The following work will call your attention to the way in which a playwright and a novelist deploy key stylistic and dramatic effects and will be complete by means of examining a passage taken from each work. To follow a comparison and contrast of the techniques used within the two works will be observed.
My rein is loosened. I am master of my Fate. When the hour comes, Watch me dance along the narrowing path, Glazed by the soles of my great precursors. My soul is eager. I shall not turn aside. (Soyinka, 2002:10).
The play is set in the ancient Yoruban city of Oyo in Nigeria, nineteen forty three. The King has died and on the night in question his Horseman must escort him to the afterlife. The Kings Horseman, Elesin Oba, dancing through the marketplace, flirting with the women he encounters, pursued by his praise-singer and an entourage of drummers and followers, he promises to honour the ancient Yoruban custom of ritual suicide and in doing so he will accompany his King on his final journey to their ancestors. However, despite these ancient traditions Nigeria is a British Colony and customs such as those of the Yoruban are not tolerated, no matter how sacred their beliefs are.
The above quoted passage has been selected as it exhibits the novels central theme of conflict. Throughout Death and the Kings Horseman the story is told from two perspectives, that of the indigenous and of the invader. The irony of the quote is particularly interesting as Elesin states that he is ‘the master of [his] fate’ only after reading the novel we come to learn that this is certainly not the case. Elesin is arrested by Simon Pilkings the District officer before he is able to complete his ritual suicide. “It is Olunde, Elesin’s s...
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... themes of death and that of a struggle for power between invader and native inhabitant’s.
In summation the above essay has explored the way in with both Wole Soyinka and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o deploy key stylistic and dramatic effects to their work as well as providing a description of the ways in which both the play and novel function.
Works Cited
• Soyinka, Wole, ed. Simon Gikandi. 2002. Death and the Kings Horseman (Norton Critical Edition). New York and London: Norton.
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. 2002. A Grain of Wheat. London. Penguin Modern Classics.
• http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/horseman
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/apr/09/death-kings-horsemen-review-national
• http://www.enotes.com/death-kings-horseman/themes
• http://www.amazon.com/Grain-Wheat-African-Writers/dp/0435909878
• http://hubpages.com/hub/Review-of-A-Grain-of-Wheat
...ition to costume, language and dialogue is what fixes the atmosphere and the action. In a manner very similar to Shakespeare, Calderón weaves description of the scene and of what is occurring into the main thrust of the play. In this sense, he is more than a poet, he is a dramatic craftsman who predominantly through his verse alone, creates a drama in its own right. All the clues to the plot and its themes lie in the text; the use of staging, costume, music and props can be used to enhance what lies in the script. What they give to the play is a fuller and more entertaining dramatic production. Thus, if used sensitively and intelligently by a director, these factors can increase the dramatic power of the work. The primary focus, however, remains the language, which relies on a high standard of acting in order to do justice to the subtleties of the play.
Zwillenberg, Myrna Kogan. "Dramatic Justice in Tartuffe." Modern Language Notes 90.4 (Apr. 1975): 583-590. Rpt. in Drama Criticism. Ed. Linda Pavlovski. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.
The archetypal tragedy of two star-crossed lovers, separated by familial hate, is a recurring theme, which never fails to capture the minds of the audience. It is only at great cost, through the death of the central characters that these feuding families finally find peace. This is an intriguing idea, one antithetical. I have chosen to analyze both Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet and Laurent 's West Side Story. The purpose of this essay is showing how the spoken language is utilized in these different plays to meet differing objectives. The chosen scenes to further aid comparison and contrast are the balcony scenes.
Murphy, B. & Shirley J. The Literary Encyclopedia. [nl], August 31, 2004. Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2326. Access on: 22 Aug 2010.
Filmmaking and cinematography are art forms completely open to interpretation in a myriad ways: frame composition, lighting, casting, camera angles, shot length, etc. The truly talented filmmaker employs every tool available to make a film communicate to the viewer on different levels, including social and emotional. When a filmmaker chooses to undertake an adaptation of a literary classic, the choices become somewhat more limited. In order to be true to the integrity of the piece of literature, the artistic team making the adaptation must be careful to communicate what is believed was intended by the writer. When the literature being adapted is a play originally intended for the stage, the task is perhaps simplified. Playwrights, unlike novelists, include some stage direction and other instructions regarding the visual aspect of the story. In this sense, the filmmaker has a strong basis for adapting a play to the big screen.
In précis, through comparing and contrasting the inclusion of certain themes and textual features, and their transformations, the main motifs behind these alterations are clearly established. These transformations are influenced by the author’s social and cultural context, as well as their present defined social order, which is extensively reflected in BBC’s adaptation of the Shakespearean play, “Much Ado about Nothing”.
Lipking, Lawrence I, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
These differences in character, though seemingly small, lead the audience to draw two very different conclusions about the characters’ situations and why they are placed in them. The analyzation of the characters changes from Shakespeare’s written play to Hoffman’s rendering of A Midsummer Night’s
Poetry, Drama, and the Essay. Ed. Joseph Terry. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc, 2001. 123-154.
With its entangled double plots and eloquent use of words, Much Ado About Nothing is a story that has the ability to entertain the masses both young and old. Shakespeare’s use of figurative language along with situation creates such vivid imagery for which carries the drama from beginning to end. For example, when we look at Act 1 Scene 1 of the play ...
Venkova, Savina. “Theatrical Analysis: Hamlet, Shakespeare.” Rev. of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Helium. Helium Inc., 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
Gainor, J. Ellen., Stanton B. Garner, and Martin Puchner. The Norton Anthology of Drama, Shorter Edition. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2010. Print.
Drama, and Writing. Ed. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Pearson-Prentice, 2010. 40-49. Print.
When many people decided to sit down and read a book or a play it is because the title or summary entices them. As the story comes to an end it is decided whether or not the person related to or understood the point of the literature. Great authors and playwrights know this and set in place concepts. Many different concepts, to catch different audiences attention and to deepen the understanding of the literature. In order to understand Shakespeare’s play Othello, it is necessary to examine the emotions of jealousy, manipulation, being consumed by something, and gender.
Booker, M. Keith. “A Practical Introduction to Literary Theory and Criticism.” White Plains: Longman Publishers USA, 1996. Print.