Shakespeare purposely condensed his classic
play to span just five days instead of the course of months like his
primary source The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and (1562). The effect of
the accelerated plot underscores the brevity of the young couple's romance and contributes to
the play's suspense. By condensing the time frame of the play to only five days, the audience
experiences a heightened sense of suspense and anxiety asand Juliet race towards their
inevitable fate. Time is a particularly important element of the play and the characters
continually bring it to the audience's attention. For example,informs Romeo that "but new
struck nine,"uses the"the prick of noon," the time of's impending
wedding...
Saturday, July 3, 2010
In Romeo and Juliet, what effect does the accelerated time scheme have on the play's development?
Friday, July 2, 2010
In the famous 2 plays: "A Streetcar Named Desire" & "Death of a Salesman" Is there any similarities between these plays? Specifically in 2 things,...
But there are among us today...those who act against the scheme of things that degrades
them, and in the process of action everything we have accepted....is shaken before us and
examined, and from this total onslaught by an individual against the seemingly stable
cosmos...-from this total examination of the "unchangeable" environment-comes the
terror and the fear that is classically associated with ....And such a process is not beyond the
common man [who] has demonstrated again and again this inner dynamic of all tragedy.
-Tragedy and the Common Man, A. Miller
Indeed, both Willy Loman and Blanche du Bois are tragic figures who suffer from the
"terror and fear" of self-delusion in their struggles against society which
"degrades them." So, perhaps rather than focusing on the American Dream as a
theme--which certainly exists for Willy--there may be more commonality with the characters in
the theme of Individual vs. Self:
- 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
havent 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:
I gotta overcome it....Im not dressing to advantage,
maybe. (Act 1)
- Both believe that they can
attain happiness outside themselves.
Willy Loman and Blanche
DuBois seek false and shallow promises of happiness; Willy perceives material wealth as the
keystone to success and contentment, while Blanche seeks attention and romance as a delight and
marriage as security.
"Always dependent upon the
kindness of strangers," Blanche delights in attention and romantic flirtation as a
diversion from reality as well as a bolster for her diminishing self-esteem and as
escape.
In Act 2, for instance, Stella instructs her
husband Stanley to compliment Blanche,
And admire her
dress and tell her shes looking wonderful. Thats important with Blanche. Her little
weakness!
Further, Blanche hopes to attract Mitch enough
to get him to propose and, thus, bring her some contentment and financial security since Belle
Reve has been sold to pay debts.
In Death of a Salesman,
Willy feels that happiness is attained through personal success and material wealth,
....I realized that selling was the greatest career a man could
want. Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go... into twenty or thirty
different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many
different people? (Act 2)
Like Blanche, he looks
elsewhere for contentment. In Act I, for instance, Happy tells Biff, who complains that Willy
mocks him, "He just wants you to make good, that's all." Even his act of suicide is
intended to give his son's some financial security and himself some respect. He imagines a
conversation with his brother about his funeral,
All the
old timers with the strange license-that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never
realizedI am known!I am known...and hell see it with his eyes once and for all. Hell see what I
am, Ben!(Act 2)
- Present and Past blur for
both
Blanche and Willy retreat to memories and illusions of
success.
In A Raisin in the Sun, the Youngers and Mr. Lindner have a conflict. What is the resolution?
The
conflict between Mr. Lindner and the Youngers involves his attempts to buy 's new home in the
white neighborhood of Clybourne Park to prevent them from moving in. As a representative of the
white community, Mr. Lindner's job is to carry out the wishes of the racist white community
members, who do not want a black family moving into their neighborhood. When he initially visits
the Younger household, he is rebuffed byJr. and . After one of Walter Jr.'s business partners
steals Lena's insurance money, he calls Mr. Lindner in hopes of making a deal. Mr. Lindner
returns to the Younger family's apartment, and Walter Jr. plans on selling Lena's home in
Clybourne Park for more than she paid for it. However, Lena makesstand next to his father, and
Walter Jr....
