1.
Text Three: RIDERS TO THE SEA: J M SYNGE
Text Four: ST JOAN: BERNARD SHAW
2.
a)Select the most important quotations that support similar themes ( any two texts)
b) What are the different elements of both texts? Include evidence.( any two texts)
Themes:
What are the significant ideas that are presented in this text?
What are the significant ideas that are presented in this text?
The
conclusions we take away with us at the end.
- Ideas through a longer piece of writing become themes
- Many ideas can branch out from one main one.
- All events, all situations have ideas attached to them
Text
One: DEATH OF A SALESMAN: ARTHUR MILLER
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Text Two : A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE: TENNESSE WILLIAMS
Text Three: RIDERS TO THE SEA: J M SYNGE
Text Four: ST JOAN: BERNARD SHAW
TEXT 1
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Theme
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Evidence
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TEXT 2
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Theme
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Evidence
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2.
a)Select the most important quotations that support similar themes ( any two texts)
b) What are the different elements of both texts? Include evidence.( any two texts)
How
it is all communicated?
- Genre and form of text
- Use of punctuation
- Use of imagery and symbolism
- Sentence structure – short,
complicated, non-sentences, enjambment
- Tone
- Narration style – 1st,
2nd or 3rd;changes
- Figurative language eg simile,
metaphor, personification
- Sounds of words eg onomatopoeia,
assonance, alliteration, consonance
- Use of emotive or biased
language, positive, negative or neutral
- Rhyme and rhythm
- Juxtaposition and contrast
- Allusions to other literary
works, characters, myths etc
- Use of description, adjectives
and appeal to senses
- Use of persuasive language –
subjective language eg hyperbole, magic realism
- Use of rhetoric questions,
statements, commands
- Use of humour in its various
forms eg sarcasm, wit, puns, oxymorons, irony
- Dramatic techniques such as
lighting, catharsis, chorus, dialogue, gesticulation etc.
- Cinematographic techniques
List significant techniques used by the
playwright / director. Remember to also refer to the genre / style of the text.
The criterion explicitly refers to an analysis of how language, style,
structure and techniques are used by the creator to infer meaning to the
audience.
Text Four Themes: St Joan, Bernard Shaw
ReplyDeleteMain Theme: Individualism. Standing up for own identity and beliefs.
Sub Themes: Power: Power of Church vs Governors vs Common people
Religion: Effect of Religion on people
Society and Class: Hierarchy, class, customs, traditions
Versions of Reality: Various perceptions, beliefs, etc
Politics and War: Greed leading to conflicts among nations,
invasions, rebellions, etc
Street car Named Desire - Mrinalini and Lalit
ReplyDeleteIn streetcar named Desire, there are three major themes –
1. Death
2. Madness
3. Desire and Fate
Under these major themes, we could further divide them into smaller themes that contribute to the bigger picture –
1. Men and masculinity
2. Alcohol
3. The relationship between sex and death
4. Loneliness
5. Fantasy’s inability to overcome reality
6. The primitive senses
7. Appearance
8. Society and Class
*EDIT*
DeleteThere are two major themes in the play -
1. Death
2. The inability to accept reality or escape from fantasy
The rest of the minor themes remain the same except for point 5 which repeats.
*EDIT*
DeleteBased on a few main themes, here are the evidences,
Theme 1 - Death
Scene 1 -
“I took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths”
Scene 8 -
“After the death of Allan – the intimacies with strangers was all I seemed to be able to fill my empty head with… I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection …”
Scene 6
"The first time I laid eyes on [Stanley] I thought to myself, that man is my executioner! That man will destroy me."
... Continuation -
DeleteTheme 2 - Appearance
Scene 1 -
"And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!"
Scene 2
"And admire her dress and tell her she’s looking wonderful That’s important with Blanche. Her little weakness! "
Scene 1
"You know I haven’t put on one ounce in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve. The summer Dad died and you left us"
Theme 1 - The inability to accept reality or escape from fantasy
Delete"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action"
"I don't want realism. I want magic!"
