Literature in English

Key unit Competence: 

Be able to analyze dramas of the theatre of the absurd with regards to the dramatic techniques and their themes and messages.

Introductory activity     

Observe the picture below and answer questions the questions that follow. 

Questions

Note: Theatre of the absurd is a form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity/ meaninglessness/hopelessness of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development.

The theatre of the absurd took the origin in post-world war II and introduced by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. Their work focused largely on the idea of the Existentialism and expressed what happens when human existence has no mining and people are in hopeless situation. Existentialism refers to a particular view of the nature of man’s existence. The existentialist believes that man starts life with nothing. His life is made up of acts; through the process of acting man becomes conscious of his original nothingness. (J. L Crawford: Acting in Person and in Style). Theatre of the absurd is otherwise referred to as absurdism. Absurd originally means “out of harmony” (in a musical context) – its meaning in the theatre of the absurd is different to the everyday meaning of the word as “ridiculous”Absurd in the context of absurdism can mean:without purpose, illogical, out of harmony, useless, devoid of reason, meaningless, hopeless, chaotic, lacking order or uncertain. 

6.1. Waiting For Godot: Samuel Becket

Activity 6.1.1

Read the play Waiting for Godot and answer the following questions. Describe the theme of the play. 

Note: “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett is an example of the theatre of the absurd. Other plays include; Endgame by Samuel Beckett, Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco, The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco, The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco, The Bald Prima Donna / The Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco, Exit The King by Eugene Ionesco and The Balcony by Jean Genet

The following are the characteristics of the theatre of the absurd; 

Characterization

Dialogue

Stagecraft

Application activity 6.1.

6.2. Dramatic Techniques

6.2.1. Cliché 

Activity 6.2.1

Read the extract below from Waiting for Godot and answer the questions that follow.

Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with both hands, panting. He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before. Enter Vladimir. 

ESTRAGON: (giving up again). Nothing to be done. 

VLADIMIR: (advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart). I’m beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life I’ve tried to put it from me, saying Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven’t yet tried everything. And I resumed the struggle. (He broods, musing on the struggle. Turning to Estragon.)So there you are again. 

ESTRAGON: Am I? 

VLADIMIR: I’m glad to see you back. I thought you were gone forever. 

ESTRAGON: Me too. 

VLADIMIR: Together again at last! We’ll have to celebrate this. But how? (He reflects.)  Get up till I embrace you. 

ESTRAGON: (irritably). Not now, not now. 

VLADIMIR: (hurt, coldly). May one inquire where His Highness spent the night? 

ESTRAGON: In a ditch. 

VLADIMIR: (admiringly). A ditch! Where? 

ESTRAGON: (without gesture). Over there. 

VLADIMIR: And they didn’t beat you? 

ESTRAGON: Beat me? Certainly they beat me. 

VLADIMIR: The same lot as usual? 

ESTRAGON: The same? I don’t know. 

VLADIMIR: When I think of it . . . all these years . . . but for me . . . where would you be . . .           (Decisively.) You’d be nothing more than a little heap of bones at the present minute, no doubt about it. 

ESTRAGON: And what of it? 

VLADIMIR: (gloomily). It’s too much for one man. (Pause. Cheerfully.) On the other hand what’s the good of losing heart now, that’s what I say. We should have thought of it a million years ago, in the nineties. 

ESTRAGON: Ah stop blathering and help me off with this bloody thing. 

VLADIMIR: Hand in hand from the top of the Eiffel Tower, among the first. We were respectable in those days. Now it’s too late. They wouldn’t even let us up. (Estragon tears at his boot.) What are you doing? 

ESTRAGON: Taking off my boot. Did that never happen to you? 

VLADIMIR: Boots must be taken off every day, I’m tired telling you that. Why don’t you listen to me? 

ESTRAGON: (feebly). Help me! 

VLADIMIR: It hurts? 

ESTRAGON: (angrily). Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts! 

VLADIMIR: (angrily). No one ever suffers but you. I don’t count. I’d like to hear what you’d say if you had what I have. 

ESTRAGON: It hurts? 

VLADIMIR: (angrily). Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts! 

ESTRAGON: (pointing). You might button it all the same. 

VLADIMIR: (stooping). True. (He buttons his fly.) Never neglect the little things of life.

ESTRAGON: What do you expect, you always wait till the last moment. 

VLADIMIR: (musingly). The last moment . . . (He meditates.) Hope deferred maketh the something sick, who said that? 

ESTRAGON: Why don’t you help me? 

VLADIMIR: Sometimes I feel it coming all the same. Then I go all queer. (He takes off his hat, peers inside it, feels about inside it, shakes it, puts it on again.) How shall I say? Relieved and at the same time . . . (he searches for the word) . . . appalled. (With emphasis.)

AP-PALLED. (He takes off his hat again, peers inside it.) Funny. (He knocks on the crown as though to dislodge a foreign body, peers into it again, puts it on again.) Nothing to be done. (Estragon with a supreme effort succeeds in pulling off his boot. He peers inside it, feels about inside it, turns it upside down, shakes it, looks on the ground to see if anything has fallen out, finds nothing, feels inside it again, staring sightlessly before him.) Well? 

ESTRAGON: Nothing. VLADIMIR: Show me. 

ESTRAGON: There’s nothing to show. 

VLADIMIR: Try and put it on again. 

ESTRAGON: (examining his foot). I’ll air it for a bit. 

VLADIMIR: There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet. (He takes off his hat again, peers inside it, feels about inside it, knocks on the crown, blows into it, puts it on again.) This is getting alarming. (Silence. Vladimir deep in thought, Estragon pulling at his toes.) One of the thieves was saved. (Pause.) It’s a reasonable percentage. (Pause.) Gogo.

Questions

Note: Cliché is an expression, idea or element of artistic work which has become overused to the points of losing its original meaning or effect .

Here are some examples of Clichés

Playwrights use clichéses pecially in dialogues to show a character’s tiredness, or perhaps even for humorous effect. Clichés are not limited to expressions only. There can be clichéd characters, plot lines, and settings. For example, in Waiting for Godot, the personalities of the characters are so clichéd because the same characters are “overused.” The effect of using clichés generally closes the mind of the reader down in that it doesn’t present images in a new way or challenge the reader to imagine possibilities that he or she has never imagined before. 

