Everyone had to have noticed that at the very end of the play, the crowd clapped for all of the actors to express their support and love. However, I couldn’t help but smile when I noticed that when Hecuba went up to bow, the volume of the crowd increased exponentially and everyone clapped and whistled with much more passion. It was somewhat a verification of a job well done. To me, this was an enormous sign that the actress did a terrific job of pulling in the audience with her great demonstration of mimesis.
There were multiple points during the show where I couldn’t help but feel terrible for this mother who has lost her son and is on the verge of having her daughter ripped away from her and killed. When Hecuba first began to wail and cry, as the women surrounded her and told her what was to be done with her daughter, I was almost startled at how hard she seemed to be bawling. I wasn’t expecting to see so much emotion. Then, she gets up and starts defending herself as to why everything that is happening is unfair and why such an awful thing shouldn’t be happening.
Similar to what Thomas said, this poor old woman had nothing else to lose and couldn’t fall any lower. She argued and debated with such a conviction that seemed to make the irrational more rational. It’s just like we have discussed in previous classes, love can be extremely irrational. However, as I watched Hecuba yell towards the heavens with all of her heart and cry with real tears, I couldn’t help but notice that the irrational seemed to be more rational in my head. I think the audience all agreed as we all clapped unanimously after witnessing her phenomenal rhetoric appeals through logic and an engagement of emotions.
I also thought that it was fitting that Hecuba received a louder applause than the rest of the characters, not only because she was the main character, but I also felt that she portrayed her emotions better. She was able to persuade others like Agamemnon because of her open emotions. She probably would have never been able to say or do half the things she did because she was a slave but because of her emotions she moved other characters.
ReplyDeleteThe woman playing Hecuba was fabulous! I felt like I was living her grief. Although I was stunned when she gouged out her friend's eyes and killed his children (highly irrational actions I might add) it felt justified because I had been feeling her grief the whole time (thus the actions appeared more rational). Interesting how our emotions can manipulate our perception of events.
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