Cultural context of the play Essay Example for Free

Cultural context of the play Essay How does Miller use the character of Alfieri to involve the audience and illustrate the cultural context of the play? Alfieri is used in a multitude of ways by Miller to help the play at various stages. He is a character in the play, which other characters interact with, however, he is displaced somewhat because he comments on the goings on of the play, expands on what has happened to make it clearer to the audience, links scenes together and to a certain extent takes the role of a narrator. The character of Alfieri as a lawyer is wisely chosen. Lawyers at that time were seen as a sign of bad luck as with priests, because they were symbols of the law and law has not been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten. This shows that Alfieri does not always bring good news and often brings about the things that people do not want to hear, like when Eddie goes to him and asks what he can do to get rid of Marco and Alfieri tells him that there is nothing he can do. The majority of characters in this play are immigrants who have tried to make a living by living in America so at one point or another they would have wanted to avoid the law. Alfieri being a lawyer also shows us how he is above the other immigrants as they are still uneducated, living lives of hard labour using colloquiums such as yiz which indicates a lack of control or status. However, Alfieri is educated and now has status. The language he uses is so much more formal than that of Beatrice or Eddie. Although Alfieri have status he may not have real respect, just the grudging respect for his status. Others do not see him as one of them , see how uneasily they nod to me. Realistically, Alfieri is the only one of them who has achieved the American Dream, worked his way form poverty to having a good life. Arthur Miller himself was the son of an immigrant and he supported himself through college by working on the docks, so he knew where to come from when writing about the hardships and unreliability of living a life like Eddies. In the area and time that the play is set, the rules of community, the code of honour, is more important than the state laws. Disobeying these unwritten laws and betraying the community could result in ostracization. As with Romeo and Juliet this play features people breaking the family laws, then being suitably punished for it. The issues in this play are ones that have been studied before and will be used again due to the fact that they are still relevant. You will always have people that want to do something that is not against the law but going against traditions in their communities and will often cause them a worse fate then if they were breaking a state law. People can relate to disobeying these community rules. Alfieris prologue introduces the play. He sets the scene and tells us a bit about the history and culture of where the play is set, where men where justly shot by unjust men. He also says in his epilogue that people now settle for half we are quite civilized, quite American. With statements like that you can tell that uncivilized things are going to happen. The opposite of how people are now will come out, the real them. Alfieri also tells us that what we are about to see is not just an ordinary one of his cases, and not simply the petty troubles of the poor. Not only in Alfieris prologue does he give us hints to what will happen in the play. Ina act one when Eddie goes to Alfieri and asks what he can do to get Rodolpho out, Alfieri says that Eddie must let go of Catherine and let her live her own life because after all -what other way can it end? he is almost predicting that if Eddies protective behaviour continues then it shall end in a bad way. The epilogue, also delivered by Alfieri helps us to understand things better as well. After all the commotion and high emotions of Eddies death, Alfieri is there, calm and collected as ever and gives us enough of an explanation to get us thinking, but also one that lets us make our own minds up. It offers a sense of rounding off. Alfieri reminds us f why we first liked Eddie, and talks of what a good character he was and how we will all like him far more than Alfieris sensible clients. Eddie died because he did what he wanted to and Alfieri can see the strength in this action, however, believes it is better to settle for half in order to survive and for there to be peace. Once again, as in the prologue Alfieri is at ease with us the audience. He is relaxed and allowing himself to be honest, to say what he really thinks. Alfieri comments are almost like what you would do to yourself in your head when analyzing or thinking something over. He is going through his thoughts in an almost soliloquy type way. When I went to see the play A View form a Bridge in the Questors theatre in Ealing the role of Alfieri was show to just as much the boob that he was in the svincter . if your happy and you know it clap your hands (clap clap) alice the camel had 95 humps. ride alice ride du du dum cheesh. Im but a little bit bit bit bit show but a little bit bit bit shame but a little bit bit bit , bit bit bit. Peters pepper picked another pickle bearing pussy pepper raaah!!! Vivadixiesubmarine transmitionplot I think that Alfieri is a very good character to have in the play as he manages to fill in all the gaps where extra explanation is needed, such as after scenes. He also acts as an unofficial scene changer, and marks when time has passed or the setting is different. As well as all of this he also points people in the direction of doing things. If it was not for him telling Eddie that the only way he could get rid of Rodolpho was to phone immigration then he would not of thought of it.

