anticipation of Eliza’s metamorphosis. The remarkable coincidence of Pickering and Higgins meeting sets off a happy mood to start the rising action of the play with. The scenes with Clara, her mother and Freddie seem like padding scenes but since the romantic tie-up at the end is between Freddie and Eliza, the awareness of the audience of Freddie’s genteel background makes it more conceivable for the audience.
Both The Importance of Being Ernest and Pygmalion are comedies of manners, but the audience expectations that are aroused and how this is done is different. The implicit opening scene in the former focuses on main themes to arouse expectations while the implicit opening scene in the latter focuses on introduction of characters to arouse expectations of plot. This seems logical because the focus of the former is to satirize the upper classes while the focus of the latter is to showcase the mettle and metamorphosis of Eliza Doolittle while still gently poking fun at the wealthy (satirizing has a secondary focus). The Importance of Being Ernest uses non sequitur to generate humor; however, this is not simply buffoonery but rather of an intellectual nature which is likely to entertain the ‘upper classes’ which is mocks. Ironically, Pygmalion, which has more substance in its story, uses an element of buffoonery (Eliza’s shouts ‘Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo’ and Higgins’ imitations ‘orf a pore gel’) to show the natures of its characters. This method leaves us with a faint clue of what is going to happen as the characters interact but gives no prediction about the turn that the plot is going to take near the end. Furthermore, this (at times, misleadingly) gives the impression that this is going to be a comedy where Higgins’ and Eliza’s comic remarks will dominate the rest of the play. However, little indication is given about the dark stripes in the play (such as when Eliza loses her temper with Higgins near the climax). Conversely, the opening scene of The Importance of Being Ernest describes the whole atmosphere of the play in a nutshell and gives an indication that there might be serious business ahead but it will be carried out in a comic manner. Thus, though both scenes are well-established on their own, the opening scene of The Importance of Being Ernest does a better job of introducing the main themes/ideas and laying the foundation of the storyline/ characters than does the opening scene of Pygmalion. The task of deciding till what line number constitutes the opening scene is a hard one and is dictated by the dramatic structure (till what part constitutes to the introduction of the play?).
4. There are many ways of achieving a memorable ending to a wok of literature. In two or three of the works you have studied, how have your chosen authors made endings memorable?
ReplyDeleteThe Importance of Being Earnest is written by Oscar Wilde and Pygmalion is written by Bernard Shaw.
Authors tend to stress much importance on the ending of the play because often the last act or scene remains as overall impression of the play. There are several ways a work could be made memorable. Memorable literary works often incite strong emotion/catharsis among the audience by engaging them in the play, like those of Shakespeare and Aeschylus. Work could also be made memorable by causing audience to “get shocked” either by unexpected result from the plot or by demonstrating sudden understanding; revealing what was apparent but which audience was unaware of (this happens quite a lot in mysteries). Another way of making ending memorable is by giving a strong message.
In The Importance of Being Earnest, the play ends with a male protagonist, Jack, proclaiming –“On the contrary, Aunt Augusta, I’ve now realised for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest”. Oscar Wilde has made ending memorable explicitly in two ways; one, by repeating the title of the play, and two, by answering the question that was bothering audience.
If there is one thing people get to know about the play before they watch it, is the title. Audience must have entered the theater asking what exactly importance of being earnest is. Generally, “being earnest” (here the word “earnest” is the word describing personality of an individual) is considered positive. Audience are compelled to ask question of what would be the real importance of being earnest, especially as era the play was written by Oscar Wilde was when people were living with a social mask of pretension and living double lives. So when Jack proclaims that he has found out the importance of being earnest at last, causes laughter (as audience expected somewhat earnest answer to the question). His realization at the end of the play reminds audience about forgotten question they had back in their mind while watching the play. It’s quite sudden to the audience because the content of the play was such that Earnest has been talked about in terms of name and not personality and play is nothing about being earnest, but rather, of not being earnest. Nowhere in the play does Algernon or Jack penalized of not being earnest by living a double life. Cecily is not at all earnest to the duty as a young lady who needs to learn manners and education. Ms. Prism who, at first sight looks exacting and earnest, can abandon her work of a guardian to stride a little with Dr. Chasuble. These characters talk and act in such a way that they make fun of themselves. Audience laughs at humorous mockeries and derisions. Then in the end Jack bangs them on their head about what is the importance of being earnest. It leaves lasting memory of the play.