Application activity 6.2.1

Below, is an extract from Henrick Ibsen’s An Enemy of the people. Read it and answer the questions.

ACT V- SCENE ONE 

(SCENE.—DR. STOCKMANN’S study. Bookcases and cabinets containing specimens, line the walls. At the back is a door leading to the hall; in the foreground on the left, a door leading to the sitting-room. In the righthand wall are two windows, of which all the panes are broken. The DOCTOR’S desk, littered with books and papers, stands in the middle of the room, which is in disorder. It is morning. DR. STOCKMANN in dressing-gown, slippers and a smoking-cap, is bending down and raking with an umbrella under one of the cabinets. After a little while he rakes out a stone.) 

Dr. Stockmann (calling through the open sitting-room door): Katherine, I have found another one. 

Mrs . Stockmann (from the sitting-room): Oh, you will find a lot more yet, I expect. 

Dr. Stockmann (adding the stone to a heap of others on the table): I shall treasure these stones as relics. Ejlif and Morten shall look at them every day, and when they are grown up they shall inherit them as heirlooms. (Rakes about under a bookcase.) Hasn’t—what the deuce is her name?—the girl, you know—hasn’t she been to fetch the glazier yet? 

Mrs . Stockmann (coming in): Yes, but he said he didn’t know if he would be able to come today. 

Dr . Stockmann: You will see he won’t dare to come. 

Mrs . Stockmann: Well, that is just what Randine thought—that he didn’t dare to, on account of the neighbours. (Calls into the sitting-room.) 

What is it you want, Randine? Give it to me. (Goes in, and comes out again directly.) Here is a letter for you, Thomas. 

Dr . Stockmann: Let me see it. (Opens and reads it.) Ah!—of course. 

Mrs . Stockmann: Who is it from? 

Mrs . Stockmann: Who is it from? 

Mrs. Stockmann: Is it possible? Such a nice man 

Dr .Stockmann (looking at the letter): Does not dare do otherwise, he says. Doesn’t like doing it, but dare not do otherwise—on account of his fellow-citizens—out of regard for public opinion. Is in a dependent position—dares not offend certain influential men. 

Mrs . Stockmann: There, you see, Thomas! 

Dr. Stockmann: Yes, yes, I see well enough; the whole lot of them in the town are cowards; not a man among them dares do anything for fear of the others. (Throws the letter on to the table.) But it doesn’t matter to us, Katherine. We are going to sail away to the New World, and— 

Mrs . Stockmann: But, Thomas, are you sure we are well advised to take this step? 

Dr . Stockmann: Are you suggesting that I should stay here, where they have pilloried me as an enemy of the people—branded me—broken my windows! And just look here, Katherine—they have torn a great rent in my black trousers too! 

Mrs . Stockmann: Oh, dear! —and they are the best pair you have got! 

Dr . Stockmann: You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth. It is not that I care so much about the trousers, you know; you can always sew them up again for me. But that the common herd should dare to make this attack on me, as if they were my equals—that is what I cannot, for the life of me, swallow! 

Mrs . Stockmann: There is no doubt they have behaved very ill toward you, Thomas; but is that sufficient reason for our leaving our native country for good and all? 

Dr . Stockmann: If we went to another town, do you suppose we should not find the common people just as insolent as they are here? Depend upon it, there is not much to choose between them. Oh, well, let the curs snap—that is not the worst part of it. The worst is that, from one end of this country to the other, every man is the slave of his Party. Although, as far as that goes, I daresay it is not much better in the free West either; the compact majority, and liberal public opinion, and all that infernal old bag of tricks are probably rampant there too. But there things are done on a larger scale, you see. They may kill you, but they won’t put you to death by slow torture. They don’t squeeze a free man’s soul in a vice, as they do here. And, if need be, one can live in solitude. (Walks up and down.) If only I knew where there was a virgin forest or a small South Sea island for sale, cheap— 

Mrs . Stockmann: But think of the boys, Thomas! 

Dr . Stockmann (standing still): What a funny woman you are, Katherine! Would you prefer to have the boys grow up in a society like this? You saw for yourself last night that half the population are out of their minds; and if the other half have not lost their senses, it is because they are mere brutes, with no sense to lose. 

Mrs . Stockmann: But, Thomas dear, the imprudent things you said had something to do with it, you know. 

Dr . Stockmann: Well, isn’t what I said perfectly true? Don’t they turn every idea topsy-turvy? Don’t they make a regular hotchpotchof right and wrong? Don’t they say that the things I know are true, are lies? The craziest part of it all is the fact of these “liberals,” men of full age, going about in crowds imagining that they are the broad-minded party! Did you ever hear anything like it, Katherine! 

Mrs . Stockmann: Yes, yes, it’s mad enough of them, certainly; but— (PETRA comes in from the silting-room). Back from school already? 

Questions

1. When and where does this scene take place? 

2. Describe the atmosphere at Dr.Stockman’s compound. 

3. Explain the meaning of “You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.” How do we call this dramatic technique? 

4. What kind of freedom or truth is Dr. Stokman is fighting for? 

5. Identify other dramatic techniques used in this extract. 

6. Who is referred to as an enemy of the people? Justify your answer. 

7. Compare and contrast Henrick Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the people” with Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot”.

6.2.2. Word play

Activity 6.2.2

Read the extract below from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and answer the questions.

ESTRAGON: What? 

VLADIMIR: Suppose we repented. 

ESTRAGON: Repented what? 

VLADIMIR: Oh . . . (He reflects.) We wouldn’t have to go into the details. 

ESTRAGON: Our being born? Vladimir breaks into a hearty laugh which he immediately stifles, his hand pressed to his pubis, his face contorted. 

VLADIMIR: One daren’t even laugh any more. 

ESTRAGON: Dreadful privation.  

