"Scrub" hehe

Haha I’m glad I wasn’t the only person in the class who immediately thought of shrek when they read the name “George Farquhar.” I’m crazy about the shrek movies and had a nice chuckle as I remembered Lord Farquaad’s ridiculous laugh from the movie! Pure hilarity. Anyways, The Beaux Stratagem wasn’t a bad play, and was much more enjoyable then some of the others. The play had a few elements that were not found and the other plays. Divorce between Sullen and Mrs. Sullen was a new twist and was not seen in any of the other plays. Most of the unhappy couples from the previous plays stayed together despite their differences, even though most of them had lovers and was deceitful in one way or another. I can’t argue with Mrs. Sullen for leaving her husband, because he was a brute who treated her badly. I must admit I didn’t pick up on Mrs. Sullen being raped within the marriage, and was shocked because of how terrible the marriage must have been. I also really enjoyed the names of the characters because the seemed to suit the characters so well. Some of the most obvious of course was “Scrub” who was a servant, and lady Bountiful who was rich.

The Fair Penitent” by Nicholas Rowe, now here’s a play I really enjoyed! The fact that the play was a she-tragedy really appealed to me. I don’t want to come off as a bitter and cynical person, but tragedies are much more interesting (at least in these eighteenth century plays!) I sympathized with the character of Calista, even though she continuously dug the hole she created for herself deeper and deeper. Although she was presented with several opportunities to save herself, she seemed fixated on dying and blew every opportunity to escape. Altamont basically said “hey babe its cool, I’ll forget the whole thing” but she still chose option B, which of course was death. The situation in which she found herself in was very believable. She wasn’t in love with Altamont, and gave into Lothario who fooled her with false promises. She didn’t seem like the promiscuous
type and seemed to believe that her shenanigans with Lothario would lead to marriage.

Unlike some of my classmates, I found that the relationship between Altamont and Horatio was pure friendship and nothing else. I found it refreshing to see an example of true friendship because none of the characters in any of the other plays I’ve read this term displayed such loyalty.

"The Way of the World"

Greetings,

I will begin this blog by saying that I did not find "The Way of the World" an enjoyable read whatsoever. After several attempts of trying to read the first act I put the text down and went to sleep. After a good nights rest I was able to stay awake long enough to finish the play. The characters from "The Way of the World" seemed to blend with the characters from the previous plays. Fainall was in love with Mrs.Marwood, Mirabll was in love with Mrs. Millamant, etc etc. I had to keep referring to the dramatis personae in order to keep the names straight and remember which characters were married, and who was in love with who. "Love" & marriage don't seem to go hand and hand for the characters in eighteenth century drama Convenience, lust, and money seemed to have been at the top of the priority list for many of the characters. I'm finding the plays repetitive and disheartening.