Review Tragedy What historical limits might tragedy face

  • Slides: 29
Download presentation
Review: Tragedy • What historical limits might tragedy face? Can you give a concrete

Review: Tragedy • What historical limits might tragedy face? Can you give a concrete example? • Is tragedy still possible today? • How can we define the tragic limit?

Review: Problem Play • • What is a problem play? Is Antigone a problem

Review: Problem Play • • What is a problem play? Is Antigone a problem play? Or, is a problem play limited to our own time? What would be a workable topic for a problem play today?

Abrams • Abrams defines the problem play as “a type of drama that was

Abrams • Abrams defines the problem play as “a type of drama that was popularized by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. In problem plays, the situation faced by the protagonist is put forward by the author as a representative instance of a contemporary social problem; often the dramatist manages— by the use of a character who speaks for the author, or by the evolution of the plot, or both—to propose a solution to the problem which is at odds with prevailing opinion. The issue may be the drastically inadequate autonomy, scope, and dignity allotted to women in the middle-class nineteenthcentury family…; or the morality of prostitution, regarded as a typical product of the economic arrangements in a capitalist society…; or the crisis in racial and ethnic relations in presentday America” (246).

Uses of the Problem Play • Is there still wide interest in this sort

Uses of the Problem Play • Is there still wide interest in this sort of dramatization? • For instance, can you think of a contemporary film that takes this up? • What are the risks of dramatizing social problems?

Valid Relations • Why should we look for a real relation between society and

Valid Relations • Why should we look for a real relation between society and the arts? • Why should the reflective model of the arts be accepted at all? • Why should we isolate the arts from society, as if they were two different worlds? • What is the function of representation in this problem?

Class and Values • These topics are central to many works: Zola, Maupassant, Unamuno,

Class and Values • These topics are central to many works: Zola, Maupassant, Unamuno, Eça, et al. • What are some concrete examples from these or other literary works? • I have provided some guiding questions.

Guiding Questions • a. What sorts of value systems are related most strongly with

Guiding Questions • a. What sorts of value systems are related most strongly with certain classes as represented in literary examples? • b. What does it mean to be déclassé? • c. How does the class structure in modern industrialized society differ from types that we have traditionally discussed in class? • d. Is there a tangible relation between values and class today? And if there is, what is an example? • e. How has the idea of values attached to groups become an ideology which may not have a basis in reality?

Henrik Ibsen (1828 -1906), Norwegian

Henrik Ibsen (1828 -1906), Norwegian

Recommendations • • • Peer Gynt (1867) A Doll’s House (1879) Ghosts (1881) The

Recommendations • • • Peer Gynt (1867) A Doll’s House (1879) Ghosts (1881) The Wild Duck (1884) Hedda Gaebler (1890) John Gabriel Borkmann (1896)

Setting • Consider differences between 5 th century BCE Greece, 17 th century France,

Setting • Consider differences between 5 th century BCE Greece, 17 th century France, and 19 th century Norway. • Note changes of location and time of day in Ibsen. (141, 163) • Ibsen is very careful about his description of the sets, much more than Molière was. Why is he interested in these details?

Characters • • • Pettersen Jensen Old Ekdal Mrs. Sörby Dinner party guests Hjalmar

Characters • • • Pettersen Jensen Old Ekdal Mrs. Sörby Dinner party guests Hjalmar Gregers Old Werle Graaberg [Greger’s mother] • Gina • Hedwig

Plot • What happens in Acts I and II? • Does anything in these

Plot • What happens in Acts I and II? • Does anything in these two acts appear to be the basis for a conflict in the way that we have encountered it elsewhere, either in comedy or tragedy, and recalling every drama you have read?

Comparison, Contrast, Parallel • Note these relations: – Gregers and Hjalmar – Old Werle

Comparison, Contrast, Parallel • Note these relations: – Gregers and Hjalmar – Old Werle and Old Ekdal • What does their structure already suggest, in a Western context, before we even start reading?

Exposition • Exposition sometimes entails gaining knowledge of the past. • How does Ibsen’s

Exposition • Exposition sometimes entails gaining knowledge of the past. • How does Ibsen’s exposition differ from the other works? • What must we guess that is not said directly? • passage: 141 -143

Greeks and Ibsen • Some critics have made a comparison between the Greek form

Greeks and Ibsen • Some critics have made a comparison between the Greek form of exposition and Ibsen’s play structure. • What is the basis of this idea?

