Tony Kushner’s play, Angels in America, comments on a number of social issues of its time; ranging from political to societal. Additionally, it incorporates many concepts discussed in the Modern Condition courses. Thinkers such as Nietzsche, Borges, and DeBeauvoir are specifically represented in the play through the characters presented. Kushner uses his characters to convey the ideas of these thinkers in the context of the culture the play takes place in.
Nietzsche’s ideas are most clearly reflected in Roy Cohn: a power driven, “heterosexual” lawyer, “who fucks around with guys” (Kushner 52). Nietzsche’s writings emphasize mankind’s natural desire to gain power. This desire serves as a driving force behind all of man’s actions. Nietzsche also asserted that traditional morality was an institution established to curb society’s scramble for power. Due to this belief, Nietzsche claimed man must cast aside traditional morality, as it is serves as a roadblock, in order to be more successful in his quest for power. The superman was a concept he introduced, meaning a type of man who is able to access great power as a result of releasing himself from social restraints. This was the ultimate form of mankind, and only is possible when he releases moral obligation and restraint completely, and it can be argued that Roy Cohn is Kushner’s superman.
Roy Cohn’s embodiment of Nietzsche’s concepts is perfectly depicted by scene nine of act one, where Roy is told he has AIDS. Upon hearing the news, Roy immediately begins intimidating the doctor. He keeps asking him to accuse him of being a homosexual, and once the doctor finally states that Roy has sex with men, Roy retaliates with a speech on how he is hung up on terms. Roy states that, “Homose...
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...Angel. This transition can be show in the relaxed way she continues to spend time with Louis, Prior, and Belize.
The ideas of the Modern Condition are clearly represented by the thinkers studied through out the course, as their writings reveal the true themes and concepts that have shaped and continue to affect society. Kushner’s play seems to embody these concepts and show how they manifest in the modern times, and what issues are still plaguing society. His characters take on the role of conveying, and in some cases embodying, the ideas of these thinkers: Nietzsche, Borges, and DeBeauvior. In this way, Kushner’s play can be said to be a product of the Modern Condition due to its representation and application of the ideas that have shaped modern philosophy.
Works Cited
Kushner, Tony. Angels in America. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group, 2003. Print.
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.
Then, in the play, Wilson looks at the unpleasant expense and widespread meanings of the violent urban environment in which numerous African Americans existed th...
Friedrich Nietzsche is an influential German Philosopher who is known for his writings, on Good and Evil, the end of religion in society, and the concept of “super man.” Nietzsche was born in 1844, in Röcken bei Lützen Germany. He published numerous works of philosophy, which includes Twilights of the Idols, and Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In 1880’s Nietzsche developed points of his philosophy. One of his famous statements is that “God is dead” which is a rejection to the Christian faith. Others were his endorsement of self-perfection throughout creative drive and a will to power, which brought his concept “super-man) which is an individual who strives to exist beyond conventional categories of good and evil. Nietzsche made a major influence on
A general air of superficiality invades the production. Why? Unless done with reality, the play loses its “tam” (Yiddish for taste), fringes on mockery of the way of life being depicted, and weakens the accomplishment of the author’s purpose.
Nietzsche’s society depended more on the human’s strength, human nature was seen weak if someone lacks to specific strength. And so because of the society’s stresses and pressures, humans were seen as machines. There was the sense of frustration to be original and creative and that’s why Nietzsche thought that human should be led by a hero.
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 ...
Angels in America is a story about two couples, which are different, but, at the same time, somehow similar. The main difference between the couples is that one gay (Louis Ironson and his lover Prior Walter), and the other traditional (Joe Pitt and his wife Harper). The story is quite simple, about ordinary people, however makes people feel the mystical atmosphere, skillfully connected with realism. As a "fantasia," Angels in America is a major departure from prevailing theatrical realism, with detours into the religious and the supernatural — angels, ghosts, apparitions, and visions appear over and over. The play is a great combination of the real life situation, and the mystical figures, which help the heroes to understand the true life values.
Angels in America is one of the most powerful plays written in the twentieth century. The play explores themes such as AIDs, homosexuality, drug addiction, spirituality, politics and identity specifically during the 1980’s. This ground breaking piece of work is not only entertaining, but also thought provoking. Angels creates dreamlike envisions of scenes and yet maintains a form of realism in the plots and characters. Tony Kushner is both the author of the play and the screen writer for the brilliant rendition of the HBO mini series with the same name. Angels in America Part 1: The Millennium Approaches is a phenomenal piece of work to read as well as to watch! The story follows a variety of characters in New York City between 1985-1986 dealing with issues of homosexuality, sexual disease, addiction, and denial.
