The Theatre of the Absurd

         In the reading “The Theatre of the Absurd” written by Martin Esslin, I agree with author that audiences react positively or negatively depended on what other people or critics say about the play.  During the reading, I think about the time when I go to watch movies.  Before choosing which movie to watch, I usually see the ratings and reviews of the movies, and then choose the movie with great ratings and reviews.  Even though I find the movie that seems very interesting and impressive to me, I do not watch that movie because its ratings and reviews are not great as I expected.  Esslin points out how audiences react to a play differently by giving example of the audiences at San Quentin.  The convicts at the San Quentin enjoy of watching Waiting for Godot and one of the prisoners quotes that “Godot is society” (pg. 339).  However, unlike convicts at the San Quentin, other audiences reacted negatively towards Waiting for Godot because they pay more attentions to reviews which condemn the play for its lack of plot, development, characterization, suspense, or plain common sense (pg. 340).  Also Esslin throw out a question; what is a good play?  I agree with the author that there is no good or bad play because it is all depended on personal taste.  In this week, I think I am going to watch “Harry Potter” movie.  I never have chance to watch Harry Potter series since many of my friends say it is not good as expected.

Krapp's Last Tape

        In the play “Krapp’s Last Tape” written by Samuel Beckett, the author illustrates the feeling of lonliness.  I imagined how my life would be without anyone besides me when I become an old as Krapp.  Being alone would be scarier than I could imagine, and Beckett used Krapp to show such scene.  At the beginning of the reading, I did not understand why he listened to recorded tapes in the past.  However, as I read more, I realized that he needed these tapes to survive because he was feeling desperately lonely in his life.  He showed his loneliness by repeating “[his] face in her breasts and [his] hand on her”.  It seemed he mostly missed his lover who does not exist any longer around him.  Also I could notice that he had a problem with drinking by reading sentence in which he “goes backstage into darkness, Ten seconds, Pop of cork, Ten seconds, Second cork, Ten seconds, Third cork, Ten seconds”(pg.335).  The Drinking was not a problem for him because drinking made him happy that he sang after the drinking.  It seems drinking was used as to calm Krapp from his feeling of loneliness.  His actions were understandable because I felt sympathy for him.  If I were him, I would do the same thing to survive, or I would have smoked cigarettes too.  In the last sentence, he mentioned that his best year when there was a chance of happiness is gone, but he would not want them back (pg. 337). His last sentence made me very sad, and at the same time, it reminded me that every minutes of living is important.  I wished and wanted that I do not want to live like Krapp had lived.

The Cherry Orchard

         When I was reading the play “The Cherry Orchard” written by Anton Chkhov, I felt angry at Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya, who is the owner of the estate, for her stupidity.  The mood of the story was very serious even though the genre of the play was comedy.  It was sad that Ranevskaya lost her husband and son in the past, and I was sure that it would be difficult to live without them.  In the beginning of the play, I felt pity for her, but I started to get angry at her when I found out that her past is not the cause of making her life miserable; It is her stupidity was causing the problem.  When Ranevskaya started to talk about the former lover in Paris, I realized that she was blinded by love, not by her past.  This man did not love her, but loved her money.  Because of her stupidity, she spent so much money for him in Paris, and finally ran out of money.  I got even more angry when I found out that Ranevskaya considered seriously about going back to help her former lover in Paris because he became ill.  Now, I hate her.  Because she was not able to control her spending, she had to sell her orchard which was inheritance from her family.  However, she was still thinking about helping him.  Also in Act 4, I noticed that Ranevskaya blamed Lopakhin for her destroying life.  However, this was very ironic because it was Ranevskaya who is responsible for selling the orchard.  I believe it is she who ruined her life.

The Importance of Being Earnest

         In the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” written by Oscar Wilde, I found very interesting, but disappointed at the same time.  The character Jack who is the protagonist in the play living double life was very interesting.  His background with no identity and his double life leads me to keep reading the play without the rest.  I got very shocked when Miss Prism is revealed to be the governess who mistakenly abandoned Jack as a baby, and Jack is discovered to be Algernon’s elder brother.  This was the most interesting part of the story to me because the origin of Jack is found and Jack is found to be the elder brother of Algernon. 

Before the reading, I expect to find funny scenes that might make me laughing while reading the play.  The story itself was very interesting, but I could not find any humorous scene in the play even though the genre of the play was comedy.  It could be my English skill or my humor sense that limited me from understanding the play.  Anyway, it was not the play that makes me laughing, and I was very disappointed at the play although the story of the play was interesting. 

