Play Analysis: Bertolt Brecht’s “Life of Galileo” Brecht’s work activates the senses and makes the audience slip into a trance of critical frenzy. He has taken the idea of Epic theatre to further dramatize his work and thereby portrays the characters in a realistic way so that it is up to the audience to form views about them. In this scene, the audience is exposed to a private talk between the Pope and the Cardinal Inquisitor, themes of public unrest and conflict within society between the two sides: science and theological tradition are brought into light. A sense of doubt has enveloped the public and the Pope and the Inquisitor are trying to expose these thoughts as false. While they are trying to accomplish this, a further theme of material interests and their importance comes into play. A sense of morbidity also arises at the end. However, through this passage Brecht is also trying to incorporate Marxist views, he is doing this in a discrete and clever way, bringing forward the constant struggle between classes. This scene establishes a loss of faith that is slowly seeping into the minds of the civilians within the play. On page 91, the Pope notes how a “terrible restlessness has descended on the world” and how this restlessness has “transferred to the unmoving earth”, he then concludes this comment by stating that should “we base human society on doubt and no longer on faith?” this restlessness that he is commenting upon is the uneasiness and anxiety he feels, much like how the way people think about things is gradually changing, it is in turn affecting the power the church holds over the people as that too is slipping away from their grasps. Furthermore, the repetition of the word “restlessless” justifies the Popes anxiet... ... middle of paper ... ...siness amongst the audience. These lines also mark the end of the scene and thereby create an air of utmost discomfort and morbidity. All the themes above tell us as the audience the struggle the authorities go through to sustain social order. Brecht has brilliantly incorporated his Marxist views into the play and in this scene he has shown the perspective of the “ruling class” that is the Church. Additionally, by exhibiting the sides of those who want to debunk the teachings of the church and those who still believe strongly in theological tradition, he has been able to trigger the active perceptions of the audience as they are to form their own views. This scene thereby, makes the audience aware of the ever present struggle between the two sides and furthermore enhances the viewer’s experience as it allows them to question and criticize every aspect of the scene.
First of all, strong insight is perhaps given into the Viennese high society, who were "devoted to order, mannered charm and the grandiloquent facades on the `Ringstrasse' "³ by the reaction of the audiences alone to the play and its characters. Both shocked and embarrassed the Viennese bourgeoisie with its "uncompromising representation of the Viennese world"². Schnitzler's writing of the play and his inclusion of these common, gritty characters coupled with the reaction of this part of Viennese society represents the "test of wills... [sic] between well-behaved traditionalism and liberated modernism"³ emerging in Vienna at this time.
Hence, upon analyzing the story, one can conclude the certain themes that parallel through the pages. Firstly, a theme of unity and trust is present at the end of the play. This is supported by the image of the cathedral, which is a place of unity. Most importantly, the notion of equality among people is the main theme within this story. The narrator starts as a biased, idiot, who dislikes all people that are not like himself. He even at times is rude to his wife. Ironically, it takes a blind man to change the man that can literally see, to rule out the prejudices and to teach him that all men are created equal.
These two plays show dramatically the struggle for authoritative power over the characters lives, families, and societies pressures. The overall tragedy that befalls them as they are swept up in these conflicts distinctly portrays the thematic plot of their common misconception for power and control over their lives.
This play addresses many social issues. It ties in family, truth, righteousness, community, and politics. It really demonstrates how one issue can have many “truths” to it and how different people, even within ones own family, can see the same thing in total different perspectives; and in doing that act out against one another in an attempt to prove that one’s own perspective is the “right” or only one. In human nature, we are not one to compromise. We see so many things as one way or another, right or wrong; rarely do we seek to find the common ground between the two. In this play, common ground is never found, and in the end leaves a family broken up and a society left to wonder.
So we see from the very beginning that this play is about the struggle between god and man, and about whose law comes first. But this play also can wash over us too quickly if we do not stop to see whether or not the characters truly act in accordance with what ...
The first example of a divided character I would like to discuss is that of the cardinals in Rome. It seems as if the heads of the Catholic Church indulge in worldly possessions to fulfill their spiritual desires. "...I had this wine brought up from my cellar especially to warm away the chill of your twenty Canadian winters. Surely, you do not gather vintages like this on the shores of the Great Lake Huron?"(9). These high cardinals seem to have grown devoted to luxuries of life than to God and the Catholic Church. This behavior contradicts the teachings of Catholicism itself, where worldly matter is not of importance. This passage constructs a clear warning to the reader, making it clear that these characters seem to have jumped on the bandwagon of globalization, thus at times forgetting their religious ties. It is hard to say if these cardinals have ever experienced the meaning of true devotion to God, a point of faith where material luxuries have no value. Latour may be looked down upon to do the hard work of the missions but his experie...
