This really helped me become more persuaded through the emotional appeal of the play because when I looked at the others on the stage, they were portraying the same emotions, but on a smaller scale. I think I related more to them because in today's culture and society when one is in mourning we do not often make a huge scene in the middle of our town and let everyone know what is wrong, but we often quietly mourn and confide in our closer social circle, and generally within our homes where not everyone can see. That is why in my opinion, the five woman on the stage were able to relate to the audience simply because of today's culture.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Today's Way of Mourning
Going into the play I wondered what Professor Burton meant when he said that we will be surprised and should brace ourselves. From the moment that Polydorous gave his opening speech on the props I knew that he was referring to the emotions and the mimesis that the actors portrayed. Sometimes in the play I felt like Hecuba was a little over the top and exaggerating, partially because I couldn't fully relate to her. It was hard for me to watch such powerful emotions on the stage, but as I would take my attention off of her and onto the five other woman on the stage, I noticed that they too portrayed emotions of grief and pain, but through their more subtle gestures than through the waiting and grand movements that Hecuba often did.
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Interesting point! I too felt like Hecuba's grief was a little over the top at times and a little too intense. I eventually was able to empathize with her, but it took a little while. Once that happened, I was then able to help her justify her actions and "respond appropriately" to what she did. But it is so true that today our social expectations are that extreme emotions can only be expressed in quiet places and to do otherwise is to break a social rule. In fact, before I walked into the play, I met up with my roommate. She was telling me that she felt awkward standing there in the lobby by herself when a girl next to her, whom she didn't know, was having a melt down, completely unable to compose herself. My friend said she wanted to go console her, but just didn't know how to respond. So she ignored the situation because the crying girl's friends had it covered. This then lead to a conversation between me and my roommate about how we all have those melt downs, but we get better at timing them in private settings or at least subduing the intensity when we are in public. This is exactly what those 5 women did; they subdued their emotion in a public setting. And I think you are exactly right when you say that this is something our culture relates to and expects.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, indeed! But just as interesting is that we DO each feel those intense emotions, even if we don't express them. Hecuba's portrayal of grief was intense and maybe exaggerated, but it was real, in that people feel that way. And it was frightening! Frightening to us as spectators. How much more frightening would it be to us if WE were feeling that way ourselves? Maybe that's why society has encouraged this "keep-it-to-yourself" idea of emotion, because our irrational feelings are scary.
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