Character Identification in Drama Essay

One of the just about powerful sayings of theater is the way that hammy expression encourages the viewer to beginicipate in the drama by appointing soundly-nigh with one or more of the fibers depicted on stage. In actuality, the heartbeat of a breezes success depends on the degree to which the conform towright is able to convincingly develop and exploit the auditory senses credit with the dramatic lawsuits and, in some almost ineffable way, allow them to knowledge the licentiousnesss themes and ideas in an intimate way.Most people in all probability identify more with a single character of any addicted cultivate than with the other characters. Obviously, the booster rocket of a play is expected to act on the earreachs appellation and sympathy, yet it is non always the aspect for every viewer that a given plays protagonist will supply the most expedient method of sympathy and identification.For example, in Shakespe atomic number 18s play Hamlet, the character of Horatio seems to me, for reasons which I hope to explain shortly, a more sympathetic character and one with which I can tight identify because Horatio is the good-hearted friend who tries to offer actionable advice to Hamlet, only to hasten his advice ignored and for tragedy to win the day. From the beginning of the play it is clear that Horatio is meant to practice as a psuedo-narrator of the play and his relationship with the auditory modality is established as quickly and as innately as is possible without s chair appeal to the earshot.Although Horatios simple lines may seem as though they play little role in the overall development of the play, they are, in fact, rich with meaning. By assuring Hamlet that he should not make out the beckoning form of his fathers weirdo in the second part of Act 1 Scene 3, Horatio fully expresses his bond with Hamlet, and in doing so, begins to disturb the audience-identification and audience sympathy he has established up to that poi nt with the audience to the plays true protagonist, Hamlet. When Horatio says Do not, my lord. (Hibbard 183) he is informing the audience that Hamlet faces true danger and that he is concerned for him so, too, should the audience be concerned. The essence of the relationship between Horatio and Hamlet is consistently portrayed as a genuine friendship. Horatios loyalty is important to the plays climax at the end of Act 5 Scene 2. He cautions Hamlet, again, to avoid his tragic fate If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their repair hither, and say you are not fit. (Hibbard 344) By now, accustomed to Hamlets denial of his friends advice, the audience will recall the previous scene when Hamlet, against Horatios advice, sought conversation with ghost of his father. They will understand that when Hamlet chooses to disregard the advice of the single character in the play who has demonstrated friendship and loyalty to him, that Hamlet, again, embraces tragic fate. Horatio s loyalty is good while Hamlets loyalty to the ghost of his father is destructive.Horatio represents an existential connection to the living moment, whereas the ghost of the King represents the ambiguities of the Christian afterlife (Holzknecht) and religious dogma as well as heathen tradition and social conservatism. My ability to identify with Horatio comes from the fact that I nourish also given advice to close friends who opted to ignore that advice and came to ruin. I think most people pee probably faced that situation in their lives and the character of Horatio is therefore a good character to encourage audience identification.The identical principle is at work in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun, where Hansberry challenged deep cultural ideas about African the Statesns. By focusing her play on realism, Hansberry created a theme which was radically different than the presentation of America typically seen on Broadway stages. The plays concussion on American audienc es was very controversial. Hansberry relied on depicting extreme emotional states and conditions for her characters, as well as enticing her audience to experience the world of her characters with as often epochs empathy as possible.In order to engage the audience, and to cause them to identify with the Youngers, Hansberry uses the invention of realism, which extends to the character of mom who is depicted as a well-meaning and hard-working somebody who faces insurmountable odds. One important reason why I step an identification with Mama is because of the very beautiful language Hansberry developed for this character. Hansberry delivers the dialog of A Raisin in the Sun in colloquial language and this aspect of them play enhances the plays realism.The realism of the play then causes the audience to more closely identify with the plays characters and plot, and each of these aspects of the play helps to communicate the important sociological and racial themes that drive A Raisin in the Sun. Hansberrys dialogue, in fact, becomes a key driving force of the plays ultimate revelatory impact on the audience. As the play progresses and the characters become more clearly defined with motivations that the audience can identify with (or despise) the dialect of the play begins to attain a lyrical uniqueness a vocal music which was unlike any other play on the Broadway stage of the time.Lines much(prenominal) as Seem like God didnt see fit to give the black man nothing but dreams. (Hansberry, 29) or There is always something left to love. And if you aint learn that, you aint learned nothing. (Hansberry, 135) attain the status of dictum in the context of the play and divulge important social and racial realities that, for most Americans in the mid-twentieth century, existed, if at all, as merely si-debar newspaper articles or in some other abstract realization.My identification with Mama extends to her empathy for others, such as in the case of the abortion whi ch is alluded to in the play Mama realizes how close the other members of the family are to despair when shame reveals that the doctor she has seen is not a conventional physician but a woman who has the cogency of performing an abortion, an illegal procedure at the time that could subject Ruth to severe criminal penalties (Domina 8). I think most people have faced situations where they were meant to do what appears to be wrong in order to do what is essentially right.This is the magic of Hansberrys characterization. In plays such as Antigone which are ancient plays, identification with the characters can sometimes be more catchy for newfangled audiences. However, the deep identification with Creon which I experienced while read the play emerges from the timelessness of certain faults of character, namely pride, which I feel is as much a part of modern life as it is parkland life, or that is, the lives of people who are not kings or royalty.The damaging impact of pride can be f elt over trivial matters as well as great issues as those depicted in the play, Antigone. For my hold part, I felt an extreme identification with Creon because I have in person experienced the nature of pride and arrogance in relation to my consume life and my own social relationships. One of the most important aspects of my identification with Creon is the fact that by identifying with Creon one also, indirectly identifies with the Chorus of the play which, in the long run, serves as a counterpoint to Creons increasingly egomaniacal behavior. firearm I can abstractly connect my own trivial indiscretions with person-to-person power to Creons obviously near-mythic exploits, I doubt that most modern readers would necessarily be able to make that connection because the seeming warp of their small lvies would not seem, to them, comparable to the life and actions of a great man. However, the act of great men in classical tragedy was used in order to exaggerate the qualities and p ersonality traits which were viewed as being connected to tragedy.That performer that the aspects of Creon which seem near-mythic in Antigone are near-mythic precisely because they are universal and can, in fact, be applied to everyday lives. This is the power of theater to span time and culture and find universal identification through the portrayal of prototypical characters. Work Cited Domina, Lynn. Understanding a Raisin in the Sun A scholar Casebook to Issues, Sources, andHistorical Documents. Westport, CT Greenwood Press, 1998. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Random House, untested York. 1959 Holzknecht, Karl J. The Backgrounds of Shakespeares Plays. New York American Book, 1950. Hibbard, G. R. , ed. Hamlet. Oxford Oxford University, 1998. Sophocles. Sophocles Antigone. Trans. Richard Emil Braun. New York Oxford University Press, 1989.