Playwrights use various techniques to create a comprehensive tale that isn’t in the traditional novel format. Plays are cooked up with a variety of specialized ingredients such as acts and scenes to establish setting, dialogue to showcase character interactions, stage directions to declare the tones and physical reactions of characters to situations, and comparable and contrasting characters to emphasize certain motifs and themes. Lorraine Hansberry uses all of these accompanied with her plot inspired by her own life experiences to paint a picture of the African Americans’ struggles in the mid-1900s in a notable play she titled A Raisin in the Sun.
The easiest technique common in plays is the use of dialogue. This is expressed in a way to help
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They are a way of manifesting the character’s thoughts and feelings into subtle actions, rather than stating how they feel or using finicky details through narration. The stage direction can quickly depict which character is talking, how they are communication, what gestures they make, and indicate who their words or thoughts are directed to such as “WALTER (to RUTH): I need some money for carfare” (Hansberry 498). Stage direction is an underestimated power the playwright possesses. Hansberry, for example, uses this puissant strategy to create a sudden gentle feel in Ruth even after a nasty argument with Walter when she writes “RUTH (looks at him, then warms; teasing, but tenderly)” (Hansberry 498). Regarding the same quote, Hansberry also reveals a certain boasting, “I-told-you-so” side of Ruth with the mention of her words being teasing and mockingly tender. Ruth also possesses a great amount of sympathy as she does not hold a grudge but speaks warmly and compassionately and helps Walter by providing him the money. Without the stage direction, it could be interpreted in ways the playwright did not intend. For example, Walter could be asking Beneatha for money or Ruth could’ve responded hastily with disgust and frustration. Stage direction not only clears up who is talking to who, but also alters the voice in a reader’s head to the way the playwright wanted
...the show Ruth discovers that she is pregnant, and because of her economic hardships, she is determining whether or not to keep the baby. This puts her stress level higher than ever. Ruth also starts off the show as a wife who doesn’t believe in Walter’s dream of owning a liquor store, But in the end, Ruth decides to keep the child and finds hope for her, Walter and the Younger family.
When Mary Zimmerman adapts a play from an ancient text her directing process and the way she engages with text are woven together, both dependent on the other. She writes these adaptations from nondramatic text, writing each evening while working through the pre-production rehearsals and improvisations during the day with the cast. The rehearsal process influences the text, and the text enriches the rehearsal process, so that one cannot exist without the other. Every rehearsal is structured the same but each production is unique because as Zimmerman states in “The Archaeology of Performance”, she is always “open to the possibilities”. The piece is open to everything happening in the world and to the people involved, so the possibilities are honest and endless.
Ruth's speech reveals that she is the most uneducated person in the family. She makes many grammatical mistakes and her speech is flavored with southernisms as Mama's. Walter's speech proves that he is more educated than Ruth. Beneatha is the most educated one in the family. She speaks Standard English and sometimes Black English when she is emotional (Hansberry
The stage direction gives a better explanation to a play because it shows how the characters
Walter feels as though no one in the family supports his idea of opening a liquor store, but they want him to be an entrepreneur, but opening a liquor store is against his mother's moral grounds. Walter's arrogance is clearer when he asks Beneatha about her decision to become a doctor: He asks why she couldn't just become a nurse or get married "like other women." When he comes home after drinking with his friends and Beneatha is dancing to the African music, he says, "Shut up" to Ruth, just before joining Beneatha in the dance. Walter is obsessed with getting money so that he can buy "things for Ruth"; he is unaware that treating Ruth more kindly and with more respect would be more appreciated and valued than any "gifts."
Filmmaking and cinematography are art forms completely open to interpretation in a myriad ways: frame composition, lighting, casting, camera angles, shot length, etc. The truly talented filmmaker employs every tool available to make a film communicate to the viewer on different levels, including social and emotional. When a filmmaker chooses to undertake an adaptation of a literary classic, the choices become somewhat more limited. In order to be true to the integrity of the piece of literature, the artistic team making the adaptation must be careful to communicate what is believed was intended by the writer. When the literature being adapted is a play originally intended for the stage, the task is perhaps simplified. Playwrights, unlike novelists, include some stage direction and other instructions regarding the visual aspect of the story. In this sense, the filmmaker has a strong basis for adapting a play to the big screen.
