“I’m not trying to be funny… I just want to play with their heads” (Kaufman). Beyond this confession and a few others, Andy Kaufman rarely talked about what he did on stage. In betraying artistic convention, rarely telling jokes at all, and chiding the audience itself when they failed to play along with his performances, Kaufman surprisingly succeeded in failing to avoid notoriety during his career. As exposed as his fame made him, Kaufman rarely showed himself as himself. His public image was a prodigious collage of identities, characters, and personas, all bizarre and all successful in their portrayal of eccentric, dopish morons: failures in the traditional sense. Kaufman’s career consisted of a sporadic array of localized failures whose manifestations, oddly, are remembered as successes. He presented his ironically bad humor in a manner that joyously resounded with the crowd. As often as he did admittedly “play with their heads”, his audience rarely failed to play along.
One of his most divisive performances premiered at the Los Angeles comedy club, “The Improv”. As Kaufman runs up to the stage, he is greeted warmly by both optimistic newcomers, and his hardcore fans who likely know what they’re in for. On stage, before performing the sketch, Kaufman informs the audience that he had 10 years prior performed that same routine in front of the same club, and was kicked out for it. The audience laughs. Finishing his introduction, he proceeds to a table set up on the side of
A crucible is a container which is heated to separate impurities mainly from metals and sometimes other substances. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, takes place in a quiet Massachusetts town known as Salem. Rumors of witchcraft, however have unfortunately left the townspeople susceptible to blame one another. A quiet town virtually turned in a mad haven for blame, revenge, and dark satisfaction overnight. The reader witnesses all of these events unfold as they delve into the story of The Crucible and reveal how revenge reveals the motives of many characters.
he mood and situtation that he was in. At the end (Act ]I[) John Proctor was
Hook: Crucible is a book filled with mistakes and the outcomes of those mistakes. Every single action that a person commits leads to either a positive or a negative consequence, and this piece of literature provides readers with an opportunity to analyze some causes and effects.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play written in response to the “communist scares” in America in the 1950’s. Miller chose “The Crucible” as the title because the definitions of the words match the play perfectly. A crucible is a container that can withstand high temperatures, often used to melt, and change the shape of metals. The town of Salem can be compared to the container that melts metals. The witchcraft trials can be compared to the severe tests or trials. Also, the severe tests or trials can be compared to how people are fighting themselves, and making moral decisions. (Dictionary).
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible the witch trials in Salem were a devastating time. The entire community was in disorder and chaos because of personal vengeance. This included accusations of innocent town’s people being called witches, so they hanged and were jailed. Throughout the play certain characters help the rise of witchcraft as well as the disapproval of all the innocent people who were being convicted for no reason. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character whom comes to rid of the evil spirits in Salem, yet he later tries to end the trials. Hale realizes the accusations are false, attempts to postpone the hangings, and persuade the victims to lie conveys that he is a dynamic character and changes throughout the play.
The school day finished without a further peep from Gideon, to Judy’s surprise. She bid Angie a good-bye as the ocelot was picked up by her parents. Judy smiled, as her best friend climbed into the back seat, waving to her all the way to the end of the lot. Judy was about to make her way to the car until a large paw grabbed her mouth and made is so she couldn’t scream, another went around her waist picking her up. She was thrown again a metal pole, what she presumed to be the tetherball pole that was for gym class.
you?" He asks first to see if he would be doing the right thing. After
When Logan walked out she saw the familiar face of her best friend. Connor’s shaggy brown hair was drooping over his eyes. He was in serious need of a haircut but Connor hated the idea because his wheat-like mane covered his peculiarly shaped ears. The tips of his ears were perfectly pointy. That wasn't the only thing odd about his appearance. Connor had humongous brown eyes that almost seemed too big for his face. He, also, was extremely tall for his age, almost two heads over everyone else. This made him look extremely lanky. When Connor looked up from his shoes some relief washed over Logan but also some shame,
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the normal criteria that a central character fits, is not met by the apparent protagonist, John Proctor. Common traits one might expect to find in a traditional hero are humility, patience and caring. John Proctor, while he is the principal, has many qualities that could instead assume him the role of the antagonist and land him in the adversary box. His background and slight character flaws cause him to take on the personalities of both a protagonist and antagonist. Proctor, because he exhibits qualities of both types of characters, is what is known as a tragic hero. Tragic heroes are characters within stories that due to a judgment error, is the cause of his/her own demise. In Proctor’s case, his error was made when he refuses to give up the names of other alleged witches, and refuses to allow the court to hang his confession in the center of town. John Proctor embodies three major signs of tragic heroism. Proctor, even through the rest of the village perceives him as great, knows deep down inside that because of past sins, he will never be able to live up to his reputation. As well, John Proctor is a tragic hero because he had the power to stop his own execution, therefore his downfall was no one 's’ fault but his own. This reluctance to forfeit the names of other “witches” could be seen as a character flaw. The final criteria that Proctor meets for a tragic hero is that the punishment received is way too severe for the “crime” committed.
