1. Intro to characters' physical and mental state. Willy: Old, tired. Employed (salesman) Linda: Old, worried. Has to drive to work. Has to drive long. "Didn't smash the car did you?" --> Shows that he is old and clumsy. Linda: Worried about husband's condition.
2. Setting: New York. 1929-1930. Night. Willy's house.
3. Tone/ Mood: Linda is worried about Willy. Willy worried about Biff's future.
4. Sub-Genre type: Not clear.
5. Intro to conflict: --> Willy's age...deteriorating capabilities. --> Biff being capable, yet unable to put it to use. --> Willy's false perception/delusion about himself, Biff and USA as a country. ["In the greatest country in the world a young man with such-personal attractiveness, gets lost"] --> Financial troubles. --> Mental conditioning for isolation from reality.
Importance of Being Earnest. Opening scene assumed to be till Jack first enters.
1. Introduction to characters:
Algernon: fond, young and a bachelor.Higher 'class' [Reference to Lane as being 'lower orders']
Lane: Like a butler. Married, clearly doesn't like being married ["I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand"] Champagne- symbol of celebrations.
2. Setting: London, Lane's house. Flat in Half Moon Street. Luxurious and artistic furnishing: Fond of art and well off. Expecting Lady Bracknell.
3. Tone/Mood: Use of sarcasm when addressing marriage --> Foreshadow for audience. Expecting a comedy concerned with marriage.
4. Sub Genre type: Not clear.
5. Intro to conflict: In foreshadow, marriage is negatively spoken of. Since, Algernon is a bachelor, one could expect that the play has something to do with him getting married.
USE OF OPENING SCENE BY DRAMATIST.
In DOAS (tragedy), the opening scene almost straight away drives the audience into a sub-conflict (Willy's age). It then builds around this sub-conflict and spreads its roots in other areas of conflict (Delusion about the self and the country- Waking to reality, the hard way). Audience hooked, by bringing them, straight into the thick of things. The absence of a build-up about the setting keeps the audience in confused and hence more aware/awake state--> Hooked.
In Imp of Being Earnest (comedy), the opening scene merely introduces the character. The use of sarcasm, on a topic which the audience can closely relate to, acts as a catalyst to get the audience hooked. Since comedy is said to appeal to the 'lower class' audience, the character of LANE, who too is lower class, uses sarcasm to provide foreshadow of what is to come.
Antagonist (Henry Higgins) - His personality is clear from the very beginning: disdainful, brutal honesty, easily mingling with people of lower class. - The importance of language to Higgins is apparent. Ex. He classifies people not by class or appearance (which is the usual way) but language. Proof: He is also rude to Clara and Mother, mimicking the accent of “pneumownia.”
Protagonist (Eliza Doolittle) - An unusual type of heroine: Appearance is dirty, winy and annoying (perceives an imaginary threat and goes on blabbering about what is not right about what she thinks Higgins will do to her) character. Horrible accent. Clearly belongs to the lower class. Frank portrayal by Shaw. - Obsession over morality which persists until the end: “I'm a good girl, I am.” - Expected to be servile but is very confident and speaks her mind: “Ive a right to be here if I like, same as you.
All the major characters are introduced and they acquaint each other in the opening scene. There seems to be no story that can exist between these characters. This is exactly what hooks the audience- the curiosity about what can happen with these factors: the atypical heroine, interesting personality of Higgins and the social distinction between the major characters.
The Importance Of Being Earnest
Algernon (Major character) - Superficial; vacuous. - Presents opinions which go against the general opinion. Ex.Flirting between husband and wife is unacceptable. - Spoiled, annoyingly playful and typical troublemaker Ex. He deviously plays Jack to tell the truth about the cigarette case. - Self-centered; only his opinion matters.
Jack (Protagonist) - Sensible. His sensibility appreciated due to the presence of a character such as Algernon. - Almost normal character. Some foolishness shown which is present in all the characters in the play due to the subgenre (comedy) Ex. Jack:And what do they talk about? Algernon:What, fools? Oh! About the clever people, of course." Jack:What fools!
Jack and Algernon's natures are contrasted by their reason behind Bunburying: Algernon- to use it as an excuse to move away from petty and uncomfortable situations, such as dining with his family members. Jack- to take a rest from his responsibilities in the ocuntry and recharge himself to carry out those responsibilities again.
Lady Bracknell - Stereotypical aristocrat who judges people by their wealth and birth. - Her sphere is limited to hosting parties and her daughter's marriage. - Low intelligence, superficial character (Her tendency to judge something only based on its appearance without knowing the content "German sounds a thoroughly respectable language")
Gwendolen: A bright woman who is aware of the way the society functions. Ex.She knows that she needs to marry someone who her mother allows.
All the characters in general show foolishness when their moral and opinions are concerned. This is shown through the use of non-sense dialogues: Lady Bracknell commenting "I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger."
Willy Loman (Protagonist) - Sudden outbursts of anger indicates hysteria - Losing grip on his consciousness of the present - Dissatisfied by the present - Seeking solace from happier times
Linda (Major character) - Caring, loving gentle woman. - Overlooking all the insults made by Willy - Understand Willy truly well
Biff (Major character) - Angry and Willy - Loves Linda - Confused, and dissatisfied just like Willy
Happy (Minor character) - Bland, vacuous - Lacks vision and plan for the future
A Streetcar Named Desire
Blanche Dubois(Protagonist) - Her appearance and manner are in contrast with her surrounding - Fishing for compliments (insecurity) - Clearly has drinking problems but tries to hide it. Her concealing nature revealed already. - Fragile and unstable
Stella Kowalski (Major character) - Stable - Exhausted of Blanche; disinclination in her voice while responding in a way Blanche wants
Stanley Kowalski (Antagonist) - Raw - Violent (forcing Stella listen to him about the Napoleonic code) - Brutal and bad-mannered. Does not care about invading other's personal space (going thorough Blanche's bag) - Greedy - Controlling
· Willy Loman: 60 year old ordinary salesman, Self-contradictory, Delusional, Fickle-minded, has Massive Dreams; Low-man=Common Man
· Linda Loman: Doting wife and caring mother
· Strives to introduce a kind of melee.
· In this scene, Shaw introduces almost all his major characters, but refers to them by role rather than name in his stage directions: Note-Taker, The Flower Girl, The Daughter, The Gentleman, etc.
Establishes Setting
· Much of the play’s action takes place in Willy’s Brooklyn home, “the SALESMAN’s house.”
· During its purchase, the neighbourhood had space for expansion which represented Willy’s hopes for the future. However, the house is now surrounded by apartment buildings on all sides and sunlight barely reaches the yard, thereby representing the reduction of Willy’s hopes and besieged ego as he will never experience the fame and fortune promised by the American Dream.
· The neighbourhood symbolize the fast pace at which America has moved on at. Loman’s quaint little house signify their position in this society
· Time: Late 1940s; Just came out of World War 2; waiting for the economic boom of the 1950s
· Past and present flow of time as mentioned in the stage directions.
· St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London.
· In the early twentieth century
· “Torrents of heavy summer rain”
· Portray a representative slice of society, in which characters from vastly different strata of society who would normally keep apart are brought together by untoward weather.
Sets tone/ mood
(expresses sub-genre type)
· The opening act of the play introduce a strange and frank tone of the dialogues wherein usage of slang, nonspecific nick names (“pal” and “kid”), repetitive diction, singsong melodies, dated metaphors, vocabulary, persistent questioning was apparent.