VLADIMIR: Merely smile. (He smiles suddenly from ear to ear, keeps smiling, ceases as suddenly.) It’s not the same thing. Nothing to be done. (Pause.) Gogo. 

ESTRAGON: (irritably). What is it? 

VLADIMIR: Did you ever read the Bible? 

ESTRAGON: The Bible . . . (He reflects.) I must have taken a look at it. 

VLADIMIR: Do you remember the Gospels? 

ESTRAGON: I remember the maps of the Holy Land. Coloured they were. Very pretty. The Dead Sea was pale blue. The very look of it made me thirsty. That’s where we’ll go, I used to say, that’s where we’ll go for our honeymoon. We’ll swim. We’ll be happy. 

VLADIMIR: You should have been a poet. 

ESTRAGON: I was. (Gesture towards his rags.) Isn’t that obvious? Silence. 

VLADIMIR: Where was I . . . How’s your foot? 

ESTRAGON: Swelling visibly. 

VLADIMIR: Ah yes, the two thieves. Do you remember the story? 

ESTRAGON: No. 

VLADIMIR: Shall I tell it to you? 

ESTRAGON: No. 

VLADIMIR: It’ll pass the time. (Pause.) Two thieves, crucified at the same time as our Saviour. One— 

ESTRAGON: Our what? 

VLADIMIR: Our Saviour. Two thieves. One is supposed to have been saved and the other . . . (he searches for the contrary of saved) . . . damned. 

ESTRAGON: Saved from what? 

VLADIMIR: Hell. 

ESTRAGON: I’m going. He does not move. 

VLADIMIR: And yet . . . (pause) . . . how is it –this is not boring you I hope– how is it that of the four Evangelists only one speaks of a thief being saved. The four of them were there –or thereabouts– and only one speaks of a thief being saved. (Pause.) Come on, Gogo, return the ball, can’t you, once in a way? 

ESTRAGON: (with exaggerated enthusiasm). I find this really most extraordinarily interesting. VLADIMIR: One out of four. Of the other three, two don’t mention any thieves at all and the third says that both of them abused him. 

ESTRAGON: Who? 

VLADIMIR: What? 

ESTRAGON: What’s all this about? Abused who? VLADIMIR: The Saviour. 

ESTRAGON: Why? VLADIMIR: Because he wouldn’t save them. 

ESTRAGON: From hell? VLADIMIR: Imbecile! From death. 

ESTRAGON: I thought you said hell. VLADIMIR: From death, from death. 

ESTRAGON: Well what of it? VLADIMIR: Then the two of them must have been damned. 

ESTRAGON: And why not? VLADIMIR: But one of the four says that one of the two was saved. 

ESTRAGON: Well? They don’t agree and that’s all there is to it. VLADIMIR: But all four were there. And only one speaks of a thief being saved. Why believe him rather than the others? 

ESTRAGON: Who believes him? VLADIMIR: Everybody. It’s the only version they know. 

ESTRAGON: People are bloody ignorant apes. 

He rises painfully, goes limping to extreme left, halts, gazes into distance off with his hand screening his eyes, turns, goes to extreme right, gazes into distance. Vladimir watches him, then goes and picks up the boot, peers into it, drops it hastily. 

Questions

1. Who is Didi and Gogo ? 

2. At the beginning of this extract, Estragon and Vladimir engaged in a heated argument about repenting. What does repentance symbolize in this play? 

3. Identify lines in the play where the playwright uses biblical allusions. 

4. In this extract, the characters had an argument below:

5. Estragon: from hell  Vladimir: Imbecile! From death 

    Estragon: I thought you said hell.  

    Vladimir: From death, From death. 

   a) Why do you think the playwright uses a repetitive language throughout the play? 

   b) How do we call this dramatic technique?

Note: Wordplay is a dramatic technique and a form of wit in which the playwright uses repetitive words to become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. 

Application activity 6.2.2

Read the extract below from Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and answer questions that follow.

TITUBA ( Shoked and angry): Abby! 

ABIGAIL: She makes me drink blood! 

PARRIS: Blood!! Mrs Put’m my baby’s blood? 

TITUBA: No, no, Chicken blood. I give she chicken blood! 

HALE: Woman, have you enlisted those children for the devils? 

TITUBA: no, no sir, I don’t track with a devil! 

HALE: Why can she not wake? Are you silencing this child? 

TITUBA: I love me Betty! 

HALE: You have sent your spirit out upon this child, have you not? Are you gathering souls for the devil? 

ABIGAIL: She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer! 

PARRIS: She has often laughed at prayer! 

ABIGAIL: She comes to me every night to go and drink blood! 

TITUBA: You beg me to conjure! She beg me make charm

ABIGAIL: Don’t lie! (to Hale) she comes to me while I sleep; she is always making me dream corruptions! 

TITUBA: Why you say that, Abby?

ABIGAIL: Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and a stic on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her barbados song and tempting me with- 

TITUBA: Mister Reverend,I never

HALE( resolved now): Tituba, I  want you to wake this child. 

TITUBA: I have no power on this child sir.

HALE: You most certainly do, and you will free her from it now! When did you compact with the devil?

TITUBA: I don’t compact with no devil! 

PARRIS: You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba! PUTNAM: This woman must be hanged! She must be taken and hanged! 

TITUBA (Terrified falls to her knees): No,no don’t hang Tituba. I tell him I don’t desire to work for him, sir. 

PARRIS: The devil? 

HALE: Then you saw him! (Tituba weeps) Now Tituba, I know that when we bind ourselves to hell it is very hard to break with it. We are going to help you tear yourself free

                                                 Source: Arthur Miller .1956. The crucible, Heinemann, England.

Questions: 

6.2.3. Nonsense

Activity 6.2.3

Read the following excerpt and answer questions.

VLADIMIR: Pah! He spits. Estragon moves to center, halts with his back to auditorium. 

ESTRAGON: Charming spot. (He turns, advances to front, halts facing auditorium.) Inspiring prospects. (He turns to Vladimir.) Let’s go. 

VLADIMIR: We can’t. 

ESTRAGON: Why not?  

VLADIMIR: We’re waiting for Godot. 