"I never was hard or self-sufficient enough. When people are soft - soft people have got to shimmer and glow - they've got ot put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly wings, and put a - paper lantern over th elight... It isn't enough to be soft. You've got to be soft and attractive. And I - I'm fading now! I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick."
“Show me a person who hasn´t known any sorrow and I´ll show you a superficial."
Theme 2 - Madness
“Well, honey, a shot never does a coke any harm!”
"And funerals are pretty compared to deaths"
Book comparison -
DeleteDeath of a salesman and Streetcar named desire
Theme 1 - Appearance -
Streetcar carries the previous quotes.
Death of a salesman -
“Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be … when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am.”
“You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away - a man is not a piece of fruit.”
DEATH OF A SALESMAN ;
ReplyDeleteMajor Themes
- American Dream
- Betrayal
- Failed Relationships
- Order vs. Disorder
Minor Themes
- Cult of Personality
- Nostalgia
- Gender Relations
MAJOR THEMES -
Delete- To chase after success and succumb to desire
- To not accept reality and rather live in a fantasy/past
MINOR THEMES
- Perception is everything
Man vs Nature – This is the central theme of the play, it is the basis of the play, the power struggle between humans and natural order, to come out on top and take control, that is what this play depicts. It speaks of the inevitability of loss and futility of challenging nature.
ReplyDeleteLife vs Death – a recurring theme that repeats throughout the play. The play begins with the possibility of death, that is the prospect of Micheal’s death, the sisters’ are dreading going through the belongings to confirm whether they do after all belong to their brother or not. The constant references to the sea as destructive by Maurya and her daughters, as a cause for death and despair.
The supernatural elements, god and religion.
The dominance and power of the sea.
Life on the Island.
The unusual reality of parents outliving children/ Old Age
Grief and Despair.
The possibility of acceptance and Adaptability
DeleteRole of fate
DeleteESCAPISM - common theme for all but St Joan.
ReplyDeleteAmended Text Four Themes: St Joan, Bernard Shaw
ReplyDeleteMain Theme: Individuality. Standing up for own identity and beliefs. Starting to think for themselves. Joan as a symbol of individual.
Sub Themes: Power: Power of Church vs Politicians vs Common people
Religion: Religious Allusions, based around an era where the church had maximum authority
Society and Class: Hierarchy, class, gender, customs, traditions, ruling power, etc.
Versions of Reality: Various perceptions, beliefs, ways of living. The different ways that people looked at circumstances
Politics and War: Greed leading to conflicts among nations,
invasions, rebellions, etc. Greed
Feminism: Joan as a symbol of individual thought. She was constantly questioned due to the way she dressed and behaved by those in power. However, the common soldiers treated her as their equal
DEATH OF SALESMAN
ReplyDeleteTo chase after success and succumb to desire ;
The American Dream – the thing which Willy believes so vehemently in, because he wholeheartedly thinks that the American Dream is the only way of life.
“I’ll see him in the morning; I’ll
have a nice talk with him. I’ll get him a job selling. He could be
big in no time. My God! Remember how they used to follow
him around in high school? When he smiled at one of them
their faces lit up. When he walked down the street” He puts much faith into Biff, as his chance at the American dream has passed.
To not accept reality and rather live in a fantasy/past ;
Willy refuses to live in the future, he keeps clinging onto the past. He even goes as far as taking his own life, because he believes that he cannot move forward anymore.
(Also, it is seen very slightly in the scene with Linda and Willy in the beginning )
Failed Relationships ;
The relationship between Willy and Biff, which stems from Willy’s overbearing need to trust the American Dream onto his family(caused by his own father leaving him at a young age.)
Betrayal;
WILLY: How can he find himself on a farm? Is that a life? A farmhand? In the beginning, when he was young, I thought, well, a young man, it’s good for him to tramp around, take a lot of different jobs. But it’s more than ten years now and he has yet to make thirty-five dollars a week!