· Dialect represents Jewish-American ethnicity.
(TRAGEDY)
· Witty
· Didactic
(COMEDY)
Introducing Conflict
· Conflict between Willy’s hopes and reality
· Conflicted characters act as parallels to the complex struggle of a typical family following American Dream.
· Introduction of plays and the plot being established as something that will become a social satire.
· The confusion of the thunderstorm foreshadows the social confusion that will ensue when Higgins decides to play god with the raw material that the unschooled flower girl presents to him.
Pygmalion Eliza (Protagonist): 1. Dirty – Initial description in stage directions “She is not at a romantic figure… she needs the services of a dentist” 2. Uneducated – Her profession as a flower girl and the way she speaks 3. High self-respect and high morals – “I am good girl I am” “My character is the same to any lady’s”
Higgins (Antagonist): 1. Gives almost religious importance to the way people speaks. He judges people by their accent – “You are a human being with a soul and divine gift of articulate speech” 2. Superior attitude towards everyone, leading to him making almost cruel comments – To Ms. Eyensfordhill “Ha ha! What a devil of a name!” To Eliza he says “Yes, you squashed cabbage leaf” A bystander says to Higgins after interacting with him “You take us for dirt under your feet”.
Pickering: Academic curiosity about Higgin’s abilities. Also gentlemanly as evident by the way he treats Eliza even though she was a flower girl.
Other minor characters of slightly higher class. Used later to “test” Eliza’s improvement.
IOBE: In this, since there are no scenes, the part till before Lady Bracknell’s entrance is considered the opening scene. All major characters – Jack, Algy, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn and Cecily - are introduced through Jack and Algy’s conversation. There is no in depth characterization in this play. Hence in this introduction, only the relationship between the characters (and hope for relationship in the future) are brought out and made clear. Algy-Jack: Friends Jack-Gwendolyn: Love each other. “The way you flirt with her is perfectly disgraceful. Almost as bad as the way she flirts with you” Algy-Cecily: Hope for future relationship. “Algy: What place in country… Jack: That is nothing…” Algy-Gwendolyn: Cousins Lady Bracknell is Gwendolyn’s mother. Cecily is Jack’s ward.
DOAS: In this the part till when Willy goes into his first flashback is considered intro scene. All major characters are introduced Willy: Salesman, tired. We get to know his opinions about success. He has high opinions in his abilities, yet has low self-confidence at several points. He is reminiscent.
Biff: He is lost. He likes to work in the open, but he considers in unworthy.
Happy: Seems successful. More grip on his life than Biff. But he is not content. He is lost too.
Linda: Loves Willy. Seems like she is always giving in. Evident by the way she takes everything Willy tells her without complaining. She just seems very worried.
SCND: Protagonist Blanche: Necessity to appear delicate (“daintily dressed”, lies about drinking). Her aversion to light. Refined (disdain for living conditions in Elysian fields). Self-obsessed (her conversation with Stella). Fear of being alone. Fear of being disliked or blamed (her defensive tone while talking about Belle Reve).
Antagonist (Stanley): Animal like. Very sexual (his crude sexual humour with Stella, in his introductory description it says “he sizes women up a glance”)
Stella: Crudely in love with Stanley. She loves Blanche, but is uneasy about her criticisms and high expectations.
All other minor characters are also mentioned in passing, so that they don’t have to be introduced again when they have a part to play.
Pygmalion: In passing conversation, all characters mention where they live or where they come from. For the contemporary audience, these pieces of information would have served to elucidate what class each character belonged to. Hence allows the audience to anticipate the lifestyle each character led. Eliza’s house is described in detail. This description highlights her poverty and effectively contrasts it with her self-respect and high morals.
IOBE: “the room is luxuriously and artistically furnished” tells us that the play is about people belonging to higher classes. The places they choose to dine, the culture of having cucumber sandwiches for tea further establishes that they belong to the higher social strata.
DOAS: Setting describes the house of an average American. Not rich. It is very claustrophobic. It is symbolic of the mental claustrophobia Willy experiences. In conversation, a setting of how the house was a few years ago is also established. There was a lot more open space and fresh air.
SCND: Small house. Sparse furniture. Not what Blanche was expecting. The lack of clear distinction between 2 rooms, and only one bathroom, makes Blanche uncomfortable. No sense of privacy in the house or outside. Neighbors could hear each other’s conversations.
SETTING THE TONE/MOOD:
Pygmalion: Mood is light-hearted. “Note-taker’s” manner of speaking, in its blatant honesty and disregard for feelings, though rude, is entertaining. There is curiosity generated in the audience about who he is and how he knows so much about everyone. Eliza’s protests also don’t dampen the mood because of her exaggerated assumptions that people were going to take away her “respect” and repeated assertions that she was a “good girl”. Hence serious matters - like how people of all classes could speak bad English and how high morals were not restricted to the higher classes – were being discussed in lighter tones. Sub-genre: Social satire, comedy
IOBE: Very light hearted mood. All dialogues though sound sophisticated but are actually very silly. Sometimes there are irrelevant connections made between dialogues like “Talking about science for life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell”. At every stage, it criticizes upper class, but in a very light tone. Sub-genre: Comedy
DOAS: Disappointment and discontent in the air. Willy dejected. Biff confused and angry. Happy discontented and unhappy with himself. Linda worried. There is no positivity. Sub-genre: Tragedy
SCND: Superficially the mood seems light with all the sexual innuendos and light comments, unlike in DOAS. However there is an undercurrent of tension. Sub-genre: Tragedy
Pygmalion: Eliza’s interest to be trained by Higgins (as evident by “what’s that you say”) Higgins’ view of Eliza as an object that can be moulded and appearance changed. Conflict: Can Higgins really mould Eliza, a person with well defined principles, like in the Pygmalio myth? Can he change her by merely changing the way she spoke and dressed?
IOBE: IOBE has several conflicts. 1. Jack’s different identity in town and country. (Earnest in town Jack in country) 2. Algy’s habit of “bunburying” 3. Cecily’s fascination for an imaginary person called Earnest 4. Algy’s fascination for Cecily.
DOAS: There are several aspects that add up to the conflict in DOAS that are introduced in the opening scene 1. Willy’s tendency to live in the past 2. Shaky relationship between Biff and Willy. “There is one or two other things depressing him” suggests that there something happened in the past with Willy that only Biff knows about and disapproves of. 3. Biff’s dreams and how it is not accepted by Willy as worthy 4. Willy’s expectation from Biff.
SCND: Aspects that add up to the conflict introduced in opening scene 1. Blanche unwillingness to talk about her dead husband or her school. It suggests that she is hiding something. 2. Her instinctive tendency to flirt (as seen in her first interaction with Stanley) 3. Her necessity to put up appearances 4. Her disdain for Stanley’s class.
