equss vs amadeus by peter shaffer Essay -- essays research papers

In both Equus and Amadeus Shaffer shows insanity in his characters. He does this not only to stress the characters feelings and state of mind of which they are in. Also, he attempts to cast a blanket over the reader; it gives the reader the feeling that Shaffer designed the characters to express and reflect the beauty in insanity and to convey the ugliness on normality. â€Å"Madness, if not out rightly divine, is at best preferable to the 20th century’s ruthless and uninspired sanity, is in this play, as it is so much fashionable philosophizing, totally dependent on a pleasant, aesthetically rational form of derangement for the credibility of its argument† (Richardson 389). Shaffer brings us into these feelings with the story of Alan Strang, a seventeen-year-old British boy. He has been sent to Rokeby Psychiatric Hospital in southern England to get â€Å"help† for the crime of blinding six horses that he worked with. â€Å"Equus†¦. surgically probes man’s continuing fascination with violent forms of belief† (Gill 387). Shaffer makes this all so obvious to us. Alan is an insane young man with no justification and quandary that must be dealt with. His therapist Dysart sees that this boy is troubled and can be helped, but fears that there might be something deeper. â€Å"Dysart recognizes also that the boy he is treating has experienced ‘a passion more ferocious that I have felt in any second of my life† (Real389). Clearly he envies this. In turn Dysart fears that the passion of the boy, not because he can’t understand it, but because he does. â€Å"The inference is that, once cured, that is, rid or his ‘divine’ suffering, Alan will become a dullard like most normal people† (Clurman 388). Shaffer is trying to illustrate that â€Å"normality† is not good, but bad and that the only way to be divine is this state of mind is to go by Shaffer’s idea of â€Å"insane.† Shaffer wants us to think in the mindset of the boy and see what he sees. He wants us to feel the insane thoughts of Equus and experience the urge to follow to voice, but we must ask our selves; what divine spirit is this we see? There is nothing to it but the pure crazed madness of a boy. After reading the play you are left feeling sorry for the poor soul because he was never able to fit into society and the normality, but hear he is being forced into it. Shaffer uses the word insane is strong context because as the author he has cont... ...ely worthless,’ Salieri survives only to see himself become extinct as Mozart’s posthumous reputation increases. For thirty-two years Salieri nurses his hate, refusing to be God’s joke and demanding to be remembered, ‘if not in fame, then infamy.’ Thus, he composes ‘a false confession’ in which he explains ‘how I really murdered Mozart—with arsenic—out of envy!’ Then, as the sun rises and the play draws to its conclusion, he cuts his throat with a razor. Again, however, Salieri fails. He does not die; his confession is found but not believed. It is dismissed as the raving of a madman† (Morace 39). Shaffer ends off leaving us with our mouths wide open, craving more of the story like bees after honey, more of the tale told by the insane old man. This story of the insane from the eyes of the insane also makes it seem as if the norm is insanity and we are all but puppets with our strings being dangled for us by normality. â€Å"But positioning such an alternative is false. One need not be ‘crazed’ to live untrammeled by conventional proscriptions. Most of the insane are in every way for more wretched and pitiful than the average man in his quiet despair of humdrum gloom† (Clurman 388).