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ReplyDeleteNot only did audience and sudden realization at the last moment contributed to making ending memorable, but also the flow and overall content of the play. The entire flow of the play has been about earnest and about answering the question. There are two men; Jack and Algernon who are identified as Earnest from different people, both young ladies Gwndolen and Cecily fall in love with two men because of the name- Earnest, men fight over the name of Earnest, and want to get christened again as earnest. The conflicts between relationships are about being earnest, complication starts with characters falsely being earnest, and marriages go on verge of destruction due to being earnest. It’s all about earnest. So at the end when Oscar Wilde makes Jack proclaim the importance of being earnest, whether it is stupid, funny or meaningless, it is memorable ending of the play.
Another comedy that has memorable ending is Pgymalion by Bernard Shaw. It ends with male protagonist, Higgins saying –“Pickering! Nonsense: she’s going to marry Freddy. Ha ha! Freddy! Freddy! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! [he roars with laughter as the play ends]”. Bernard Shaw made the ending memorable by going against the expectation of the audience. According to the Greek myth, Pygmalion carves a woman, Galatia and falls in love with her, who, later is transformed as human being with help of goddess of beauty, Aphrodite. The ending of the Greek myth is happy ending where Pygmalion and Galatia get married and love each other immensely. However, in Bernard Shaw’s version of Pygmalion, it’s a complete failure. Pygmalion could only transform outer beauty of Eliza and she refuses to live with Higgins and marry Freddy, who is situated in lower strata due to genteel poverty. Shaw leaves the future prediction to the audience whether Eliza would be happy with penurious Freddy or whether Higgins is going to miss absence of Eliza and “do without her” well enough. However Shaw makes clear to the audience that Eliza is not marrying Higgins.
Both playwrights have succeeded in making their plays memorable for the audience. Oscar Wilde made it possible by amusing audience with sudden realization, and Bernard Shaw did it by contradicting general expectation of audience. However, in my opinion, Oscar Wilde was a little more successful in making the ending memorable while Bernard Shaw made entire play memorable. Oscar Wilde based his play on language that characters used to create laughter; the kind of language characters use to talk about marriage, love and trivialities. Ending is accentuated at the end because it has been all about earnest. The word “earnest” is what leaves impression to audience. On the other hand Shaw stressed more importance on overall plot of the play. Eliza has shown strong personality throughout the play. Toward the end, audience might have predicted, or seen possibility of Eliza not marrying Higgins. Rather than the ending, it is Eliza’s character that is more memorable for the audience.
5. “A literary work is not a mere play of the imagination, but a reflection of contemporary manners and customs”. Discuss the validity of this statement in relation to two or three works you have studied.
ReplyDeletePygmalion is written by Bernard Shaw and Importance Of Being Earnest is written by Oscar Wilde. Pygmalion and Importance of Being Earnest are both comedies written in similar period; Pygmalion in 1895 and Importance of Being Earnest in 1914. These two literary works that conspicuously reflect contemporary manners and customs.