LINDA: He’s finding himself, Willy.
WILLY: Not finding yourself at the age of thirty-four is a disgrace! (Act 1)
AND
BIFF: Because I know he’s a fake and he doesn’t like anybody around who knows!
LINDA: Why a fake? In what way? What do you mean?
BIFF: Just don’t lay it all at my feet. It’s between me and him—that’s all I have to say. (Act 1)
SAINT JOAN EVIDENCES
ReplyDeleteJOAN: [impatiently, but friendly] They all say I am mad until I talk to them, squire. But you see that it is the will of God that you are to do what He has put into my mind.
This is evidence of INDIVIDUALISM
JOAN: They are only men. God made them just like us; but He gave them their own country and their own language; and it is not His will that they should come into our country and try to speak our language
Evidence of RELIGION
ROBERT [coming at him] Yes: what am I? Am I Robert, squire of Baudricourt and captain of this castle of Vaucouleurs; or am I a cowboy?
DeleteEvidence of POWER
THE ARCHBISHOP. You see, I am an archbishop; and an archbishop is a sort of idol. At any rate he has to learn to keep still and suffer fools patiently. Besides, my dear Lord Chamberlain, it is the Dauphin's royal privilege to keep you waiting, is it not?
DeleteEvidence of SOCIETY AND CLASS
JOAN. If the English win, it is they that will make the treaty: and then God help poor France! Thou must fight, Charlie, whether thou will or no. I will go first to hearten thee. We must take our courage in both hands: aye, and pray for it with both hands too.
DeleteEvidence of WAR AND POLITICS
Man vs. Nature – Maurya defeated in the war of life, surrenders to fate -
ReplyDeleteNo man at all can be living for ever, and we must be satisfied” pg. 38
The supernatural elements: The Island is a perfect place where superstition
and religion have a massive impact on its inhabitants. Maurya sees a visions that
predicts her last son’s death “I've seen the fearfulest thing any person has seen, since the day Bride Dara seen the dead man with the child in his arms.” Pg. 28.
The dominance and power of the sea: There is a conflict between the sea and the human characters. When the scene opens, the sea has already robbed Maurya of one of her sons and at the end of the play, the sea kills her last living son too – “He's gone now, God spare us, and we'll not see him again. He's gone now, and when the black night is falling I'll have no son left me in the world.”
The unusual reality of parents outliving children: Maurya is of the view that if Bartley dies, and then she and her daughters will have to face hardships. Maurya tries to stop her son from leaving his family but he does not listen to her. “It’s is the life of a young man to be going on the sea, and who would listen to an old woman with one thing and she saying it over?” “In the big world the old people do be leaving things after them for their sons and children, but in this place it is the young men do be leaving things behind for them that do be old.” Pg. 19
Role of fate: In the end, Maurya accepts her fate, there will be no need for her
to feel anxiety as the sea has taken everything from her, she says “They're all
gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me” Pg. 34
Similarities
ReplyDeleteDeath of a salesman and street car named desire
Truth and illusion are utilized in Tennessee Williams “Streetcar Named Desire” and Arthur Miller's “Death of a salesman” through the use of the character
“Death of a salesman” and the theme of desire and that stems from “Streetcar named desire”, and the concepts that went into the these dream which became corrupted by both material wealth and a male dominated society.
In both Death of a Salesman and a Streetcar Named desire the main protagonist of the play, blanche dubois and Willy loman are both trapped in a illusion that are created by the effects of society.
Blanche uses the illusion as a deffence mechanism against those who suppress her in society while Willy simply is not fully consciously aware that he is even subjected to the illusion of a land of opportunity.
Williams and Miller both use the stage directions as dramatic techniques to identify the illusion created by the two protagonists but in contrasting ways; Williams uses the stage direction as a way of highlighting the harshness of a patriarchal society, ultimately criticizing it while Miller critics the American dream by highlight the illsuion it creates over someone makeing them un aware to consciously idenntify the truth.