Memorable and striking characters Essay

Another way in which Charles Dickens creates memorable and striking characters is by the way he describes how the characters look, as in my opinion a description of what they look like helps me to remember the characters. We first hear Abel Magwitch rather than see him. When we do hear him we learn that he has a â€Å"terrible voice†. On our first impressions we could think he is a ghost as Dickens says, â€Å"As a man started up from among the graves†. Then a full description of Magwitch begins and Dickens throws lots of descriptive words at us in a rhythmic manner. Magwitch is first described as â€Å"A fearful man† â€Å"All in coarse grey† â€Å"With a great iron on his leg†. This is very monosyllabic, suggesting a very basic man. This also immediately gives us the impression that he is an escaped convict, which later in the story we find out he is. In Victorian times an escaped convict would have filled the reader with utter fear. Dickens also says that Magwitch isn’t wearing any hat, which would be regarded as disrespectful, and that he is not a gentleman, as he isn’t wearing a hat. Dickens also uses a lot of verbs in the description regarding the way Magwitch looks, such as: – â€Å"soaked† â€Å"smothered† â€Å"lamed† â€Å"cut† â€Å"stung† and â€Å"torn† which suggests that the environment is hostile towards him and that it has disabled him in some way. There is also a strong sense of rhythm throughout the description, for example â€Å"soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles and torn by briars†. The â€Å"Cut by flints† is almost onomatopoeic in that it gives a choppy monosyllabic effect to capture the act. Dickens finishes off his description of Abel Magwitch by writing verbs like: – â€Å"shivered†, â€Å"limped†, â€Å"glared† and â€Å"growled†. The glared and growled gives us alliteration and proves just how animal like he is, as Magwitch is conveyed as beast like in a wilderness, who is hunted by society. When Pip first sees Miss Havisham he describes her as â€Å"The strangest lady he had ever seen†. There is then a full description of Miss Havisham that proves just how strange and emotionally scared she is. Dickens says that she is dressed in rich materials- satins, and lace, and silks, we can tell from this that is an extremely upper class woman. We start to realise she is strange when Dickens says everything she wore was white. When he says white, we associate it with a wedding and we learn that she was abandoned at the altar later in the book. She has been at Manor/ Satis house for a long time, we can tell this when Dickens says, â€Å"The dress she wore had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow†, and also when he says â€Å"The bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress†. We can tell there is no hope left in her and that she is miserable when Charles Dickens says she has â€Å"Sunken eyes†. Now Pip sees her as â€Å"Ghostly waxwork†. Miss Havisham is regarded as waxwork, as skin and bones but also as a skeleton. She is like the living dead, if you excuse the oxymoron. The way the characters behave is another way in which Charles Dickens creates his memorable and striking characters. Magwitch behaves in a totally bizarre way with Pip, for example: – he turns Pip upside down, which is a symbolic action for when he turns Pip upside down, its like he has turned Pip’s life upside down, which he eventually does. Magwitch also behaves differently as when he finds some bread in Pip’s pocket he eats the bread ravenously, which makes us realise just how hungry and animal like Magwitch is. Magwitch behaves very roughly with Pip as we can see from the descriptions â€Å"Took me by both arms, and tilted me back as far as he could hold me†. This is the ‘action’ of a man who is desperate and needs Pip’s help. Miss Havisham also behaves not just strangely but the way she behaves is grotesque, as she tells Pip â€Å"I have sick fancies, and I have sick fancies that I want to see some play†. I mean who says that to a young boy, it’s just disgusting. She also orders Pip almost as soon as he gets through the door, I think that this is because she thinks that just because she is a wealthy she has the right to order Pip about because he is a working class boy. Another way in which she behaves strangely is that she talks out loud but doesn’t seem to care if Pip can hear or understand what she is saying. The last way in which Dickens creates both memorable and striking characters is by the way he makes them speak. Speech is a very important vehicle in characterisation as it determine a lot about the characters, for example: – where they are from and their social class. When both Magwitch and Miss Havisham speak, they both use imperatives but we realise that Magwitch needs to issue imperatives out of necessity whereas Miss Havisham wants to issue imperatives because she feels she can because she is an upper class woman and Pip is a working class boy. We realise that there is a lot of communication between Magwitch and Pip, but when Pip is with Miss Havisham he is the audience. We also realise that Magwitch uses ‘you’ all the time whereas Miss Havisham uses ‘I’ all the time, as she is