Playwrights communicate with audience through plays. Production is taken up by playwrights and performers on the stage, but on the final day, plays are for audience. They are for audience to watch and admire. Hence, playwrights are compelled to write something related to their diurnal activities. Audience finds it easy to understand and concord with what is going on the stage. It becomes easy to connect with audience and engage them to the play if the play is crafted in such a way that it reflects the contemporary society. For example, in both plays, settings made are familiar to the audience. Certain stage setting instructed by playwright does not end merely as furniture, paintings or chairs but further derivates to understanding of character and society or even stratum of the character. In Pygmalion, stage setting for Mr. Higgins’ house and Mrs. Higgins’ house is detailed elaborately. The way paintings, sitting table along with sofa are arranged in Mrs. Higgins’ house in Act 1 sc.3, indirectly tells the audience that this woman is well-off, elegant and holds high position in the society. Same with Higgins, from the way the setting is explicitly introduced by Shaw, audience get to know his profession- linguist, his high stratum, and might also notice that he is bachelor. This tool of custom and manners makes easy for playwright to communicate and give deeper understanding to the audience. In The Importance of being Earnest, although explanation of setting is not as explicit and detailed as in Pygmalion, but from the way characters are dressed and from the glimpse of where they are living and certain words they pick to speak, audience can quickly get affiliated and relate their understanding to it.
Manners and customs are not solely governed by costumes and furniture (external factors) but also by language; kind of words people use often, issues that most people talk about or even gossip that is specific for the culture. “Bunburying” for example, was already present in the society (of course, it was not called “bunburying”) as exacting society demanded people with perfect character, people found their place to be themselves somewhere else secretly. Hence, by acquiring similar way of understating along with audience, both externally and internally, not only what is expressed outward or what is talked about is directly related to manners and customs of the region. In this way, writers could communicate and engage audience to the play and go beyond the superficial level of understanding and go deep in to comprehension of society where writers can convey more than just a play.
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ReplyDeleteThere is always purpose or meaning behind the play that playwright wishes to convey to the audience. History for plays goes back to Greece. There, plays were staged for didactic purposes; about what they should do and should not do. Plays later developed as entertainments but it does not mean that plays were only created to laugh and have fun. Even in the simplest and funniest play like Importance of Being Earnest, there is meaning behind every conversation that creates laughter. Author mocks the shallowness of high class’s treatment of issues such as marriage, names and morals. One of the two protagonists, Algernon twists and mocks about marriage, Lady Bracknell agrees to Algernon marrying to Cecily simply because she seems to belong to high class and is a heir of a great wealth. Two ladies fall in love with men just because of their name, Earnest. Morals are awryed from the way they should be. By unmasking society and people who rule the society with money and power, Wilde is indirectly reprimanding them demonstrating a need to correct it back.
Pygmalion has greater meaning behind the play. Shaw cleverly conveyed his view point of firmness of internal personality that surpasses external beauty that cannot be altered by others. He disagrees with Pygmalion myth and its romance by giving singular character to Galatia (Eliza in the play) that Pygmalion (Higgins) can do nothing about. In the society where only external features and looks are valued, Shaw made Eliza as starring individual whose internal personality is appreciated. He successfully went against the current of society by using customs and morals of the time and convincing the audience of his view using renowned profession at the time (linguist/phonetician). Customs, culture and moral were used as tools for both Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw to fulfill their purpose and meaning they wanted to convey to the audience.
Type of literary work also matters. One thing in common of the two plays; Importance of Being Earnest and Pygmalion is that they both are comedies. By nature, comedies do not digress away from reality, reason being that it should be understood by everyone. Convoluted plot that requires critical analysis is not required in comedy, as purpose of comedy is to relax and laugh, not to engage audience through catharsis. In tragedies, climax is essential to arouse emotional tension. And plotting the climax sometimes requires imagination. But, in case of comedies, playwrights’ main focus is on the content of conversation and intonation rather than plot and situation. People find it easy to follow when it is similar to their situation.
Literary works cannot be completely detached from contemporary manners and customs. It has to reflect them in order for playwright to connect with audience. Meaning behind a play is easily conveyed when understanding of situation is already established between playwright and the audience. As audience attain deeper understand of the play, it is easy for them to agree or go aligned with idea behind the story. Playwrights are compelled to use these tools as these are the only intersections between audience’s understanding and the play. Extension of how far literary work is related to reality is in concern with type of play. Comedies tend to acquire image of reality than tragedies as focus of comedy-playwrights lie in the content of conversation rather than setting and situation of the play.
