Analysis Of Theatre Of Cruelty

One of the biggest problems facing American families today is the inability to afford fresh, nutrient filled food. In the United States today over 13 million families don’t have the money to buy fresh food and have to live on unhealthy diets. In the essay Prudence or Cruelty, author Nicholas Kristof talks about how much of a danger malnutrition is to poorer American families. Kristof mentions that the sole reason for such a high rate of malnutrition in poor U.S citizens stems from the lack of money to buy fresh goods. The price of fresh goods is too much compared to the amount of money these families are making. With multiple mouths to feed and a limited budget, going to the grocery store for these families is almost unheard of. These families

In the surreal, dim lighting of her bedroom Paulina is shaken by a strangely disturbing laugh upon recognising Roberto Miranda's voice as that of her tormentor. This moment sees the birth or manifestation of another facet of Paulina's character, the part of Paulina's mind that fantasized about doing to her torturers what they had done to her. This is the unbelievably unreasonable Paulina; she is a Fury, a mythical deity, the embodiment of vengeance, unsusceptible to male logic or opportunistic, careerist rationalisation. Polanski makes Paulina throw the car over the cliff-edge. In doing this she is not only destroying a phallic symbol, and thus undermining Roberto's sexuality and any claims he has on sexual dominance or superiority, she is destroying a perfect symbol of the male thirst for power and control, and the pragmatic logic to which her need for revenge has been sacrificed, into the infinite, chaotic abyss that defies all these principles, and unquestionably swallows it up. In doing this she breaks the railing, civilized society has created to guard itself

the big idea: cruelty leads to dehumanization (either by idolizing someone as a hero: ‘the undefeatable’, ‘god-like’, or villainizing someone: ‘tyrannus villain’, ‘hell-creature’, ‘earth-razer’)

According to Ann Marie Paulin in “Cruelty, Civility and Other Weighty Matters”, the mass media are discriminating against overweight people, which creates a society where being fat is looked down upon. Paulin argues that, “the media are notorious for getting things less than accurate” (243), therefore we shouldn’t believe how they depict fat people on tv, magazines and other media sources. The author believes that not all overweight people are like, how the media portrays them, but rather their lifestyle is influenced by the culture we live in. She claimed that, “Sugary or fatty foods are often available in grab and go packages that are so much easier to take to work or eat in the car than making a healthy snack” (245). She believe there are evidence to show that humans are naturally attracted to unhealthy foods, but society continue to manufacture them to make people eat more (243-249). I agree with Paulin about how the media need to stop fat shaming because it’s not only making people feel bad, but it is promoting obesity.

How does Hallie characterize cruelty? Why does he think that institutionalized cruelty is the worst kind of cruelty?

“…Then you realise that theatre is a more personal experience.” (Stephen Atkins, Dante’s Inferno Director) After viewing Zen Zen Zo’s physical theatre reincarnation of the

of Darkness: the chain gangs, the grove of death, the payment in brass rods, the

Charlotte Gilman, through the first person narrator, speaks to the reader of the stages of psychic disintegration by sharing the narrator's heightened perceptions: "That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don't care--there is something strange about the house--I can feel it" (304). The conflicting

"Nowadays the plays' meaning is usually blurred by the fact that the actor plays to the audiences hearts. The figures portrayed are foisted on the audience and are falsified in the process. Contrary to present custom they ought to be presented quite coldly, classically and objectively. For they are not matter for empathy; they are there to be understood and politely added

“All cruelty springs from weakness,” said Lucius Annaeus Seneca. To me, this quote means that cruelty comes out from a person who is feeling weak. A big question people ask each other is “Why are people cruel to each other?” In John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, there are many incidents of cruelty. Cruelty appeared in the book when George yells at the mentally handicapped Lennie in the beginning of the book. This trend of cruelty continues throughout the book. Characters that were notably cruel in the book are Curley, Curley’s wife, and George. The three things that motivate people to be cruel in the book are: when people feel they are powerless, when a person wants a feeling of short term enjoyment from

but now it matters not; I…will pass away like a dream” (20). She dies as the victim of “thwarted nature” (20), Giovanni and Rappaccini’s tampering with forces not to be reckoned

The above example illustrates not only how the theatrical performance affects the audience, but also how the audience influences its dynamics, development and the characters within it. The actors feel a certain level of acceptance from the viewer, who demands a certain way of depicting the character. Theatre is not just entertainment, itís something much more than that ñ itís education. Theatre should always represent things, rather than

The Theatre of the Oppressed is a form of theatre that uses a variety of games/exercises that seek to help people and communities to find solutions to problems and create greater harmony within groups. Augusto Boal, a Brazilian director, created it in 1973, however had the inspiration for it during the 1960s when he would invite audience members to stop performances and suggest different actions for the actors to carry out. Legend holds that at one of these performances, a woman was so irritated that the actor could not understand what she meant that she went on the stage and acted it out her self. Thus was born the spect-actor; a term that Boal used to describe audience members who would come on stage and act out the movements as they saw it should be. In doing this, he discovered that audience members had the power to not only imagine change, but also carry it out, creating an ability within them to reflect this idea of change within society and to view theatre not as a spectacle but as a language to be used. He was then exiled to Argentina because of this work, where he wrote his first major text, ‘The Theatre of the Oppressed’. He then moved to Paris where he continued to teach, establishing many Centres for the Theatre of the Oppressed.

Even though Shakespeare’s comedies are usually associated with happiness, cruelty can help the audience feel that justice has been rendered, by making the antagonists suffer; when an antagonist changes for the better, the punishment is less than for an antagonist that doesn’t. This cruelty helps the audience feel comfortable in the world in which they live; the good guy wins, the bad guy is punished, and characters learn from their mistakes. In that sense, without cruelty, there would be some uncertainty left in for audiences that would not bring about the same ending. Without cruelty, the possibility that sometimes the antagonist gets away with things or that a character does not learn from a mistake would still exist. The treatment of Malvolio in Twelfth Night and the Demetrius’ treatment of Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream both portray how cruelty can serve a comedic purpose.

Confusing, weird, and nonsense dialogue that exemplifies the idea of the meaninglessness of life is a simple definition for a complex genre called Theatre of the Absurd, which emerged after World War II. This genre has no goals or purpose other than to focus on what people usually do not focus on, for example, secondary characters, slightest decisions that make big differences, and events that do not have light shed on them much throughout stories. One of the key elements that make up Theatre of the Absurd is existentialism which means that life is meaningless and man can choose his own fate in life. Two stories that fall perfectly under this genre of Theatre of the Absurd are Rhinoceros written by Eugene Ionesco and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, a story written by Tom Stoppard. Theatre of the Absurd is a difficult genre to define; however, after analyzing both plays based on the established definition and criteria, one can determine that Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a better representation of the genre.