English-America Literature Topic Drama.pdf

lOMoARcPSD|38555717 HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LEGAL FOREIGN LANGUAGES GROUP ASSIGNMENT COURSE: English-America Literature Topic: Drama CLASS : N03 GROUP : 07 Ha noi, 2023 Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 BIÊN BẢN XÁC ĐỊNH MỨC ĐỘ THAM GIA VÀ KẾT QUẢ THAM GIA LÀM BÀI TẬP NHÓM Ngày: 11/09/2023 Địa điểm: Nhóm số: 07 Lớp: N03 Khóa: 45 Không lý do: Tổng số thành viên của nhóm: 03 Có mặt: 03 Vắng mặt: 0 Có lý do: Nội dung: Tên bài tập: Drama Môn học: English-America Literature Xác định mức độ tham gia và kết quả tham gia của từng sinh viên trong việc thực hiện bài tập nhóm số: 07 Kết quả như sau: STT Mã SV Họ và tên Đánh Đánh giá giá SV của GV Điểm của SV ký (số) GV tên Điểm ký (chữ) tên ABC 1 453203 Nguyễn Ngọc X Thu Trang 2 453217 Nguyễn Ngọc Khánh X 4 433209 Nguyễn Thị Thương X Kết quả điểm bài viết: Hà Nội, ngày 11 tháng 09 năm 2023 NHÓM TRƯỞNG - Giáo viên chấm thứ nhất:.…………… - Giáo viên chấm thứ hai:.……………… Kết quả điểm thuyết trình:…………… - Giáo viên cho thuyết trình:…………… Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 Điểm kết luận cuối cùng:……………… - Giáo viên đánh giá cuối cùng:………… TABLE OF CONTENTS .1 Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 INTRODUCTION 1 I General about drama 1 1 History 1 1.1 Ancient Greece and Rome .1 1.2 Medieval theater 1 1.3 Renaissance .2 2 De昀椀ni琀椀on .2 3 Common elements of drama 2 3.1 Theme 2 3.2 Plot 3 3.3 Character 3 3.4 Dialogue 3 3.5 Staging 3 II Types of Drama: 3 1 Comedy: 3 2 Tragedy: 4 3 Tragi- comedy 5 III Typical author and work 6 1 The author: Arthur Miller 6 2 The work: Death of a salesman 7 2.1 Summary 8 2.2 Characters analysis 9 2.3 Symbols in the play .10 2.4 Themes 11 CONCLUSION 13 INTRODUCTION Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 What is drama to you? Many people know it as a situation or event that causes heightened emotions For others, the grand, complex stage plays of Shakespeare and other plays of his time come to mind Regardless, these and all other definitions of drama have one thing in common: emotion Drama is an art form that allows people to communicate and connect with each other In all its forms, from stage, television, cinema to everyday interactions, drama revolves around emotions, tensions, and conflicts - things we experience every day Drama is, quite literally, our lives, complete with all their imperfections, complications, twists and turns I General about drama 1 History The history of dramas dates back over 2000 years, originating from the Greek word “dran” meaning “to do" It is a genre of literature that utilizes performance as its primary medium It is a mirror of society, reflecting the intricacies of human nature, our relationships, and the societal issues we grapple with Let us look at the origin of drama, its rise to popularity and how dramas became what they are today 1.1 Ancient Greece and Rome Western drama originated in Ancient Greece, where Greek playwrights were known for writing tragedies, comedies, and satirical plays to compete in festivals arranged in honor of the god Dionysus These plays narrated mythologies and the lives and experiences of Greek gods This trend gradually spread to Rome around 240 BC, following the expansion of the Roman empire into Greek territories (270–240 BC) 1.2 Medieval theater In the early Middle Ages (500 - 1500), dramas reached England, where the clergy produced mystery plays to preach religion and spirituality These were among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe Mystery plays: plays produced by the churches in England that dramatized biblical narratives Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 The early Tudor period (1485 to 1603) in England saw the rise of morality plays such as Everyman (1510) and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678) Morality plays: An allegorical drama form popular during the 15th and 16th centuries where the characters in the play personify certain virtues or vices 1.3 Renaissance The dramatic form gained full maturity during the English Renaissance period (1500– 1660), a period that saw the flourishing of drama and the arts Prominent playwrights during this time include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont and, of course, William Shakespeare 2 Definition Drama is a mode of fictional representation through dialogue and performance It is one of the literary genres, which is an imitation of some action Drama is also a type of a play written for theater, television, radio, and film In simple words, a drama is a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue It contains conflict of characters, particularly the ones who perform in front of the audience on the stage The person who writes drama for stage directions is known as a “dramatist” or “playwright.” Example: The television show Grey’s Anatomy is a genre 3 Common elements