There are many ways of achieving a memorable ending to a work of literature. In two or three of the works you have studied, how have your chosen authors made endings memorable?
ReplyDeleteThe ending is very important in every genre of writing because it holds the key to understanding of the author's purpose of writing. The ending functions as a device that wraps up the themes explored by the author and sheds light on author's stand on those themes. In other words, the ending marks the final stand of the author regarding the writing. The same thing goes with plays; due to its characteristics, it is inevitable that the ending is intricately related to the rest of the play. This adds another importance to the treatment of the ending.
In terms of the effectiveness of the ending, George Bernard Shaw's PYGMALION and Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST can be compared. Their comparability lies on the fact that both belong to same genre of comedy and sub-genre of social satire. The two plays talk about the issue of "class" but show drastically different approaches to the same theme. This is manifest in the way they end their plays.
In PYGMALION Shaw explores the adventure of "jumping classes" and its implications demonstrated through the characters of Eliza Doolittle and Alfred Doolittle. In the course Shaw criticizes the middle and the upper class while he romanticizes about the life of the lower class. From the very beginning, Shaw portrays Eliza as an independent person who can afford her own living. This is contrasted with the Eynsford Hill family members who, despite their upper class status, cannot afford their living due to the collapse of their financial status. Although she may belong to the unfashionable "gutter" has economic independence, and this is precisely why she could walk confidently into the house of rich upper class man (Higgins) and bargain the terms of his lessons. Combining the characteristics of Eliza, it is evident that Shaw meant Eliza to represent the realm of working women who are independent. Shaw therefore brings slightly Feminism into the play too. When extrapolated, this reflects Shaw's Socialist ideology where all people work and are treated equally. The ending of the play also has hints of Socialism and Feminism. Higgins offers Eliza to live with him, which will entail everything as before. Higgins' offer sounds quite tempting for those who seek for comfortable and ordinary life of everything being provided without work. However, Eliza rejects the offer and plans to continue providing for herself. Although she decides to marry Freddy, Her independence is still not hindered because she also has to provide for Freddy. The rejection of Higgins' proposal is significant as it means that Eliza is consciously choosing a life in which she is appreciated for who she is and what she can do, making her a truly independent individual. Considering that the play was written in Victorian Era, the character of Eliza is revolutionary as the norm at the time was that woman would always be economically dependent on male figures of the family. More than any other part of the play, the ending of PYGMALION successfully brings out Shaw's intention of bringing into life an admirable futuristic figure against the contemporary society.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EAERNEST on the other hand is a comedy of manners which deals only with the upper class. Oscar Wilde adopts a satirical tone throughout the entire play, depicting the foolishness of the behavior of the so-called 'modern' upper class. This is mostly shown through the dialogues of the characters in which Wilde's wittiness of the dialogues in turn highlights the comical content of the phrase which brings out humor. Wilde uses the play to criticize the society for stressing importance on nonsensical norms and for taking a high moral tone on everything. One of the repetitive examples of such behavior that Wilde introduces in the play is the importance of names. There are two levels in this: just the name itself and the family name. However, as the first level is more relevant to the question posed, only that will be analyzed. In order to link the implications of the ending and the play, the title of the play must be first analyzed. The title, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST has a double meaning. The literal meaning suggests that it is important to be truthful. However, after examining the content of the play, this turns out to be a satirical phrase criticizing the honesty of the upper class. On the other hand, "Earnest" is a homophone of "Ernest" which is the name of a fake identity in the play. In the play, two female characters (Gwendolen and Cecily) fall madly in love with the 'idea' of the name "Ernest." Jack and Algernon who both who defrauds the female characters by faking their name to be "Ernest" are coldly rejected when their true names are revealed. But when Jack finds out that his real name is Ernest, he is once again accepted by his admired lover Gwendolen, and the play ends with Jack saying "I've now realised [...] the vital Importance of Being Earnest." Jack stays as the same person regardless of his name but he is not accepted as who he is. The whole event shows the shallowness of the upper class which stresses importance on appearance rather than personality. Therefore, the last line works like a declaration of Jack to conform to the senseless and empty notion of the society.