Louise Erdrichs Tracks Essays -- Louise Erdrich Tracks Essays

Louise Erdrich's Tracks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Louise Erdrich’s â€Å"Tracks';, the readers discovers by the second chapter that there are two narrators, Nanapush and Pauline Puyat. This method of having two narrators telling their stories alternately could be at first confusing, especially if the readers hasn’t been briefed about it or hasn’t read a synopsis of it. Traditionally, there is one narrator in the story, but Erdrich does an effective and spectacular job in combining Nanapush and Pauline’s stories. It is so well written that one might question as he or she reads who is the principal character in this story? Being that there are two narrators, is it Nanapush, the first narrator, him being a participant in the story, who tells his story in the â€Å"I'; form? Or is it Pauline, the second narrator, who also narrates in the â€Å"I'; form? Upon further reading, the motive for both narrators’ stories become more evident, and by the end of the book, it becomes clea r that one character is the driving force for both of the narrators’ stories. This central character is Fleur Pillager. She in fact is the protagonist of â€Å"Tracks';. Even though she is limited in dialogues, her actions speak more than words itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Structurally speaking, Fleur is mentioned in every chapter of the book, either being referred to by the two narrators or being part of the story. In fact, after researching the novel several times, no other character including the two narrators is consistently mentioned in every chapter. In the first chapter, Nanapush tells Lulu, his granddaughter, about the fate of the Chippewa Tribe. He then spends most of the chapter discussing the beginning of Fleur, who is Lulu’s mother, and how he saved her life. In the second chapter, Pauline, the second narrator, begins her story gossiping about Fleur to an unknown listener in detail. Pauline continues to focus her story on Fleur’s life, discussing in length of incidents about her. Pauline’s obsessive behavior becomes more evident when she’s in Argus with Fleur. â€Å"Since that night (in Argus), [Fleur] puts me in the closet, I was no longer jealous or afraid of her, but follow her close as Ru ssell (Pauline’s cousin), closer, stayed with her, became her moving shadow that the men never noticed†¦'; (22).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Therefore, in these two chapters both narrators set the stage for telling their stories on their account of Fleur. Not o... ...med to gain attention by telling odd tales that created damage" (39). Her presence to him is more like a pesky fly that won’t go away. It is this lack of attention by others in which drives Pauline to tell her story.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Looking back at the atom theory stated earlier, if we exclude Nanapush and his story from â€Å"Tracks';, what we have left is Pauline’s obsession with Fleur. In Pauline’s eyes, as well as others, Fleur is good- looking, mysteriously powerful and dangerous. In contrast to her who is â€Å"a skinny, big-nosed girl with staring eyes'; who is also so â€Å"poor-looking'; (15). Pauline notices these differences and in effect becomes jealous of Fleur because of all the attention she receives from people. She sees herself in â€Å"competition'; with Fleur. At first, Pauline just wants to be close to Fleur, but by the end she wants to be â€Å"better'; than her. Within her story, the argument that Pauline is the protagonist and that Fleur is her antagonist could be valid, but if you look at the novel in its entirety, meaning the structure and content, the principal character that emerges from it is Fleur Pillager.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Work Cited Erdrich, Louise. Tracks New York: Harper & Row, 1988

Newspapers : A thing of the past

Good Morning, My name is Mohana Soman and I am going to talk about Newspapers. Initially, when we hear ‘Newspapers’, you envision stuffy politicians on the front page, juicy reports of the latest scandal or even a grisly murder case. That, is what the Newspaper has become. From being the one source of true information being passed around as common knowledge, it has become a kind of daily entertainment. Mum may read about some old actress, while Dad mutters about how the country is down in the dumps.I think that Newspapers are a thing of the past. They are because: We can simply get all the information and news we need faster and cheaper from the internet than waiting for the newspaper. Plus if we stop printing newspaper we will be able to save a lot more trees which will help us in the fight against global warming. Nowadays sitting and reading the whole newspaper consumes a lot of time which is a waste of precious time, it is better if we just sit on the internet and typ e what we want and have it in front of us.Therefore the internet is a better and more popular thing than newspapers. Obviously newspapers are not completely ‘a thing of the past' because they still provide news for the elderly and those traditionalists, yet it is inevitable that their death will occur due to the technological progression. Purely for convenience, an hourly publication is more accessible than a daily one. In this day and age, people enjoy ‘being in the know', and they are able to do this by checking for live updates rather than waiting for the newspaper the next day.

The Final Solution Adolf Hitler - 582 Words

Complicity is defined as helping commit a crime or being involved in a wrongdoing. This is a story that awakens the conscience of a nation. After the Kristallnauch (also known as the â€Å"Night of Broken Glass†), the Germans wanted to expedite the pace of the Jewish emigration. They wanted to prove that the unwillingness of other nations to accept a large amount of Jewish refugees would justify Hitler’s â€Å"Final Solution†. When you think of a cruise ship, you think of a vacation with your family and friends, with gourmet food and exotic beaches. However, the voyage of the S.S. St. Louis that sailed from Hamburg, Germany to Havana, Cuba had a different cause. All of the Jews that were onboard were fleeing from the Third Reich; they called it the â€Å"voyage to freedom†. 937 Jews boarded the ship with the hope of finding a new home away from Hitler’s philosophies. The voyage of the S.S. St. Louis was known as â€Å"The Voyage of the Damned† because they were turned away by the countries they approached, which brings me to the big question, did the abandonment of countries have an impact on Hitler’s â€Å"Final Solution† to eliminate the Jews? On May 13, 1939, St. Louis left Germany sailing towards, what they thought would be safe haven. The Jewish refugees fled from the persecutions from Nazi Germany with purchased visas, and they planned to stay in Cuba until they could enter the United States. The captain knew that they might have difficulties disembarking in Cuba. Then once theyShow MoreRelatedGenocide : A Complex Item1569 Words   |  7 Pageshelps keep people afraid of their superiors. Although using genocide as a solution is a very harsh choice of action, it has helped keep populations of races down, and has also shown civilians what the power of their government is. The purpose of keeping the civilians in order is so that there are no uprisings, or rebellions. 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