ESTRAGON: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause.) You’re sure it was here? VLADIMIR: What? 

ESTRAGON: That we were to wait. 

VLADIMIR: He said by the tree. (They look at the tree.) Do you see any others? 

ESTRAGON: What is it? 

VLADIMIR: I don’t know. A willow. 

ESTRAGON: Where are the leaves? 

VLADIMIR: It must be dead. 

ESTRAGON: No more weeping. 

VLADIMIR: Or perhaps it’s not the season. 

ESTRAGON: Looks to me more like a bush. 

VLADIMIR: A shrub. 

ESTRAGON: A bush. 

VLADIMIR: A—. What are you insinuating? That we’ve come to the wrong place? 

ESTRAGON: He should be here. 

VLADIMIR: He didn’t say for sure he’d come. 

ESTRAGON: And if he doesn’t come? 

VLADIMIR: We’ll come back tomorrow. 

ESTRAGON: And then the day after tomorrow. 

VLADIMIR: Possibly. 

ESTRAGON: And so on. 

VLADIMIR: The point is— 

ESTRAGON: Until he comes. 

VLADIMIR: You’re merciless. 

ESTRAGON: We came here yesterday. 

VLADIMIR: Ah no, there you’re mistaken. 

ESTRAGON: What did we do yesterday? 

VLADIMIR: What did we do yesterday? 

ESTRAGON: Yes. 

VLADIMIR: Why . . . (Angrily.) Nothing is certain when you’re about. 

ESTRAGON: In my opinion we were here. 

VLADIMIR: (looking round). You recognize the place? 

ESTRAGON: I didn’t say that. 

VLADIMIR: Well? 

ESTRAGON: That makes no difference . 

VLADIMIR: All the same . . . that tree . . . (turning towards auditorium) that bog . . . 

ESTRAGON: You’re sure it was this evening? 

VLADIMIR: What? 

ESTRAGON: That we were to wait. 

VLADIMIR: He said Saturday. (Pause.) I think. 

ESTRAGON: You think. 

VLADIMIR: I must have made a note of it. (He fumbles in his pockets, bursting with miscellaneous rubbish.) 

ESTRAGON: (very insidious). But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is it not rather Sunday? (Pause.) Or Monday? (Pause.) Or Friday? 

VLADIMIR: (looking wildly about him, as though the date was inscribed in the landscape). It’s not possible! 

ESTRAGON: Or Thursday? 

VLADIMIR: What’ll we do? 

ESTRAGON: If he came yesterday and we weren’t here you may be sure he won’t come again today. 

VLADIMIR: But you say we were here yesterday. 

ESTRAGON: I may be mistaken. (Pause.) Let’s stop talking for a minute, do you mind? 

VLADIMIR: (feebly). All right. (Estragon sits down on the mound. Vladimir paces agitatedly to and fro, halting from time to time to gaze into distance off. Estragon falls asleep. Vladimir halts finally before Estragon.) Gogo! . . . Gogo! . . . GOGO! Estragon wakes with a start.

Questions

Note: Nonsense is a dramatic technique used in communication, through speech,         writing or any other symbolic system that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in normal usage nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous.   

Many playwrights use nonsense in their works, often creating entire work using it for reasons ranging from pure comic amusement or satire, to illustrate the point about language or reasoning. 

Application Activity 6.2.3

Read the excerpt below from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and answer the questions. 

SCENE III.

CICERO: Good even, Casca: brought you Caesar home? 

                Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?

CASCA : Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth 

CICERO :Why, saw you anything more wonderful?

CASCA : A common slave--you know him well by sight-- 

CICERO : Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time: 

CASCA : He doth; for he did bid Antonius Send word to you he would be there to-morrow.

CICERO : Good night then, Casca: this disturbed sky Is not to walk in.

CASCA : Farewell, Cicero.

Exit CICERO

Enter CASSIUS

CASSIUS : Who’s there?

CASCA : A Roman.

CASSIUS : Casca, by your voice.

CASCA : Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this!

CASSIUS : A very pleasing night to honest men.

CASCA : Who ever knew the heavens menace so?

CASSIUS : Those that have known the earth so full of faults. 

                    For my part, I have walk’d about the streets, 

CASCA : But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens? 

CASSIUS : You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life 

CASCA :’Tis Caesar that you mean; is it not, Cassius?

CASSIUS : Let it be who it is: for Romans now Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors; 

CASCA : Indeed, they say the senators tomorrow 

CASSIUS : I know where I will wear this dagger then; 

Thunder still

CASCA : So can I: So every bondman in his own hand bears 

CASSIUS : And why should Caesar be a tyrant then? 

CASCA : You speak to Casca, and to such a man 

CASSIUS : There’s a bargain made. 

CASCA : Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.

CASSIUS :’Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait; He is a friend.

Enter CINNA

Cinna, where haste you so?

CINNA : To find out you. Who’s that? MetellusCimber?

CASSIUS : No, it is Casca; one incorporate To our attempts. Am I not stay’d for, Cinna?

CINNA : I am glad on ‘t. What a fearful night is this! There’s two or three of us have seen strange sights.

CASSIUS: Am I not stay’d for? tell me.

CINNA: Yes, you are. 

O Cassius, if you could But win the noble Brutus to our party-

CASSIUS : Be you content: good Cinna, take this paper,

CINNA: All but Metellus Cimber; and he’s gone 

CASSIUS: That done, repair to Pompey’s theatre.

Exit CINNA

CASCA: O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts: 

CASCA: O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts: 

Source: William Shakepeare . 2012. Julius Caesar: Laxmi Publication, Dehli.

Questions

6.2.4. Cyclical Plot

Activity 6.2.4 

Read the extract below from Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and answer questions.

VLADIMIR: Words words. (Pause.) Speak. 

BOY: (in a rush). Mr. Godot told me to tell you he won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow. Silence. 

VLADIMIR: Is that all? 

BOY: Yes Sir. Silence. 

VLADIMIR: You work for Mr. Godot? 

BOY: Yes Sir. 

VLADIMIR: What do you do? 

BOY: I mind the goats, Sir. 

VLADIMIR: Is he good to you? 

