The relations between art and life are explored in Martin McDonagh’s play, The Pillowman and Muriel Spark’s Loitering With Intent. They explore these relations through discussing the stylistic features of their characters and how these characters are perceived in real life. Both authors explore how the preconceived ideas of what a character should be is dismantled and thus, the line which distinguishes between art and life becomes less clear. Another way in which these authors explore the link between art and life is through the act of storytelling. This suggests that life is a form of art. Both texts deal with the argument of whether it is life that influences art or art that influences life. Some literary critics such as Henry James have …show more content…
When exploring the novelist’s world, Fleur asks “What is truth?” This suggests that there is possibly an imaginative freedom which is the author’s domain. However, Fleur does not directly answer this question suggesting that she may be of the mind that nothing in the real world or fictional world is what it seems. Through writing an autobiography within an autobiography, it appears that Spark is of the mind that the only way to explore this question is through the process of writing. Sir Quentin makes the argument earlier in the text that “Truth is stranger than fiction” which shows that the things that have happened in reality are more bizarre to anything that could be presented in art. This is because many authors can only write about things that they have thought about, most commonly, events that have occurred around them or within their own life. This idea is also presented in Mark Twain’s text Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World, where he argues that “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't.” The notion of reality being stranger than fiction is made clear throughout The Pillowman as the events that awful torture that was caused to Michal by his parents has not only physically and mentally scarred him, but it has also emotionally scarred Katurian which he has presented through his own fiction. It …show more content…
It is evident that there is a lacking in the number of characters who are true to themselves and in turn, others around them. In The Pillowman, Katurian claims to have no understanding as to how his fictional stories could have anything to do with the child murders. He argues that “I’ve never done any anti-police thing, I’ve never done any anti-state thing…”. This makes it evident that he believes that once his stories have been read by anyone other than himself, their interpretation of it is completely out with his control. However, as the play progresses, Katurian begins to recognise his responsibility for putting the idea into Michal’s head. Not only does Katurian’s attitude change over time but Ariel’s temperament also changes as he goes from claiming that he is the “bad cop” but by the end of the play, he is the one who stores Katurian’s stories. Ariel hides behind the hurt that he has faced previously in his own life which is why he comes across as angry and aggressive. It becomes clear that there is more to Ariel’s aggressive behaviour than what meets the eye when he says “’Have some sense’! Don’t start on me again! And quit it with that ‘problem childhood’…” From this, it is clear that Ariel is attempting to hide behind the wall that he has created through pain and resentment. It could be argued that Katurian and Ariel share a lot in
The third element between them is themselves as authors. To start with, the first similarity
The chaos and destruction that the Nazi’s are causing are not changing the lives of only Jews, but also the lives of citizens in other countries. Between Night by Elie Wiesel and The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, comradeship, faith, strength, and people of visions are crucial to the survival of principle characters. Ironically, in both stories there is a foreseen future, that both seemed to be ignored.
It was difficult for me to find many parallels between this play and the works that we studied in Canadian Literature because this play does not follow a plot line and does not include many elements that could be relatable to the works we studied. It also does not relate to the themes that were emphasized in our course. However, I found the close analysis of the final scene of a play, acted out forty- three different times to be reflective of the close analysis’ we have done many times in class with poetry and prose. It was interesting to watch these close analysis’ to understand all of the possible interactions these characters could have had. It led me to question the endings of the works that ...
“By working dying people into his act, Jones is putting himself beyond the reach of criticism. The dying people are viewed on videotape. He thinks that victimhood in and of itself is sufficient to the creation of an art spectacle. The cultivation of victimhood by institutions devoted to the care of art is a menace to all art forms.”
While these two pieces have many similarities and differences, they have a common purpose, to allow a viewer to experience a bit of nature. The two artists used their own unique styles to depict a similar scene that resulted in two different paintings that each allow a viewer to experience this bit of nature in whatever way they interpret it. This is sort of the whole point of art, and it seems that both of these pieces captured that point very well.
In the road of life, the right path may not always be where the road signs lead. The road to self-discovery is found by following one’s heart and mind and to wherever they may lead them. Within the plays Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and Our Town by Thornton Wilder, parallel pathways and contrary connections can be established between the characters coinciding in both. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman is the portrait of a sixty year old man reflecting upon his past, one of lies and hopelessness. Upon coming about his past, he finally and fatally, discovers himself at the end of his life. Mr. Webb from Our Town plays the figure of an editor of Grover’s Corner Sentinel and loving father of Emily. Early in the play, he displays knowledge over his own self-discovery, which he hopes to tell others. The self-discovered Mr. Webb raised Emily coherently as a woman who in the end recognized the value of life. Married to George Gibbs, her life was very much comparable to Linda Loman, married to Willy Loman. Linda Loman was a woman dedicated to the needs of her spouse, but also therefore blind to the real needs that Willy desired. In the end, she still was left wondering why or what had gone wrong. Interlocked by protruding parallel traits of progressive self-awareness, these characters promoted the two plays to a higher level of understanding.
