From its first publication and performance, August Strindberg's play "Miss Julie" has been the source of critical controversy and debate. Written in the span of little more than one month in the summer of 1888, the play was banned or censored throughout Europe in the late Nineteenth Century. Because it dealt with situations and attitudes deemed morally or socially offensive (the daughter of an aristocrat seduces her father's valet, and he, in turn, coerces her to commit suicide) the initial negative reaction to the play was rooted in generalized, fanatical, self righteous outrage and did not seek to deal with or engage the text in any specific manner. Instead, "Miss Julie" was a convenient target, symptomatic of all that was …show more content…
As critic and creator, Strindberg has effectively dictated the direction of discourse surrounding his play. To determine Strindberg's impact on the continuous generation of this controversy, we must examine and assess his preface in conjunction with the primary interpretive concerns of several critics of "Miss Julie" both early and modern.
Though Strindberg's dramatic method is characterized by a compulsion to experiment, the innovations he sought to develop were designed with a specific moral and social agenda in mind. In this manner, the "Preface to Miss Julie" represents an ideological and artistic manifesto.
Strindberg envisions the "dramatist as lay preacher hawking contemporary ideas in a popular form", while simultaneously insisting that "I have not tried to do anything new- for that one can never do- but merely to modernize the form so as to meet the demands which I supposed that the new man and woman of today would make of this art"(Strindberg 91-2). He is painfully aware of what he calls "our declining capacity for illusion" and wants to prevent the theatre from "being discarded as a dying form which we lack the necessary conditions to enjoy" (Strindberg 99,92). "Miss Julie" is thus orchestrated to aid in or anticipate the arrival of a "hyper-sensitive spectator" (Strindberg 92). Strindberg is fundamentally concerned with the ethical/intellectual response his work evokes in an audience. He yearns for
play was outrageous and not accepted. The image of women in plays and stories at the time were
Through Helena Shakespeare created a woman so pitiful and wretched that he openly mocked the modern sixteenth-century women who allowed themselves to be treated in such a manner. Had a man been the monarch of England when this play was written, the bard might have been more discrete in his support of feminism. Luckily, Queen Elizabeth was fond of autonomous women and showed little animosity towards such mockery.
Among many abolitionists of slavery in early America were former slaves, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs who lived to tell the stories of their quests for freedom during their time as slaves. Harriet Jacobs, known for her narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, was born into slavery like many African Americans at the time. Frederick Douglass who was also born into slavery was best known for his “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” Through these narratives both Jacobs and Douglass each portray their own experiences of slavery in contrasting ways.
The feminist school has various goals when being used to scrutinize a piece of literature. As Gillespie points out, historically texts were written by males with primarily male protagonists, and thus, the male sentiment is most dominantly expressed in many works of literature. The lessened representation of women in literature is usually confined to typical stereotypes of the historical period. This can be seen in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, and this will be further explored and discussed. Through the feminist lens, women’s presence and portrayal in the play, as well as the common stereotypes about women in Shakespearean society, can be studied carefully, despite the centuries that have passed between the play’s conception and the present. Additionally, as stated in Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses,
Martha Prescod Norman Noonan is noteworthy for her work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the Civil Rights Movement. Noonan’s most notable achievements include raising money for SNCC, canvassing votes with the Albany Project, working on the Alabama Project, and contributing to Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Account by Women in SNCC.
At first glance, Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, and Henrik Isben’s A Doll House seem to have nothing in common. However, the short story and plays have many similarities. Particularly, five women from these tales— Louise Mallard, Minnie Wright, Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Hale, and Nora Helmer—make drastic decisions that appear to be motiveless. Without context, any reader could be confused by Louise’s death, Nora’s departure, and Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale’s unanimous effort to cover up the murder that Minnie Wright committed, which also seems to lack serious motive. However, all of these women’s settings, situations, and lives have connections that make their motives similar. Emotion motivates all five women—not just
“Beware of your stereotypes and prejudices, they can trap you in a box and make you miss what life has to offer you”─Med Yones. One has to see past the stereotypes in life, just as one should do for A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. This literature masterpiece entails a quarrel of a pair of lovers caught entangled in a treacherous web of tainted love and magic. This comedy, viewed through the archetypal literary criticism lens─which focuses on the stereotypical aspects─, makes the audience wonder and push beyond the boundaries of the stereotypes with the tale. Combined with its other elements, A Midsummer Night's Dream is more entertaining and meaningful when viewed through the archetypal literary criticism lens; such as in Act 1: scene 1; Act 3: scene 2; and Act 5: scene 1 in both the printed text and the 1999 film versions.
“the main purpose of Verbatim theatre has always been to challenge audiences into a confrontation with real events and concrete facts, an to prevent their escapism into theatrical fantasy.”
Cities are generators of economic life and source of changes in the world. Thereby, Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities puts into relief the role of cities on the social and economic levels, while denouncing the disastrous consequences of urban renewal programs. To that extent, in chapters 2 and 3, she discusses "The Uses of Sidewalks”, arguing that over all people need safety and trust in their city. Therefore, first she claims the necessity of keeping streets and sidewalks safe because they are the “vital organs” of cities (29). Secondly, she argues that the functioning of cities should be organized in order to foster human interaction in which “casual public
Primarily, their narratives are extremely technical, descriptive and yet deceptive- the sheer emotion, art and poetry in Atwood’s and Kent’s styles are enough to demand unconditional engagement from all audiences. Aside from the great literary standard of their stories, audience sympathy is also demanded as readers and secondary
In Parker’s film adaptation, his emphasis of the sub-plot between Dr. Chasuble and Miss Prism, while becoming more entertaining, further detracts from Wilde’s concerns and only serves to strengthen the film as a romantic comedy. In Wilde’s play, Chasuble and Prism’s
Written in the ages of controlment and high standards towards women, exemplified in William Shakespeare's comedic playwright, A midsummer night’s dream, brings to life the frustration
Susan McClary’s scholarly article, A Musical Dialect from the Enlightenment: Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453, Mvt. 2, starts off with her recalling a time after watching a performance of the concerto with a colleague and the two of them confessing different opinions about the soloist’s performance. McClary, who liked the performance, notes that soloist articulates “unusual compositional strategies indicated in Mozart’s texts”. The argument ends with the two not only about the piece and Mozart, but also about the significance of the eighteenth-century. McClary’s article attempts to critique the perfection of Mozart’s works.
In the context of the play, rather then ignoring the problematic elements, Anne Barton (1997)
What this actually meant in the culture’s sexual economy is perhaps more accurately suggested by meta-theatrical references in plays’ prologues and epilogues. The actress playing Flirt in Wycheley’s The Gentleman Dancing