Wit is a one act play written by Margaret Edson which won the 1999 Pulitzer prize (New York Times) The play Wit inspired a television film directed by Mike Nichols. According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary a play is a dramatic composition or piece performed on stage, and describes a movie as a recording of moving images that tells a story and people watch on a screen or television. The play and the movie are based on a female Literature Professor Vivian Bearing, who finds out she has terminal ovarian cancer. As she receives experimental chemotherapy as a treatment for her cancer, her final days turn into a journey of reflexion, where she discovers the person she really is, and the impact her personality had in the outcome of her life …show more content…
How are you feeling today? Great. That’s just great.”(5) In this quote we can sense a tone of sarcasm from the very beginning, as opposed to the movie which started with her doctor, Doctor Kelekian informing her of her illness “You have cancer” , that was very blunt and harsh, but by changing the beginning on the film version that made it more dramatic, is like was saying the road of suffering starts now. In the written play while doctor Kelekian is giving Vivian a very detailed description of her illness Vivian was talking to herself in her head, not listening to him we can see it in the following quote “You will be hospitalized as an in-patient for treatment each …show more content…
In the movie the director made this part very dramatic, it made medicine fellow Jason seem cold and uninterested, and made Vivian look vulnerable as opposed to the written play were this conversation between then seem as if they were getting to know each other. The choice of the director to add more emotion to this scene in the film, gives the story a littler tone. Vivian isn't harsh and too strict anymore, she is wishing she had done things differently, she wishes Jason would show her the sympathy and humanity she did not even bother to show her students like she claims in the following quote “the senior scholar ruthlessly denied her simpering students the touch of human kindness she now seeks.” This quote is everything about Vivian’s redemption, the end of her life is near, she sees life itself differently, she believes in a different approach more subtle and kind. The end between the book and the movie
She further establishes her agency by repeating the line, “we say who, we say when, we say how much” throughout the film. This line truly expresses her power as a sex worker to determine the actions of her own body. Another scene that illustrates that Vivian is not a victim of sex work was her denial of Edward’s plan to “get her off the streets” by buying her an apartment and a car and money to start fresh. She explains that she does not need to be rescued. This lifestyle was her choice and she does not need a wealthy businessman to save her and take away her empowerment
As we near the end of the book, however, we see a change in Vivian. “One day, to everyone’s shock and amazement except Molly’s, Vivian announces that she wants to get a computer” (Kline 263). This quote shows a little about Vivian opening up to the new world and she is no longer isolating herself.
Vivian’s boastfulness at the beginning of the play was an attempt to cover up her social ineptness with people who are neither her students nor her mentors. In a flashback scene, in which her mentor, Professor E.M Ashford, tells her to, “enjoy yourself with your friends” (15) rather than study, Vivian reveals her social awkwardness: “I, ah, walked around past the...There were students on the lawn, talking about nothing, laughing... I just couldn’t... I went back to the library” (15). She returns to the library because she prefers the concrete elements of her life, like facts, grammar, and word definitions, because with them, she has complete control. A later scene, when Susie interrupts one of Vivian’s imaginary lectures to tell her that she needs to do another ultrasound, proves this need for control. Vivian protests, saying “not right now. It’s not supposed to be now” and “it should not be now. I am in the middle of—this. I have this planned for now, not ultrasound” (51). Vivian needs to have power over her own life, and since connecting with others is her weakness, she refrains from doing
As we near the end of the book, however, we see a change in Vivian. “One day, to everyone’s shock and amazement except Molly’s, Vivian announces that she wants to get a computer” (Kline 263). This quote shows a little about how Vivian is opening up to the new world and no longer isolating herself. As we know, Vivian gave up her only biological child and she jokes lightly in the book by saying, “I suppose this is why people have children, isn’t it? So somebody will care about the stuff they leave behind” (Kline 52). However, later on, Vivian gives to Molly one of her prized possessions, the book Anne of Green Gables. This is a very important moment in their relationship because Vivian is passing on a piece of herself to Molly and it shows that Vivian is starting to see Molly as more than a random girl. She may even see her as a pseudo daughter as in the end of the book she lets Molly stay with her instead of going to another foster home. Vivian has opened up greatly throughout the story, but she only did so in reflection to Molly’s
the play went on to strike a chord with the public and had a two year
Tennessee Williams's plays have been praised and criticized by literary scholars. Most applaud his prose and mastery in developing characters, yet they are sometimes offended by his subject matter. Mark Royden Winchell wrote a compelling article analyzing Williams's play "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof." In his essay, Winchell states that the play "is a powerful work of art", yet he exclaims that it is perverse and "scandalous." (Winche...
Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) in Pretty Woman comes from a small town in Georgia, and works as a prostitute on the streets of Hollywood to support herself. Although Vivian's social position is very low, she has a strong sense of personal dignity and independence. Even though sometimes she have to stand by the street with empty stomach to wait for clients, Vivian and her friend Kit still keep themselves from the control of pimps, and "act as their own agents". Later, at the end of Vivian's one-week business arrangement with wealthy Edward Lewis (the Prince to her dream), which culminates in love and growing mutual respect, he offers her an apartment, a car and a credit card to get her off the streets, but she refuses. For Vivian, however, this arrangement is only different in terms of "geography" and terms of payment for the "business”; between them.
In both A Streetcar Named Desire and Hamlet, Tennessee Williams and William Shakespeare, respectively, demonstrate their abilities to create engaging plays which work on several levels in order to produce the desired effect. One of the most important characteristics of these plays is the playwrights' success in using their words to create the worlds surrounding their works. Both Shakespeare and Williams effectively use irony in the aforementioned plays, both in the plot and with specific symbolism, to create mildly existential environments where effective irony is a confirmation of fate and justice. Immediately apparent to the reader upon completion of these two works is the glaring appearance of irony in the plays' plots. For example, in A Streetcar Named Desire, a great deal of dramatic irony is created when the audience is made aware of details that characters are ignorant to.
"Constant Star" by Tazewell Thompson is a play which sticks out in my mind as being one of the best I have ever had the priviledge of watching. The play is centered around the life of Ida B. Wells, a black woman who stands up for equality at all costs. Although the content of the play is moving and very interesting, the lighting, songs, costumes, props, and special effects are what made the play so extraordinary.
Not all plays are character-driven, in fact a great many are not. So if the characters are not what keep the audience intrigued, well then what does? There are many possible answers to this question. Paper Wheat uses the history of a group of people, a specific message commenting on a time period, spectacle elements such as song and dance, and the genre of comedy to keep its audience both engaged and entertained.
Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest American dramatists of the 20th century. Most of his plays take us to the southern states and show a confused society. In his works he exposes the degeneration of human feelings and relationships. His heroes suffer from broken families and they do not find their place in the society. They tend to be lonely and afraid of much that surrounds them. Among the major themes of his plays are racism, sexism, homophobia and realistic settings filled with loneliness and pain.1 Tennessee Williams characters showed us extremes of human brutality and sexual behavior.2 One of his most popular dramas was written in 1947, and it is called A Streetcar Named Desire.
The play that we read for this unit is Too Much Punch For Judy, by Mark Wheeller. It is a form of Verbatim Theatre, meaning that it is based on the spoken words of real people. This play is about the story of a young woman who kills her sister in an alcohol related accident. When I first read the play I couldn’t empathize with the story as I haven’t experienced such a shocking event before. In this essay I will describe, analyse and evaluate both my work and the work of other actors in my group, focusing on the mediums, elements and explorative strategies of Drama.
In poetic terms, “wit” means the development of a metaphysical conceit. It is an insightful use of analogy, metaphor or inventive joining of dissimilar images to make a point in a poem. In these regards, this play has been appropriately titled. John Donne, whose Holy Sonnets make numerous appearances in the play, uses his metaphysical poetry to spark unrest, debate, and controversy. He himself wrestles with questions about faith, God’s mercy and judgment, human mortality, sin, damnation, absolution, and salvation. The Holy Sonnets are the product of doubter, one who has not yet found inner peace. This realization i...
are meant to present a show at the fete. The play uses comedy as its
The most obvious reason for the change in the relationship between Vivian Regan and Phillip Marlowe is the movie studio's rationale behind producing Hawkes' film version of The Big Sleep. Lauren Bacall, who plays Vivian Regan, and Humphrey Bogart, who plays Marlowe, had created a successful pairing previously in To Have and Have Not. Warner Brothers asked Howard Hawkes to find another script to work around Bacall and Bogart to create another box office smash hit. The piece that Hawkes choose was Chandler's The Big Sleep. So, Hawkes' intention was not to be true to Chandler's version of The Big Sleep, but instead to merely dupilcate the monetary success of To Have and Have Not. In order to maintain the element of romance between Bogart and Bacall which was a key ingredient to the success of To Have and Have Not, Hawkes had to create romance between Marlowe and Vivian which was not part of Chandler's version of The Big Sleep.