The One Day of the Year

751 Words2 Pages

How are the main characters in a play constructed to represent the text’s underlying values and attitudes?
Answer with reference to at least one stage drama that you have seen or studied.

The One Day Of The Year explores a family’s relationships at the time of Anzac Day. It is the story of a son questioning the validity of Anzac Day as a true commemoration of our soldiers, while his father refuses to accept the changes in his son’s attitudes, Alf’s wife tries to anchor the family and Wacka, the true Anzac, remembers his experiences in his own way.

In contrast, Alf and Dot, his parents, are obviously more traditional. The rest of the house is small, the furniture is dowdy, and their kitchen is primitive.

It is then that the viewer is introduced to Alf's attitudes towards life. He is sitting at the table getting progressively more drunk and whingeing about all those more fortunate than himself. His language is slang, and his vocabulary includes words such as “wotcher”. He also has a strong ‘dinkum-di aussie’ accent. He is obviously uneducated and resents those who are.

The family then begin to talk about Hughie and we realise that he has modern clothes and a ‘sports suit’. These are in contrast with Alf and Dot’s old clothes- Dot has just removed a large overcoat.

In the next scene, the viewer is introduced to Hughie and Jan. Jan uses upper-class language and condescendingly uses words such as ‘marvellous’. Hugie’s language is not upper-class, but in comparison to Alf’s ...

Show More
Related

  • Teaching with Dialects: The Presence of AAVE in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    These passages not only provide excellent examples of the distinctive features of AAVE mentioned earlier in this paper, such as using done for resultatives, consonant clusters, and substituting the /d/ for the /th/ sound, but they also demonstrate how, no matter what the social occasion, Janie does not alter her speech patterns or dialectic utterances.

    Read More

  • Discussing if Anzac Day Should be Celebrated or Mourned

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper will be focussing on the texts from the play ?The One Day of The Year? by Alan Seymour. Which explores a war veteran and his son?s view of the meaning and reason of Anzac Day.

    Read More

  • Sincere Irreverence

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    A prominent theme in The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is the question of earnestness or sincerity. At the core of the play’s exploration of earnestness is the playwright’s social criticism for the substitution of moral values for aesthetic values. Wilde pokes fun at the notion of morality as a set rules dictating what people should and shouldn’t do. For Wilde, “earnestness” contains false morality as well as false truth. It is for this reason that Wilde makes a point to contrast his two male leads. John (Jack) Worthing’s insincerity is primarily self-serving and therefore amoral, whereas Algernon (Algy) Moncrieff’s insincerity is to be viewed as a positive form of creative expression.

    Read More

  • The Phantom Lady

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...o do plays, all these aspects form part of telling a story in a play, and they also form part of delivering a message to the audience, and such are things in which critics have focused their efforts on in order to evaluate plays. In The Phantom Lady, we can see themes advocated such as nobility, love and courtesy, we see brilliant stage effects such as lighting, costumes, setting and dialogue that aid in telling the story, and last but not least, we analyze the implications a story like this has on past times and can compare it to what would happen in modern times. Plays are made up of many different aspects such as these, and every aspect is vital to the performance and conveying of the play, because they are not as simple as people believe them to be, they are complex and intriguing to many people who are open minded.

    Read More

  • Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... on Victorian culture, the modern day reader is left with disdain for the earnest ideal. The characters rely on it only superficially. Through the play the meaning of the word is manipulated until its meaning is lost and the remaining value of the word is to essentially mask the true natures of the people who use the word (or name) too freely. The implication is that the characters in the play are silly as well as hypocritical, and as representatives of Victorian culture, Wilde is leading the reader to the conclusion that much of the decorum expounded by society is just as silly and hypocritical. Luckily for the proponents of the stiff propriety in the Victorian age, the blow of this conclusion is softened immensely by the comical nature of the play, and we are left with the lesson that there is really no importance in being earnest, but merely being named Ernest.

    Read More

  • Australia Day In Australia

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    People began to doubt whether Australia Day should be celebrated on 26th of January because it is such a divisive day. To Indigenous Australians, it is a day of mourning; it means the establishment of the British convict colony; and it is the day that they lost their sovereignty. Based on these facts, the pride of Non-Indigenous Australians is somewhat short of confidence. Obviously, the treatment of indigenous people is not something worth celebrating. Carter suggests that it is difficult to define ‘Australia’ because it relates to the questions of power and identity, which inevitably touches on the aboriginal issue. Different views towards these issues lead to a great confusion. And some historians suggest that Australia can be both a young and an old country, depending on whether to include the pre-colonial aboriginal history or

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: "Everyday Use"

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meanwhile, Dee finds this absurd. She thinks they are too valuable and priceless to be used as everyday necessities. Instead she will hang them. These two ideas of how to use the quilts are in complete contrast to one another. Mama finds them practical, Dee finds them fashionable....