full of self-absorption. When we first hear Abel Magwitch speak, he speaks with such force and aggression that we think he is a dangerous man. When Magwitch speaks he uses lots of imperatives, such as â€Å"Keep still or I’ll cut your throat! † and â€Å"Hold your noise! † these two sentences are also part of a number of sentences that are monosyllabic. Dickens also uses lots of dialectal grammar for example, â€Å"Tell us your name†. When Magwitch says â€Å"Pint out the place! † this suggests that he may be from a particular region as ‘pint’ is a dialectal word. When Magwitch says â€Å"What fat cheeks you ha’ got† it is quite comical in a way as Magwitch is so hungry he is wanting to eat Pip’s cheeks. When Magwitch turns away as he thinks that Pip’s mother is nearby we can tell that he lives a life of constantly been afraid. After Pip says that both his parents are dead Magwitch says â€Å"Ha! † but this â€Å"Ha! † is not an evil ha, it is a desperate man trying to sound sarcastic muttering, which proves just how desperate he is. When he learns that Pip is an orphan we see a side of him, a warm kind side when he asks all these questions, and Magwitch realises that he can depend on Pip. When he orders Pip by saying, â€Å"You get me a file, and you get me wittles, and you bring ’em both to me† we notice the repetition of the word ‘you’ that suggests that Magwitch is desperate and in a panic, and that Pip (this young boy) is the only person who can help him. When Magwitch describes the man who is in hiding with him, he creates the most horrific and violent imagery, which indeed scares Pip. When Pip says â€Å"Goo- good night sir† Magwitch replies with â€Å"Much of that, I wish I was a frog, or an eel† which proves just how much he hates himself, and that he wants to be someone/ something else, and with that he goes limping into the distance. When we first hear Miss Havisham she comes across as a little, sad, vulnerable, weak, feeble old lady when she says â€Å"Who is it? † however, even though she says this, it arouses our suspicions because she was the person who invited him, so therefore, is expecting him. When Miss Havisham is speaking there is a lot of commands that are styled as imperatives. Miss Havisham starts to open out when she says â€Å"You are not afraid of a woman who has never seen the son since you were born? † When she says this, it is effective sibilance; it is also taunting and full of utter spite. â€Å"What do I touch†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ broken† this sentence is Miss Havisham’s monologue, it is also full of spite, this sentence is also a very odd thing to say to a young boy such as Pip. When Miss Havisham says, â€Å"I am tired, I want diversion, and I have done with men and women, play! † we see that it is all about her, it is full of self-absorption, as she is always saying ‘I’ the readers also realise that something is not quite right when she says this sentence. She then becomes extremely insulting towards Pip when she says â€Å"Are you Sullen and Obstinate† which proves that Miss Havisham is extremely well educated owing to the long sentences and the complex vocabulary she employs. She also talks in riddles when she says â€Å"So new to him, so old to me, so strange to him, so familiar to me† which is not only comparing herself to Pip, but when she says this sentence, it’s like she doesn’t care if Pip hears and understands her or not. Miss Havisham doesn’t think that Pip can do anything for himself and she proves this by saying â€Å"You can do that. Call Estella. At the door†, which is ordering Pip to call Estella in a strange house. I think this is one reason why Pip feels very uncomfortable in Manor house, as it is totally outside his experience- a working class boy in the presence of middle/ high-class society. When Miss Havisham says to Estella â€Å"Well you can break his heart† we see what her plan is and Miss Havisham is also been very horrible. When she asks Pip, what does he think of Estella? She is being a bit cheeky, quite controlling and very mean, but it is the only sentence she says to him politely. When he does say (in her ear) Miss Havisham keeps prompting him, which in my opinion is very taunting, but overall that is what Miss Havisham is. So to conclude there are three main ways, in which Charles Dickens creates his memorable and striking characters. Firstly by the way he describes the setting, secondly by the way Dickens delineates the characters, for example: – the way the characters look and behave and thirdly by the way the characters speak. We have learnt that Abel Magwitch is a kind, desperate man who needed Pips help, and that Miss Havisham is a strange, grotesque, mean old lady who just likes to boss people around, having said this, in my opinion the reader feels a small amount of sympathy for her. We wouldn’t expect that Magwitch and Miss Havisham are totally reversed on our first impressions, but the whole theme is about our expectations. Dickens has created a number of successful characters, and because of their capturing description we can hear and see the characters, and because we know them and Dickens has brought them alive, we remember them for the rest of our lives.

