Paper 2 question

1. Paper 2 question The traditional, classic plotline builds up through a series of increasingly intense episodes to a high point, a climax, which is then followed by a brief period of “falling action,” where last details are resolved, outstanding questions answered, the fictional world righted in some fashion. However, many modern narrative writers choose to end their stories at the very point of the climax, depending on its nature as somehow evocative or extreme to carry the thematic weight of the story. Discuss two of the plays you have studied insofar as their endings are concerned; consider the role of falling action, or the lack thereof, as it relates to the themes of the dramas.

2. Identify key words in question The traditional, classic plotline builds up through a series of increasingly intense episodes to a high point, a climax, which is then followed by a brief period of “falling action,” where last details are resolved, outstanding questions answered, the fictional world righted in some fashion. However, many modern narrative writers choose to end their stories at the very point of the climax, depending on its nature as somehow evocative or extreme to carry the thematic weight of the story. Discuss two of the plays you have studied insofar as their endings are concerned; consider the role of falling action, or the lack thereof, as it relates to the themes of the dramas.

3. Initial planning • Which text? • Lear…easy … • Doll House…slam • Streetcar…falling action after rape • Salesman…falling action in requiem

4. Initial planning--answer question • Lear • ends at climax • body on wall-reps tragic end, futility • no f.a.-1 more shock (gunshot), mighty king of beg. juxt. w/end • emphasizes FX of L’s power-hunger, violence • theme: violence begets violence • Doll House • Same • slam of door-reps end of N’s dollness, answer to T’s ? • no f.a.-answers T’s vain hope w/definitive “NO”, provided by (controlled by) N • emphasizes reversal of earlier roles of N – T • theme: reality/ism is superior to romanticism bcuz ro. allows for dishonesty

5. Toward a working thesis • Edward Bond – Lear • Henrik Ibsen – A Doll House • Both traditional, classic, plotlines move with increasing intensity toward their ends. • At beginning… • Lear = power-hungry despot bent on walling in his subjects, oblivious to the human suffering caused by his obsessions. • Nora = flighty, insubstantial character, ignorant to the ways of the world and to the uncomfortable truths about her marriage • Storylines…Both face increasingly challenging rivals and tests , lead to theme • At end/climax… • Lear drops instantly dead from a single gunshot on his infamous, destructive wall Nora emphatically slams the door, breaking free from both the imprisoning dollhouse and her miscomprehending husband. • FX of no falling action…Both protagonists changed, themes accentuated

6. Toward a working thesis • Both Edward Bond, in Lear, and Henrik Ibsen, in A Doll House, use traditional plotlines to move with ever-increasing intensity toward dramatically inevitable ends, but they end their plays rather untraditionally, with powerfully effective stage images of changed protagonists and situations and punctuate their themes with drama rather than allowing any of their dramatic power to ebb through falling action.

7. Intro paragraph creation • Both Edward Bond, in his play Lear, and Henrik Ibsen, in A Doll House, use traditional, even classic, plotlines in that they move with ever-increasing intensity toward their dramatically inevitable ends. Bond’s title character begins as a power-hungry despot bent on walling in his subjects, oblivious to the human suffering caused by his obsessions. In contrast, Ibsen’s female protagonist initially appears on stage as a flighty, insubstantial character, ignorant to the ways of the world and to the uncomfortable truths about her marriage. Through a series of episodes in which the protagonists face increasingly challenging rivals and tests, both playwrights provide storylines that carry their audiences toward a more profound understanding of the important themes they wish to convey, communicating the sense that the protagonists’ experiences represent much more than uniquely personal life stories. And both end their plays with stunning visual and auditory force: Bond’s Lear drops instantly dead from a single gunshot on his infamous, destructive wall, while Ibsen’s Nora emphatically slams the door, breaking free from both the imprisoning dollhouse and her miscomprehending husband. In so doing, by explicitly choosing to leave their audiences with powerfully effective stage images of remarkably changed protagonists and situations, both Bond and Ibsen underscore their dramas’ themes.