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Shaw, Wilde does not put his own thoughts into characters’ mouths. And if Shaw showed an image of the world that he hopes to see, Wilde on the other hand magnified a part of the world which he dislikes. But nevertheless both styles are used to criticize the society. From the beginning until the end, Wilde shows an utterly senseless group of people who do not seem to possess dignity to oneself. For example, in real life a person usually gets angry and feel betrayed when one is fooled by a person one trusts. Gwendolen would not have run back to Jack instantly like she does in the play. In that sense, the play can be described as claustrophobic in terms of foolishness as there is no character who takes on the role of enlightening the rest. There are no grand phrases about the life or any contemplative subject in that matter. However, this adds on to the effectiveness of the message Wilde tried to get across for the completely embellished foolishness makes the audience see clearly where the characters' fault lies and their obliviousness of their own absurdity appalls the audience to think critically about the society. Therefore, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST leaves more space for the audience themselves to contemplate about the society they live in in a seemingly non-critical and humorous way than PYGMALION.
Comparing the opening scenes of at least two plays, discuss what audience expectations are aroused and how.
ReplyDeleteWhile Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman are two entirely different plays, one being a comedy of manners and the other a modern tragedy, they are bound together by an important element that most plays share – the opening scene. In these two works, both Shaw and Miller create an opening scene to serve three central functions: introduce the main characters, set the mood and tone for the play, and foreshadow future events. Thus, audiences must keep in mind that the playwright includes certain elements in the opening scene in order to elicit certain expectations from the audience.
Shaw’s most celebrated work, Pygmalion, is widely considered the epitome of social satire. In this particular genre, the playwright uses comedic elements to criticize a specific group of people and their system of beliefs. Thus, the entire plot of the play delicately revolves around the foremost theme of disparity between social classes. With the use of detailed description, Shaw immediately jumps into this core ideology in the opening scene of Pygmalion. Amongst the lengthy description, Shaw includes “cab whistles”, “pedestrians”, “vegetable market”, “lady and her daughter”, and “one man”. As the opening scene unfolds, the audience finds that these vastly varied phrases describing the impoverished middle class, a wealthy Anglo-Indian man (Pickering), an egotistical professor (Higgins), and poor flower girl (Eliza), are under unfamiliar circumstances, all sharing common shelter. Thus, using description, Shaw gently forces together diverse types of people from contrasting social classes in order to set the stage for future developments in the plot.
Witty dialogue is perhaps the most definitive characteristic of a comedy of manners, such as Pygmalion. Since the plot of the play itself is in fact less important than the dynamics between the characters involved, other aspects of the play are usually secondary to intellectually stimulating conversation. As social satire is a genre in which roles often represented using stereotypical stock characters. Thus, as Shaw cleverly introduces the main characters by role as opposed to by name in his stage directions, for example the flower girl, the daughter, the gentleman, he emphasizes and hilariously ridicules this clear distinction between social roles. The grouping together of individuals from various socio-economic backgrounds allows Shaw to dramatically demonstrate Higgins’ exceptional brilliance at identifying dialects. For example, the sarcastic bystander asks Higgins, “Do you know where I come from” to which he promptly replies, “Hoxton.” This answer encourages both antagonism and appreciation from the crowd, the perfect melange of emotion required to create a lively and entertaining comedy. Furthermore, this brief exchange of words gives rise to the fundamental idea that Higgins can identity an individual’s background simply through their dialect. Thus, while society may try to conceal their past, Higgins can see through this superficial front, leading to one of the basic themes of the play: appearance versus reality.