What were the effects of the Second World War on Italy?
had
wide-reaching ramifications for Italy's political, territorial, and economic status.
Politically, World War II led to the end of the stranglehold on state power enjoyed by
the National Fascist Party since the 1922 March on Rome. Perhaps more significantly, however, it
ultimately brought an end to the Italian monarchy as well as the downfall of the Royal House of
Savoy, which had sat on the throne of a unified Italy since 1861. The constitutional referendum
of 1946 transformed Italy from a constitutional monarchy to a republic.
In
terms of Italy's territory, World War II resulted in the loss of Italian Somaliland, a longtime
African colony of Italy, which was ceded to the United Kingdom. It also resulted in the
relinquishment of all...
Evaluate the integral of 1/ ( 1 + 4x^2)
We have to
find Int [1/ (1 + 4x^2) dx].
First substitute u = 2x
=>
du /dx = 2
=> du /2 = dx
Now Int [1/ (1 + 4x^2)
dx]
=> Int [(1/2)*(1/ (1+u^2) du]
=> (1/2)*Int [1/
(1 + u^2) du]
Now Int [1/ (1+u^2) du] =arc tan u + C
=>
(1/2)*arc tan u + C
replace u with 2x
=> (1/2)* arc tan
2x + C
Therefore the required result is
1/2)* arc tan 2x +
C
Thursday, July 1, 2010
How would I write a comparitive essay about To Kill A Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men?
In
writing a comparative essay about the two
works, you might like to concentrate on what they say
about the economic and
political situation in 1930s America.
Both books are
set
during the height of the Great Depression, when poverty and mass unemployment stalked
the
land. For itinerant farm laborers like Lennie and George in Of
Mice and
Men, this means that they're forced to travel from place
to place in search of work.
As unemployment is so high, ranch owners have the
whip hand over their employees. They can
pretty much treat their workers as
they please, as they know that there will always be many
others willing to
take their place.
In it's clear that
the rural areas surrounding Maycomb have been especially hard hit by the Depression. We
see this
illustrated in the wretched poverty of the Cunningham family, who
pay in kind for services
renderedsuch as 's legal adviceas they can't afford
to pay in cash.
Another
point of comparison is the issue
of race....
How does Gregor's mother react to seeing Gregor for the first time after his transformation in Kafka's The Metamorphosis?
The narrator describes
Mrs. Samsa's response to seeing her son, after his metamorphosis:
His motherin spite of the manager's presence she stood with her hair still unbraided
from the night, sticking out in all directions -- first looked at his father with her hands
clasped, then took two steps toward Gregor, and sank down in the midst of her skirts spreading
out around her, her face completely hidden on her breast.
Her first reaction, then, seems to be one of utter disbelief. Mrs. Samsa appears to
look to her husband for confirmation of what she is seeing. Then she seems to feel an impulse to
go to her son, to comfort or assist him in some way, but before she reaches him, she sinks to
the ground, indicating that she has lost hope. Her head is down, and this particular posture
tends to imply dejection and sorrow.
A little while later, during this same
interaction,
she, who had seemed so completely
self-absorbed, all at once jumped up, her arms stretched wide, her fingers spread, and cried,
"Help, for God's sake, help!" held her head bent as if to see Gregor better, but
inconsistently darted madly backward instead; had forgotten that the table laden with the
breakfast dishes stood behind her; sat down on it hastily, as if her thoughts were elsewhere,
when she reached it; and did not seem to notice at all that near her the big coffeepot had been
knocked over and coffee was pouring in a steady stream onto the rug.
It is obvious that Mrs. Samsa feels either herself, her son, her
family, or all of them, to be in need of help, perhaps to know how to deal with her son in his
terrible new condition, but it is not totally clear who she expects to help them. The manager?
That seems unlikely. It appears that she is still attempting to understand what Gregor's new
state actually is, but, at the same time, she is so horrified and frightened by what she sees
that she cannot help but run away from it. She has forgotten her breakfast and doesn't seem to
notice anything else that is going on around her. It seems a lot like disbelief and
horror.
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