Innuendo • Two early examples are Old Werle’s adultery and Old Ekdal’s alcoholism. •

Innuendo • Two early examples are Old Werle’s adultery and Old Ekdal’s alcoholism. • Why are these subjects avoided in a direct way, even among the people involved? • Why are they tolerated even though they are harmful? • What challenges do these unspoken secrets present for the playwright, and how was such “hidden” information revealed by earlier playwrights?

Werle’s Influence • What influence has Old Werle had on the Ekdal family (good

Werle’s Influence • What influence has Old Werle had on the Ekdal family (good or bad; past or present)? • How does Fate (or Providence) function in Act I? • passages: 146, 156

Influence • • • business (photography) house in a room rented by Gina’s mother

Influence • • • business (photography) house in a room rented by Gina’s mother marriage to Gina work to support Old Ekdal interest (through Mrs. Sörby) in Hedwig

Sympathetic Characters • How is sympathy manipulated in Act I, especially towards Gregers, Hjalmar,

Sympathetic Characters • How is sympathy manipulated in Act I, especially towards Gregers, Hjalmar, and Old Ekdal? • Who do you think the hero (or, the protagonist) of the play is going to be after reading Act I? • Unlike Sophocles and Molière, the title doesn’t give us much help, not here or later.

Attitudes towards Hjalmar • Hjalmar is an unlikable character. Why? • passages: 145, 146,

Attitudes towards Hjalmar • Hjalmar is an unlikable character. Why? • passages: 145, 146, 147, 153 • Sketch a portrait of Hjalmar’s character from these passages.

Allusion and Foreshadowing • Gregers refers to being thirteen at table. How might this

Allusion and Foreshadowing • Gregers refers to being thirteen at table. How might this allusion foreshadow later events? • Another allusion is the conflict between generations, particularly the notion of retribution. • Considering the father-son relations in Act I, what can you predict about the development of the conflict?

Ideas in Act I • Thirteen at table (144) • Inner man and outer

Ideas in Act I • Thirteen at table (144) • Inner man and outer man (145)

The Ekdal Family • Based on what you have read so far, what sort

The Ekdal Family • Based on what you have read so far, what sort of family life does Hjalmar have? • Who does the work in the Ekdal family? • What problems of tone arise in regard to the family? • Is Hjalmar a good father? • Give reasons to support both sides.

Hjalmar’s Self-concept: Act II • What is Hjalmar’s self image like? (169, 172, 173,

Hjalmar’s Self-concept: Act II • What is Hjalmar’s self image like? (169, 172, 173, 174) • Who supports Hjalmar in his perceptions of self? • Who seems to be most insightful into character?

Gina and Gregers • Why does Gina feel uncomfortable around Gregers? • Which questions

Gina and Gregers • Why does Gina feel uncomfortable around Gregers? • Which questions make her most uncomfortable? Why? • Why does Gina oppose the idea of renting the room to Gregers?

Ekdal: Father and Son • Both Hjalmar and his father seem to be stunted

Ekdal: Father and Son • Both Hjalmar and his father seem to be stunted in their growth; in their own ways, they become distracted from work, and enter a sort of childlike state. • Is there a clear reason for this behavior, or this sense of denial about reality? • Clearly, in the real world, such people would have difficulty in surviving if their behavior were not enabled by someone. Who enables it? • How should we (that is, does Ibsen manipulate us) understand this help? Should we condemn it? What motivates someone to enable self-destructive behavior?

Symbols and Motifs (Acts I-II) a. The works (and by extension, the forest). Where

Symbols and Motifs (Acts I-II) a. The works (and by extension, the forest). Where are the works and how do they differ from the setting of the play? Who belongs there? What happened there in the past (not only for Old Ekdal but also for Gregers)? b. Eyes, sight, and blindness. Where does it first appear? Who is affected? What can eyes symbolize? Traditionally, what do blind people symbolize in literature, especially Classical drama? What physical diseases can lead to blindness?

The Wild Duck • When is the duck first mentioned? • What aspect of

The Wild Duck • When is the duck first mentioned? • What aspect of the duck’s behavior is described? • Who is associated with the duck? • What is the condition of the duck now? • passage: 182

For Next Time • Finish reading The Wild Duck.

For Next Time • Finish reading The Wild Duck.