Pygmalion: unexpected downpour intro to protagonist and antagonist : Eliza and Higgins into to major and minor characters: Pickering, Freddy, Freddy`s mother Setting : Rain, Wimpole Street (theatre) Class distinction : High and Lower class of the Victorian society(representative slice in the society). Social confusion (due to thunderstorm and confusion among crowd) use of words such as "squashed cabbage leaf " and phoenitcal sound - "Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo" Sub genre: A social comedy with a satirical purpose. Higgins- shown as note-taker in the beginning(for a definite purpose not accidently)
Ernest: Intro to Algy and Jack(later we come to know about his fake identity- Ernest) Algy shown as young , passionate and zealous. OS establishes a highly fashionable and unrealistic world(where talks are unusual) of that Victorian period Algy`s dialgoues foreshadows mockery of marriage in the future Lack of realism in Algy`s dialogues intro to Jack`s amusing double life Sub-genre:superficial comedy Algy`s bunburying Drama during Victorian period(fixed to that time)
SCND: intro Blanche(talkative,frivolous,lost something,desire and flirtishness) and other social elements in the play :Elysian Fields, cemetries intro to the main theme:Desire Blanche and Stanley as polar opposites the lower class of the New Orleans society intro Stanley : powerful, wild and one who loves playing poker and going to the ball-virulent character and chief pleasure of women Blanche`s delicate mannerisms and her hate for Stanley`s lower class
-Unusual heroine considering that she is “not at all a romantic figure”. -Associated with words such as “shoddy” and “coarse” that clearly imply her lowly position in society. -Has a horrendous accent which invites dismay from Higgins. -Clearly possesses an obsession with moral righteousness, which is apparent in her repetition of the phrase, “I’m a good girl, I am”. -Despite her lowly position in society, strongly believes that she has “a right to be here if I like, same as you”, thus her refusal to occupy a servile position.
Henry Higgins (antagonist)
-Unusual antagonist considering he is not the embodiment of the typical opposition to goodness that dominates most of literature. This characteristic indicates the sub-genre to which Pygmalion belongs – a satirical comedy. -Judges individuals not on the basis of their appearance of social status, but on their linguistic ability. His immediate distaste for Eliza is apparent in his referring to her as a “silly girl”, and reprimanding her throughout the expository scene.
DOAS
Willy Loman
-Merging into and out of consciousness demonstrates his inability to remain in the present, and moreover, a longing for the past. -His deep and disconcerting anger and pain indicate hysteria as well as depression and his dissatisfaction with the present. Linda Loman
-An emotional support who thoroughly understands and accepts Willy. Her ability to overlook his flaws and caring persona contrast with Willy’s raw and turbulent nature. Biff Loman
-Willy and Linda’s son who, like his father, displays the confusion and anger that his father possesses. He shows an animosity towards his father, and a contrasting affection for his mother.
SCND
Blanche:
-Association with words “daintily dressed”, “in white”, and “delicate” contrast her surroundings and indicate her fragile state of mind. -Her attempt to fish for compliments shows her implicit insecurity.
Stella:
-Is rather comfortable and thus exudes a confidence and stability in her surroundings.
Stanley:
-Raw, animalistic, and violent – traits that directly contrast with those of Blanche. -Ill-mannered and controlling as displayed by his reference to his rummaging through Blanche’s belongings and reference to the Napoleonic Code.
Character introduction: Pygmalion: Eliza Doolittle: (protagonist) 1.uneducated – stressing on her profession as a flower girl. 2.unhygenic/dirty – her physical description. 3.appears to be very annoying with her language
Henry Higgins: (antagonist) 1.Description showing him as a stereotypical character representing the higher class. 2.importance of language to his character- classifying people by their language and not their class or apperance.
Mr. Pickering , Ms Pearce (major characters)
SCND: Blanche Dubois: (protagonist) 1.her appearance and manner are in contrast with her surrounding. 2.sticking to the southern American nature and always flirting and fishing for compliments. 3. insecure behaviour Stanley Kowalski: (antagonist) 1.very violent and raw (animal like) 2.ill-mannered behaviour towards the other characters. 3.brutally honest.
Stella Kowalski: (major character) 1.Caring and diplomatic
Establishing setting: Pygmalion: St Paul’s church in Covent garden, London. Set in the early 20th century. There is rain in the background of the setting. all the characters reveal where they live through the passing of the conversation. So it helps the audience understand the class division.
SCND: The setting of stella’s house was in contrast of what blanche thought it would be. The house was small with sparse furniture. Blanche thought her sister was more stable financially, so the setting of the house made her uncomfortable. the house hadn’t had any doors or proper partitions between rooms so there was no privacy.
Setting the tone/mood: Pygmalion: The mood of the opening scene is light-hearted, respecting the genre of the play, comedy. Higgins’s or the “note- taker’s” manner of speaking to Eliza, however rude, was portrayed as entertaining. Eliza’s regular protests in her language and personality enhanced the entertainment in the scene. The conversations are regularly linked with the sub genre of the play: social satire.
SCND: The play starts off with a light mood, with blanche’s arrival in contrast to the rest of the play where the mood is very intense. But there is a constant feel of tension with the relation to the setting. The plot from this scene slowly builds up to the sub-genre: tragedy.
Introducing conflict: Pygmalion: The conversation between eliza and Higgins in the first scene, where eliza shows a deep interest for being trained by Higgins. When Higgins takes takes in eliza as an object the conflict would be whether he would be able to mould Eliza into a person with proper principles.
SCND: The characteristic of blanche adds up to the conflict in the plot. Such as hesitation to talk about her past, her dead husband and her school. Using flirtatious facial expressions and tendency to flirt every time.
Pygmalion: Introduction of characters : Higgins introduced as a note taker.( Antigonist) Eliza introduced as the flower girl. (Protagonist) Pickering introduced as a Gentleman. The major characters get to know each other and that gets the audience interested in the plot as they see the major characters meeting and Higgins taking particular interest in Eliza. Establishing setting: During the conversation which Higgins has with the people, he talks about where they come from and how they sound like, which is a good piece of evidence as the audience would get to know the difference between the classes, Eliza’s house is talked about to show how poor she was and how she differed from the other people around. Setting the Tone or Mood: The mood is very light, though Higgins tells everyone what he has written about Eliza, and though he is kind of rude he tells everyone what their tone or way of talking tells him. Though this suppresses the way in which he disregards their English and also shows that high morals are not only limited. Introduction to conflict: The Pygmalion myth, the molding of a person according to his wish, wills that be the same for Eliza and Higgins or would Eliza leave him after she has learnt everything?
Earnest: Introduction to all major charecters Algernon as a high classed person, who is interesting and very keen Jack: showed to have two names. Gwendolyn: is in love with Earnest, though she doesn’t know about Jack and about his background. And indirect introduction to Cecily Introduction to only the relationships shared not much depth into the characters.
Establishing Setting: The room is shown to be decorated lavishly and also succeeds to show us that both Jack and Algy belonged to the higher class, even the tradition of having the sandwiches for tea as a slight refreshment shows their status. Setting the Tone or Mood: The Mood is very light and the diction used, though it seems to be highly sophisticated, it does make much sense and mostly whatever they talk about is silly, and it shows that they are friends and have light gossip and nothing much, as it is a comedy the mood and the tone is light. Introduction to Conflict: The difference of names of Jack in the country and the city, as well as the habit of Bunburying of Algy, even the interest Algy has as he sees that the cigarette case was given to jack by a girl.