BOY: Yes Sir. 

VLADIMIR: He doesn’t beat you? 

BOY: No Sir, not me. 

VLADIMIR: Whom does he beat? 

BOY: He beats my brother, Sir. 

VLADIMIR: Ah, you have a brother? 

BOY: Yes Sir. 

VLADIMIR: What does he do? 

BOY: He minds the sheep, Sir. 

VLADIMIR: And why doesn’t he beat you? 

BOY: I don’t know, Sir. 

VLADIMIR: He must be fond of you. 

BOY: I don’t know, Sir. Silence. 

VLADIMIR: Does he give you enough to eat? (The Boy hesitates.) Does he feed you well? 

BOY:Fairly well, Sir. 

VLADIMIR: You’re not unhappy? (The Boy hesitates.) Do you hear me? 

BOY: Yes Sir. 

VLADIMIR: Well? 

BOY: I don’t know, Sir. 

VLADIMIR: You don’t know if you’re unhappy or not? 

BOY: No Sir. 

VLADIMIR: You’re as bad as myself. (Silence.) Where do you sleep? 

BOY: In the loft, Sir. 

VLADIMIR: With your brother? 

BOY: Yes Sir. 

VLADIMIR: In the hay? 

BOY: Yes Sir. Silence. 

VLADIMIR: All right, you may go. 

BOY: What am I to tell Mr. Godot, Sir?  

VLADIMIR: Tell him . . . (he hesitates) . . . tell him you saw us. (Pause.) You did see us, didn’t you? 

BOY: Yes Sir. He steps back, hesitates, turns and exit running. The light suddenly fails. In a moment it is night. The moon rises at back, mounts in the sky, stands still, shedding a pale light on the scene. 

VLADIMIR: At last! (Estragon gets up and goes towards Vladimir, a boot in each hand. He puts them down at edge of stage, straightens and contemplates the moon.) # What are you doing? 

ESTRAGON: Pale for weariness. 

VLADIMIR: Eh? 

ESTRAGON: Of climbing heaven and gazing on the likes of us. 

VLADIMIR: Your boots, what are you doing with your boots? 

ESTRAGON: (turning to look at the boots). I’m leaving them there. (Pause.) Another will come, just as . . . as . . . as me, but with smaller feet, and they’ll make him happy. 

VLADIMIR: But you can’t go barefoot! 

ESTRAGON: Christ did. 

VLADIMIR: Christ! What has Christ got to do with it. You’re not going to compare yourself to Christ! 

ESTRAGON: All my life I’ve compared myself to him. 

VLADIMIR: But where he lived it was warm, it was dry! 

ESTRAGON: Yes. And they crucified quick. Silence. 

VLADIMIR: We’ve nothing more to do here. 

ESTRAGON: Nor anywhere else. 

VLADIMIR: Ah Gogo, don’t go on like that. Tomorrow everything will be better. 

ESTRAGON: How do you make that out? 

VLADIMIR: Did you not hear what the child said? 

ESTRAGON: No. 

VLADIMIR: He said that Godot was sure to come tomorrow. (Pause.) What do you say to that? 

ESTRAGON: Then all we have to do is to wait on here. 

VLADIMIR: Are you mad? We must take cover. (He takes Estragon by the arm.) Come on. He draws Estragon after him. Estragon yields, then resists. They halt. 

ESTRAGON:(looking at the tree). Pity we haven’t got a bit of rope. 

VLADIMIR: Come on. It’s cold. He draws Estragon after him. As before. 

ESTRAGON: Remind me to bring a bit of rope tomorrow. 

VLADIMIR: Yes. Come on. He draws him after him. As before. 

ESTRAGON: How long have we been together all the time now? 

VLADIMIR: I don’t know. Fifty years maybe. 

ESTRAGON: Do you remember the day I threw myself into the Rhone? 

VLADIMIR: We were grape harvesting. 

ESTRAGON: You fished me out. 

VLADIMIR: That’s all dead and buried. 

ESTRAGON: My clothes dried in the sun. 

VLADIMIR: There’s no good harking back on that. Come on. He draws him after him.  As before. 

ESTRAGON: Wait! 

VLADIMIR: I’m cold! 

ESTRAGON: Wait! (He moves away from Vladimir.) I sometimes wonder if we wouldn’t have been better off alone, each one for himself. (He crosses the stage and sits down on the mound.) We weren’t made for the same road. 

VLADIMIR: (without anger). It’s not certain. 

ESTRAGON: No, nothing is certain. Vladimir slowly crosses the stage and sits down beside Estragon. 

VLADIMIR: We can still part, if you think it would be better. 

ESTRAGON: It’s not worthwhile now. Silence. 

VLADIMIR: No, it’s not worthwhile now. Silence. 

ESTRAGON: Well, shall we go? 

VLADIMIR: Yes, let’s go. They do not move. 

                                                         Curtain.    

Questions

Note:  Cyclical plot refers to the way a writer arrange the events of the story provided that the plot typically begins and ends in the same or similar place and time.

For this, it has circular causality which refers to a series of events where each one is caused by another before it, and the first one is caused by the last.   

Application Activity 6.2.4

Read the extract below from the play An enemy of the people and answer the questions.

ACT V

Dr . Stockmann (grasping his hand): Thank you, thank you! That is one trouble over! Now I can set to work in earnest at once. There is an endless amount of things to look through here, Katherine! Luckily I shall have all my time at my disposal; because I have been dismissed from the Baths, you know.

Mrs . Stockmann (with a sigh): Oh yes, I expected that. 

Dr . Stockmann .:And they want to take my practice away from me too. Let them! I have got the poor people to fall back upon, anyway—those that don’t pay anything; and, after all, they need me most, too. But, by Jove, they will have to listen to me; I shall preach to them in season and out of season, as it says somewhere. 

Mrs . Stockmann: But, dear Thomas, I should have thought events had showed you what use it is to preach. 

