One Good Beating
Many contemporary Scottish plays explore the conflict that can exist
between people of different generations. In this essay I am going to
discuss whether or not Linda McLean’s “One Good Beating” conveys this
issue of conflict and explore the other themes throughout the play.
Although “One Good Beating” only consists of three characters
(Robert-dad, Elaine- daughter and Stephen-son) there are many
conflicts throughout the play, many of which are between all three
characters over the same issue.
Stephen is in conflict with his dad Robert because when he was younger
he used to beat him. Stephen is still affected by his traumatising
childhood even though he is in his mid thirties.
Stephen: “But he never hit you”
Elaine: “If he thinks for a minute you’re stuck in the past he’ll
Beat you”
These words illustrate how Stephen has been emotionally scarred by
what his father did to him and can’t live his life properly because he
is living with the memory of his tragic childhood.
This conflict, which has grown between these two characters, does not
just go in the one direction, Robert is in conflict with Stephen but
for an entirely different reason.
Robert never loved Stephen however Stephen continued trying to change
his father’s opinion. The only way Robert could react to this was to
hit Stephen.
Robert: “I couldn’t give a tuppenny damn whether you forgave me or not…”
Stephen: “all I wanted from him…I wanted him to love me…”
Robert: “ …I don’t like you”
Robert’s only problem with his son was that he had been born. However
he didn’t love Stephen because he could not love any one. It was just
simply because he did not like him.
Robert: “its temporary, Elaine knows I love her.”
These words emphasise even more that it was just his son he had a
problem with and that he was devoted to his daughter.
Stephen is not the only one in conflict with Robert. Elaine is also in
conflict with Robert because when she was young, Robert killed her
puppy.
Robert: “ … dead something. Puppy maybe.”
Elaine reacts to this by (stage directions) hitting the coal-shed
door, which demonstrates that she has never forgiven her father for
what he did and still feels strongly about the issue. She is also in
conflict with her father because he hit her mother and brother and
buried their mother without even informing them of her death.
Elaine: “ you didn’t even give her a proper funeral”
Elaine: “ you never told anybody she was dead”
This emphasises how she felt about her mother and how much hate she
has for her father because of how he mistreated her mother.
Handling the adversity that develops within a character’s life is something that requires ultimate determination, dedication and thought. However, when the given adverse situation is handled in a violent manner, the following occurrences include downfall and destruction. Throughout William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Macbeth, he is able to convey the realistic negative consequences that may follow the effects of violence on adversity. From the very genesis of the play, Macbeth is constantly handling adversity, which at times results in various dilemmas as a result of his tragic flaw. The violent acting on adversity or challenges placed before main character Macbeth, causes him to build a “snowball effect” of downfall and dismay throughout the play. Initially, Macbeth begins handling his challenges in different manners and is constantly altering his procedure. From handling situations cautiously to thoughtlessly, or having his own opinions to none of his own at all, and finally from fighting the truth to accepting his fate, regardless of the type of task, his violent handlings of them causes his own domino effect of transformations. By applying a variety of literary techniques such as personification and foreshadowing, William Shakespeare is able to effectively prove that acting violently upon adversity has a strong potential of resulting in pure disaster.
Conflict has many different meanings for both physical and verbal abuse. Conflict could be a viscous feud or a full on physical fight. These days in television soap dramas we intend to see more verbal conflict than physical violence. But over the last couple of years new television programmes have been released which contains a lot of action-packed fighting and physical conflict of some kind. Some programmes include physical and verbal conflict including, “Eastenders”, “The Bill” and other programmes similar to these. The releasing of films such as, “Indiana Jones”, and “Rambo” catches the audience’s attention by involving action-packed, exciting features such as heavy arguments or thrilling battles. Some films are made to include action and excitement but when audiences watch it they cannot help feeling sorry for the victim or just generally sad for the people having the fight. In the same way Romeo and Juliet presents conflict more intense than most soap dramas. When the play was first performed in “The Theatre”, in Shoreditch in the mid 1590’s, the Elizabethan audience was shocked at how Juliet disobeyed her father and also how Romeo and Juliet disobeyed their families. Sympathy must be felt for the audience because they would have never known the idea of a son or daughter disobeying their father. The law at that time stated that the daughter was the property of her father until the daughter got married then her husband “owned” her as property. From this sympathy must be felt for Juliet because she is a victim of arranged marriages. When the play was first performed it got massive great responses which then lead to the play being transferred to The Globe theatre at the start of the 1600’s. Props and different costumes helped ...
It was difficult for me to find many parallels between this play and the works that we studied in Canadian Literature because this play does not follow a plot line and does not include many elements that could be relatable to the works we studied. It also does not relate to the themes that were emphasized in our course. However, I found the close analysis of the final scene of a play, acted out forty- three different times to be reflective of the close analysis’ we have done many times in class with poetry and prose. It was interesting to watch these close analysis’ to understand all of the possible interactions these characters could have had. It led me to question the endings of the works that ...
While the play addresses intergenerational issues, due to the large Younger lineage, there are many underlying themes which indicate the importance of time. For the purpose of this essay, the thematic scheme of past and present will be discussed and analysed, with reference to the characters and their interaction within the play.
