Power And Control In The Visit By Frank Durrenmatt

"Everybody will probably think it’s about money …and it is about money. “Not for the use of me getting the money, it’s the way she used her … her power for money. She used it against us all the time. "She used to manipulate us. She was always sitting there and there was this dominating type of aura about her. "Sitting back and always thinking that she's a queen. That's the way she is." (Matthew Wales, 2002)

Set in a typical mental asylum in the 1970’s during the anti-Vietnam War protests and the feminist movement for women's equal rights, the play 'Cosi' by Louis Nowra deeply explores the themes of love and fidelity, in a society predominantly concerned with war and politics. Throughout the play, Nowra uses the play within a play, 'Cosi Fan Tutte', to convey his key values regarding the importance of love and fidelity in today's world, while questioning the necessity of war and condemning society's perceptions of madness itself. The playwright delivers these messages through a number of subtle implications and symbolic features which are evident in the story,

Throughout the entirety of the play, the crucible Power Is demonstrated in many different ways by different characters at different times. These types of power include legitimate power, expert power, connection power and in particular coercive power. Coercive power can be defined as an authority or power that is dependent on fear. In the crucible this would be when one threatens another or forces another to either give up information or to do as they say. This type of power is demonstrated many times throughout the play.

For my third and final cultural event this semester, I attended the screening for the Mexican play, El Censo, which was shown during the Liberal Arts Symposium. The play is about a lower income family of tailors in the 1940’s who find themselves horrified and confused when confronted with having to respond to the Census, which largely relates to taxes which they have not paid and cannot afford to pay in the poor economic conditions. In many ways the issues which the play deals with, including modernization and people’s reactions as well as economic difficulty, are pertinent not only to every country in one way or another, but to every time period in one way or another. I will thus be comparing the situations and fears expressed in the play

The novel In the time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvares is an incredible story about four sisters , known as the Mirabel sisters from the dominican republic. They want to over throw the Evil dictator rafael Trujillo. As a result of the deaths of the three sisters Dede is left to tell the story of her sisters and continues to keep the story alive. The author tells the story in a way where you can see how each sister shows courage and purpose. One of the purposes used in this novel was to show how important it is to help and care for others just like the Marible sisters cared for each other.

Mary is very manipulative in that she is able to create the character of the poor, pregnant wife, whose husband has just been murdered. She is able to convince the police to take pity on her, to mix her a drink and then to even eat the evidence, the leg of lamb that she has left in the oven. "Why don’t you eat up that lamb that is in the oven" (Dahl, p. 17). Mary realizes that if the police find the evidence she will go to jail. Her quick thinking and manipulative character results in the police officers eathign the evidence and therefore she cannot be charged of this crime. These actions show the complex character that Mary Maloney truly is.

The Other is configured in the two writers’ works as victims of power play, their unjust mistreatment subsequently exposing underlying social inequalities. Through adopting the Gothic medium characteristic of Romanticism, the texts induce within the reader emotions of terror and pity towards the marginalised, leaving a profound effect which impactfully conveys the intended social criticism.

“Treat social facts as things” is an expression that epitomises the works of Emile Durkheim. This essay focuses on four main sociological concepts proposed by the functionalist Emile Durkheim; the division of labour; mechanical and organic solidarity; anomie and suicide, and examines their relevance in contemporary society.

Anyways, she was not a ordinary pepper, and nethere was her mom. They were both not very nice. They liked to terrorize people with nasty pranks. Every now and then they would rob a bank or break into a store at night. Now Charlotte -Her younger sister- was a different story.” told Grandma Chica, “She was very nice, pretty, and giving. That was basically the main reason it was hard for her to live with them. Of course this might also be because Charlotte was, a spy. She knew that sooner or later she would have to tell her sister and her mother. All she ever wanted was her big sister to be nice to her and to not be evil. So when Claire and her mom snuck out of the house and robbed a bank, she knew it was time to tell someone. But she didn’t want to tell her mom for some reason. She just wanted to make sure her sister didn’t become permanently evil-like her

Lope de Vega’s play touches upon several key components and ideas that were brought up in many of the other stories read throughout the semester. This included the role of gender and how men and women are viewed differently in the Spaniard town of Fuenteovejuna. Another topic included the importance of family, love, and relationships and their connection on loyalty, trust, and personal beliefs. The last major influence found in other literature and in Fuenteovejuna, were the political and religious references made throughout the play. Even though Lope de Vega didn’t make these views obvious, the reader could still pick up on their connotation and the references made towards these specific ideas. With all of this in mind, each of these

Paranoia and distrust heavily lingered on Claire’s mind when she discovered the inhumane response of her husband Stuart and his friends towards the cold, deceased body of an innocent young girl they found drifting through the Naches River during their fishing trip in the short story: “So Much Water So Close To Home,” by Raymond Carver. Throughout the story, a significant theme that the author attempts to convey through the story is when seeds of doubt are left to grow, even the strongest of bonds may be put into question. Over the course of the story, Claire struggled internally on whether or not she could bring herself to trust her husband anymore when he showed no remorse or desire to contact the authority when he found the dead body; rather, he just ignored it while he and his friends partied until morning. Triggered by these events and traumatic memories from her childhood event, she began to question the her husband’s humanity and moral code; thus, it is emphasized that even even a single random occurrence, such as discovering your husband’s cold hearted behavior, distorts one’s previous perspective as well as completely change the way they view something or someone.. Sadly this fact is apparent in everyday life and the trauma and distrust cannot be undone so easily.

One of the play’s main characters, Blanche, has by no means had an easy adulthood. She has had to deal with her sister setting off to New Orleans with her new husband, the death of her father, losing her own husband, and the loss of their family’s beloved plantation, Belle Reve. With all of this going on, Blanche disguises her pain and delusion, and pretends that is does not exist. In a way,

The play The Visit, written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, is set in the small, impoverished town. The play begins with the wealthy and powerful Claire Zachanassian returning to her hometown with the plan to donate a million dollars in exchange for the life of the man who wronged and jilted her in her youth, Alfred Ill. While the impoverished town at first refuses her offer, they ultimately give into their need for money and murder Ill. Throughout the play, the author uses the characterizations of Claire to construct an allusion to the three fates from Greek mythology. The Greek fates are influential, immortal women in charge of controlling the lives and deaths of mortals. Through Claire’s characterization Friedrich Dürrenmatt constructs an

When she loses the paternity suit, the town essentially turns against her and banishes a pregnant Claire. She transitions from a relatively high point in her life to being banished, which can be seen as the beginning of

The Beauty Queen of Leenane, a deep, twisted play by Martin McDonagh, is a symbolic work of art. The symbols within this play, powerful as they may be, do not jump out at the reader. They are instead embedded into the simplest objects and the relationship of the main characters. Martin McDonagh portrays his symbols with such an ironic eloquence; the dark, powerful symbols are inextricably linked in such a beautiful way, that once the reader makes the connections, the entire aura of the play changes. From symbols as simple as hot oil and a rocking chair to the mother-daughter relationship of Mag and Maureen, the reader learns more and more about Ireland during its time of troubles.