Dr . Stockmann: You are really ridiculous, Katherine. Do you want me to let myself be beaten off the field by public opinion and the compact majority and all that devilry? No, thank you! And what I want to do is so simple and clear and straightforward. I only want to drum into the heads of these curs the fact that the liberals are the most insidious enemies of freedom—that party programmes strangle every young and vigorous truth—that considerations of expediency turn morality and justice upside down—and that they will end by making life here unbearable. Don’t you think, Captain Horster, that I ought to be able to make people understand that? 

Horster: Very likely; I don’t know much about such things myself. 

Dr. Stockmann: Well, look here—I will explain! It is the party leaders that must be exterminated. A party leader is like a wolf, you see—like a voracious wolf. He requires a certain number of smaller victims to prey upon every year, if he is to live. Just look at Hovstad and Aslaksen! How many smaller victims have they not put an end to—or at any rate maimed and mangled until they are fit for nothing except to be householders or subscribers to the “People’s Messenger”! (Sits down on the edge of the table.) Come here, Katherine—look how beautifully the sun shines to-day! And this lovely spring air I am drinking in! 

Mrs. Stockmann: Yes, if only we could live on sunshine and spring air, Thomas.

Dr . Stockmann: Oh, you will have to pinch and save a bit—then we shall get along. That gives me very little concern. What is much worse is, that I know of no one who is liberal-minded and high-minded enough to venture to take up my work after me.

Petra: Don’t think about that, father; you have plenty of time before you.—Hello, here are the boys already!  

(EJLIF and MORTEN come in from the sitting-room.) 

Mrs . Stockmann: Have you got a holiday? 

Morten: No; but we were fighting with the other boys between lessons— 

Ejlif: That isn’t true; it was the other boys were fighting with us. 

Morten: Well, and then Mr. Rorlund said we had better stay at home for a day or two. 

Dr . Stockmann (snapping his fingers and getting up from the table): I have it! I have it, by Jove! You shall never set foot in the school again! 

The Boys: No more school! 

Mrs . Stockmann: But, Thomas— 

Dr . Stockmann: Never, I say. I will educate you myself; that is to say, you shan’t learn a blessed thing— 

Morten: Hooray! 

Dr . Stockmann: —but I will make liberal-minded and high-minded men of you. You must help me with that, Petra. 

Petra: Yes, father, you may be sure I will. 

Dr . Stockmann: And my school shall be in the room where they insulted me and called me an enemy of the people. But we are too few as we are; I must have at least twelve boys to begin with. 

Mrs . Stockmann: You will certainly never get them in this town. 

Dr . Stockmann: We shall. (To the boys.) Don’t you know any street urchins—regular ragamuffins—? 

Morten: Yes, father, I know lots! 

Dr . Stockmann: That’s capital! Bring me some specimens of them. I am going to experiment with curs, just for once; there may be some exceptional heads among them. 

Morten: And what are we going to do, when you have made liberal-minded and high-minded men of us?

Dr . Stockmann: Then you shall drive all the wolves out of the country, my boys!  

(EJLIF looks rather doubtful about it; MORTEN jumps about crying “Hurrah!”) 

Mrs . Stockmann: Let us hope it won’t be the wolves that will drive you out of the country, Thomas. 

Dr. Stockmann. Are you out of your mind, Katherine? Drive me out! Now—when I am the strongest man in the town! 

Mrs. Stockmann. The strongest—now? 

Dr . Stockmann: Yes, and I will go so far as to say that now I am the strongest man in the whole world. 

Morten: I say! 

Dr. Stockmann (lowering his voice): Hush! You mustn’t say anything about it yet; but I have made a great discovery. 

Mrs . Stockmann: Another one? 

Dr . Stockmann: Yes. (Gathers them round him, and says confidentially It is this, let me tell you—that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone. 

Mrs . Stockmann (smiling and shaking her head): Oh, Thomas, Thomas! 

Petra (encouragingly, as she grasps her father’s hands): Father!

Henrik Ibsen . 1982 . An Enemy of the People, East African Education Publishers .  Norwegian .  

Questions

Read the play The Crucible and answer the following questions. 

Questions

6.2. 5. Character pairs

Activity 6.2.5

Read the extract below and answer the questions that follow.

VLADIMIR: The essential doesn’t change. 

ESTRAGON: Nothing to be done. (He proffers the remains of the carrot to Vladimir.) Like to finish it? A terrible cry, close at hand. Estragon drops the carrot. They remain motionless, then together make a sudden rush towards the wings. Estragon stops halfway, runs back, picks up the carrot, stuffs it in his pocket, runs to rejoin Vladimir who is waiting for him, stops again, runs back, picks up his boot, runs to rejoin Vladimir. Huddled together, shoulders hunched, cringing away from the menace, they wait.

Enter Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo drives Lucky by means of a rope passed round his neck, so that Lucky is the first to enter, followed by the rope which is long enough to let him reach the middle of the stage before Pozzo appears. Lucky carries a heavy bag, a folding stool, a picnic basket and a greatcoat, Pozzo a whip. 

POZZO: (off). On! (Crack of whip. Pozzo appears. They cross the stage. Lucky passes before Vladimir and Estragon and exit. Pozzo at the sight of Vladimir and Estragon stops short. The rope tautens. Pozzo jerks at it violently.) Back! Noise of Lucky falling with all his baggage. Vladimir and Estragon turn towards him, half wishing half fearing to go to his assistance. Vladimir takes a step towards Lucky, Estragon holds him back by the sleeve. 

VLADIMIR: Let me go! 

ESTRAGON: Stay where you are! 

POZZO: Be careful! He’s wicked. (Vladimir and Estragon turn towards Pozzo.) With strangers. 

ESTRAGON: (undertone). Is that him? 

VLADIMIR: Who? 

ESTRAGON: (trying to remember the name). Er . . . 

VLADIMIR: Godot? 

ESTRAGON: Yes. 

POZZO: I present myself: Pozzo. 

VLADIMIR: (to Estragon). Not at all! 

ESTRAGON: He said Godot. 

VLADIMIR: Not at all! 

ESTRAGON: (timidly, to Pozzo). You’re not Mr. Godot, Sir? 

