On the surface David Ives’ “Sure Thing” is a play about two strangers who meet, fall in love and live happily ever after. When analyzed in more depth, the play is actually about the struggle that exists between one’s desire to be an individual and the need to conform, to a certain degree, in order to be part of a couple. The play exposes and discusses the tension that exists between the value of being an individual and value associated with being in love. Love holds the promise that you will always having someone there for you and that you will always have someone to share everything with. However, to realize this love one has to make sacrifices in the process and potentially change who they are.
At the beginning of the play Betty and Bill are in conflict regarding their individuality. As their conflict plays out, Ives demonstrates how individuality can at times be detrimental to the formation of a sound relationship. Indeed, the play demonstrates that individuality can impede one’s ability to be congruent in a couple. Ives uses the bell which chimes every time that Bill or Betty makes a comment or shares an interest that was not well received by the other, to demonstrate this fact. One example is Bill's love of sports and his statement: “I'm a Mets fan, myself,” (643,49). One has a sense that Bill’s love of sports is a bit extreme and thus is not received well by Betty. The point the author makes is that having such passion for sport, or any individual interest for that matter, could take away from the amount of time he has to focus on the relationship. Moreover, Betty does not seem to share his passion thus making it hard for her to engage in conversation on the subject.
Interestingly, individuality is also present when both...
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...ed at a happy ending? In order to become part of a happy couple both Betty and Bill had to give up a part of who they were as individuals in order to find love. This relates to the dramatic element of the stage being a metaphor for life. Betty and Bill are taking on characters that are only mirror images of who they really are, fooling the other completely.
Ultimately Ive's “Sure Thing” demonstrates the conflict between individuality and the congruency of relationships. On the broad level it demonstrates how individuality, on all levels, may be in conflict when two people coming together. However, it also reveals how sacrificing a measure of individuality can enable conformity and lead to love and companionship. In short, the play reveals that there is a natural interplay or balance between individuality and conformity in the relationship building process.
The first half of the play concerns a celebration - twins Girlie Delaney and Dibs Hamilton are celebrating their 80th birthdays, and with the gathering of their families comes the eruption of simmering resentments and anxieties about the future of Dibs and Farley Hamilton's farm, Allandale. The second half starts with a funeral and portrays the shattering of the tenuous links that held the family together.
This one act play is solely about two people who used to be in a relationship, namely Vernon and Lucy. Vernon invited Lucy for a lunch at his place and prepared steak as their meal. The reason Vernon invited Lucy was because his hope for reconciliation and fulfillment for his sexual desires as a man. The scene begins
All relationships go through both good and bad times. Some last through the ages, while others quickly fall into nothing. In Terrence McNally’s “Lips Together, Teeth Apart,” the heart of this haunting play is a dramatically incisive portrait of two married couples—the Truman’s and the Haddocks. Uncomfortable with themselves and each other, they are forced to spend a Fourth of July weekend at the Fire Island house that the brother of one of the women left his sister when he died of AIDS. Though the house is beautiful, it is as empty as their lives and marriages have become, a symbol of their failed hopes, their rage, their fears, and of the capricious nature of death. The theme of love and death in relationships is quickly developed, as well as an overwhelming fear of homophobia. The two couples McNally brings to life are both going through rough patches in their marriages. While Chloe and John are fighting through John’s esophagus cancer, Sally and Sam are expecting and fearful that this time it will be another miscarriage. Showing how society has struck fear into the couples about AIDS. While everyone except John is worried about catching “AIDS,” the play begins to unveil troubled marriages as well as superficial values and prejudices.
Many stories talk about relationships, especially the ones between man and woman as couple. In some of them, generally the most popular ones, these relationships are presented in a rosy, sentimental and cliché way. In others, they are presented using a much deeper, realistic and complicated tone; much more of how they are in real life. But not matter in what style the author presents its work, the base of every love story is the role each member of that relationship assumes in it. A role, that sometimes, internal forces will determinate them, such as: ideas, beliefs, interests, etc. or in order cases external, such as society. In the story “The Storm” by American writer Kate Chopin and the play A Doll’s house by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen I am going to examine those roles, giving a special focus to the woman´s, because in both works, it is non-traditional, different and somewhat shocking, besides having a feminist point of view.
After reading the entire play, the reader can safely say that fate works in mysterious ways. To love and be loved in return is considered by many to be one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. At the same time, it is thought of as unbearable to love someone you cannot be with. Especially when the reasoning behind limitations is cau...