The Worst and Best Breakup Lines

Your relationship is not working out. You have hit a dead-end, and now your relationship is a cesspool of broken promises, jealousy, and boredom. You know that you have to end the relationship, but how do you approach this issue sensitively? If you handle things callously, you may end up with a bruised eye. If you are oversensitive, you may end hanging on to a dead relationship, feeling bitter and exhausted. Breaking up with someone is never easy. Especially, if you have been with been with that person for a long time. However, if things come to a head, and you feel it is time to move on, it is best to have a clean break up without carrying the burden of heartbreak or unspoken feelings. Saying unkind words, calling each other names, or simply shutting all communication with your partner is extremely bad ways to break up. If you expect to be in a healthy relationship, you should at least have the maturity to break up without being abusive or selfish. How Not to Break Up: 6 Worst Breakup Lines That Can Land You in Trouble If you don’t want your current girlfriend or boyfriend to become a stalking ex, or your spouse to file for divorce on grounds of mental harassment, you must ensure that the breakup does not become an ugly brawl. Also, how you express to your partner that you are breaking up with her will go a long way in restoring her faith in relationships and men. Here are six common breakup lines that can land you in trouble. 1. â€Å"It’s not you, it’s me.† This is a classic excuse when you want to avoid confrontation. Though it may seem non-accusatory, this breakup line is not fair because you don’t give the person a chance to find out what really went wrong. Worse, its usually not true: there are usually reasons for breaking up that relate to incompatibility on both sides. So what do you do, if it is really not her, but you that is the problem in the relationship? What if you mean it, sincerely? If it’s really not her, but you that is the problem, explain why thats the case. Perhaps you are truly unable to commit to a long-term relationship because you are financially insecure, or emotionally overwhelmed, or still in love with your ex. If there really is something going on with you that makes a relationship impossible at this time, don’t leave without offering a genuine explanation for the breakup. 2. â€Å"I want to take it slow.† To most people, I want to take it slow means I like you and want to pursue this relationship but at a different speed. While its possible that your partner will respond by walking away from the relationship altogether, a decent human being will see an opening to a conversation about how youd like to proceed. Do you want to get together less frequently? Slow down your physical relationship?  Ã‚   Bottom line, asking to take it slow is a great way to slow down the pace of your romance (assuming that youre in the early stages of getting to know one another). Its a poor way to actually end a relationship, and its almost certainly the wrong thing to say if youve been in a committed relationship for years! 3. â€Å"I am not ready for a relationship.† If you were not ready to be involved, what were you doing all along? Why put on a charade, and then pull the plug just when your partner was getting serious? A breakup line such as this one shows that you have no respect for your partner’s feelings. It is okay to not want to take the relationship to the next level if you are not ready. However, it is not fair that you choose to break off the relationship because you suddenly realized that what you thought was a  fairy tale romance was actually a real-world relationship with a flawed human being. 4. â€Å"Let’s just be friends.† This is the most dangerous breakup line, ever. It sounds like you are giving a compensatory reward to your partner by promising to be â€Å"friends.† Really? Do you expect her to buy that? Did you know that by promising to be friends, you are asking for trouble? Breakups are hard, and at this vulnerable moment, you might end up together on a rebound. Because, hey, you said you wanted to be â€Å"friends,† right?  If you truly continue to spend time together as friends, you may never be able to move on and never able to fully commit to your partner. 5. â€Å"I will always love you, but never like that.† Did you suddenly decide to become a saint? If you ever decide to use this breakup line, don’t be surprised if you end up with a bloody nose or an egg on your face. Why would you say that you love her when you don’t? Many people use this breakup line in the heat of the moment, hoping to diffuse the tension. However, this breakup line will always haunt you, even after you have long moved on. Don’t throw crumbs at your partner. It is not fair for you to break her heart, after leading her on to believe that you loved her. 6. Youre great, but it is really your sister I fancy. Even if this is the truth, please dont blurt it out. Some truths are best buried. You date a girl, only to later fall in love with her sister. How do you think shes going to take the news? Would she hug you and say, Oh wow! Im so happy to have you as my boyfriend and brother-in-law!? Or would she kick you out of her house and her life, the moment you utter those words? And what good would it do you to inform her that your heart flutters at the sight of her sister? No self-respecting girl would ever take this breakup line well. 9 Perfect Breakup Lines from Famous People Here are 9 famous quotes to use for breakup lines. They help to communicate the pain of breakup without seeming over the top. Use them to create your own personal breakup line. Borrow the ideas without making it clichà ©d. Let your breakup line be as memorable as your pickup line was.:   Maggi Richard Two words. Three vowels. Four consonants. Seven letters. It can either cut you open to the core and leave you in ungodly pain or it can free your soul and lift a tremendous weight off your shoulders. The phrase is: Its over. Marilyn Monroe Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. Sarah Mlynowski Just because a relationship ends, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth having. Alex Elle I’m thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength. Amit Kalantri I cannot compromise my respect for your love. You can keep your love, I will keep my respect. Judith McNaught,  Paradise Either give me your hand, or end it now, and put us both out of our misery. Lone Star I’m going to smile and make you think I’m happy, I’m going to laugh, so you don’t see me cry, I’m going to let you go in style, and even if it kills me – I’m going to smile. Fannie Flagg,  Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe You know, a heart can be broken, but it keeps on beating, just the same. S. B. Morse,  Now and at the Hour of Our Death A broken heart is just the growing pains necessary so that you can love more completely when the real thing comes along.