Death of a Salesman: Introduction to the Characters: In this scene all the major characters are introduced to us and also it is shown that there is a problem going on between Willy and Biff and that Willy is not well. Willy is introduced as a sick and tired old mind driving his car, but he is delusional and also seems to have his first flashback during this time. Linda is the wife of Willy and also a very caring mother, she is concerned about Willy and asks him to go talk to his boss so that he can get a job near the house and which doesn’t involve a lot of driving. Happy is the eldest son and more stable than Biff, but not very happy with his life as he thinks his life lacks purpose. Biff is the second son of Willy, who is not comfortable in working for people and working in confined places, he likes the open and does not have particular good feelings about Willy because of some event. Establishing Setting: The house is surrounded by all tall buildings which make the house look very cramped and claustrophobic which also shows Willy’s mind. In the flashback it is also showed that the house had more space before, thus it shows the state the mind of Willy. Setting of Mood or Tone: As it is a tragedy, it is evident from the starting. Willy starts talking about how disappointed in Biff and how he is not using his full potential, Biff is angry on his father and confused about what he wants to do. Linda is worried about Willy and Biff’s relationship and Happy is confused and unhappy with his life. Introduction to Conflict: Willy has a tendency to live in the past and has trouble coping up with the present, whereas Biff is angry because his father doesn’t accept him for what he is, and Willy’s expectations are too much for Biff to handle.
Streetcar named Desire: Introduction to the Characters: Blanche (protagonist) is shown delicate but she lies a lot, about her drinking and the reason for visit, she does not like direct light, is very self-obsessed. She fears of being disliked and also has obsessions for baths. Stanley (Antagonist) introduced as a very primitive person, very animal like in nature and has crude sexual behavior with Stella. Stella who is unconditionally in love with Stanley, she loves Blanche too but can’t tolerate her crude comments against Stanley.
Establishing Setting: Small house and has very little furniture as well as there are no proper separation of rooms and also there is one bathroom, Blanche did not expect this because Stella told her that they were doing very well, there is no privacy neither in the house and nor outside as the neighbors can hear everything. Setting of Tone or Mood: The mood is superficially pretty light and looks as if everything is proper, but if you go deeper then we can see that Blanche is intolerable towards Stanley’s behavior and also that Stanley does not like Blanche too. Introducing Conflict: Blanche not wanting to talk about her school or her dead husband shows that she is hiding something, but whenever she sees someone she will start instinctively flirting with him (Stanley) and also that she always needs to dress properly and put up a charade.
Introduction to main characters- Blanche Dubois (protagonist) Stella Kowalski Stanley Kowalski (antagonist)
1. Blanche’s appearance contrasting the place. 2. Completely innocent and insecure behavior is noticed in blanche 3. Blanche flirting. 4. Southern American style of talking. 5. Blanche is always fishing for complements. 6. Dressed very beautifully. 7. Stanley’s rude and animal like behavior. 8. Physical description stressing his animal sexuality. 9. Stanley’s machismo. 10. Stella is seen as gentle women whose background is completely different from Stanley. 11. Stanley’s behaviors give us a clue about the destruction he might create. Blanche’s insecure and secretive behavior makes the readers think that there. Is something about her that she is trying to hide?
Pygmalion
Introduction to characters Eliza Doolittle (protagonist) Henry Higgins (antagonist)
1. Profession of Eliza 2. Flower girl 3. Dirty and unhygienic appearance 4. Stressing on the lower class 5. Unexpected downpour which may lead to unexpected events in the future 6. Uneducated 7. Higgins showing superior attitude towards everyone 8. Accent 9. Appears to have a indecent language
Importance of being Earnest
John Worthing 1. Responsible and respectful man 2. Young man 3. Leads a double life
Algy 1. Second hero of the play 2. Charming, decorative and an idle bachelor 3. He is brilliant, witty, selfish and immoral
Gwendolyn 1. A model of the higher society 2. Neatly and royally dressed 3. Sophisticated and intellectual 4. Speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste
DOAS
Willy loman 1. unsuccessful salesmen but disagrees to himself 2. meagre income and owns little 3. dreams to become like Dave Singleman
Linda Loman 1. most sympthatical character 2. loves her husband despite all his faults and always stands by him 3. spends all her life cooking, cleaning, making both ends meet 4. leads a miserable existance
Biff Loman 1. attractive man but a failure in life
Pygmalion This play takes place in London in the early twentieth century. This city was the capital and the largest empire of the world. All of the plays action is confined in the places that are located in a very fashionable center of the town they are: Covent Garden, Higgins laboratory and the drawing room of Mrs. Higgins. Heavy downpour in the opening scene.
SCND A Streetcar Named Desire is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The year is 1947 - the same year in which the play was written. All of the action of A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in on the first floor of a two-bedroom apartment. The set is designed so that the audience can also see "outside" and observe characters on the street.
DOAS the setting in "Death of a Salesman" takes place at Willy Loman’s house and yard which is located in Brooklyn, and various places in New York and Boston. It describes the not soo rich life of an American. The house is in a very bad condition.
importance of being earnest in the opening scene the setting seems very royal and furnished which gives us the clue about the upper class society. the place is furnished well and looks beautiful.
Covent Garden, St. Paul’s church- Shaw chooses an easily recognizable historical place as the location. The place symbolizes the heritage of English history, which includes the language. This becomes ironic as all the people who gather there in this scene speaks incorrect English, showing that the heritage has been deviated. Therefore, Higgin’s opinion that it is “insulting” to speak bad English becomes more effective by the use of this particular setting.
The rain becomes a neutralizing factor which blurs the distinction of class. Under the natural phenomenon, everyone is equally suffering. Shaw brings close all kinds of people to one physical space to show that English is not spoken badly only by the lower class but also the upper class. Higgins notes down the wrong pronunciations of both Eliza and the Mother. This shows that to Higgins, class is not a dividing factor but language is.
The Importance of Being Earnest
- Possibly a well-off part of the city. - World which prioritizes financial status and birth. - Morals and ethics don’t really affect the lives of the wealthy people.
Death Of A Salesman
- The house: symbol of Willy’s dreams and also how it has become - Towering buildings: making Willy shrink, looking small (metaphorically). Shows that Willy is odd with the society today. - Concurrently running past and present stages contrast the two. Ex. More trees in the past, a metaphor for the promises in Willy’s life.
A Streetcar Named Desire
- A sense of vibrant and alive city created by the music. Women teasing, but not nastily. - Liberal setting: natural interaction between different races.
- Absence of tension; only curiosity about the future aroused. Indicates that it is a comedy. - A sense of mystery aroused by Higgins.
The Importance of Being Earnest
- Witty dialogues which mocks the upper class. Sets the play as a social satire.
Death Of A Salesman
- Mood that of dismay and disappointment. Ex. Willy comes back half way in his trip. - A sense of stagnancy brought out by Willy’s inability. - The mood changes towards the end which ends with a spark of hope.
A Streetcar Named Desire
- Impending sense of doom. - Due to Blanche, it feels like the situation is going to break down any minute.
DOAS
ReplyDelete1. Intro to characters' physical and mental state.
Willy: Old, tired. Employed (salesman)
Linda: Old, worried.
Has to drive to work. Has to drive long.
"Didn't smash the car did you?" --> Shows that he is old and clumsy.
Linda: Worried about husband's condition.
2. Setting: New York. 1929-1930. Night. Willy's house.
3. Tone/ Mood: Linda is worried about Willy. Willy worried about Biff's future.
4. Sub-Genre type: Not clear.
5. Intro to conflict:
--> Willy's age...deteriorating capabilities.