    Read More

  • The Duchess Of Berwick And Lady Winderfield

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    During a short conversation between the Duchess of Berwick, Lady Windermere, and Lord Darlington, author Oscar Wilde exposes such entertaining arrogance that the members of upper class society contain. All the blunt, cynical insults toward the lower class and sarcastic language between the character enlightens the arrogances of the characters and the cruel structure of their society considering the gaps between lower class and high class, along with men and women.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Being Earnest Essay

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde uses wit to undermine the societal expectations of women. Set in England during the late 19th century, the play shows the shallow and trivial attitude of the upper-class Victorian society. This status-driven society favors men, creating a dissatisfying life for women. The male characters, particularly Algernon Moncreiff, uses wit to show superiority over women. Yet, Cecily Cardew’s wit and cleverness best Algernon at his own game. Although often interpreted as a sign of farcical psychosis, Cecily’s diary actually reveals her true intelligence and dominance over Algernon.

    Read More

  • Oscar Wilde Satire

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion, with a prominent use of inversion, satire and epigrams; Oscar Wilde is able to create an eloquent blend of effective yet sometimes implicit social criticisms of late nineteenth century society and derive humour for both modern and Victorian audiences in doing so. Combined with carefully sculptured characters such as Lady Bracknell and with the use of puns and intelligent wordplay, the playwright elegantly comments on aspects of society such as marriage and traditional gender roles thus confirming Sir John Hankin’s interpretation that the play is ‘…only a joke, yet an amazingly brilliant one’[ ] and mope importantly establishing The Importance of Being Earnest as a sardonic masterpiece.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Being Earnest, By Oscar Wilde

    286 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the passage from The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde reveals the personality of two protagonists: Jack Worthing, an honest legal judge from Hertfordshire , and Algernon, a witty gentleman belonging to Victorian society. The diction of the passage shows that Jack and Algernon are best friends; Algernon calls Jack as his “old boy”, “my dear boy” (Wilde 90). They also have some similar personalities: humorous, ironic and satiric. The passage starts with the scene Algernon enters cheerily (Wilde 90); he asks Jack about Jack’s proposal to Gwendolen. Jack replies with a sincere exclamation about Gwendolen, and also her mother, Lady Bracknell. He claims that Lady Bracknell is “perfectly unbearable” (Wilde 90); furthermore, Jack compares

    Read More

  • Full House TV Show Analysis

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    This family would eat breakfast and dinner together in their home. It is rare today to have families eat together, especially breakfast and at their home. Whereas today families go to McDonalds or other fast food joints because their schedules are just too full. Another difference between this show and life today is the youngest daughter, Michelle, was always tucked in to bed and sang to by her father, Uncle, and Joey. Parents today do tuck in their children but I don't see it being an every night thing. Throughout the episodes if one of the girls were upset they weren't afraid to show emotion, this was the same for the guys. In the episode where Jessie moves out, Michelle takes it the wrong way and when she finally understands the situation she is then upset about it. Then Jessie finds out Michelle is upset and he too gets upset and shows emotion. This generation of teenagers tend bottle up emotions and keep to themselves. The girls in this show aren't afraid to cry or to go to one of the guys for

    Read More

  • Oscar Wilde's Love

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oscar Wilde is the brilliant dramatist of the Victorian age in England. Akin to Shakespeare, Dickens and many others who worked in this field, his talent was unique in terms of self-expressions through different literary styles. Of course, the aesthetic manner of Wilde’s literature (as common to think as his highest achievement) has been already flourished earlier in the outstanding prose, but the innovative playwriting such as The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) shows the infinite origin of author’s ideas. And this one was an exception within the others, because throughout the play Wild draws the higher society in the most unattractive way. “ Trivial comedy for the serious people” is the epigraph of the book, which addresses its meaning certainly to the heart of the public author knew very-well. Therefore, the most beloved characters of his previous dramas like dandies appear now to be the objects of cruel mocking. In the page 4, Algernon pronounces the phrase with the laughing tone in response to Jack’s explanation of why he is going to propose to Gwendolen, and Algy says ‘“Divorces are made in heaven”’ (Wilde, 1895, p. 4). Why Algernon has changed this widely used expression about the marriage? How this represents the point of view of other protagonists? And, what is it: a witty wordplay or a worldview?

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    The way Oscar Wilde depicts the word earnest is given in two different yet comedic shades of light that audiences appreciate. Earnest which is a synonym for the word serious contradicts the lead character’s behaviour in which Jack leads a double life. For instance, when Jack warns Algernon the dangers of leading a double life he replies “I love scrapes. They are the only things that are never serious.”(pg.316) This amusing phrase by the playwright showcases the reversal technique which gives off a satirical bite, also the word serious is a substitute word for earnest which is homonymy with Ernest, Jack’s imaginary twin brother. Another incidence is where Algernon bickers with Jack about how he should not be flirting with Gwendolen at the dinner table and be thoughtful about the situation. As Jack defends his ways with Gwendolen, Algernon replies “I hate people who are not serious about meals. It is so shallow of them.”(pg.303) Wilde cleverly ridicules this statement by using the satirical te...

    Read More

  • Greek and Elizabethan Theatre

    912 Words  | 2 Pages

    Greek and Elizabethan theatre, while similar in some respects, had a few large differences. The Greeks believed in a certain unity of theme, which was prevalent throughout the production. Greek plays were often drawn from myth or of historical significance, so it seems that only ki...

    Read More

More about The One Day of the Year

Open Document