How I Learned to Drive

         As I read the play “How I Learned to Drive” written by Paula Vogel, I felt very disgusting and shocking, and wanted to stop the reading.  In the first scene of the play, I thought Li’l Bit and Peck were just like a normal couple.  However, when I found out that Peck was Li’l Bit’s uncle, I felt so disgusting and frustrating.  Even though they are not blood related, it made me sick when Peck and Li’l Bit spending time together and having physical touches.  It was more shocking when I realized that Peck is a married man.  Not only he is cheating on his wife, but also disrespecting and betraying his own family.  It is stated in the play that Peck had a problem with alcohol in the past, and now he is having a problem with pedophilia.  When Peck was dead, I never felt sorry for him since all he had done was wrong and unbelievable, and thought that he deserved the death.  Not only Peck made the play shocking and disgusting, but also Li’l Bit made me sick.  The main reason why Peck and Li’l Bit had this kind of relationship was mostly, Li’l Bit’s fault because she is the one who did not stop the relationship with Peck even though her mother warned her to get away from Uncle Peck.  She knew this relationship was crazy, and it is going to hurt many people, but she built the relationship with Peck and everything got messed up after that.  I am not sure that Vogel intended to disgust the audiences, but this was the first play that I have read so far that made me sick. 

Top Girls

         In the play “Top Girls” written by Caryl Churchill, I find very confusing, but most interesting in Act one.  The style of the play is very annoying to readers like me who have to translate English into their own language to understand the story.  As I finish reading a line, then the person who speaks in the next line talks about different things.  There are many kinds of these situations that made me very confuse to follow and understand the story.  If lines are short, they are not a problem.  However, when there are lines that are long and not related each other, I had to read at least twice to see what they are saying because I forget what I translated in the previous line.  Although the style of the writing is very complex, I find the most interesting in Act one among the play.  Everyone in Act one has serious and interesting past and especially, Pope Joan who had disguised as a man to study and later become a pope is the most interesting character.  It seems like she made a very huge success in the time when there is feminism.  I wondered how she could not have been caught even though she dresses like a man and how could she become a pope without any doubts.  Although the character Joan sounds unrealistic, I enjoyed her story very much. 

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.

Medea

In Euripides’s play “Medea”, Creon, the king of Corinth is the most foolish character in the whole story.  Although he is one of the minor characters, plays the most important role by pulling the trigger of events that lead to tragedy.  The first unfortunate event is that when Creon lets his daughter, Glauce marry Jason who is already a husband of Medea and a father of her two sons.  It puzzles me how a king of a country could let this happen in the land where everyone’s eyes are towards him.  I do not know what effect this outcome would have brought in Euripides’s time, but in the world I live now, it would not only be disgraceful, but also be disgusting since a man abandons his family to marry another woman who may provide him power.  If I were the king, I would have forbidden my daughter to see him.  The second event that Creon made a mistake is not banishing Medea right away from his country.  This is the biggest, stupidest mistake he makes since he heard about her vicious cleverness and he knows that he will be regretting this.  This foolish action gives Medea an opportunity to prepare her revenge, and from her revenge, Creon suffers and dies, which is a tragedy.  Every one of his decision leads to a step closer to his tragedy, which could have been prevented if he changed his decisions.  If Creon were wiser, he could have saved his daughter and himself in the play.

Death of a Salesman

           In the play “Death of a Salesman” written by Arthur Miller, I was very disappointed and frustrated at Linda Loman who seems as an optimistic lovely wife.  In the play, she seems to really care for her family and seems to try her best to keep the family peaceful.  Yet, she is not aware of anything that is happening in her reality.  Thus, to me, she seems to be an ignorant mom who has some responsible for the problems in the play.  When Biff is not able to graduate from the high school because of Math, Linda has not done anything specific for Biff to help him.    If she really cares for him, then she should have listened to Bernard carefully and should have done something as soon as possible to make sure that Biff passes Math so that he could go to University of Virginia to have a bright future.  His failure to graduate high school is one of the major reasons why the thirty-four years old Biff still does not have a job.  Also in the past 3 years, Biff was away from home without an address.  However, Linda was not aware that Biff was in jail which shows the lack of sincere care toward her son.  I could not believe the fact that she has not even tried to meet her son for the past three years.  If she was a hard working mom, I might understand.  Yet, she is just an ordinary stay-home-mom, who should have had enough time to at least be curious about her son who is away without an address.  Not only her ignorant towards Biff ruins her son’s life, but also her stupidity could not prevent her husband, Willy, from committing a suicide.  When Linda finds the rubber tube in the cellar, she has not argued with Willy even though she is aware that Willy is trying to kill himself.  If I were Linda, I could have cut his hands off if necessary to save his life.  Not only could she have saved her husband’s life, but also she could have made Biff an important person if she played her role as a mom correctly.  Linda fails to make even one action that helps the family

Fires in the Mirror

           In the play “No Blood in His Feet”, there are many ironies that puzzled and frustrated me.  The first irony happens when the Jewish driver got out of the car to lift the car to save the child, the African-Americans are busy beating up him instead of helping to save the child either by lifting the car or by calling 911 sooner.  The second irony happens after the car accident.  Mr. Rosenbaum gets stabbed by a group of young Black males.  Unlike the car accident which happened with no malicious intent, Mr. Rosenbaum is stabbed purposely just because he was a Jew.  Mr. Rosenbaum passed away due the mismanagement of a doctor in an emergency room.  While Mr. Rosenbaum was dying, the Mayor came to hospital to express his concerns about the innocent child who was killed from the unfortunate car accident.  In the end of the story, the protagonist says that the “Mayor had been fed” (pg. 22).  These words, the passive voice and the word “fed” show that the protagonist regards the Mayer perhaps as an animal who cannot eat unless food is given.  This is so due to lack of judgment that the Mayor has to understand the situation; he just listens to what the Black Community group has to say.  Also, the author mentioned about the lies that the Black Community used to get support from the Mayor to start the riots.  As I was reading the play, I was very frustrated about the reality that majority can distort the facts, making the minority to suffer.  Just because the driver is Jew, Mr. Rosenbaum is stabbed on the street, and leading him to die, which was not important in the community.  The biggest irony is that African-Americans once have suffered for being a minority, yet they show crudity, instead of kindness.

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