elements and devices, perhaps one of the most important is through the representation of characters. By developing characters, novelists can express ideas as well as commentaries, and this can be further enriched by providing a foil. Conventionally defined as another character who contrasts with the main character, a foil helps emphasize the attributes of the latter while strengthening the message of the story. The two novels that feature foils discussed in the past 4 years are Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice and Kate Chopin’s 1899 novel The Awakening. In the novels The Awakening and Pride and Prejudice the characteristic foils that are encountered with Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle flow with Charlotte Lucas and Elizabeth Bennet, as they ignite their individual qualities that not only contrast with each other but by comparison aid in illustrating important themes regarding the life of submission and dependence that women led during the 19th century.
Like all artists, most feel they must perform or practice their craft no matter what. His quiet, solitude, and passion for his ‘art’ see an end once his audience becomes less interested. This brings up the question of if art matters if no one is paying attention. The need for others to appreciate ones sacrifices, pride, and art is a complex psychological conundrum. It is not easy to assess why the Artist needs adoration for his craft while he could find joy in it all by himself.
Marcel Proust in the first volume of his ‘In Search of Lost Time’, ‘Swann’s Way’, (1913), and Donna Tartt in her 2013 novel ‘The Goldfinch’, reveal, through their central characters, the various impacts art can have on one's relationship with reality. Although Proust and Tartt’s retrospective novels explore similar coming of age themes, as their young protagonists’, Proust’s nameless Narrator, and Theo Decker, struggle between their inbuilt passion for art versus and the common values of their respective societies, both authors conclude on vastly different estimations on the consequences and costs of valuing art over
According to A. Waller Hastings Ariel didn’t have to face her consequences. The movie ends with Ariel’s father trading his life to the sea witch in order to save her. “Once again Disney’s heroine survives to find happiness thanks solely to the heroism and sacrifice of male characters” (O’Brien). Because of this, Ariel doesn’t grow or mature. Instead, everyone lives happily ever after thanks to the men in Ariel’s life (Hastings). Now, there’s nothing wrong with living happily ever after. However, this perpetuates an unrealistic expectation of life for impressionable viewers that abide by Mulvey’s theories on narcissism and how viewers may relate themselves to the object on the screen (Storey, 110). The image of a helpless damsel in distress being saved by men with no further consequences to her life is harmful because it may give viewers a distorted view of reality. The damsel in distress stereotype erases all of Ariel’s prior independence due to the fact that she has to be
"For some, Life is rich and creamy ... while Art is a pallid commercial confection ... For others, Art is the truer thing, full, bustling and emotionally satisfying, while Life is worse than the poorest novel: devoid of narrative, peopled by bores and rogues, short on wit ... and leading to a painfully predictable denouement."1
As James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man unfolds, the central theme of isolation and rejection becomes evident. From birth to adolescence, the protagonist of the story, Stephen Dedalus, responds to his experiences throughout life with actions of rejection and isolation. He rebels against his environment and isolates himself in schoolwork, family, religion and his art, successively. James Joyce uses Stephen Dedalus' responses of isolation and rejection to illustrate the journey that the artist must take to achieve adulthood.
With phrases as: “I shall have, for a special reason to deal with this dream again elsewhere, and interpret it and consider its significance in great detail” or “I shall discuss in another occasion the explanation of these animal phobias“.(p.262) It is not overstating to consider Freud a superior narrator. There are many lines throughout the story that almost encourage the reader to second guess the case conclusions which is why the successive arguments became possible. In this way the reader can understand the position of the analyst as well as the patient, as if he is directly involved. The story could sometimes be understood differently because of that. Peter Brooks suggests that Freud was completely aware of the analogies between the way he reaches to his psychoanalytic theories and detective work. In “Fictions of the Wolf Man: Freud and narrative understanding” Brooks uses Freud’s narration of this specific case to explain that there could always be recapturing of meaning. He suggests that by being written as a detective narrative could sometimes cause the case to be suggestive and misleading. Brooks divides the text in four levels of narration, one being the history of the neurosis, then the etiology, the third is the history of
Aside from the conditions, which lead to the creation of these works, they share a number of other common threads. Symbolism aside these works are very similar on the surface. Both are a collection of seemingly disjointed images, which when put together by the reader or observer serve up a strong social message. That messages being that the wars and conflicts of the times have twisted the world. This is reinforced by the contorted and misshapen images in both works.
James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. "The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce's focus throughout will be those aspects of the young man's life that are key to his artistic development" (Drew 276). Each event in Stephen's life -- from the opening story of the moocow to his experiences with religion and the university -- contributes to his growth as an artist. Central to the experiences of Stephen's life are, of course, the people with whom he interacts, and of primary importance among these people are women, who, as his story progresses, prove to be a driving force behind Stephen's art.