The act of using one’s position or one’s power in bad or offensive way is abuse of power. Abuse of power can be taking advantage of somebody, or misuse of someone position, or do something illegal through their power is also abuse of power. Abuse of power is also to gain benefit improperly. Everyone in their whole life at some time they misuse their power at some point. In the play The Crucible some people abuse their power to get some people into death. In the play The Crucible, Abigail Williams abuse her power to put her enemies into death. Abigail got a very good skill to manage every difficulties very quickly. She misuse her power on mostly john’s wife, so can get her in jail. Because she as an affair with john, and she wants nobody between them.
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” This is a quote by Benjamin Franklin and it explains how the puritan society in The Crucible work. this quote shows how fragile a reputation can be, you can spend your whole life increasing your reputation, but one wrong move and it’s completely wrong. In The Crucible, many of Arthur Miller’s characters are very concerned with their reputation. In early American Puritan society reputation was one the most important values in their community, which leads to many characters that overvalue their reputation. Characters in this play become so obsessed their reputation that it causes
The Crucible is a play that takes place in the 17 century in Salem, Massachusetts. As the play starts, Reverend Parris caught some girls naked dancing in the woods. Apparently the girls where stirring up spirits and to escape the punishment of the accusations of being witches, they blame other women in Salem. Later on in the play, Elizabeth Proctor finds out about John Proctor and Abigail having an affair. Abigail soon accuses Elizabeth of being a witch to remove her and to get her out of the picture. A doll is then found at her house and the evidence is being stacked against her. Deputy Danforth is the judge for the trials while the girls begin blaming each other for being witches. Reverend Hale is brought in as an expert witness and first believes the girls are witches but over time he starts to believe the ones who are accused. John Proctor gets Mary Warren to testify against the girls. The next day, Mary testifies that the girls are lying. They respond by acting like Mary is bewitching them, stating phrases such as “Mary, this is black art to change your shape” (115). Mary then states the John Proctor is bewitching her and is under his influence; he gets arrested moments later. Three months later, Proctor is asked to confess or get hanged. The jury then accuses John of being an associate of the devil. As Danforth wants him to sign a confession,
The story continues and soon he finds fame after everyone takes him for a flawless impersonator who is just refusing to break character, scoring his own comedy show on TV. While nothing he says is funny, but German viewers of his TV show find him, and everything he says to be hysterical.
Imagine a vast concert hall filled with people. The audience excitedly clamor in anticipation for the main star of this event. The event they paid so much money for, cleared up time in their schedule for, spent time getting to the event for. As the lights dim, the spotlight shines on the center stage. Then an average person emerges on the stage with a thousand eyes’ on him. He only has with a microphone in his hand. Just a typical person, with a normal gait and normal sense of fashion. However, after speaking a few words in the microphone, the crowd bursts into a cacophony of laughter. No matter how ordinary or extraordinary the person, entertainment through humor is universal. Utilizing humor, an extensive language of amusement, to open perspectives and challenge what is conceived right or wrong can be impactful- if done correctly. Dave Sedaris accomplishes that goal when he uses humor to illustrate his dilemma because of his identity. Despite being an accomplished successful comedian, author, radio show host, certain people look down at him as just a homosexual freak. Rather than gravely addressing his opposition, Sedaris utilizes a jovial yet relatable anecdote called “Chicken in a Henhouse”. Incorporating ideas from Ardian Bardon’s “The Philosophy of Humor”, specifically, the three theories of humor: superiority theory, incongruity theory and relief theory, Sedaris argues that the American public stereotypes homosexuals as pedophiles and ,as a result, they feel
For another comedian, one who is a bigger icon in African-American culture, in whose work African-American culture--- and racial issues as a whole--- is implemented far more heavily, and who Hart himself considers to be the greatest stand-up comedian of all time, the politics of laughter are a bit more complicated. Many comedians quit when they can no longer draw laughs. For Dave Chappelle, the greatest fear was people missing the jokes--- and still laughing. It's a more rational fear than one might think.