Now that the play, “Post-its (Notes on a Marriage),” could make the audience react to feel distanced and questionable of the actions of the characters, how can that relate to everyday life? traits of the play Post-its (Notes on a Marriage) through staging and conversation,
Love is a powerful emotion, capable of turning reasonable people into fools. Out of love, ridiculous emotions arise, like jealousy and desperation. Love can shield us from the truth, narrowing a perspective to solely what the lover wants to see. Though beautiful and inspiring when requited, a love unreturned can be devastating and maddening. In his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare comically explores the flaws and suffering of lovers. Four young Athenians: Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia, and Helena, are confronted by love’s challenge, one that becomes increasingly difficult with the interference of the fairy world. Through specific word choice and word order, a struggle between lovers is revealed throughout the play. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare uses descriptive diction to emphasize the impact love has on reality and one’s own rationality, and how society’s desperate pursuit to find love can turn even strong individuals into fools.
The overriding theme of the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare deals with the nature of love. Though true love seems to be held up as an ideal, false love is mostly what we are shown. Underneath his frantic comedy, Shakespeare seems to be asking the questions all lovers ask in the midst of their confusion: How do we know when love is real? How can we trust ourselves that love is real when we are so easily swayed by passion and romantic conventions? Some readers may sense bitterness behind the comedy, but will probably also recognize the truth behind Shakespeare's satire. Often, love leads us down blind alleys and makes us do things we regret later. The lovers within the scene, especially the men, are made to seem rather shallow. They change the objects of their affections, all the time swearing eternal love to one or the other. In this scene Shakespeare presents the idea that both false love and true love can prevail..
The theme of the play has to do with the way that life is an endless cycle. You're born, you have some happy times, you have some bad times, and then you die. As the years pass by, everything seems to change. But all in all there is little change. The sun always rises in the early morning, and sets in the evening. The seasons always rotate like they always have. The birds are always chirping. And there is always somebody that has life a little bit worse than your own.
The title of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing has sparked scholarly debates about its meaning for centuries. Some say it is a play on the term “noting”, revolving around the theme of all sorts of deceptions by all sorts of appearances (Rossiter 163). Others claim it has more to do with everyone making a fuss about things that turn out to be false, therefore, nothing (Vaughn 102). Regardless of these speculations, there is something rather profound going on in the play that is worth making a big deal about: four characters in the play learn about love, and eventually, how to love.
The ringing bell represents a fresh start. It is the device which allows these two characters to commence again, it is almost like the bell that is used for boxing matches which divides the rounds and lets the boxer rest before the next round begins. The play begins when Betty is setting down quietly reading her book when Bill walks in. The dialogue starts out very short, Bill glances at Betty?s book which is The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. In Bill?s pick up line he misidentifies the author. Generally women like to meet men who are intelligent, interesting and have a funny sense of humor. On pages 845 and 846 Beatty asks where Bill went to college and he said, ?I went to Oral Roberts University. ? (Bell.) In the next round Beatty repeats the question again but Bill said he is lying about ever going to college.
The play’s major conflict is the loneliness experienced by the two elderly sisters, after outliving most of their relatives. The minor conflict is the sisters setting up a tea party for the newspaper boy who is supposed to collect his pay, but instead skips over their house. The sisters also have another minor conflict about the name of a ship from their father’s voyage. Because both sisters are elderly, they cannot exactly remember the ships name or exact details, and both sisters believe their version of the story is the right one. Although it is a short drama narration, Betty Keller depicts the two sisters in great detail, introduces a few conflicts, and with the use of dialogue,
In terms of structure, marriage serves as a prime force of motivation in terms of driving the plot. In conforming to the traditional aspect of dramatic comedy of an end denouement of marriage, Wilde creates adjacent desires for Jack and Algernon whether this is to marry Gwendolyn or Cecily. Thereby the vast majority of events which coalesce to form the play are in relation to this shared desire and therefore the plot is more easily driven. For example, Jack maintains the false persona of ‘Earnest’ in order to marry Gwendolyn which creates humour for the audience as it serves as a reoccurring pun. The resulting comical disorder of this and the impact it has in terms of climaxes, for example; when it becomes apparent that neither Jack nor Algernon are called ‘Earnest’, makes the structural device of marriage even more significant in terms of the play’s effect on the audience. In this, the structure of the play provides greater humour for the audience and emphasises the comic effect of the continuous ‘Earnest’ pun. In Act 1 of the play during the bout of witty repartee between the characters Jack and Algernon, Wilde includes an inversion of the cliché that ‘marriages are made in h...
As complex, troubled characters Blanche and Viola established a relationship with the audience, which leaves the audience feeling sympathetic toward them both. The nature of the sympathy felt by the audience varies between characters. Viola loses her brother, and is wash...
To give a little background on the play, the pursuit of marriage is the driving force behind the play. “I now pronounce you, man and wife.” This traditional saying, commonly used to announce a newlywed couple during a wedding ceremony, marks the happily ever after that many dream of today. In today’s society, marriage is an expression of love between two individuals. Marriage has not, however, always been an act of love.