One similarity that connects everybody’s American Dream which each other. Both Willy and Blanche lose their grip on their reality when they fade away further from their American Dream.
Both of them want to be accepted by the society. They are trying to find a way to hang on in a society that has rejected them, to be accepted. Linda describes Willy as "a little boat looking for a harbor" (76). Blanche arrives at Stella's house because she has nowhere else to go, and she grasps at the possibility of marriage to Mitch as her safe harbor: "I want to rest! I want to breath quietly again! Yes—I want Mitch . . . very badly! Just think! If it happens! I can leave here and not be anyone's problem" (95).
They are emotionally disturbed from their first entrances. It is clear from her scene 1 reunion with Stella that Blanche is on the edge. A stage direction notes that she speaks "with feverish vivacity as if she feared for either of them to stop and think" (10), and as the scene proceeds, her nervous passive aggression builds to the point that she is literally shaking "with intensity" (20). Willy first enters lugging his sample cases in a state of exhaustion, muttering to himself. He complains to his wife, Linda, that he has repeatedly blanked out while driving his car. His son Happy soon explains that Willy's habit of talking to himself had become so "embarrassing" that "I sent him to Florida" (21). Linda reveals that Willy has already considered suicide before the action of the play begins. By the climaxes of both plays, the characters have succumbed to the insanity that makes them vulnerable to their final tragic reversals. At the top of scene 10, Blanche is out of touch with reality to the point that she is placing a rhinestone tiara on her head while talking to a group of "spectral" gentleman callers (151). After she is raped by Stanley a few minutes later, she is unable to regain her sanity. Willy's mental breakdown in a restaurant leads directly to his ultimate suicide.
ReplyDeleteBlanche and Willy are both sexual outlaws. Incidents of sexual misconduct in the past haunt them, and in both plays these incidents become pivotal plot points that lead to reversals. Willy has had a long-standing extramarital affair with a woman he met on the road in Boston, which is the source of much of his guilt-ridden behavior toward his wife. Biff Loman's discovery of his father's dalliance is the catalyst for his rejection of Willy's world. Blanche was fired from her job as a high school English teacher for having sexual relations with a seventeen-year-old male student, and she admits that she has "had many intimacies with strangers"
both characters are prodigious liars—both to themselves and those around them. The tension between the ideals that these characters express and the reality of their behavior is extreme.
The endings of both plays are emotionally wrenching for audiences, although neither Blanche nor Willy experiences an anagnorisis (recognition) in the Aristotelian sense. Blanche never recovers her sanity after the rape. Willy never sees the truth. Biff confronts his father in the climactic scene: "Pop, I'm nothing! I'm nothing, Pop. Can't you understand that? There's no spite in it anymore. I'm just what I am, that's all." He holds his father, sobbing. Biff, not Willy, has had the recognition, yet it is as if a weight has been lifted from Willy's shoulders.
• Both characters deceive themselves about their appearances.
By placing shades over the lights and only dating Mitch in the evening, Blanche creates the illusion of youthfulness in her appearance; further, she dresses as though she were yet the Southern belle and she is flirtatious and proud of her girlish figure:
You know I haven’t put on one ounce in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve. The summer Dad died and you left us… (Act 1)
Similarly, Willy believes that he can be more successful if he regains his youthful look:
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn the play Streetcar named desire, Blanche explains to Mitch that DuBois is "a French name. It means woods and Blanche means white, so the two together mean white woods. Like an orchard in spring!". However, a "woods" is a far cry from an orchard. An orchard is organized, controlled, laid out neatly in rows. A "woods" is wild and connotes darkness, mystery, and danger.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, in death of salesman,
The connotations of the name Loman are obvious which means 'low man'
Another contrast is the way the authors portray their deaths..
