The Mountaintop Setting

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Recommended: Philosophies and approaches of Dr Martin Luther King

The space on this planet at first seems real, like it was in our world’s past, but as The Mountaintop continues, we realize that this place is not real at all. This place is a fantasy world. The play’s setting is specifically between two place, the first world is very similar to our world’s past, and a second, fantasy world, where the person who enters can see the future. At the beginning of the play, the setting is on a rainy night on April 3, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee. in our world. The interior setting is Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, in “The King-Abernathy Suite”. Time seems to stand still in this space. For example, after Dr. King calls room service for a cup of coffee, this is the last possibly real human interaction he has; Camae …show more content…

The very first stage image in The Mountaintop is a rainy night on April 3, 1968, Room 306, at the Lorraine Motel, in Memphis, Tennessee, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. enters the motel room door; he looks tired, sounds sick, and is soaked from the rain. The very last stage image is of Dr. King giving one last Civil Rights Movement speech to his congregation. Toward the end of his speech, Camae, the angel maid, stops him mid-sentence, put her hand on his shoulder, and then blackout happens on stage. The blackout is symbolic of his death. A striking image near the center of the play is, when Dr. King has a panic attack because the loud thunder from the rain sounded like a gunshot. Throughout the play, we have seen several small hints that point toward Dr. King being a paranoid person, but we have not seen to what extent yet, until this seen. Most importantly, in this scene, we get to take a deeper look at the real man behind the legend; by showing his paranoia, we get to see that he is human, if you peel away the layers of overzealous speeches and the alway level headed facade. I think it is essential to pass though this scene because in general, when we think of Dr. King, we do not think about the real flesh and blood man that is behind “Dr. King”; we do not think of the young man he once was

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