of drama Despite the immense diversity of drama as a cultural activity, all plays have certain elements in common 3.1 Theme The theme of a play refers to its central idea It can either be clearly stated through dialogue or action or can be inferred after watching the entire performance The theme is the philosophy that forms the base of the story or a moral lesson that the characters learn It is the message that the play gives to the audience 3.2 Plot Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 The plot is about the order of events and the progression of the play Without a plot, it is difficult to create a compelling drama To a large extent, the success of a dramatic play depends on how the events of the play unfold Plot is essential to drama because it takes the audience on a journey A plot can have many shapes It is often represented as a curve in a graph, as the plot builds up to a climax and then returns to some new state of calm and stability 3.3 Character If Plot = What, then Character = Who The protagonists, the antagonists, and the supporting cast are essential to drama They are the elements of plays, TV shows and films that audiences can connect to They make decisions, influence the plot and inhabit the fictional universe that has been created by the writers, directors and crew 3.4 Dialogue Dialogues ensure that all the thoughts and feelings of characters are out in the open for the audience to interpret Dialogues make dramas more engaging and immersive than plain text, as it establishes a direct connection between the plot, characters, and audience 3.5 Staging Another part of ensuring that a drama is presentable is a focus on staging This refers to a focus on stage directions and setting to properly recreate the visual themes and aspects of the drama Stage directions: instructions in the script of a drama that indicates the movement, setting, position, voice, and tone of the characters, alongside instructions on lighting and sound effects II Types of Drama 1 Comedy Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 Comedy is a genre of drama that has the purpose to amuse and entertain Comedies typically involve misunderstandings that lead to funny situations Most comedies also incorporate romance and happy endings Comedy can be light-hearted and make people happy, but it can also be a means to expose issues in society by ridiculing them Most comedies include convoluted and even ridiculous situations that the protagonist(s) find themselves in before they get their happy ending It is also very common for comedies to involve romance, love and marriages During the Renaissance in Britain, the most popular comedy author was William Shakespeare He wrote the type of comedy that we now call classic romantic drama or classic romantic comedy There are three main types of comedy in drama: classical romantic drama, satire, and comedy of manners Example: - A Midsummer Night's Dream (1605) by Shakespeare is a classic romantic drama in which two pairs of young lovers get lost in a magical forest where they are tricked by fairies - Volpone (1606) by Ben Jonson is a satirical comedy that follows a man who tricks people out of their money The play criticizes greed through the means of satire - Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal (1777) is a comedy of manners that revolves around two brothers One of them is exposed to be a hypocrite who keeps up pretenses in the face of society while the other one gets a happy ending as a reward for being truthful 2 Tragedy Tragedy is a genre in drama that expresses serious issues A tragic play is usually about an individual or group who goes through trials and tribulations that don’t lead Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 to a happy resolution Most tragedies end with death and destruction Plays in the category of tragedy often raise important questions about the human condition Tragedies are not stories of triumphant victories; they are stories that show us how difficult life can be but also remind us of the strength we have Tragedies often have moral messages However, some tragedies are more ambiguous and make us question things without providing a clear answer There are three main types of tragedy: heroic tragedy, revenge tragedy, and domestic tragedy Example: - The Conquest of Granada (1670) by John Dryden is about the tragic hero Almanzor He fights for his people, the Moors, against the Spanish in the Battle of Granada - Hamlet by William Shakespeare is the most famous example of a revenge tragedy Hamlet finds out that his uncle and his mother have caused the death of his father Hamlet tries to avenge his father’s death, which leads to many more deaths, including his own - Death of a Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller is a domestic tragedy about an ordinary man, Willy Loman, who can’t survive the pressures of a success-driven society Willy lives a