"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.

Oroonoko

Once again we have a woman masquerading as a man. I think it would be tiresome to think of reason why I woman would want to dress as a man if I were a playwright, but apparently it was quite amusing and appealing for 18th century drama. Unlike Marriage a la Mode, the combination of both a comic and tragic plot didn’t flow in this play. I found that the tragic plot was too heavy in comparison to the comic plot and they didn’t work well together. The tragic plot resulted in death and suicide which more gruesome than the tragedy in Marriage a la Mode. I did however enjoy the character of Daniel, and the fact that charlotte outwitted the other characters (even though she had to dress like a man to do so.) It would be interesting to read the original story of Oroonoko and Imoinda written by Behn because it probably goes into more detial about the lovers and their story.

I'm sick and cranky

Ahoy! I'm not feeling well this evening and I have a terrible cough so I'm going to keep this blog a little on the short side. I finished reading The Country Wife this afternoon which I thought was interesting but a little confusing. Maybe I missed the footnote...but I had no idea what the heck cuckolding was until after I read the play. I had a general idea but after I looked it up the play made much more sense! I am beginning to notice a pattern within these 18th century plays for having more than one plot, which I find make the plays more enjoyable to read. Horner's deceitfulness about his "capabilities", Pinchwife and Margery's relationship as a married couple, and Harcourt and Alithea's relationship are the three plots found in the play. I thought it was hilarious how Pinchwife wound up telling Margery everything he didn't want her to know, and I enjoyed that it was an ongoing joke throughout the play.
This play was very sexual in nature and I can see how it would have been scandalous to have preformed at the time. Horner's character was completely sexually driven, and the women (Margery especially) also had a keen interest in sex.

marriage

Hey everyone, I guess it is time for blog #2. I really enjoyed Marriage a la Mode. I thought that the combination of tragedy and comedy really worked for the play. I thought that the comic plot was a much more accurate depiction of relationships in actual life. Real life romances can be full of passion in the beginning, and then dwindle as relationships continue. I think that in many relationship passion turns into friendship and companionship. The lovers in the tragic plot depict how many relationships being, and the comic plot depicts lovers as time goes on. The poetic language of the tragic lovers was interesting to read, and I enjoyed the rhyming couplets. It was interesting that the language was so structured and smooth, while their relationship was complicated.

Ah-ha! I have mastered this device. This is actually my second blog entry because I made a a blog a few days ago but I forgot both my user name and password and I didn't have the patience to go through the process of finding it so I started a new one.
I'm not sure how I feel about posting my thoughts for just anyone to read, but hey It's for marks so I guess I'll have to deal with it! Because I have been swamped with school work, and because I just bought the text book today, I can't talk about the reading. I'm just going to use this entry to say "howdy" to all you folks out there.