McNulty, Charles. "Angels in America: Tony Kushner's Theses on the Philosophy of History." Modern Drama 39.1 (1996): 84-96.
Overall as the director, I would have liked to seen a great emphasis through dream scenery. Throughout this whole play, I thought of it has a large dream and everything was happening for a specific reason. I would also like to have seen the costumes represent the characters portrayals. Angel outfits, wings, political attire for men, a nurse outfit for Belize, and some shabby clothing for the women. Identity had given Angels in America the ability to reach the viewer. It supported the production and made things easier to envision and more realistic to our society. Many of the characters had differences that set them apart just like our society, but on the other hand those differences just like the “spine” were the backbone of their culture.
In Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the interconnection of people and events, that might ordinarily be viewed as disconnected or unrelated, is implicitly presented in the characters section. Dual roles are implemented by a playwright that has one actor portraying the roles of two or more characters, with or without thematic intentions. The use of “dual roles” in several scenes of this play can be viewed as a demonstration of Kushner’s effort in maintaining the interconnectedness between characters, communities (i.e. queer, heterosexual, AIDS and political communities) and events to which they are relative. This essay will argue that Kushner’s use of dual role’s effectively interconnects characters, events and their communities that may be seen as usually unrelated. Analysis of four specific characters, Antarctica, Oceania, Australia and Europa, in Act Five, Scene Five of “Perestroika”, will demonstrate the connection of each Act Five, Scene Five character, to the actors main character based on the implicit evidence presented in the actors “primary” and “secondary” roles, the scenes dialogue and the character interactions. As one will see, by implementing dual roles, Kushner is able to expand or preserve the concept of a major character while the actor portrays another character, keeping the audience from having to completely renegotiate their knowledge between what they physically see of new characters and actually use the new context to view triumphs and struggles for a major character.
The epoch of the 20th century in the world’s history is recognized as a time of crucial changes in science development, military force adjustment, well organized and disciplined army, and the supremacy of several nations. It is the time of complexity revolution in thought and ideas, an anxiety of modern thoughts. Human ideas and thoughts began to diverge from what people once believed and practiced; uncertain opinions for mankind sometimes known as the madness of the human mind. Thinkers and critic philosophers of that time like Friedrich Nietzsche have expressed their doubts and skepticism beliefs toward prosperity and welfare ideas for a better life and leadership expertise. Nietzsche, a German critic, and a well-known philosopher contested the loyalty and common reliance of human mind rationality. Nietzsche was concerned with the genesis and values of human existence, which made him very influential, to his successors, mostly to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. One of the Nietzsche’s grounds which excluded Christianity was “master and slave morality,” claiming a lack of organized leadership, the loss of human values and individual greediness. Nietzsche describes “master” as Übermensch a “superman,” but some others critics of philosophy portray “master” as the state of “over man.” Certainly, Nietzsche stressed that “over man” is the inventor of principles and beliefs that denotes power and the individuality of a person, who is considered authoritative and willing to change. Further, “overman” or “superman” is described as an ideal individual who is confident, creative, prideful and irrespective.
The philosopher Nietzsche has been scrutinized for most of his work because he stood against the Christian faith. He believed that Christianity held people back from achieving a full life because it countered all the wants and needs of the human. He believed that slaves made up Christianity to replace the things that they could not receive. Sex, power and revenge were all out of range for a slaves so in return they made up Christianity to follow. Nietzsche’s greatest works however is what he describes as Übermensch or Superman. This “superman” is someone that has evolved even greater than any of today’s humans. He compares evolution from apes to humans and believes that the human isn’t done with evolution yet, instead is still growing and
piece a modernist one. The play’s dialogue, technology, and the fragmentation of the piece, are
Throughout his life, Pinter has written about and protested against social pathologies like war, human rights violation, terrorism, discrimination and totalitarianism. Having first-hand experience of the horrors of World War II and growing up at a time of Holocaust which caused large scale extermination of Jews in Hitler’s Europe, led Pinter to voice against all forms of social pathologies and the totalitarian institutions which inflict social evils or diseases. The trauma that Pinter went through in the early years of his life made him comprehend and relate with the physical and mental trauma that victims of social pathologies go through. His plays especially the early comedies of menace and the later overtly political plays exhibit his concern with post-war man’s egotism, hopes, feelings, struggles, crises, aspirations and objections against dominion, power, self-obsessed government, menace, suppression, coercion, injustice,