Proof by David Auburn

734 Words2 Pages

Finding out what you are. Ghost- a vision of a dead person that is believed to appear or become visible to the living as a vague image. There have been many cases in reality where one sees the ghost of their deceased loved ones or encounter some sort of paranormal activity in their life. “Proof” by David Auburn plays around with the “Ghost story” in his play to represent identity, memory of Catherine. Auburns “Proof” centers on four main characters; Robert, Catherine, Hal, and Claire. Robert, who is an esteemed mathematician is the father to Catherine, who is only 25 years old. Hal is the romantic antagonist, more like a nerd, sometimes charming. He is most uncertain about Catherine’s scholastic abilities. Hal discovers a pad in a drawer with profound calculations. He falsely assumes the work is Roberts. In reality, Catherine had written the mathematic proof. But no one would believe her. She now fights to provide proof that the proof was written by her. The play is set at the back porch of a house in Chicago .It starts off when Robert wakes Catherine up at 1am past midnight, because it is Catherine’s 25th birthday. They decide to celebrate Catherine’s 25th birthday by having champagne that was lying on the table behind Robert. They have the typical birthday conversation a normal father-daughter would have. Talking about her past, present and her future. At this point the audience knows that Robert is not living. He is just a manifestation Catherine is experiencing. Catherine doesn’t know that her father is not alive. But she deals with it nevertheless. She has a conversation with him as if he were real. She keeps the father-daughter talk real. Although Robert was mentally ill as a result of his mathematic skills, Catherine is wo... ... middle of paper ... ...nd Catherine together in one scene. It’s either Catherine and Robert talking alone, or Catherine and Hal alone. Hal and Robert are never put together in any scene. This hints the audience slightly that Robert is not alive. But he is just a manifestation throughout the play. Similarly in Shyamalans Sixth sense, we see a scene at the beginning of the movie where Malcolm is shot by an old patient, but as the rest of the film is set we suppose Malcolm is still alive. It is feared that Malcolm has psychic powers (Ruined Endings) the same way Catherine is feared to have possessed her father’s illness. Later when both these characters find out that they have been seeing nothing, but a hallucination, they realize it is time to move on with life. Catherine finally surrenders herself to her sister’s plan of moving to New York. And Hal publishes the Proof as Catherine’s work.

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