POZZO: (terrifying voice). I am Pozzo! (Silence.) Pozzo! (Silence.) Does that name mean nothing to you? (Silence.) I say does that name mean nothing to you? Vladimir and Estragon look at each other questioningly. 

ESTRAGON: (pretending to search).Bozzo . . . Bozzo . . . 

VLADIMIR: (ditto). Pozzo . . . Pozzo . . . POZZO: PPPOZZZO! 

ESTRAGON: Ah! Pozzo . . . let me see . . . Pozzo . . . 

VLADIMIR: Is it Pozzo or Bozzo? 

ESTRAGON: Pozzo . . . no . . . I’m afraid I . . . no . . . I don’t seem to . . . Pozzo advances threateningly. 

VLADIMIR: (conciliating). I once knew a family called Gozzo. The mother had the clap. 

ESTRAGON: (hastily). We’re not from these parts, Sir. 

POZZO: (halting). You are human beings none the less. (He puts on his glasses.)  As far as one can see. (He takes off his glasses.) Of the same species as myself. (He bursts into an enormous laugh.) Of the same species as Pozzo! Made in God’s image!

Questions

1. Describe one character trait of the characters in this extract. 

2. Describe two characteristics in this extract, those who have the same purpose and intention. 

3. With examples from the extract, illustrate how the arrival of Pozzo in this scene frightened Vladimir and Estragon.

Note: In drama, when constructing character, we always begin by pairing the two (and often only) main character, protagonist and antagonist. Those characters must both want the same thing, but nevertheless be bitterly opposed. In the play Waiting for Godot, everything is paired except Godot. For example, the play itself is made of two acts only. The characters, Vladimir and Estragon, the two thieves, Pozzo and Lucky, the Boy and his brother, Cain and Abel. 

They are so different but yet so perfect for each other. These men have very different types of intelligence. Vladimir is the more intellectual, Estragon the more emotional. Vladimir tries to function on a logical base; Estragon has clearly given that up. Thus we can say that they cannot exist without each other, because one represents body and one mind.

Application activity 6.2.5 

Read this extract from The Caucasian Chalk Circle and answer the questions. 

Act 1 Scene one

A FAT PRINCE steps forward and greets the family 

THE FAT PRINCE: happy Easter, NatellaAbashwili! What day! Whaen it was raining last night, I thought to myself, gloomy holidays! But this morning the sky was gay. I love a gay sky, a simple heart,NatellaAbashwili. And a little Michael is a governor from head to foot! Tititi! (He tickle s the child.) 

THE GOVERNOR’S WIFE: What do you think, Arsen,at last Georgi has started building the east wind. All those wretched slums are to be torn down to make room to the garden.

THE FAT PRINCE: Good new after so much bad! What’s the latest on the war, brother Georgi? ( the governor indicate the lack of interest.) Strategical retreat, I hear. Well, minor reverses are to be expected. Sometimes things go well, sometimes not. Such is war. Doesn’t mean a thing, does it? 

THE GOVERNOR’S WIFE: His coughing. Georgi, did you hear? (She speaks sharply to the doctor, two dignified men standing close to the little carriage.) he is coughing! 

THE FIRST DOCTOR: ( to the second) May I remind you, Niko Mikadze, that I was against the lukewarm bath? (to the governor’s wife)  there has been a little error over warming the bath water,  your grace.

THE SECOND DOCTOR: ( equally polite) Mika Loladze I’m afraid I can’t agree with you. The Temperature of the bath water was exactly what our great, beloved MishipoOboladze. Prescribed more likely a slight draught. During the night your grace.  

THE GOVERNOR’S WIFE: But pay more attention to him.  He looks feverish, Georgi. 

THE FIRST DOCTOR: ( bending over the child) No cause for alarm, your grace. The bath water will be warmer it won’t occur again. 

THE  SECOND DOCTOR: ( with a venomous glance at the first) I won’t forget that my dear Mika Loladze. No cause for concern, your grace. 

THE FAT PRINCE: Well, well, well! I always say: a pain in my liver? Then the doctor get fifty strokes on the soles  of his feet. We live in a decadent age. Old days one say: off with his head! 

THE GOVERNOR’S WIFE:  Let’s go into church. Very likely it’s the draught here. The procession of FAMILY and SERVANTturns into the doorway.. THE FAT PRINCE follows, but the GOVERNOR’S is kept back by ADJUTANT, a handsome young man. When the crowd of PETITIONERS has been driven off a young dust stained rider, hisarm  in a sling , remains behind.

THE ADJUTANT: (pointing at THE RIDER, who steps forward ) won’t you hear the messenger from the capital, your excellency? He arrived this morning.With confidential papers. 

THE GOVERNOR:  Not before service, Shalva. But did you hear brother Kazbeki wish me a Happy Easter? 

Which is all very well, but I don’t believe it did rain last night. 

ADJUTANT ( Nodding. ) we must investigate. 

THE GOVERNOR: Yes, at once. Tomorrow.

They pass through the doorway. THE RIDER, who has waited in vain for an audience, turns sharply round and, muttering a curse goes off. Only one of the palace guardsSimon Shashava- remains at the door. 

Source: Bertolt Brecht. 1981. The Caucasian Chalk Circle,p.9-11

Questions

6.2.6. Use of Tableau

Activity 6.2.6

Critically observe this picture and answer questions that follow.

Questions

Note: Tableau  is dramatic picture used as a style of artistic presentation. It most often describes a group of suitably costumed actors. Tableau is usually used to describe a vivid living scene where actors are posed silently without moving.  

In a tableau, participants make still images with their bodies to represent a scene. A tableau can be used to quickly establish a scene that involves a large number of characters. Because there is no movement, a tableau is easier to manage than a whole-group improvisation – yet can easily lead into extended drama activities. It can be used to explore a particular moment in a drama or story or to replicate a photograph or artwork for deeper analysis.

Application activity 6.2.6 

Read the extract from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and answer questions. 

SCENE II.

A public place. 

Flourish. Enter CAESAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer 

CAESAR : Calpurnia! 

CASCA: Peace, ho! Caesar speaks. 

CAESAR: Calpurnia! 