--> Biff being capable, yet unable to put it to use.
--> Willy's false perception/delusion about himself, Biff and USA as a country. ["In the greatest country in the world a young man with such-personal attractiveness, gets lost"]
--> Financial troubles.
--> Mental conditioning for isolation from reality.
Importance of Being Earnest.
Opening scene assumed to be till Jack first enters.
1. Introduction to characters:
Algernon: fond, young and a bachelor.Higher 'class' [Reference to Lane as being 'lower orders']
Lane: Like a butler. Married, clearly doesn't like being married
["I have often observed that in married households the champagne is rarely of a first-rate brand"] Champagne- symbol of celebrations.
2. Setting: London, Lane's house. Flat in Half Moon Street.
Luxurious and artistic furnishing: Fond of art and well off.
Expecting Lady Bracknell.
3. Tone/Mood: Use of sarcasm when addressing marriage --> Foreshadow for audience. Expecting a comedy concerned with marriage.
4. Sub Genre type: Not clear.
5. Intro to conflict: In foreshadow, marriage is negatively spoken of. Since, Algernon is a bachelor, one could expect that the play has something to do with him getting married.
USE OF OPENING SCENE BY DRAMATIST.
In DOAS (tragedy), the opening scene almost straight away drives the audience into a sub-conflict (Willy's age). It then builds around this sub-conflict and spreads its roots in other areas of conflict (Delusion about the self and the country- Waking to reality, the hard way). Audience hooked, by bringing them, straight into the thick of things. The absence of a build-up about the setting keeps the audience in confused and hence more aware/awake state--> Hooked.
In Imp of Being Earnest (comedy), the opening scene merely introduces the character. The use of sarcasm, on a topic which the audience can closely relate to, acts as a catalyst to get the audience hooked. Since comedy is said to appeal to the 'lower class' audience, the character of LANE, who too is lower class, uses sarcasm to provide foreshadow of what is to come.
INTRODUCTION OF CHARACTERS
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Antagonist (Henry Higgins)
- His personality is clear from the very beginning: disdainful, brutal honesty, easily mingling with people of lower class.
- The importance of language to Higgins is apparent. Ex. He classifies people not by class or appearance (which is the usual way) but language. Proof: He is also rude to Clara and Mother, mimicking the accent of “pneumownia.”
Protagonist (Eliza Doolittle)
- An unusual type of heroine: Appearance is dirty, winy and annoying (perceives an imaginary threat and goes on blabbering about what is not right about what she thinks Higgins will do to her) character. Horrible accent. Clearly belongs to the lower class. Frank portrayal by Shaw.
- Obsession over morality which persists until the end: “I'm a good girl, I am.”
- Expected to be servile but is very confident and speaks her mind: “Ive a right to be here if I like, same as you.
All the major characters are introduced and they acquaint each other in the opening scene. There seems to be no story that can exist between these characters. This is exactly what hooks the audience- the curiosity about what can happen with these factors: the atypical heroine, interesting personality of Higgins and the social distinction between the major characters.
The Importance Of Being Earnest
Algernon (Major character)
- Superficial; vacuous.
- Presents opinions which go against the general opinion. Ex.Flirting between husband and wife is unacceptable.
- Spoiled, annoyingly playful and typical troublemaker Ex. He deviously plays Jack to tell the truth about the cigarette case.
- Self-centered; only his opinion matters.
Jack (Protagonist)
- Sensible. His sensibility appreciated due to the presence of a character such as Algernon.
- Almost normal character. Some foolishness shown which is present in all the characters in the play due to the subgenre (comedy)
Ex. Jack:And what do they talk about?
Algernon:What, fools? Oh! About the clever people, of course."
Jack:What fools!
Jack and Algernon's natures are contrasted by their reason behind Bunburying:
Algernon- to use it as an excuse to move away from petty and uncomfortable situations, such as dining with his family members.
Jack- to take a rest from his responsibilities in the ocuntry and recharge himself to carry out those responsibilities again.
Lady Bracknell
- Stereotypical aristocrat who judges people by their wealth and birth.
- Her sphere is limited to hosting parties and her daughter's marriage.
- Low intelligence, superficial character (Her tendency to judge something only based on its appearance without knowing the content "German sounds a thoroughly respectable language")
Gwendolen: A bright woman who is aware of the way the society functions. Ex.She knows that she needs to marry someone who her mother allows.
All the characters in general show foolishness when their moral and opinions are concerned. This is shown through the use of non-sense dialogues: Lady Bracknell commenting "I never saw a woman so altered; she looks quite twenty years younger."
Continued...
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Willy Loman (Protagonist)
- Sudden outbursts of anger indicates hysteria
- Losing grip on his consciousness of the present
- Dissatisfied by the present
- Seeking solace from happier times
Linda (Major character)
- Caring, loving gentle woman.
- Overlooking all the insults made by Willy
- Understand Willy truly well
Biff (Major character)
- Angry and Willy
- Loves Linda
- Confused, and dissatisfied just like Willy
Happy (Minor character)
- Bland, vacuous
- Lacks vision and plan for the future
A Streetcar Named Desire
Blanche Dubois(Protagonist)
- Her appearance and manner are in contrast with her surrounding
- Fishing for compliments (insecurity)
- Clearly has drinking problems but tries to hide it. Her concealing nature revealed already.
- Fragile and unstable
Stella Kowalski (Major character)
- Stable
- Exhausted of Blanche; disinclination in her voice while responding in a way Blanche wants
Stanley Kowalski (Antagonist)
- Raw
- Violent (forcing Stella listen to him about the Napoleonic code)
- Brutal and bad-mannered. Does not care about invading other's personal space (going thorough Blanche's bag)
- Greedy
- Controlling
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ReplyDeleteGeneral Function
Death of A Salesman
Pygmalion
Opening Scene
Conversation between Willy and Linda
Act one
Introducing characters
· Willy Loman: 60 year old ordinary salesman, Self-contradictory, Delusional, Fickle-minded, has Massive Dreams; Low-man=Common Man
· Linda Loman: Doting wife and caring mother
· Strives to introduce a kind of melee.
· In this scene, Shaw introduces almost all his major characters, but refers to them by role rather than name in his stage directions: Note-Taker, The Flower Girl, The Daughter, The Gentleman, etc.
Establishes Setting
· Much of the play’s action takes place in Willy’s Brooklyn home, “the SALESMAN’s house.”
· During its purchase, the neighbourhood had space for expansion which represented Willy’s hopes for the future. However, the house is now surrounded by apartment buildings on all sides and sunlight barely reaches the yard, thereby representing the reduction of Willy’s hopes and besieged ego as he will never experience the fame and fortune promised by the American Dream.
· The neighbourhood symbolize the fast pace at which America has moved on at. Loman’s quaint little house signify their position in this society
· Time: Late 1940s; Just came out of World War 2; waiting for the economic boom of the 1950s
· Past and present flow of time as mentioned in the stage directions.
· St Paul’s Church in Covent Garden, London.
· In the early twentieth century
· “Torrents of heavy summer rain”
· Portray a representative slice of society, in which characters from vastly different strata of society who would normally keep apart are brought together by untoward weather.
Sets tone/ mood
(expresses sub-genre type)
· The opening act of the play introduce a strange and frank tone of the dialogues wherein usage of slang, nonspecific nick names (“pal” and “kid”), repetitive diction, singsong melodies, dated metaphors, vocabulary, persistent questioning was apparent.