 

An Interview with Kent Thompson

  

         In the interview with Kent Thompson, the artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Thompson points out that casting of Othello is the central issue of the play, Othello.  He mentions that “many directors won’t produce the play unless they know in advance who’s going to perform Othello (pg. 239)” and the reason why Thompson particularly picked the play, Othello in 1994 is that he “had an actor who could convincingly portray Othello (pg. 239).”  I was surprised that who is playing Othello could matter so much to the point where directors hesitate to produce the play.  In my opinion, a casting of Iago is more significant than a casting of Othello even though Othello is the protagonist this is so because Iago is the character who talks and leads the play.  However, according to Thompson, the actor of Othello has to be able to portray an “extraordinary warrior-hero, yet clearly be an outsider (pg. 240).”  This is ironic because usually heroes have many supporters such as friends, around them.  On the other hand, loners have no one but themselves.  It would be really difficult to act as a hero and a loner at the same time.  The race of the actor playing Othello is also important.  When Kent was asked whether if “it is possible to cast a white actor in the role today”, he mentions that “it is not wise to do so at this moment in our social/cultural history unless you are prepared to do something wildly non-traditional throughout the production.”  This indicates that Kent or most people think that that Othello cannot be performed by white actors since the play always had been performed with African-American actor playing Othello.  By reading the interview, I now understand that the casting of Othello is central point to the play, Othello.

Othello

     In the play “Othello” written by William Shakespeare, the author illustrates the importance of persuasion.  He shows this theme by implanting a brilliant persuading ability in his villain character, Iago.  This ability is highlighted through the process of Iago’s planting the idea that Desdemona, Othello’s wife, is having an affair with Cassio in Othello’s mind in Act 3 Scene 3, the scene that clearly and persuasively represents a point of a view of a single character, Iago.  In lines 112-119, Iago pauses and repeats Othello’s words in an interrogative way to evoke Othello’s curiosity.  He also develops Othello’s curiosity by using this method three times; he waits patiently until Othello asks for Iago’s purpose of pausing, instead of Iago blurting his thoughts out.  Although Othello asks him to assert his thoughts, Iago says “my lord, you know I love you” to be compassionate, to convince that whatever Iago will say or do is for Othello’s own benefit, and to provoke more curiosity out of Othello, making his future words to be powerful (Othello, Act 3 Scene 3, 130).  Iago waits until Othello’s acknowledges Iago’s loyalty and Othello’s demand in stating Iago’s thoughts.  Instead of directly asserting his thoughts, Iago leads Othello to his thoughts.  He first brings the name of Michael Cassio in line 137 by asking Othello what he thinks about Cassio.  Then, he hesitantly agrees to Othello and indirectly persuades Othello to doubt his faith in Cassio by putting his words in 3^rd person, avoiding the name, Cassio.  By doing this Iago allows Othello to follow his idea by making him assert that “nay, yet there’s more in this [Cassio’s honesty]” (143), instead of directly asking Othello what to believe.  In fact, Iago lures Othello to demands in asking for Iago’s opinion to make it seem as if Othello sincerely desires to hear Iago’s words.  Othellos damnd for Iago’s words lucidly illustrates that Othello is already persuaded by Iago and is ready to believe anything Iago is to say.

Poetics

         In “SUPPLEMNTARY READING FROM THE Poetics”, Aristotle shows six elements of tragedy; plot, characters, verbal expression, thought, visual adornment, and song-composition.  Before the reading, I thought that characters are the most important element among the six that constitutes a tragedy since it rises from conflicts between the characters.  For example, Medea kills her two sons to get her revenge on Jason for abandoning and destroying her marriage.  I had believed that there is a conflict between Jason and Medea, and this conflict leads to the tragedy.  However, according to Aristotle, “a tragedy cannot exist without a plot, but it can without characters” (pg. 90).  I was shocked by the fact that character is not as important as the plot.  Thus, I was puzzled and confused while I was reading.  Yet, after finishing the reading, I start to understand Aristotle’s points.  It seems plot is bigger element than character because if there is no plot about Jason betraying Medea, then there would not be any tragedy in the play.  I realized that plot is the structure that leads the whole story while character follows after the plot.  Moreover, Aristotle mentions that “plot is the basic principle of tragedy” because “plot is the goal of tragedy, and the goal is the greatest thing of all” (pg. 90).  The goal of Medea is to get revenge on Jason, and as soon as she achieved her revenge, the play becomes a tragedy.  Now I am certain that plot is the most important element in a tragedy since plot comes before the character.