Character Identification in Drama Essay

One of the most brawny aspects of theater is the way that dramatic expression encourages the viewer to instigateicipate in the drama by identifying almost with one or more of the section references depicted on stage. In actuality, the measure of a molds success depends on the degree to which the playwright is able to convincingly develop and exploit the auditory modalitys acknowledgment with the dramatic causas and, in some almost ineffable way, allow them to experience the plays themes and ideas in an intimate way.Most people probably identify more with a single character of every abandoned play than with the other characters. Obviously, the protagonist of a play is expected to engage the earr severallys identification and sympathy, only it is not eternally the case for every viewer that a given plays protagonist will supply the most expedient method of sympathy and identification.For example, in Shakespeargons play critical point, the character of Horatio seems to me, for terra firmas which I hope to explain shortly, a more sympathetic character and one with which I can shut d causely identify because Horatio is the good-hearted friend who tries to offer actionable advice to Hamlet, tho to have his advice ignored and for tragedy to win the day. From the beginning of the play it is clear that Horatio is meant to serve as a psuedo-narrator of the play and his relationship with the audience is established as quickly and as innately as is realizable without s direct appeal to the audience.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 follow the beckoning form of his fathers ghost in the second part of Act 1 Scene 3, Horatio fully expresses his bond with Hamlet, and in doing so, begins to shift the audience-identification and audience sympathy he has established up to that point with the audience to the pla ys true protagonist, Hamlet. When Horatio regularises Do not, my lord. (Hibbard 183) he is ratting 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 grave to the plays climax at the end of Act 5 Scene 2. He cautions Hamlet, again, to stay off his sad 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 sympathize 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. Horatios loyalty is good while H amlets 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 after conduct (Holzknecht) and religious dogma as healthful as cultural tradition and social conservatism. My ability to identify with Horatio comes from the fact that I have alike given advice to close friends who opted to ignore that advice and came to ruin. I think most people have probably confront that situation in their lives and the character of Horatio is therefore a good character to encourage audience identification.The resembling principle is at work in Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun, where Hansberry challenged abstruse cultural ideas about(predicate) African Americans. By focusing her play on realism, Hansberry created a theme which was radically different than the debut of America typically seen on Broadway stages. The plays impact on American audiences was ve ry controversial. Hansberry relied on depicting extreme emotional states and conditions for her characters, as well as enticing her audience to experience the domain of a function of her characters with as much empathy as possible.In order to engage the audience, and to cause them to identify with the Youngers, Hansberry uses the device of realism, which extends to the character of Mama who is depicted as a well-meaning and hard-working person who faces insurmountable odds. One in-chief(postnominal) reason why I feel an identification with Mama is because of the very beautiful language Hansberry developed for this character. Hansberry delivers the parley 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 Ra isin 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 idiom 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 such 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 learned that, you aint learned nothing. (Hansberry, 135) attain the precondition of aphorism 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 whic h is alluded to in the play Mama realizes how close the other members of the family are to despair when pity reveals that the doctor she has seen is not a conventional physician but a woman who has the capability 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 difficult for modern audiences. However, the deep identification with Creon which I experienced while reading the play emerges from the timelessness of certain faults of character, namely disdain, which I feel is as much a part of modern life as it is common life, or that is, the lives of people who are not kings or royalty.The damaging impact of pride can be felt up over trivial matters as well as great issues as those depicted in the play, Antigone. For my induce part, I felt an extreme identification with Creon because I have personally experienced the nature of pride and arrogance in relation to my own 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.While I can abstractly connect my own trivial indiscretions with personal power to Creons obviously near-mythic exploits, I doubt that most modern readers would needs be able to make that connection because the seeming influence of their small lvies would not seem, to them, comparable to the life and actions of a great man. However, the portrayal of great men in classical tragedy was used in order to exaggerate the qualities and persona lity traits which were viewed as being connected to tragedy.That means 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 foil time and culture and find universal identification through the portrayal of archetypal characters. Work Cited Domina, Lynn. collar a Raisin in the Sun A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, andHistorical Documents. Westport, CT Greenwood Press, 1998. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Random House, New 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.