In Streetcar, death is portrayed as the death of Blanches soul and there is no evidence of physical death...On the other hand, in death of salesman, although there a death of the soul, there is a physical death that also takes place which probably makes the understanding of the audience easier
Blanche uses the illusion as a defence mechanism against those who suppress her in society while Willy simply is not fully consciously aware that he is even subjected to the illusion of a land of opportunity.
DeleteWith respect to them socially, Willy is much more withdrawn from the world, and slowly starts to pull away from people. Whereas, Blanche keeps trying to throw herself back into the world (waiting for people to accept her back her rightful place). They contrast so highly in this aspect, despite being such broken individuals.
ReplyDeleteOne is the 'Northern' American Dream, where as the other is the 'Southern' American Dream.
Willy Loman's dream is to be well liked, and work hard - to achieve his happiness - his material happiness. Blanche on the other hand, just wants to achieve true beauty and social standing, she wants to garner a spot into the upper class - where she believes she belongs.
Text - Death Of a Salesman
DeletePART 2C.
1. Drama ; Tragedy
Miller also uses ;
- A lot of reminiscent scenes or memories to help further or thicken the plot.
- He uses a lot of set instructions to help the audience perceive the plot better.
- He shows Willy's thoughts onto the stage, for the audience to help them with imagery.
In the two plays Riders to the Sea and St. Joans there are two common themes: Power and Religion. The theme of power is interpreted differently in both books. In the former, the writer depicts the power of the sea, the power that nature has over man, and how our life is always at the mercy of nature. In the latter, its about a man's power in society, and their influence in society, two completely different contexts.
ReplyDeleteRiders to the Sea
The dominance and power of the sea: There is a conflict between the sea and the human characters. When the scene opens, the sea has already robbed Maurya of one of her sons and at the end of the play, the sea kills her last living son too – “He's gone now, God spare us, and we'll not see him again. He's gone now, and when the black night is falling I'll have no son left me in the world.”
St. Joans
THE ARCHBISHOP. You see, I am an archbishop; and an archbishop is a sort of idol. At any rate he has to learn to keep still and suffer fools patiently. Besides, my dear Lord Chamberlain, it is the Dauphin's royal privilege to keep you waiting, is it not?
The second theme religion is again used differently in both books. In Riders, religion is more of a saving grace, a belief, something that comforts the characters and gives hope. In St. Joans religion is more of a political agenda, and shows the power it holds over people.
Riders to the Sea
"CATHLEEN: She's lying down, God help her, and maybe sleeping, if she's able."
and "MAURYA: You'd do right to leave that rope, Bartley, hanging by the boards. (BARTLEY takes the rope.) It will be wanting in this place, I'm telling you, if Michael is washed up to-morrow morning, or the next morning, or any morning in the week, for it's a deep grave we'll make him by the grace of God."
St. Joans :
"JOAN: They are only men. God made them just like us; but He gave them their own country and their own language; and it is not His will that they should come into our country and try to speak our language"
Text - Streetcar named Desire
ReplyDeletePART 2C.
1. Drama and Tragedy
Shavian
ReplyDeleteShaw was such a respected playwright that the critics gave him his very own adjective: Shavian. The word is still used today to compare other pieces of literature to Shaw's work. Saint Joan bears all of Shaw's trademarks. Many of the characters are hyper articulate. They're able to understand complex concepts and enjoy debating them passionately, sometimes at great length and detail. You get plenty of this in Saint Joan. In Joan's trial, it's Joan's beliefs vs. Church doctrine. Another good example is Warwick and Cauchon's discussions of Nationalism and Protestantism.
If a play is described as Shavian it usually means that it turns the stage into a forum for ideas. Another hallmark of Shavian style is wittiness. Shaw punctuated his intellectual discussions with a sharp sense of humor. As soon as the play is in danger of getting bogged down, he keeps us engaged with some witty observation. Once again, Joan's trial is a good example. All the long debates are peppered with sassy comebacks from our heroine.
Genre: Drama/Tragedy
Delete