· Dialect represents Jewish-American ethnicity.
(TRAGEDY)
· Witty
· Didactic
(COMEDY)
Introducing Conflict
· Conflict between Willy’s hopes and reality
· Conflicted characters act as parallels to the complex struggle of a typical family following American Dream.
· Introduction of plays and the plot being established as something that will become a social satire.
· The confusion of the thunderstorm foreshadows the social confusion that will ensue when Higgins decides to play god with the raw material that the unschooled flower girl presents to him.
Character introduction:
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Eliza (Protagonist):
1. Dirty – Initial description in stage directions “She is not at a romantic figure… she needs the services of a dentist”
2. Uneducated – Her profession as a flower girl and the way she speaks
3. High self-respect and high morals – “I am good girl I am” “My character is the same to any lady’s”
Higgins (Antagonist):
1. Gives almost religious importance to the way people speaks. He judges people by their accent – “You are a human being with a soul and divine gift of articulate speech”
2. Superior attitude towards everyone, leading to him making almost cruel comments – To Ms. Eyensfordhill “Ha ha! What a devil of a name!” To Eliza he says “Yes, you squashed cabbage leaf” A bystander says to Higgins after interacting with him “You take us for dirt under your feet”.
Pickering: Academic curiosity about Higgin’s abilities. Also gentlemanly as evident by the way he treats Eliza even though she was a flower girl.
Other minor characters of slightly higher class. Used later to “test” Eliza’s improvement.
IOBE:
In this, since there are no scenes, the part till before Lady Bracknell’s entrance is considered the opening scene.
All major characters – Jack, Algy, Lady Bracknell, Gwendolyn and Cecily - are introduced through Jack and Algy’s conversation. There is no in depth characterization in this play. Hence in this introduction, only the relationship between the characters (and hope for relationship in the future) are brought out and made clear.
Algy-Jack: Friends
Jack-Gwendolyn: Love each other. “The way you flirt with her is perfectly disgraceful. Almost as bad as the way she flirts with you”
Algy-Cecily: Hope for future relationship. “Algy: What place in country… Jack: That is nothing…”
Algy-Gwendolyn: Cousins
Lady Bracknell is Gwendolyn’s mother.
Cecily is Jack’s ward.
DOAS:
In this the part till when Willy goes into his first flashback is considered intro scene.
All major characters are introduced
Willy:
Salesman, tired. We get to know his opinions about success. He has high opinions in his abilities, yet has low self-confidence at several points. He is reminiscent.
Biff:
He is lost. He likes to work in the open, but he considers in unworthy.
Happy:
Seems successful. More grip on his life than Biff. But he is not content. He is lost too.
Linda:
Loves Willy. Seems like she is always giving in. Evident by the way she takes everything Willy tells her without complaining. She just seems very worried.
SCND:
Protagonist Blanche:
Necessity to appear delicate (“daintily dressed”, lies about drinking). Her aversion to light. Refined (disdain for living conditions in Elysian fields). Self-obsessed (her conversation with Stella). Fear of being alone. Fear of being disliked or blamed (her defensive tone while talking about Belle Reve).
Antagonist (Stanley):
Animal like. Very sexual (his crude sexual humour with Stella, in his introductory description it says “he sizes women up a glance”)
Stella:
Crudely in love with Stanley. She loves Blanche, but is uneasy about her criticisms and high expectations.
All other minor characters are also mentioned in passing, so that they don’t have to be introduced again when they have a part to play.
ESTABLISHING SETTING:
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In passing conversation, all characters mention where they live or where they come from. For the contemporary audience, these pieces of information would have served to elucidate what class each character belonged to. Hence allows the audience to anticipate the lifestyle each character led.
Eliza’s house is described in detail. This description highlights her poverty and effectively contrasts it with her self-respect and high morals.
IOBE:
“the room is luxuriously and artistically furnished” tells us that the play is about people belonging to higher classes. The places they choose to dine, the culture of having cucumber sandwiches for tea further establishes that they belong to the higher social strata.
DOAS:
Setting describes the house of an average American. Not rich. It is very claustrophobic. It is symbolic of the mental claustrophobia Willy experiences.
In conversation, a setting of how the house was a few years ago is also established. There was a lot more open space and fresh air.
SCND:
Small house. Sparse furniture. Not what Blanche was expecting. The lack of clear distinction between 2 rooms, and only one bathroom, makes Blanche uncomfortable. No sense of privacy in the house or outside. Neighbors could hear each other’s conversations.
SETTING THE TONE/MOOD:
Pygmalion:
Mood is light-hearted. “Note-taker’s” manner of speaking, in its blatant honesty and disregard for feelings, though rude, is entertaining. There is curiosity generated in the audience about who he is and how he knows so much about everyone. Eliza’s protests also don’t dampen the mood because of her exaggerated assumptions that people were going to take away her “respect” and repeated assertions that she was a “good girl”.
Hence serious matters - like how people of all classes could speak bad English and how high morals were not restricted to the higher classes – were being discussed in lighter tones. Sub-genre: Social satire, comedy
IOBE:
Very light hearted mood. All dialogues though sound sophisticated but are actually very silly. Sometimes there are irrelevant connections made between dialogues like “Talking about science for life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell”. At every stage, it criticizes upper class, but in a very light tone. Sub-genre: Comedy
DOAS:
Disappointment and discontent in the air. Willy dejected. Biff confused and angry. Happy discontented and unhappy with himself. Linda worried. There is no positivity. Sub-genre: Tragedy
SCND:
Superficially the mood seems light with all the sexual innuendos and light comments, unlike in DOAS. However there is an undercurrent of tension. Sub-genre: Tragedy
INTRODUCING CONFLICT:
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Eliza’s interest to be trained by Higgins (as evident by “what’s that you say”)
Higgins’ view of Eliza as an object that can be moulded and appearance changed.
Conflict: Can Higgins really mould Eliza, a person with well defined principles, like in the Pygmalio myth? Can he change her by merely changing the way she spoke and dressed?
IOBE:
IOBE has several conflicts.
1. Jack’s different identity in town and country. (Earnest in town Jack in country)
2. Algy’s habit of “bunburying”
3. Cecily’s fascination for an imaginary person called Earnest
4. Algy’s fascination for Cecily.
DOAS:
There are several aspects that add up to the conflict in DOAS that are introduced in the opening scene
1. Willy’s tendency to live in the past
2. Shaky relationship between Biff and Willy. “There is one or two other things depressing him” suggests that there something happened in the past with Willy that only Biff knows about and disapproves of.
3. Biff’s dreams and how it is not accepted by Willy as worthy
4. Willy’s expectation from Biff.
SCND:
Aspects that add up to the conflict introduced in opening scene
1. Blanche unwillingness to talk about her dead husband or her school. It suggests that she is hiding something.
2. Her instinctive tendency to flirt (as seen in her first interaction with Stanley)
3. Her necessity to put up appearances
4. Her disdain for Stanley’s class.
Opening Scene
ReplyDeletePygmalion: unexpected downpour
intro to protagonist and antagonist : Eliza and Higgins
into to major and minor characters: Pickering, Freddy, Freddy`s mother
Setting : Rain, Wimpole Street (theatre)
Class distinction : High and Lower class of the Victorian society(representative slice in the society).