delusional life, which also affects his family 3 Tragi- comedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends the elements of both tragedies and comedies A tragicomedy could take various forms It could be a twist on the traditional tragedy by adding comic relief to lighten the mood of a work containing dark and serious subject matter Or it could be a tragedy that just does not have enough death and ends on a happier note than a classic tragedy Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 Tragicomedy allows works of literature to explore depths and paradoxes of human nature unavailable to traditional comedies and tragedies People experience moments of seriousness as well as moments of absurdity, and they both coexist simultaneously in real life It also explores the morbid fascination of human nature, where people can find humor in the downfall of another person, even though it is only in fiction Example: The Winter's Tale (1611) by William Shakespeare This complex plot is structured in a way where the first three acts of the play contain tragic elements However, the last two acts downplay the tension created in the first half by incorporating comic elements like misunderstandings and chaos This blend of struggles, sadness, death, humor, songs, romance, and reunion in the play confirms its label as a tragicomedy In addition to the main kind, drama also has other type such as: - Melodrama is a kind of drama that portrays exaggerated emotions like tension or excitement An example of a melodrama is ‘Still Life, Brief Encounter’ by Noel Coward - Musical drama tells a story with dialogues, songs, music, and dance An example of a musical drama is ‘A Star is Born’, which starred Lady Gaga III Typical author and work 1 The author: Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright, screenwriter, and essayist Winner of several Tony Awards, he was one of the most prominent American playwrights of the 20th century and was known for his ability to write engaging stories that tackled complex themes such as the American Dream, identity, and morality He was also known for his political activism and outspoken criticism of the government and society, which led him to be called before the House Un-American Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 Activities Committee during the McCarthy era Despite the challenges he faced, Miller remained a vital voice in American literature until his death in 2005 Arthur Miller is the son of a women's clothing company owner in New York City His father lost his business in the Depression and the family was forced to move to a smaller home in Brooklyn After graduating from high school, Miller worked jobs ranging from radio singer to truck driver to clerk in an automobile-parts warehouse Miller began writing plays as a student at the University of Michigan, joining the Federal Theater Project in New York City after he received his degree Miller has been married three times: to Mary Grace Slattery in 1940, Marilyn Monroe in 1956, and photographer Inge Morath in 1962, with whom he lives in Connecticut He and Inge have a daughter, Rebecca Among his works are A View from the Bridge, The Misfits, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy, The Price, The American Clock, Broken Glass, Mr Peters' Connections, and Time bends, his autobiography Miller's writing has earned him a lifetime of honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, seven Tony Awards, two Drama Critics Circle Awards, an Obie, an Olivier, the John F Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish prize He holds honorary doctorate degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University Throughout his life and work, Miller has remained socially engaged and has written with conscience, clarity, and compassion As Chris Keller says to his mother in All My Sons, "Once and for all you must know that there's a universe of people outside, and you're responsible for it." Miller's work is infused with his sense of responsibility to humanity and to his audience "The playwright is nothing without his audience," he writes "He is one of the audiences who happens to know how to speak 2 The work: Death of a salesman Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 Death of a Salesman, a play in “two acts and a requiem” by Arthur Miller, written in 1948 and produced in 1949 Miller won a Pulitzer Prize for the work, which he described as “the tragedy of a man who gave his life or sold it” in pursuit of the American Dream 2.1 Summary Willy Loman – a traveling salesman has lost his salary at the age of 63 is working only on commission On this trip, he has failed to sell anything Returning home depressed, under the questioning of his wife – Linda Willy admits that his commission from the trip was so small that they will hardly be able to pay all their bills, and that he is full of self-doubt Charley – His neighbor offers