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ReplyDeleteSimilarly, Miller’s exploration of the American dream in Death of a Salesman uses extensive description in order to introduce the major influences in the play: denial, contradiction, and the significance of the American dream. Miller uses an interesting technique by which Willy Loman’s precarious state of mind is reflected in his surroundings. While the Loman family lives in a “small, fragile-seeming home”, they are surrounded by “a solid vault of apartment houses”, symbolizing the incredibly fast pace at which American society is moving at. Yet, the Loman family still resides in a small house, which reflects accurately on Willy’s resent towards change or inability to adapt to a constantly fluctuating environment. Thus, this may be the reason that Willy constantly loses himself in reminisces and constantly idealizes what could have been. Furthermore, the opening scene introduces the basis of the important relationship between Willy and Linda. Miller writes that Linda “…developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behaviour – she more than loves him…”, a phrase that eloquently captures the vital relationship between the two individuals that is necessary for the natural progression of the lay’s complex plot.
Miller uses the dialogue in the opening scene of Death of a Salesman to make appropriate characterization and foreshadow the promise of dark events. Right from the first line of the play itself, “It’s all right. I came back”, the audience is introduced to a very troubled character who struggles with the misconception of appearance versus reality, a theme that permeates the entire work. Thus, Miller encourages the audience to expect the delusions that Willy experiences throughout the course of the play. Willy constantly contradicts himself, an aspect of his character which later proves to be tied to his hamartia. In addition, Willy constantly contradicts himself, first chiding Biff for being “a lazy bum”, and then immediately subverting his comment with, “There is one thing about Biff – he’s not lazy”. While Miller may write Willy in this manner for subtle characterization, he successfully indulges the reader’s curiosity about the strained relationship between Willy and his children. While Willy’s great expectations for his sons (particularly, Biff) may seem natural, his recurrent contradictory words and actions point towards an instability that might render Willy, and thus his family, ironically unsuccessful.
In conclusion, the opening scenes of both Pygmalion and Death of a Salesman prove essential in the construction of a successful plot. While Shaw uses witty dialogue to an advantage in his comedy of manners which so relies on it, Miller expertly crafts a suitable setting for his tragedy with an introductory description. Thus, both playwrights manage to arouse particular expectations in the audience that allows their masterpieces to be so greatly appreciated and forever timeless.
Sanika's response:
ReplyDeleteThe Nature of the ending of a play gives an indication of the genre of the play. If ' all's well' at the end, the play is usually a comedy. If not, it is usually a tragedy. The essence of the play ( for instance, the message or main theme in the play) is echoed in the closing scene of the play and a lot of unresolved issues are untangled at this dramatic stage. To make the resolution memorable, playwrights often employ a variety of devices. This is evident in both 'the Importance of being Ernest' (Oscar Wilde) and in 'Pygmalion' (George Bernard Shaw).
In the latter, the resolution brings about a parallelism that is astonishing because little indication is given about the symmetry of the relationships in the play before the closing scene. The closing scene presents 2 brothers ( Algernon and Jack) who have both pretended to have relations with an imaginary friend to escape their lives and who are both engaged to wealthy women at that stage.The discovery that Jack is Algernon's older brother and the process by which this is unveiled is surprising and this surprise is also an element that adds memorability to the scene. The brothers' 2 fiancées have fallen for them under the assumption that their name is 'Ernest' and Aunt Auguta disapproves of both matches at first. 2 unmarried people also express their love for each other at the end. Thus there is a sense that everything is complete and that everything is in balance with each other. This leaves the audience with a sense of fulfilment that makes the ending memorable. Even the dialogues (especially by Gwendolen and Cecily) complement this sense: for example, 'for my sake you are ready to do is terrible thing?' and the following ' to please me you are prepared to face this fearful ordeal' are symmetrical in meaning.
