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The Death Of Trotsky By David Ives

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Violence has been a part of plays for centuries. It keeps the play interesting and intriguing, but however, most of the time there is a greater purpose of violence. When looking for it in plays one would automatically look for weapons or signs of physically harming someone like. However, verbiage can be an act of violence as well. The phrase, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me is false. Your tongue has no bones, but is strong enough to hurt another person. Like in the play The Stronger by August Strindberg where Miss Y is verbally insulted countless of times. Whereas in the play Variations on the Death of Trotsky by David Ives one can see the physical violence by the tragic murder that occurred. After distinguishing where the violence is coming from one can then analyze the true role of the violence and compare how the violence affect the dramas.
When looking at The Stronger you can see just how Miss Y in verbally insulted over and over again by Mrs. X. While Miss Y is just sitting at a table by herself minding her own business when Mrs. X shows up. During the entire play Miss Y does not say one word while Mrs. X insults her and says rude things like, “Poor Amelia, I pity you, nevertheless, because I knew you are unhappy, unhappy like one who has been wounded, and angry because you are wounded.”() She just assumes that she is unhappy because she is in a café by herself on a holiday. She does not even ask her if she is unhappy or give her time

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