Chapters 17-19: The Elements of Drama

Theme Symbol

 Symbol: something that stands for something else because of relationship, association, or resemblance.  Often a visible sign for something invisible.  Examples: Lion – courage Cross – Christian Red – passion, love, anger, hatred

 Natural Symbols – Spring, rain, snow, forest, etc. (“The Story of an Hour” page 118, second full paragraph)  Conventional Symbols – Flags, religious emblems, logos for companies  Literary Symbols – Animals, buildings, people, colors, characters’ names…

In groups of 3-4, see if you can find any symbols in any of these stories:  “Godfather Death”?  “The Tell-Tale Heart”?  “Cat in the Rain”?  “The Story of an Hour”?  “The Chaser”?  “The Use of Force”?  “A Rose for Emily”?

 Born in Mississippi.  Never finished high school or college.  Started writing poetry, but turned to prose.  Success began when he created a fictional county as the setting for many of his novels and stories (Jefferson, setting of “A Rose for Emily”).  Published in 1930 “A Rose for Emily” is set in that county.  Made money by writing many screenplays for Hollywood movies.  Won Nobel Prize for literature in 1949 and two Pulitzer Prizes.

Story Outline (time)  Starts with her death.  The story of her taxes.  Back 30 years to the “smell.”  Homer Barron arrives, she buys rat poison, Homer leaves, returns, and then disappears.  Emily disappears, grows fat, gives painting lessons, then stays in her home.  Then she dies and the body is discovered.

1) Who are the major characters? 2) Describe the plot (list each of the four main plot elements). 3) What is the setting of the story? 4) How would you describe Faulkner’s style? 5) How would you describe the speaker’s tone? 6) How would you describe the story’s mood?  What are the symbols in the story?

 Some possible symbols:  Emily’s house (page 165)  Emily’s hair (page 175, 178  The pocket watch (page 167)  Lime  Arsenic (page 173)  “Death and Taxes” (page 166, 175)

 Compare to prose we have looked at:  Plot – similar  Point of View – totally objective  Characters / Characterization – through dialogue and acting  Setting – physically seen on stage; described in stage directions  Tone and Style – only from dialogue

Discuss in groups of 3:  What is the difference between a comedy and a tragedy?  Which do you like better? Why?  What do you feel is the purpose of a comedy? What is the purpose of a tragedy?  What are some movies you can name that are comedies? What are some movies that are tragedies?

 actor/actress – one who acts  stage – where the actors perform  act (noun) – one of usually 3-5 chunks of a play  scene – like a “chapter” within a part  line – something a character says  monologue – one character talking  soliloquy – one character talking to himself  dialogue – two characters talking

 props – things used in a play  scenery – the background of a play  stage directions – the words that tell the reader/actors what is happening besides what the characters say

Drama is different than other literature. More than any other kind of literature, it MUST be read out loud! It must be read with feeling, with emotion. That is what is so fun about it! Let’s practice on a few scenes…

James comes in and slams the door. Susan: Where have you been? James: Out. Susan: Out where? James: None of your business! Susan: None of my business? None of my business?! I’m you’re wife! Of course it’s my business! [pause] You were with her, weren’t you. James: With who? Susan: You know with who. James: [shaking his head] You’re insane. [starts walking away] Susan: [running after him] Don’t you call me insane! James: [as Susan almost runs into him, James turn around and catches her in his arms] Darling! Susan: Don’t you call me that… James: [holds up a present] Happy birthday. [smiles]

Fred: Hey man, how’ve you been. George: [shaking his head] Not so great, buddy. Fred: Why? What’s wrong? [George is quiet.] Fred: Come on, George. What’s up? George: I… I lost my job. [Fred is quiet. He puts his arm on George.] Fred: I’m sorry, man… [George shoves Fred’s hand off of him violently.] George: Don’t touch me. Fred: What? But I… George: I said don’t touch me. Fred: George, will you just… [George turns away and cries. Fred looks to the audience, then to George. He holds out his empty hands, looks at audience, and shrugs his shoulders.]

[Polly and Sharon walk past each other, see each other, and their faces light up.] Polly: Sharon? Sharon: Polly? Polly & Sharon [both at the same time]: Oh my word!!! Polly: How are you? Sharon: How are you? Polly: I’ve been great! Sharon: Me too! [They both stand in silence, awkwardly looking at each other. They look at the audience, and then back at each other and each giggles nervously.] Polly: Well, I gotta go! Sharon: Me too! Polly: Bye-bye, now! Sharon: Bye! [both exit]

 American playwright  Received a Tony award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1989  Has a wide variety of themes ranging from feminism, family, ethnicity, to pop culture  Wrote “Man in a Case” in 1985  “author of women’s identity crises”  Died of cancer in 2006

 Who are the characters?  What is their relationship?  How are each of the characters characaterised? How are they different? How can you tell?  How does the play end? What do you think that means?  Do you think the play is funny? Why or why not?

The Cowardly Lion monologue "What makes a King out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the Sphinx the Seventh Wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the ape in ape-ricot? What have they got that I ain't got?” ("Courage!”) “You can say that again!”

Hamlet – “To be or not to be” To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause: there's the respect That makes calamity of so long life; For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, The insolence of office and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes, When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, The undiscover'd country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action.

Julius Caesar – Mark Antony’s monologue Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him; The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones, So let it be with Caesar... The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answered it... Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, (For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all; all honourable men) Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral... He was my friend, faithful and just to me: But Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man….

He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause: What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason…. Bear with me; My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.

 On pages , find a small scene that you think looks interesting. You can work in groups of 1-3. Practice reading it with the FEELING you imagine the characters would have.  I may call on some of you to perform, so get ready!

 I will post the Midterm study guide and a practice test in the next couple of days, so check the website by Saturday.  Next week is midterm review! We will discuss the midterm, review the class material, and have time for questions.  Feel free to come visit me if you want extra help or have questions!  Midterm date: Tuesday, April 2oth?