CALPURNIA: Here, my lord. 

CAESAR: Stand you directly in Antonius’ way, When he doth run his course. Antonius! 

ANTONY: Caesar, my lord? 

CAESAR: Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their sterile curse.

ANTONY: I shall remember: When Caesar says ‘do this,’ it is perform’d. 

CAESAR: Set on; and leave no ceremony out. Flourish Soothsayer: Caesar! 

CAESAR: Ha! who calls? 

CASCA: Bid every noise be still: peace yet again! 

CAESAR: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry ‘Caesar!’ Speak; Caesar is turn’d to hear. 

Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March. 

CAESAR: What man is that? 

BRUTUS: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. 

CAESAR: Set him before me; let me see his face. 

CASSIUS: Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. 

CAESAR: What say’st thou to me now? speak once again. Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March. 

CAESAR: He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass. Sennet. Exeunt all except BRUTUS and CASSIUS 

CASSIUS: Will you go see the order of the course? 

BRUTUS: Not I. 

CASSIUS: I pray you, do. 

BRUTUS: I am not gamesome: I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; I’ll leave you. 

CASSIUS: Brutus, I do observe you now of late: I have not from your eyes that gentleness And show of love as I was wont to have: You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you. 

BRUTUS: Cassius, Be not deceived: if I have veil’d my look, I turn the trouble of my countenance Merely upon myself. Vexed I am Of late with passions of some difference, Conceptions only proper to myself, Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors; But let not therefore my good friends be grieved-- Among which number, Cassius, be you one-- Nor construe any further my neglect, Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, Forgets the shows of love to other men. 

CASSIUS: Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion; By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face? 

BRUTUS: No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself, But by reflection, by some other things. 

CASSIUS: ‘Tis just: And it is very much lamented, Brutus, That you have no such mirrors as will turn Your hidden worthiness into your eye, That you might see your shadow. I have heard, Where many of the best respect in Rome, Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus And groaning underneath this age’s yoke, Have wish’d that noble Brutus had his eyes.

BRUTUS: Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me? 

CASSIUS: Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear: And since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass, Will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you yet know not of. And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus: Were I a common laugher, or did use To stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester; if you know That I do fawn on men and hug them hard And after scandal them, or if you know That I profess myself in banqueting To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. Flourish, and shout 

BRUTUS: What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Caesar for their king. 

CASSIUS: Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so. 

BRUTUS: I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well. But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honour in one eye and death i’ the other, And I will look on both indifferently, For let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honour more than I fear death. 

CASSIUS: I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favour. Well, honour is the subject of my story. I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Caesar; so were you: We both have fed as well, and we can both Endure the winter’s cold as well as he: For once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, Caesar said to me ‘Darest thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood, And swim to yonder point?’ Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plunged in And bade him follow; so indeed he did. The torrent roar’d, and we did buffet it With lusty sinews, throwing it aside And stemming it with hearts of controversy; But ere we could arrive the point proposed, Caesar cried ‘Help me, Cassius, or I sink!’ I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Caesar. And this man Is now become a god, and Cassius is A wretched creature and must bend his body, If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. He had a fever when he was in Spain, And when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did shake: ‘tis true, this god did shake; His coward lips did from their colour fly, And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan: Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans Mark him and write his speeches in their books, Alas, it cried ‘Give me some drink, Titinius,’ As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestic world And bear the palm alone. 

Shout. Flourish 

BRUTUS: Another general shout! I do believe that these applauses are For some new honours that are heap’d on Caesar. 

CASSIUS: Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonourable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that ‘Caesar’? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yours is as fair a name; Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with ‘em, Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar. Now, in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods! When went there by an age, since the great flood, But it was famed with more than with one man? When could they say till now, that talk’d of Rome, That her wide walls encompass’d but one man? Now is it Rome indeed and room enough, When there is in it but one only man. O, you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once that would have brook’d The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king.

BRUTUS: That you do love me, I am nothing jealous; What you would work me to, I have some aim: How I have thought of this and of these times, I shall recount hereafter; for this present, I would not, so with love I might entreat you, Be any further moved. What you have said I will consider; what you have to say I will with patience hear, and find a time Both meet to hear and answer such high things. Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this: Brutus had rather be a villager Than to repute himself a son of Rome Under these hard conditions as this time Is like to lay upon us. 

CASSIUS: I am glad that my weak words Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus. 

BRUTUS: The games are done and Caesar is returning. 

CASSIUS: As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve; And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you What hath proceeded worthy note to-day. 

Re-enter CAESAR and his Train 

BRUTUS: I will do so. But, look you, Cassius, The angry spot doth glow on Caesar’s brow, And all the rest look like a chidden train: Calpurnia’s cheek is pale; and Cicero Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes As we have seen him in the Capitol, Being cross’d in conference by some senators. 

CASSIUS: Casca will tell us what the matter is. 

CAESAR: Antonius! 

ANTONY: Caesar? 

CAESAR: Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights: Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. 

ANTONY: Fear him not, Caesar; he’s not dangerous; He is a noble Roman and well given. 

CAESAR: Would he were fatter! But I fear him not: Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much; He is a great observer and he looks Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music; Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort As if he mock’d himself and scorn’d his spirit That could be moved to smile at any thing. Such men as he be never at heart’s ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, And therefore are they very dangerous. I rather tell thee what is to be fear’d Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar. Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf, And tell me truly what thou think’st of him. 

                                                               Source:  William Shakepeare. 2012 Julius Caesar

Questions

6.2.7. Role of Audience

Activity 6.2.7

Reread the extract on The Crucible by Arthur Miller in activity 3. (Act II, Scene) and answer the following questions.

Note: An audience is a group of people who participate in a dramatic show in a wok of art, literature, theatre, music, video games etc

In dramatic performance, the audience are crucial figures. They are the consumers of the

product.,; the body of theatre goers the playwrights had in mind when he/she wrote theplay. The role of the audience could also to encourage the actors through   

their appreciation and applause.  The audience is a receptor of the stimulating agents on stage.

Application activity 6.2.7

Re-read the extract from “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” in activity 11 and answer the questionsbelow. 

End Unit Assessment