Literary theorist, Kenneth Burke, defined dramatistic explaination by the prescence of five key elements. This list of elements, now popularly known as Burke’s Pentad, can be used to asses human behavior as well as dicipher literary themes and motives. The five elements; agent, purpose, scene, act, and agency, have been found highly useful by performance study practitioners in translating texts into aesthetics. When systematically applying Burke’s Pentad to “Burn Your Maps,” a short story by Robyn Joy Leff published January 2002 of the Atlantic Monthly, the analyzer can realistically grasp the emotional and logical motivations and tones of the text. By doing so, the performer becomes an enlightened vessel for the message Leff wants to communicate. The Pentad can be described with simple questions like: Who? What? When? Where? How?, but asking the small questions should always lead to more in depth analysis of the element, and it should overall, explain the deeper question: Why?
He also greets and dismisses the audience at the beginning and end of each act. The stage manager interrupts daily conversation on the street. The Stage Manager enters and leaves the dialog. He is also giving the foresight of death in the play. His informality in dress, manners, and speech, connects the theme, universality, of the production to the audience.
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a comedy that has been interpreted in different ways, enabling one to receive multiple experiences of the same story. Due to the content and themes of the play, it can be creatively challenging to producers and their casting strategies. Instead of being a hindrance, I find the ability for one to experiment exciting as people try to discover strategies that best represent entertainment for the audience, as well as the best ways to interpret Shakespeare’s work.
This essay will compare Marx’s understanding of the relationship between laborers and capitalists and Wollstonecraft’s understanding of the relationship between women and men. Both Marx and Wollstonecraft’s conception of these groups of people show a large gap between their treatment and status in society. Marx argues that capitalism is not created by nature and the unequal relationship between laborers and capitalists is not humane. In other words, it is actually the cause of social and economic problems during that time period. On a similar note, Wollstonecraft believes that the oppressive relationship between men and women is also unnatural. The standards for men and women are placed by society, not by biological facts. Society and how people
Galens, David, and Lynn M. Spampinato, eds. Drama for Students. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Print.
The first problem Ruth faces is how to support her family. Accused of not paying enough attention to her son, Ruth snaps at Mama shouting, “I feed my son, Lena!” (1880). This encounter with Mama displays an uptight, stressed side of Ruth, who balances a job, a son, her husband, and keeping the expected baby a secret. With so much preoccupying her mind, Ruth still tries to make money while feeling ill telling Mama, “I have to go. We need the money,” (1881). Money becomes a topic of great interest in the Younger family causing everyone to worry entirely too much about it. Ruth puts her family before herself caring about their conditions and the money they make over her own health. The next struggle Ruth encounters is deciding what option is best for her family and possible new baby. After finding out about the pregnancy, Ruth assures her family “she”, the doctor, confirmed everything is fine (1888). The slip up reveals that Ruth is considering getting an abortion. Furthermore, pushing her own conflict aside, Ruth still supports her family’s dreams, encouraging Mama to “open it”, meaning the check, for Mama’s own benefit and use toward a better lifestyle (1893). Ruth solves her own conflict by deciding to keep the baby and motivate her family in whatever way possible in the new challenges to
The obstacles that come with dreams The American dream is not as big as it used to be because people don’t want to wait for something they just want it now and without the hassle. The American dream is having the freedom to pursue your dreams regardless of your race, and social class. In the book “A Raisin in the Sun” Lorraine Hansberry show the obstacles that Walter faces to meet his American dream of buying a liquor store. It’s hard for people to meet their dreams when obstacles get in the way.
An Analysis of A Raisin In the Sun & nbsp; "A Raisin In The Sun" is a play written by an African-American playwright - Lorraine Hansberry. It was first produced in 1959. Lorraine Hansberry's work is about a black family in the Chicago South Side. the Second World War. The family consisted of Mama(Lena Younger), Walter.
“WALTER: “.See, that just goes to show you what women understand about the world. Baby, don’t nothing happen to you in this world ‘less you pay somebody off!”(Hansberry). Walter says that money is a man’s domain, and that Ruth, being a woman, just wouldn’t understand. This sexist remark seems to come from his own lack of self-esteem. Unfortunately, for Walter and those around him, he feels the need to put people down in order to feel more powerful.”