KING LEAR Trailer

Journal #12 - Anitgone

Anouilh creates a contrast between ugly and beautiful within the play. When Antigone argues with Creon, she admits that she is ugly, and then speaks of how ugly her father was. However, she moves on to speak about the beautiful thing that her father became. She talks about how, in his doubt and uncertainty, Oedipus was ugly, but through his search for the truth. through his suffering in the end, he became beautiful. She essentially says that Oedipus' tragedy was beautiful and that her tragedy will be beautiful as well. Anouilh creates tension by describing tragedy as beautiful. Tragedy is closely related to death, so Anouilh essentially calls death beautiful. However, this is counter-intuitive to many viewers, who see death as the terrible thing that takes away life. 
Anouilh also creates a contrast between dull and color. Antigone is portrayed as the main vessel for this contrast. She constantly speaks of her want for life in its full color, and implies that her current life is dull and unfulfilled. However, her view of life in color conflicts with Creon's own view. Antigone sees "color" as all of the experiences of life, which include happiness and sadness. However, Creon sees life as only happiness, and thus their two views clash in the play.

Journal #11 - Anitgone

At the beginning of the play, the Chorus is depicted as a neutral character. He does not take a side, and merely gives his observations of the characters and events. The Chorus had a more explanatory role. However, later in the play, the Chorus takes a role similar to that of Fate, if Fate was a character with all the powers that fate has. He tells of how the spring is wound, and will release at the slightest disturbance, and then explains that the release will be inevitable. The Chorus takes on a tone of confidence, speaking what he knows to be true. He tells of the coming events and leaves no room for prediction. He dictates that a string of events will happen. The Chorus then explains that this is what tragedy is. Tragedy does not have hope, because there is no room for hope. He explains that one cannot hope because one knows what will inevitably happen. The chorus defines tragedy as the lack of doubt.

Journal #10 - Anitgone

In the 48 hours leading up to the Nurse catching Antigone, the siege on the city of Thebes had ended. This siege was due to a powerful struggle between the two brothers meant to rule the city after Oedipus' death. The younger brother, who tried to take the throne due to his right to rule, left the city and came back with foreign princes to lay siege on Thebes. The rebels were destroyed, along with the two brothers, and Creon, Oedipus' brother-in-law, took the throne. He viewed Polynices, the younger brother, as a traitor and did not allow the burial of his corpse, and ordered the execution of anyone who attempted to bury him. Thus the conflict arises, when Anitgone, Polynices' sister, arrives at night and holds gives him a burial ritual, and then comes home to be caught by the Nurse.


Anouilh gives an account of these events through a the Chorus, a character that is similar to a watcher, but knows and understands all that is transpiring. This way of introducing the characters and giving background information on the play forces the watcher to take the point of view of the Chorus. Since the Chorus is similar to the watcher in the way that they are both observing the play, the watcher is able to relate with the Chorus. However, the Chorus takes on a neutral tone, describing the characters and events as how they actually looked.
The watcher takes on the perceptions of the Chorus. For example, the watcher would see Creon as a strong king who struggles with the difficulty of leadership, which is how the Chorus describes the king. Due to this, the watcher will take into account that the king is stressed and must obey the obligations of his position, and therefore sympathize with him even as he orders his niece to be killed.

Topic Sentence - Blood Wedding

In Blood Wedding, the Neighbor enjoys taking part in rumors and gossip, and this aspect shows how the Neighbor is subtly manipulative, specifically in terms of the Mother.

Journal #9 - Blood Wedding

Typical Gender Roles
In Blood Wedding, Lorca reinforces typical gender roles many times throughout the play, but seems that he does not agree with them. This role is shown by the Mother's advice to her son, telling him to be firm and dominant in his relationship with the Bride. She also complains about not having a girl to sew clothes and lace with. Furthermore, the Father and the Bridegroom reinforce how men are the workers of the household with their ownership and nurturing of the vineyards.


Fate and the Cycle of Life
This the is represented in the play when the Maid is talking to the Bride. The Bride speaks about how she suffers and her mother suffered before her due to the expectations placed on them, and the Maid denounces this as fate, implying that one cannot control what happens. Also the Bride's suffering in the face of marriage shows her awareness that marriage represents the next step in her cycle of life.


Deception
Lorca creates a line between those that deceive and are aware, and those that are ignorant. Examples of characters that are ignorant include the Bridegroom and the Father, while the deceiving characters are the Maid, Bride, and Mother. One can see this from the naive personality of the Bridegroom, and the denial from the Father when he finds that his daughter had run away. However, the Maid and Mother know more than the Bridegroom and Father on the situation, but keep it to themselves, and in this way can be considered as deceiving. Also the Bride herself deceives everyone by hiding her true feelings.

Journal #8 - Blood Wedding

There are three major sets in Blood Wedding: A simple room in a house among vineyards where the Bridegroom and Mother live, the house of the Bride, and the nighttime forest.
The play begins in the house of the Bridegroom and Mother. Lorca's description of the room is simply "the room is painted yellow" (5). This description itself implies bright colors and a positive feel. This color tone depicts the coming happiness of a marriage, however is a mask of what is truly about to happen. The happy color tone would contrast with the sadness and scandal that the Neighbor and the Mother converse about. This contrast helps the reader notice the foreshadowing present in the first act.
The second set takes place in various parts of the house of the Bride. The house itself has descriptions of decorations in the form of flowers and other typical ornaments. However, second act takes place during the night, and it seems that the shading is presented as more dark. Indeed, in spite of the various decorations, Lorca writes the Bride's cave as having "somber, silvered tones" (58). This change in the feel of the set foreshadows the coming storm that will transform the plot. This set triggers the reader to sense and predict the dark storm. In a way, the reader knows that something terrible will happen.
The third act takes place in the black, nighttime forest. The forest is covered in shadows, and this darkness that is depicted portrays the tragedy that consumes the Bridegroom and Leonardo. It seems Death is associated with the darkness, depicted in one part as a dark shadow resembling a raven. The dark feeling of the set helps create the mood of the act, giving the reader an almost anxious feeling leading up to the deaths of the two characters.