Social confusion (due to thunderstorm and confusion among crowd)
use of words such as "squashed cabbage leaf " and phoenitcal sound - "Ah-ah-ah-ow-ow-ow-oo"
Sub genre: A social comedy with a satirical purpose.
Higgins- shown as note-taker in the beginning(for a definite purpose not accidently)
Ernest:
Intro to Algy and Jack(later we come to know about his fake identity- Ernest)
Algy shown as young , passionate and zealous.
OS establishes a highly fashionable and unrealistic world(where talks are unusual)
of that Victorian period
Algy`s dialgoues foreshadows mockery of marriage in the future
Lack of realism in Algy`s dialogues
intro to Jack`s amusing double life
Sub-genre:superficial comedy
Algy`s bunburying
Drama during Victorian period(fixed to that time)
SCND:
intro Blanche(talkative,frivolous,lost something,desire and flirtishness) and other social elements in the play :Elysian Fields, cemetries
intro to the main theme:Desire
Blanche and Stanley as polar opposites
the lower class of the New Orleans society
intro Stanley : powerful, wild and one who loves playing poker and going to the ball-virulent character and chief pleasure of women
Blanche`s delicate mannerisms and her hate for Stanley`s lower class
Introduction of characters
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Eliza Doolittle (protagonist)
-Unusual heroine considering that she is “not at all a romantic figure”.
-Associated with words such as “shoddy” and “coarse” that clearly imply her lowly position in society.
-Has a horrendous accent which invites dismay from Higgins.
-Clearly possesses an obsession with moral righteousness, which is apparent in her repetition of the phrase, “I’m a good girl, I am”.
-Despite her lowly position in society, strongly believes that she has “a right to be here if I like, same as you”, thus her refusal to occupy a servile position.
Henry Higgins (antagonist)
-Unusual antagonist considering he is not the embodiment of the typical opposition to goodness that dominates most of literature. This characteristic indicates the sub-genre to which Pygmalion belongs – a satirical comedy.
-Judges individuals not on the basis of their appearance of social status, but on their linguistic ability. His immediate distaste for Eliza is apparent in his referring to her as a “silly girl”, and reprimanding her throughout the expository scene.
DOAS
Willy Loman
-Merging into and out of consciousness demonstrates his inability to remain in the present, and moreover, a longing for the past.
-His deep and disconcerting anger and pain indicate hysteria as well as depression and his dissatisfaction with the present.
Linda Loman
-An emotional support who thoroughly understands and accepts Willy. Her ability to overlook his flaws and caring persona contrast with Willy’s raw and turbulent nature.
Biff Loman
-Willy and Linda’s son who, like his father, displays the confusion and anger that his father possesses. He shows an animosity towards his father, and a contrasting affection for his mother.
SCND
Blanche:
-Association with words “daintily dressed”, “in white”, and “delicate” contrast her surroundings and indicate her fragile state of mind.
-Her attempt to fish for compliments shows her implicit insecurity.
Stella:
-Is rather comfortable and thus exudes a confidence and stability in her surroundings.
Stanley:
-Raw, animalistic, and violent – traits that directly contrast with those of Blanche.
-Ill-mannered and controlling as displayed by his reference to his rummaging through Blanche’s belongings and reference to the Napoleonic Code.
Character introduction:
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Eliza Doolittle: (protagonist)
1.uneducated – stressing on her profession as a flower girl.
2.unhygenic/dirty – her physical description.
3.appears to be very annoying with her language
Henry Higgins: (antagonist)
1.Description showing him as a stereotypical character representing the higher class.
2.importance of language to his character- classifying people by their language and not their class or apperance.
Mr. Pickering , Ms Pearce (major characters)
SCND:
Blanche Dubois: (protagonist)
1.her appearance and manner are in contrast with her surrounding.
2.sticking to the southern American nature and always flirting and fishing for compliments.
3. insecure behaviour
Stanley Kowalski: (antagonist)
1.very violent and raw (animal like)
2.ill-mannered behaviour towards the other characters.
3.brutally honest.
Stella Kowalski: (major character)
1.Caring and diplomatic
Establishing setting:
Pygmalion:
St Paul’s church in Covent garden, London. Set in the early 20th century. There is rain in the background of the setting.
all the characters reveal where they live through the passing of the conversation. So it helps the audience understand the class division.
SCND:
The setting of stella’s house was in contrast of what blanche thought it would be. The house was small with sparse furniture. Blanche thought her sister was more stable financially, so the setting of the house made her uncomfortable. the house hadn’t had any doors or proper partitions between rooms so there was no privacy.
Setting the tone/mood:
Pygmalion:
The mood of the opening scene is light-hearted, respecting the genre of the play, comedy. Higgins’s or the “note- taker’s” manner of speaking to Eliza, however rude, was portrayed as entertaining. Eliza’s regular protests in her language and personality enhanced the entertainment in the scene. The conversations are regularly linked with the sub genre of the play: social satire.
SCND:
The play starts off with a light mood, with blanche’s arrival in contrast to the rest of the play where the mood is very intense. But there is a constant feel of tension with the relation to the setting. The plot from this scene slowly builds up to the sub-genre: tragedy.
Introducing conflict:
Pygmalion:
The conversation between eliza and Higgins in the first scene, where eliza shows a deep interest for being trained by Higgins. When Higgins takes takes in eliza as an object the conflict would be whether he would be able to mould Eliza into a person with proper principles.
SCND:
The characteristic of blanche adds up to the conflict in the plot. Such as hesitation to talk about her past, her dead husband and her school. Using flirtatious facial expressions and tendency to flirt every time.
Pygmalion:
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Higgins introduced as a note taker.( Antigonist)
Eliza introduced as the flower girl. (Protagonist)
Pickering introduced as a Gentleman.
The major characters get to know each other and that gets the audience interested in the plot as they see the major characters meeting and Higgins taking particular interest in Eliza.
Establishing setting:
During the conversation which Higgins has with the people, he talks about where they come from and how they sound like, which is a good piece of evidence as the audience would get to know the difference between the classes, Eliza’s house is talked about to show how poor she was and how she differed from the other people around.
Setting the Tone or Mood:
The mood is very light, though Higgins tells everyone what he has written about Eliza, and though he is kind of rude he tells everyone what their tone or way of talking tells him. Though this suppresses the way in which he disregards their English and also shows that high morals are not only limited.
Introduction to conflict:
The Pygmalion myth, the molding of a person according to his wish, wills that be the same for Eliza and Higgins or would Eliza leave him after she has learnt everything?
Earnest:
Introduction to all major charecters
Algernon as a high classed person, who is interesting and very keen
Jack: showed to have two names.
Gwendolyn: is in love with Earnest, though she doesn’t know about Jack and about his background.
And indirect introduction to Cecily
Introduction to only the relationships shared not much depth into the characters.
Establishing Setting:
The room is shown to be decorated lavishly and also succeeds to show us that both Jack and Algy belonged to the higher class, even the tradition of having the sandwiches for tea as a slight refreshment shows their status.
Setting the Tone or Mood:
The Mood is very light and the diction used, though it seems to be highly sophisticated, it does make much sense and mostly whatever they talk about is silly, and it shows that they are friends and have light gossip and nothing much, as it is a comedy the mood and the tone is light.
