When taking Lit and theatre there is a few things you should know:
1. Do all reading no matter if you hate the play or not ( and go to class but that goes with out saying I hope).
2. When in doubt ask- ask about whatever you do not understand. This is very important and Cate is always willing to help.
3. Go to office hours. It makes Cate happy to have company and you get to ask her questions.
4. Go to the writing center !!!!
5. You must have fun in this class - the class is what you make of it but Cate is really cool and makes having fun really easy.
is crap. I dislike the ending of this version even more than the original. Nora and Terry are childish idiots who are so completely focused on appearances it makes me want to vomit. The only scene that I actual like the between Kristien and Raj where they realize they maybe would be better people of they had stayed together- this is the complete opposite of Nora and Terry’s relationship which is toxic to both of them. I am glad I never have to read this play, in any version, again.
I wish I could say I enjoy a more modern version of this play but I do not. This is the second time I have read this version and I still find Nora’s character revolting ( maybe even more so the second time ). Nora is petting and focused mainly on material thing. Nora still knows it is wrong to keep a secret from her husband (especially one if this size) but feels it is the best thing todo. Nora allows Terry to be dominance over her, same as in Ibsen’s version, and is ok with being treated similarly to a child(at least in the first act). I do not understand why she feels it is so important to continue to put on a materialistic show when she knows Terry has an iron fist when it comes to money. I still feel that if Nora came clean and told Terry that she had borrowed the money early on they could have lowered their manner of living and everything would be “fine”. I just can not help but dislike a character that is so …. Shallow? Materialistic? Superficial? Submissive? Manipulative? Weak? - none of these words alone express the correct way I view Nora- maybe it is a mixture of all/some of them but I still dislike her.
(I thought a visual aid would help enhance the before and after of watching the movie version of Marta/Sade)
I have gone from being in the dark and lost to enlightened and enthralled in the matter of two hours.The play as a whole i did not understand when i was reading it. The idea of having a play within a play sounded strange and i could not grasp it just seeing it on paper. I kept wanting to picture this grand play with a huge set and very theatrical- this mead many parts of the play very confusing. Some parts did not translate well due to the fact that they are sung rather than spoken. The rhyme and flow of some areas did not make since until spoken by the character. But most of all the idea that that it is a bunch of crazing people in an asylum acting out the whole play was not fully achieved until I saw the movie. I now think the play is brilliant and completely understand it.
After finishing the play I am still slightly confused. I hope watching it will help because I tend to visualize what I am reading as a play/movie/tv show or what not. This play seems almost impossible todo, thus is giving me a hard time. But I hot i can answer at least the last two questions: “what connections might we be able to make between the ideas expressed in the play and contemporary political events? In other words, despite its depiction of events from the 19th century, and the fact that it was written nearly 50 years ago, is this play relevant to contemporary audiences?”
The play is full of deeper meaning that I believe can be viewed over at any place in history and still be relevant. One thing I kept seeing while reading was oppression and another is trust. During the french revolution both oppression of someone and trust or mistrust in some cases played a huge part. In the end of the 19th century when this play was set oppression can be seen by the fact that it is prisoner in an asylum as actor ( this also plays into the idea of trust and if the audience should really trust what some “crazy’ people are saying). The play it’s self was written in germany after the wake of WWII most people could agree that there was much civil unrest and oppression of one kind or another and mistrust of the government during this time.
Hope this works because I still don’t understand the play.
Trying to compare A Doll House and Mrs.Warren’s Profession is like trying to compare night and day ! While both make the claim that they are for women and to show oppression of women during Victorian area Mrs.Warren’s Profession is the only one out of the two that does it and in an empowering way. While I could not stand A Doll House, Mrs.Warren’s Profession I find enjoyable due the strong female characters. Very nice to have these strong female after Tempest and A Doll House.
The play, Phaedra, is a captivating Greek tragedy about a forbidden love between a Stepmother, Queen Phaedra, and her stepson, Prince Hippolytus. Believing that King Theseus is dead after, the kingdom is seeking a new ruler. Phaedra must form an alliance with Hippolytus to protect her son and prevent Aricia, Athenian princess and Hippolytus’ love, from being returned to the thrown. While trying to set up the alliance, Phaedra confesses her love to Hippolytus and the conversation, ending horridly. When Theseus returns home alive his family is in shambles. What will happen to Theseus’ and his relationships with his family? Will any of them be able to go on as before? Or has this ended it all?
While I am very glad that Nora stood up for herself and realized that her and Torvald’s relationship was awful and that she was nothing more than a possession to him ( which thankfully he admits!) the ending was rather unrealistic. I do not see how Nora could do a 180 with her personality in such a short period of time and have it be realistic. Maybe over a period of years she could change but it happened too fast for me to find it believable.
To me Nora does not have enough personality ( I guess that is the right word) for me to classify her as a real person or women. She is just an odd character that I continually find annoying.
I do not see how it is a “tragedy”.I can see how it is about women’s oppression during the victorian era but outside of that I have a hard time classifying it… Maybe that is due to my lack of theatre background that I don’t “get it” but over all I find the ending rather awful.
![So while reading Mrs.Warren’s Profession I could not shake this idea I has for Mrs. Warren from episode of the Simpsons. Above is a picture of the character. Here is a summary of the episode so we are all on the same page :
“Lisa talks Marge into going to help rescue animals from an oil spill. This leaves Bart and Homer all along and on their own. Bart causes some damage at what the kids call the local “haunted house.” As a punishment, Homer insists that he go there and work to pay for the damage that he caused. Bart discovers the house is actually a burlesque parlor and he begins working there as a stand-up comedian and maitre d’. Marge returns to find what Bart is doing and is angry with Homer so she goes to the owner of the house and tells her to leave Springfield. When that does not work, she goes before the town and tries to get them to bulldoze the place. They all travel to the house with tools of destruction and begin tearing it down, but Homer pleads with them to save the burlesque house and in the process he and everyone breaks into song. The song is so good that it convinces everyone on how valuable the house is to the town. Marge shows up late with a bulldozer. She offers to sing a song in response, but accidentally demolishes the house when she does.” [from http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/The-Simpsons_610/season_8/episode_5/ ]
The description of Mrs. Warren fits this character almost exactly! (“Mrs Warren is between 40 and 50, formerly pretty, showily dressed in a brilliant hat and a gay blouse fitting tightly over her bust and flanked by fashionable sleeves. Rather spoilt and domineering, and decidedly vulgar, but, on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable old blackguard of a woman.”) minus a “gay blouse” and hat her physical description fits. I understand that Mrs. Warren has a vague physical description but thing like her age and being “formerly pretty” help my mental picture. Most importantly the Character has the commanding, no nonsense, take charge personality that Mrs. Warren has.
While I understand this is a cartoon character, I feel it is a perfect match! I really love Mrs. Warren’s character and now thanks to the Simpsons I can’t help but see this whole play as an over dramatic, animated version of “Days of Our Lives”. (and I think this makes me love the play even more)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsp8sndoeo1r2nx8co1_400.jpg)