Willy a job, but Willy refuses out of pride, even though he has been borrowing money from Charley every week to cover household expenses Full of regrets, Willy compares himself to Ben – His brother who left home at the age of seventeen and made a diamond fortune in Africa and Alaska  Rising action Linda discusses Willy's deteriorating mental state with the boys She reveals that he has tried to commit suicide, both in a car crash and by inhaling gas through a rubber hose on the heater Biff – their big son has been laboring on farms and ranches throughout the west for more than a decade, has recently arrived home to figure out a new direction for his life He agrees to stay home and try to borrow money from his previous employer, Bill Oliver, to start a sporting goods business with Happy, which will please their father Willy is thrilled about this idea, and gives Biff some conflicting, incoherent advice about how to ask for the loan At the end of act 1, Willy decides to ask his boss for a salaried position in New York The next day, Biff and Happy arranged to meet willy for dinner at a restaurant Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 And nobody feels successful Biff and Willy argue, and the sons lead Willy at the restaurant overwhelmed by memories of Bill's discovery of his affair The play climax makes clear that Biff's disillusionment from the shock with his father's adultery Back home, Willy tries to plant seeds in the middle of the night Biff announces that he is finally going to be true to himself, that neither he nor Willy will ever be great men, and that Willy should accept this and give up his distorted version of the American Dream Biff is moved to tears at the end of this argument, which deepens Willy's resolve to kill himself out of love for his son and family He drives away to his death Only his family, Charley, and Bernard attend Willy's funeral Biff is adamant that Willy died for nothing, while Charley elegizes Willy as a salesman who, by necessity, had nothing to trade on but his dreams Linda says goodbye to Willy, telling him that the house has paid off—that they are finally free of their obligations – but now there will be nobody to live in it 2.2 Characters analysis  Willy Loman An insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it Nor do his sons fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed When Willy’s illusions begin to fail under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health begins to unravel The overwhelming tensions caused by this disparity, as well as those caused by the societal imperatives that drive Willy, form the essential conflict of Death of a Salesman  Biff Loman Willy’s thirty-four-year-old elder son Biff led a charmed life in high school as a football star with scholarship prospects, good male friends, and fawning female admirers He failed math, however, and did not have enough credits to graduate Since then, his kleptomania has gotten him fired from every job that he has held Biff Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 represents Willy’s vulnerable, poetic, tragic side He cannot ignore his instincts, which tell him to abandon Willy’s paralyzing dreams and move out West to work with his hands He ultimately fails to reconcile his life with Willy’s expectations of him  Happy Loman Willy’s thirty-two-year-old younger son Happy has lived in Biff’s shadow all of his life, but he compensates by nurturing his relentless sex drive and professional ambition Happy represents Willy’s sense of self-importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal expectations Although he works as an assistant to an assistant buyer in a department store, Happy presents himself as supremely important Additionally, he practices bad business ethics and sleeps with the girlfriends of his superiors  Linda Loman Willy’s loyal, loving wife Linda suffers through Willy’s grandiose dreams and self-delusions Occasionally, she seems to be taken in by Willy’s self-deluded hopes for future glory and success, but at other times, she seems far more realistic and less fragile than her husband She has nurtured the family through all of Willy’s misguided attempts at success, and her emotional strength and perseverance support Willy until his collapse Besides that, there are some characters who also play an important role in the play They are Charley, Bernard, Ben, and the woman 2.3 Symbols in the play Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent Abstract idea or concept  Seed Seeds represent for Willy the opportunity to prove the worth of his labor, both as a salesman and a father His desperate, nocturnal attempt to grow vegetables signifies his shame about barely being able to put food on the table and having nothing to leave Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 his children when he passes Willy feels that he has worked hard but fears that he will not be able to help