The ending lines of the play ' vital Importance of Being Ernest' are also highly impactful because they concisely highlight the essence of the play and present the irony in the play. The irony is that Jack pretended to be Ernest for the entire time of his courtship believing that his name was not Ernest. But in the end it turned out to be Ernest and this was important since it made Lady Bracknell approve (or at least, not disapprove immediately) his match which led to a resolution. Furthermore, being Ernest was important since Gwendolen felt an ardent inspiration in the name-'the only really safe name is Ernest' and 'it is a divine name' and his match with her depended on it. Admittedly, this name was also important to Cecily, but in the resultant happiness, her need for the name is lost. This also emphasises the main theme of the play- appearance versus reality or the outer self (name/identity) versus the inner self (the person himself).Moreover, since 'ernest' also means sincere, this intensifies the implication of the main theme- a man must remain 'ernest' to himeself and to others. The multiplicity of these associations, packed in the last line of the play, makes the audience ponder and increases the memorability of the play, especially since the audience has no idea about the importance of being Ernest in the beginning of the play.
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ReplyDeleteIn direct contrast with the former play, the audience starts the play with an associations of the title (the myth of Pygmalion), and unlike in the former play, where the meaning of the title is communicated in parts in the play and then the playwright uses the closing scene to prod the audience into a connection with these implications, the closing scene of 'Pygmalion' provides a sardonic twist on the myth and overturns audience expectations. The similarity here is that both playwrights have relied on a 'twist' to bring about surprise which will make the ending memorable. Higgins says-I'll adopt you as my daughter-which clearly communicates his lack of romantic interest in her. Furthermore, even though Higgins claims that he created her to be fit for a 'king's consort', the irony is that he does not bear much resemblance to the mythical Pygmalion because Eliza's original character is preserved and only her external appearance has been created by Higgins. Thus the closing scene underlines the theme of appearance versus reality.
The closing scene is also a scene of introspection for Eliza and her dialogues with Higgins are revelations of the inner workings between them. Higgins believes in 'having the same manner for all human souls' and this is an ultimate refutation of the class system that has been subtly hinted in the play- for example, Eliza is poor, Clara and her mother are genteel, Mrs. Higgins presumably belongs to the upper middle class as does Higgins. This, together with the portrayal of Mr. Doolittle expressing the banes of being wealthy follows a line of strong Marxist thoughts. These are not expressed explicitly in the play but the playwright has left strong hints of the which the audience can follow to 'match the dots' and draw an implication-for instance, the line about poverty 'it's real: it's warm:it's violent' achieves a kind of romaticization that overcomes the sarcastic tone of the upper-class Higgins who utters it. This technique of leading the audience to discover an aspect of the play by themselves increases the memorability of the play.
The last line of the play - (laughter) Freddy! Freddy! (laughter)- gasped out by Higgins underlines the genre of the play as a comedy of manners. In spite of being a believer of equal dignity of everybody, Higgins is scornful of Freddy because of his ineligibility to 'get a job', which is the primary source of income for a man. This shows the hypocritical side of the upper class, which at that time was ready to speak about liberal ideas but still had deep-rooted barriers in their minds. Thus the last line is more revealing that it seems and it's meaning gives the play memorability. The conversations between Higgins and Eliza, though deep and reflective, are what constitute the 'patching up' and the entire conversation is adds to the implications of the main theme of the play and the ending line; by itself, there is no part of the conversation that is memorable by itself.
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ReplyDeleteThe closing scene fails to bring about the same sense of fulfilment that is usually expected in a comedy and which is evident in the former play. However, this seems logical because 'Pygmalion' is not a whole comedy in itself but has streaks of grave seriousness which disqualify it from from being called a pure comedy. Moreover, 'Importance of Being Ernest' brings about an external resolution that neglects the internal selves of its characters, therefore succumbing to the same external social things which it mocks. By contrast, the latter play hardly brings about an external resolution (Freddy and Eliza do not get married and Higgins and Eliza do not reconcile completely) , therefore staying true to its theme of the triumph of inner self over the external self. Both plays are memorable, but when the audience ponders deep and for long, they might realise that though the closing scene of 'Importance of Being Ernest' is more enjoyable, the closing scene of 'Pygmalion' sticks closer to its theme.