Introduction to Conflict:
The difference of names of Jack in the country and the city, as well as the habit of Bunburying of Algy, even the interest Algy has as he sees that the cigarette case was given to jack by a girl.
Death of a Salesman:
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In this scene all the major characters are introduced to us and also it is shown that there is a problem going on between Willy and Biff and that Willy is not well.
Willy is introduced as a sick and tired old mind driving his car, but he is delusional and also seems to have his first flashback during this time.
Linda is the wife of Willy and also a very caring mother, she is concerned about Willy and asks him to go talk to his boss so that he can get a job near the house and which doesn’t involve a lot of driving.
Happy is the eldest son and more stable than Biff, but not very happy with his life as he thinks his life lacks purpose.
Biff is the second son of Willy, who is not comfortable in working for people and working in confined places, he likes the open and does not have particular good feelings about Willy because of some event.
Establishing Setting:
The house is surrounded by all tall buildings which make the house look very cramped and claustrophobic which also shows Willy’s mind. In the flashback it is also showed that the house had more space before, thus it shows the state the mind of Willy.
Setting of Mood or Tone:
As it is a tragedy, it is evident from the starting. Willy starts talking about how disappointed in Biff and how he is not using his full potential, Biff is angry on his father and confused about what he wants to do. Linda is worried about Willy and Biff’s relationship and Happy is confused and unhappy with his life.
Introduction to Conflict:
Willy has a tendency to live in the past and has trouble coping up with the present, whereas Biff is angry because his father doesn’t accept him for what he is, and Willy’s expectations are too much for Biff to handle.
Streetcar named Desire:
Introduction to the Characters:
Blanche (protagonist) is shown delicate but she lies a lot, about her drinking and the reason for visit, she does not like direct light, is very self-obsessed. She fears of being disliked and also has obsessions for baths.
Stanley (Antagonist) introduced as a very primitive person, very animal like in nature and has crude sexual behavior with Stella.
Stella who is unconditionally in love with Stanley, she loves Blanche too but can’t tolerate her crude comments against Stanley.
Establishing Setting:
Small house and has very little furniture as well as there are no proper separation of rooms and also there is one bathroom, Blanche did not expect this because Stella told her that they were doing very well, there is no privacy neither in the house and nor outside as the neighbors can hear everything.
Setting of Tone or Mood:
The mood is superficially pretty light and looks as if everything is proper, but if you go deeper then we can see that Blanche is intolerable towards Stanley’s behavior and also that Stanley does not like Blanche too.
Introducing Conflict:
Blanche not wanting to talk about her school or her dead husband shows that she is hiding something, but whenever she sees someone she will start instinctively flirting with him (Stanley) and also that she always needs to dress properly and put up a charade.
Opening scene
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Streetcar named desire
Introduction to main characters-
Blanche Dubois (protagonist)
Stella Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski (antagonist)
1. Blanche’s appearance contrasting the place.
2. Completely innocent and insecure behavior is noticed in blanche
3. Blanche flirting.
4. Southern American style of talking.
5. Blanche is always fishing for complements.
6. Dressed very beautifully.
7. Stanley’s rude and animal like behavior.
8. Physical description stressing his animal sexuality.
9. Stanley’s machismo.
10. Stella is seen as gentle women whose background is completely different from Stanley.
11. Stanley’s behaviors give us a clue about the destruction he might create.
Blanche’s insecure and secretive behavior makes the readers think that there. Is something about her that she is trying to hide?
Pygmalion
Introduction to characters
Eliza Doolittle (protagonist)
Henry Higgins (antagonist)
1. Profession of Eliza
2. Flower girl
3. Dirty and unhygienic appearance
4. Stressing on the lower class
5. Unexpected downpour which may lead to unexpected events in the future
6. Uneducated
7. Higgins showing superior attitude towards everyone
8. Accent
9. Appears to have a indecent language
Importance of being Earnest
John Worthing
1. Responsible and respectful man
2. Young man
3. Leads a double life
Algy
1. Second hero of the play
2. Charming, decorative and an idle bachelor
3. He is brilliant, witty, selfish and immoral
Gwendolyn
1. A model of the higher society
2. Neatly and royally dressed
3. Sophisticated and intellectual
4. Speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste
DOAS
Willy loman
1. unsuccessful salesmen but disagrees to himself
2. meagre income and owns little
3. dreams to become like Dave Singleman
Linda Loman
1. most sympthatical character
2. loves her husband despite all his faults and always stands by him
3. spends all her life cooking, cleaning, making both ends meet
4. leads a miserable existance
Biff Loman
1. attractive man but a failure in life
Establishment setting
ReplyDeletePygmalion
This play takes place in London in the early twentieth century. This city was the capital and the largest empire of the world. All of the plays action is confined in the places that are located in a very fashionable center of the town they are: Covent Garden, Higgins laboratory and the drawing room of Mrs. Higgins. Heavy downpour in the opening scene.
SCND
A Streetcar Named Desire is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The year is 1947 - the same year in which the play was written. All of the action of A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in on the first floor of a two-bedroom apartment. The set is designed so that the audience can also see "outside" and observe characters on the street.
DOAS
the setting in "Death of a Salesman" takes place at Willy Loman’s house and yard which is located in Brooklyn, and various places in New York and Boston. It describes the not soo rich life of an American. The house is in a very bad condition.
importance of being earnest
ReplyDeletein the opening scene the setting seems very royal and furnished which gives us the clue about the upper class society. the place is furnished well and looks beautiful.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SETTING
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Covent Garden, St. Paul’s church- Shaw chooses an easily recognizable historical place as the location. The place symbolizes the heritage of English history, which includes the language. This becomes ironic as all the people who gather there in this scene speaks incorrect English, showing that the heritage has been deviated. Therefore, Higgin’s opinion that it is “insulting” to speak bad English becomes more effective by the use of this particular setting.
The rain becomes a neutralizing factor which blurs the distinction of class. Under the natural phenomenon, everyone is equally suffering. Shaw brings close all kinds of people to one physical space to show that English is not spoken badly only by the lower class but also the upper class. Higgins notes down the wrong pronunciations of both Eliza and the Mother. This shows that to Higgins, class is not a dividing factor but language is.
The Importance of Being Earnest
- Possibly a well-off part of the city.
- World which prioritizes financial status and birth.
- Morals and ethics don’t really affect the lives of the wealthy people.
Death Of A Salesman
- The house: symbol of Willy’s dreams and also how it has become
- Towering buildings: making Willy shrink, looking small (metaphorically). Shows that Willy is odd with the society today.
- Concurrently running past and present stages contrast the two. Ex. More trees in the past, a metaphor for the promises in Willy’s life.
A Streetcar Named Desire
- A sense of vibrant and alive city created by the music. Women teasing, but not nastily.
- Liberal setting: natural interaction between different races.
SETTING THE TONE AND MOOD
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- Absence of tension; only curiosity about the future aroused. Indicates that it is a comedy.
- A sense of mystery aroused by Higgins.
The Importance of Being Earnest
- Witty dialogues which mocks the upper class. Sets the play as a social satire.
Death Of A Salesman
- Mood that of dismay and disappointment. Ex. Willy comes back half way in his trip.
- A sense of stagnancy brought out by Willy’s inability.
- The mood changes towards the end which ends with a spark of hope.
A Streetcar Named Desire
- Impending sense of doom.
- Due to Blanche, it feels like the situation is going to break down any minute.