his offspring any more than his own abandoning father helped him The seeds also symbolize Willy’s sense of failure with Biff Despite the American Dream’s formula for success, which Willy considers infallible, Willy’s efforts to cultivate and nurture Biff went awry Realizing that his all-American football star has turned into a lazy bum, Willy takes Biff’s failure and lack of ambition as a reflection of his abilities as a father  Diamond To Willy, diamonds represent tangible wealth and, hence, both validation of one’s labor (and life) and the ability to pass material goods on to one’s offspring, two things that Willy desperately craves Correlatively, diamonds, the discovery of which made Ben a fortune, symbolize Willy’s failure as a salesman Despite Willy’s belief in the American Dream, a belief unwavering to the extent that he passed up the opportunity to go with Ben to Alaska, the Dream’s promise of financial security has eluded Willy At the end of the play, Ben encourages Willy to enter the “jungle” finally and retrieve this elusive diamond—that is, to kill himself for insurance money to make his life meaningful  The Rubber Hose The rubber hose is a stage prop that reminds the audience of Willy’s desperate attempts at suicide He has apparently attempted to kill himself by inhaling gas, which is, ironically, the very substance essential to one of the most basic elements with which he must equip his home for his family’s health and comfort—heat Literal death by inhaling gas parallels the metaphorical death that Willy feels in his struggle to afford such a necessity 2.4 Themes  American Dream Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 Willy believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the American Dream, that a “well liked” and “personally attractive” man in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material comforts offered by modern American life Oddly, his fixation with the superficial qualities of attractiveness and likeability is at odds with a more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream that identifies hard work without complaint as the key to success Willy’s interpretation of likeability is superficial—he childishly dislikes Bernard because he considers Bernard a nerd Willy’s blind faith in his stunted version of the American Dream leads to his rapid psychological decline when he is unable to accept the disparity between the Dream and his own life  Abandonment Willy’s life charts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving him in greater despair each time Willy’s father leaves him and Ben when Willy is very young, leaving Willy neither a tangible (money) nor an intangible (history) legacy Ben eventually departs for Alaska, leaving Willy to lose himself in a warped vision of the American Dream Likely a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear of abandonment, which makes him want his family to conform to the American Dream His efforts to raise perfect sons, however, reflect his inability to understand reality The young Biff, whom Willy considers the embodiment of promise, drops Willy and Willy’s zealous ambitions for him when he finds out about Willy’s adultery Biff’s ongoing inability to succeed in business furthers his estrangement from Willy When, at Frank’s Chop House, Willy finally believes that Biff is on the cusp of greatness, Biff shatters Willy’s illusions and, along with Happy, abandons the deluded, babbling Willy in the washroom  Betrayal Willy’s primary obsession throughout the play is what he considers to be Biff’s betrayal of his ambitions for him Willy believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the promise inherent in him When Biff walks out on Willy’s ambitions for Downloaded by xanh quat (tailieuso.13@gmail.com) lOMoARcPSD|38555717 him, Willy takes this rejection as a personal affront (he associates it with “insult” and “spite”) Willy, after all, is a salesman, and Biff’s ego-crushing rebuff ultimately reflects Willy’s inability to sell him on the American Dream—the product in which Willy himself believes most faithfully Willy assumes that Biff’s betrayal stems from Biff’s discovery of Willy’s affair with The Woman—a betrayal of Linda’s love Whereas Willy feels that Biff has betrayed him, Biff feels that Willy, a “phony little fake,” has betrayed him with his unending stream of ego-stroking lies CONCLUSION In overall, Drama is one of the best literary forms through which dramatists can directly speak to their readers, or the audience, and they can receive instant feedback of audiences We can call that drama is “a composite art” because the art of it is closely bound up with stage – conditions, the skill of actors and the tastes of the audience, besides that, the structure of drama is determined by stage – conditions and cannot be appreciated without knowledge of those conditions 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