A Sense of Tragedy and Humour in alan Bennett's Talking Heads Monologues

The play also uses great language e.g. descriptive detail in the monologues, imagery e.g. “on four wobbly legs we walk down to the village”; this provides a visual image of the scene and the efforts of both Sheila and Bridie.

Mrs Lyons was played exceptionally well; she helped me to understand several themes of the play-primarily class. Mrs Lyons was of a higher class, than Miss Johnston and this came through, through her movement-the manner in which, she manoeuvred around the stage. Mrs Lyons-unlike Miss Johnston would always walk with her head held high in the air and her shoulders back; her posture was always sustained and sharp, apart from when she began to derail mentally. Very often Mrs Lyons, would be alongside Miss Johnston-who was of a working class background, and through the actress’ characterization, I was able to see a contrast between the two women. This helped me to understand the theme of class.

Comedy and tragedy would not seem to mix well, as they have opposite conclusions of happiness or sadness. To have comic and tragic plots within one play, then, can be argued as being too distinct to be coherent. In The Insatiate Countess, however, it is the differences between the tragic plot of the countess, Isabella, and the comic plot of Abigail and Thais, that strengthen the play’s message supporting loyalty in friendship.

Irony is a way of using words to reveal the various levels of meaning that contrast one another; dramatic irony occurs when the reader’s knowledge and the knowledge of the characters in the story contradict. Gilman uses dramatic irony heavily throughout her work to display Jane’s bizarre mental state. When the narrator describes her room’s features, she notices the “rings and things” (“Charlotte”) in the walls; the torn wallpaper; the bars on the windows; and the nailed-down furniture. She believes it must have been a nursery, but in reality, the room was used to captivate an insane person. When a character’s actions have the opposite of their intended effect, it is referred to as situational irony. Even though John had intentions of healing his wife, his course of treatment backfires worsening the narrator’s depression. By using symbolism, the author creates power and impact in her literature and displays the narrator’s struggle for liberation. Throughout the story, the wallpaper develops its meaning and eventually represents the structure of family, medicine, and tradition in which the narrator finds herself imprisoned. Gilman portrays her characters as the society of the nineteenth century and their viewpoints. While John displays the attitude that women were to behave and remain in the domestic sphere, Jennie

In fact, she even turns one of the grimmest situations into a mildly humorous one, the death of a child. In Act 1 Scene 3, the nurse goes from saying, “Were of an age: well, Susan is with God; She was too good for me: but, as I said, On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen; That shall she, marry; I remember it well. ’Tis since the earthquake now eleven years; And she was wean’d,—I never shall forget it,—” to “Yes, madam: yet I cannot choose but laugh, To think it should leave crying and say “Ay.” And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow A bump as big as a young cockerel’s stone; A parlous knock; and it cried bitterly: “Yea,”quoth my husband, “fall’st upon thy face?”. This shows how the Nurse can make any circumstance captivating to

The comedy style uses physical and visual comedy, as well as some good one-liners. Be careful of bordering on exaggerated comedy or characters that feel a bit too cartoonish. In the scene during the funeral reception, Ruth borders on this. Created she’s eccentric, but she can get a bit exaggerated, “Don’t forget my small grave discount.” However, the idea of her ending up in bed with the thugs is rather hilarious.

Consequently, it can be augured that Lady Bracknell is simply being used as a dramatic device to help drive the plot forward. This view suggests that it is therefore the overall plot which creates the comedy as opposed to Lady Bracknell. She advises him to 'acquire some relations as soon as possible' and make an effort to produce 'one parent'. Her constant references to his family makes the topic a point of interest and creates a substantial base of irony as she is his family. In this respect her comments help to usher the audience to the plays dramatic end. The plays ending ,however, is a clear example of Lady Bracknell being used as a tool. She is the one who hears the name Miss Prism and brings up the story about babysitting her sister's son which is how Jack realises he may be the son. Here she is directly used as a link between the two stories which brings the play's plot to an end. In this particular part of the play she doesn’t create any comedy which directly refutes the stated view.

All of the fruits and vegetables were everywhere on my bed. I tried to think of an idea of how to escape but I only can think when I eat.

The women’s is not nearly as long as the men’s. Her short unfilled sentences reflected the life’s the women had to face. “Dinner was ready. Here was the soup.” The change in style changes the whole mood of the story. It makes it gloomy and depressing following the previous passage which was lush. The food served was “plain gravy soup”, “sprouts curled and yellowed at the edge”, shows the dramatic shift in the description. Only some of the food the women were given was described in little detail but when described it was in a bad manner. They received “uncharitable vegetable (fruit they are not), stringy as a miser’s heart and exuding a fluid such as might run in misers’ veins’”. When the meal was reaching its end, “everybody scraped backed their chairs”. None of the women paused to look back on how great their life was and how they can’t wait to come back next meal. Instead, “the swing-doors swung violently to and fro” and the dining hall was emptied and being arranged for the next

He was angry and started throwing things but even throughout his anger, Susan was not shot from a high angle. This shows that she is no longer controlled by

The first situation satirized in the play is birth. When Jack was born his aunt, Miss Prism, placed him in a handbag. After discovering this, the characters discover Jack’s true origin. This history is discovered in a dismissive tone. The characters take the situation rather lightly. The placing of Jack in the handbag establishes the unimportance of birth origin during the Victorian times.

Throughout the play the reader can observe a few ironic phrases that help us understand the struggle the characters like Brick and Maggie went through for example the feeling

  In the play, descriptive language teaches the audience more about the surroundings than what the characters are actually saying to one another.  "I've not been in this house--it's more than a year" (6), Mrs. Hale tells the county attorney.  It is a very run down house, and the audience discovers there are no signs of anyone really ever being happy.  The kitchen is dirty, and the women begin to feel uneasy about being in a house where there is nothing but darkness and coldness.  The darkness is to signify how alone and empty Mrs. Wright was feeling while living with her husband.  Mrs. Wright did not feel wanted, and she felt like all hope was lost which the audience recognizes with the help of Mrs. Hale's saying, "...he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters.  Just to pass the time of day with him.  Like a raw wind that gets to the bone" (11).  Mrs. Hale conveys these important details to Mrs. Peters, which proves that the environment in the Wright house was dark and dreary.  The audience can imagine living in house where there is nothing but solitude and misery.  The solemn atmosphere makes the readers start to understand how lonely and depressing living in the house actually was.

Okay, so you may have heard the story about Nate and the haunted house and he gets eaten by me and my friends( there not my friends), But (cross my my heart hope to die) I'm not bad. Right now you're probably confused, but here’s the real story. First of all, Werewolf is the boss. He tells all the skeletons too not let anybody out of the house, and if you don’t do that you become his chew toys. Also, I hate the underworld. Everybody makes fun of me so I’m lonely, I need a friend. Like come on, what kind of bad guy wants a friend? I try to make friends out of the underworld but it doesn’t work out. And I don’t even eat people, I eat bugs. I mean like now after reading this do you think I am bad? I have made a few mistakes,

In the extract of the play Porcelain and Pink by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the characters Lois and Julie’s individual personalities can be uncovered. One can do this through analysation of conversation through turn-taking, cooperative principles, implicature and politeness strategies. We shall discuss these four aspects in detail.