The author’s purpose is to also allow the audience to understand the way the guards and superintendent felt towards the prisoners. We see this when the superintendent is upset because the execution is running late, and says, “For God’s sake hurry up, Francis.” And “The man ought to have been dead by this time.” This allows the reader to see the disrespect the authority has towards the prisoners.
...subject as the locus of dignity it provides a strong, albeit negative, force against encroachment of modernity. With the ironic stance, the subject refuses to buy in uncritically to the illusory stability of modernity. When unspeakable things happen, the sting is still faced severely, but it is not exacerbated by the feeling of betrayal of the false promise of modernity. Whether close to nature, or in the midst of civilization, to make sense of the inherent chaos one does not resort to a pretend order and instead engages with things as they are. The subject remains protected even as all else may fall apart.
The communal values evolve around religious events, having family honor and virginity. Even though the church’s betrayal is versatile, when the bishop arrives, it emphasizes the failure clearer. The people of the town, including the prie...
... allusions shown in the novel give a greater understand of Roman Catholicism and the story of Jesus. As the days go by and we live our lives we start to forget the old stories that once brought our world together. With the reading one can develop the true story behind the murder of Santiago and how his story is just like that of Jesus Christ. The reader gets the knowledge of one of the oldest stories with the help of this novel. The power of the Roman Catholic Church is a powerful effect on the world around this novel and the world today and through the novel we see the effect of the seven deadly sins that are apart of the society that we don’t see with the naked eye. Also the reader should get a deeper understanding of how the seven sins are related to people and everyday live of humans. If we don’t learn from the stories of the past we are doomed to repeat it.
The Brechtian style of performance is a style of theater in which the audience is balanced between two modes of viewership. On the one hand the Brechtian style requires that the audience watch the show engaged emotionally, but not in the classic Aristotelian cathartic way. On the other hand it requires that the audience stay critically active in dealing with the performance, thus, achieving an alienated political and educational response among the members of the audience. Naturally this style of theater produces a conflict of interests in the direction of a show. Should the performance focus on garnering political influence and sway, or should the production be emotionally compelling and relatable, or perhaps a combination of both? In order
...ivisive agent, actually been voided, or only cast aside? Is Shylock and Antonio’s code of honor truly obsolete? A sense of false sincerity permeates the final scene. The temporal ambiguity between night and day with which the play ends suggests that a complete resolution has not been achieved. In being neither night nor day, it ends in a kind of dramatic unreality. Metatheatrical in its elevation of words and language, The Merchant of Venice is consciously distinct from the realism of the off-stage world. And yet in the course of its five acts, the play fails to define a solid dramatic “otherworld,” in which new values and authorities are introduced and made permanent. Rather, it seems to end ambiguously, and fragmented. It falls short of true resolution, and concludes with a statement of shortcoming, informing us that there are still “two hours to day” (V.i.325).
for the interpretation of the play. In this essay, I plan to analyse the role of
On stage, these points were, looking at the opinions of a majority of both the audiences and the critics, presented successfully by Brook and the cast he worked with. From the prison guards who loomed in the background, clothed in butcher aprons and armed with clubs, to the half-naked Marat, slouched in a tub and covered in wet rags, forever scratching and writing, to the small group of singers, dressed and painted up as clowns, to the narcoleptic but murderous Charlotte Corday, Weiss and Brook offered a stage production that both engaged and amazed the audience, while at the same time forced them to question their role as the audience; no better exemplified than at the very end of the play, where the inmates, standing menacingly at the edge of the stage, actually begin to applaud the very people who applaud their performance, aggravating and confusing some, but forcing most t...
The details of this life have been retold since the days when men lived in caves, so much so that some of them are more backwards than the enemy of the Church himself; but God in his wisdom, recognized that this was a part of the human nature, and so, he has given us a treasure in which small details are just that, and they do not greatly affect the larger image, as long as the mile markers are kept in mind. So, it is one of these episodes of the growth of the Kingdom of God amongst men, which we are to focus on, a time when controversy surrounded the very occurrences which led to one of the strongest systems of beliefs that exist today. Yes, there are many episodes of such nature in the Catholic religion, but one of great significance was the initiation of the papacy, when people from many cultures began to come together, whethe...