The combination of its quick-strike offense and the powerful running from its backfield propelled visiting Pacific University to a 21-12 win over host Willamette on Saturday afternoon in Salem.
Shakespeare’s Macbeth documents a man’s desire for power, and the murderous acts that he commits in order to gain it. Nevertheless, it equally focuses on his power-crazed wife and her amplified drive for control. Macbeth and his wife are joined by more than holy matrimony. Shakespeare creates an intriguing relationship that traces the downfall of not a single person, but an entity comprised of two. The concentration is directed on this oneness through the plot progression within Macbeth, in which the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are reversed.
William Shakespeare, one of the greatest English play writers, has had a profound influence upon different societies globally since the fifteenth century, for his plays inspire many contemporary artists to present new scopes reflecting their societies. Considered as one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, Macbeth has a completely disparate interpretation of the movie Scotland, PA, which translates the original play into a black comedy. A Scottish royal and general, Macbeth the protagonist undergoes a demonic transformation in personality, in which he unethically takes the crown by murdering numerous characters. The director of the movie alters the plot while maintaining the basic semblance of power, ambition, and masculinity from Shakespeare’s work. In the movie, the alteration of the process Macbeth usurps the power of Duncan, including his internal and external incentives, gives the audience a fresh perspective on one of the English classical plays.
The transformation of ones character through out the years of experience and age is wholesome. To lower somebody’s character through a very quick period of time of fast decisions and unsure actions is going to expose them to danger or injury. In the play Lady Macbeth proves this to be true. The emotional mistakes shredded the journey Lady Macbeth puts down throughout this play and eventually ends in her death. She feels overpowered by everything that is happening in two ways, both mentally and physically and decides to end her own life. Play Macbeth by William Shakespeare shows two proper ordinary nobles whose lives twisted together in a whirlwind of power and the crazy resulting in their plunge. They were so caught up in this selfish world they forgot to consider the consequences of their actions. Lady Macbeth loses her sight of rationality from the beginning of the play to the end. She imagines an image of cruelness and believes she can handle the invasion of evil to her soul and mind. She shows a strong sense of control in which she has the power to do anything. As Macbeth becomes less depended on her she loses more and more control. She loses control over Macbeth, but mostly of herself proving to the audience her unsteady truth. Her character slowly falls apart and loses control of her husband.
Throughout the play, Macbeth’s character has changed immensely since his spirit became envious of others and he came to the solution of violence. His desire for power has caused many problems in his heart. These problems resulted in a change of his character. All the jealousy that has come over Macbeth has caused him to murder more than three innocent people that did not deserve to be murdered.
It’s quite suspicious how the two plays Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare and The Crucible by Arthur Miller both feature a father-daughter, father-niece, and cousin-niece relationship. In this essay, the relationships between Hero, Beatrice, Leonato and Betty, Abby, and Parris will be thoroughly examined. The differences between Hero, Beatrice, Leonato (from Much Ado About Nothing) and Betty, Abby, and Parris’ (from The Crucible) relationships are striking, and they merit rigorous examination.
Elaine’s love and loyalty to Lancelot causes her to use her twisted morals to tick him into sleeping with her which causes him immense pain by removing his ability to perform miracles. Elaine is a young maiden who is saved from a horrible curse by Lancelot. His help, which ended her five-year suffer, causes Elaine to fall madly in love with Lancelot. Her dysfunctional moral compass along with her obsessive love for Lancelot leads her to make decisions that greatly hurt her lover. Elaine's and her butler devise a plan in which the butler gets Lancelot very drunk and tells him that Guenever is waiting to sleep with him at a nearby castle. When Lancelot wakes up the next morning, he that it was Elaine, not Guenever, with which he slept and that
Another important physics term used in boxing is momentum. Faster punches have an advantage in boxing because of the momentum. Formula for momentum is Mass multiplied by Velocity. Before the hand touches the face the fist has momentum but the face does not. The faster a punch goes the more momentum and velocity it produces causing more harm to the opponent.
Ben Fowlkes’ method of telling this story was different in a way that he intended to use a more convincing approach by using cause and effect as well as his use of character thought and description. I love how the opening scene made it look like a boxing story or anything related to MMA fighting, but rather having an aspect of boxing in order to tell how it affects someone’s life. Whenever I write a story that contains a “cause and effect” narrative, I would have the character either fail or succeed in order to build his character and to either have him be a victim of his failure, or learn from it. Lines such as “Wallace spent the next three days alone in his condo, sitting in the dark and feeling sorry for himself” shows the effects of the
As with all great works of literature, William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has spawned countless essays concerning its interpretation. Two such essays, “Shakespearean Tragedy” and “General Macbeth,” produced by two eminent literary critics, A.C. Bradley and Mary McCarthy, find themselves in conflict. The essays’ respective authors diverge on subjective points such as interpretation of character, original intent, and meaning. Bradley’s Macbeth is courageous and encumbered by the dregs of guilt, while McCarthy’s version takes a less orthodox path. A.C. Bradley’s interpretation of Macbeth finds him human, conflicted, and comparable to his wife, Lady Macbeth, in many respects.
113 Macbeth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1990. The. Coursen, H. R. Macbeth: A Guide to the Play. London: Greenwood Press, 1997.