Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

I want to start my blog on this play by saying that Cat On A Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams is thus far my favorite play that we have studied throughout this class time. The entertainment value of the play was remarkable and I imagine this play being produced over and over again around the world. I think Tennessee's writing style really added a flair to the play that I have not seen up until this point in any of the other plays that I have read for this class.

I really enjoyed the small bits of comic relief throughout this very dramatic play. I was very intrigued by the way the playwright tackled social issues with a real sense of reality and rawness. I think this play dug very deep to show how families, especially in the south really handle things and how things are swept under the rug just to save face and not "embarrass" your family. Personally the competition that Gooper and Mae had going on in their own mind with Brick and Maggie reminded me of some of my in-laws and how they act towards my husband and I. That part of the play really hit home for me and drew me in even closer to the play and made me have a connection with this play that I have not had with the others. It was more personal and more relatable to me because it was an experience that I've had before in my life and I was able to see myself in Maggie's shoes.

I think that the southern setting really brought a great feeling to the play, it's something about a southern accent and a big southern home that the entire family lives in that makes me have some sort of feeling of nostalgia. It maybe the fact that my family is primarily based out southern Arkansas and Texas and I have a quiet longing to be back there in the quiet, sweet, hot breeze of those summer nights brewing in me deep down. This play made me feel comfortable and cozy if that makes any sense. I really got lost in their world and was truly enthralled in the play and all that was going on from word to word. It felt so familiar to me and that made it an easy read and a pleasure.

I often found myself smiling first at the mention of the names Big Mama and Big Daddy, mainly because my grandmother on my dad's side is called Big Mama by all her grandchildren and my late grandfather on my mother's side was called Big George. I think it's a southern thing to do and shows a sign of respect for the elders in the family which is something that a lot of today's society is missing. I feel like this play had a ton of hidden messages in it, one being unconditional love. No matter how bad Brick seemed his wife and his parents loved him and were not afraid to let him or anybody else know that they did. I believe that type of love is what helps people out of whatever bad situation they may find themselves in, that's exactly how God loves us and how we are to love one another. That was a great example of God's love for his  children no matter what they have done or what they are doing, he loves us and he wants us as his own just like Maggie wanted Brick and like his parents wanted him. They never gave up on him like God never gives up on us. Another lesson that I gathered from this play was that of knowing who you are and being confident in that and not letting people tell you what and who you are. For example, when Brick spoke of his friendship with Skipper he said it was pure and clean but that Maggie had put the thought in Skipper's head that it was something else between them and once that happened their friendship fell apart and then Skipper died and Brick became an alcoholic. I have found that people will try to make you what they perceive you to be to please their own thoughts and notions but once you know who you are and what God has made you for you are to be strong in your faith in you and your purpose so that your thoughts wont be tainted and you won't lose sight of what God has for you because of other people. Be strong in your conviction and don't let the thoughts, words or actions of others move you.

I could go on and on about this play because I really enjoyed and connected with it but I will just say that it was a very well written play and it leaves the mind wandering a little at the end which is to me a great thing. When you encounter art that has you thinking about it when it's over and even making up additionally parts to it, I think it means it touched your spirit and the artist did their job portraying their message in a way that was relatable and enjoyable. A job well done.

Doll House

I would first like to start my blog about this play saying that it was more interesting and captivating then I imagined it would be. I really didn't know what to expect going into reading the play but I'm honestly always a bit skeptical about reading plays because they're so long and often uninteresting unless you have genuine love for plays and play writing and I personally have neither. With every play that I've read I go into it with a thought of what I think the play may turn out to be about and how the story line will go. The thought I had originally for this play is not what it turned out to be to my surprise. I would have never predicted the plot of this play to be what it was.

When beginning this play I immediately was put in the time frame of the 1800s when the relationship and responsibilities of men and women were so rigid and cut and dry. The men had the power and the "brains" and the women were mere accessories to the men they were married to and nothing more. Often times being talked down to and mocked by their husbands and made to believe that's the way it was supposed to be and that it was all out of love and playfulness. I don't agree with this way of thinking and I'm personally glad that time has passed, presently some situations have reminded us of time but nothing has come close to the rudimentary way of thinking that the people in this era thought.

I feel like the author was a feminist and displayed his thought on the view of women and the truth that women are capable of the things that men are capable of very well with this story and how Nora saved her husband's life without him knowing and handled the responsibility that she put on herself without any of his help. It really showed the strength of the woman and the ability that she has to think for herself and her family. I think her husband's attitude towards her was very selfish and in my opinion not that of a husband but that of a owner or ruler. he had no concern for her well being once he learned of her "wrong doing" only of himself and he tossed her away when he thought she would bring him any misfortune, that in no way is how a husband and wife is to be. 

I was completely shocked by the ending of this play to think in the era of the 1800s that a woman would be so bold to talk to her husband in such a manner and then to leave her home and her security for a world unknown. I think that further showed the courage of the woman and truly displayed the feminist theme of the play. I think that this play was well written and could be re-produced time after time because there are still people who think in the way that they people in this play and there's a message that could be told to people of all time periods. Women have rights and shouldn't be treated as second class citizens or inferior to men in any way shape or form and should be given the opportunity to think, work and thrive just like a man can.

I was really entertained by this play and delighted to see the plots rise and fall and the ending. Even though I enjoyed the play and being intertwined in the story line, I'm still not that big of a fan of reading plays versus viewing the play in live action. I think it's mainly because of the length of the plays and the lack of interactivity. 

A Mid Summer Night's Dream

I would like to begin by saying that this was by far the most difficult play for me to read and keep up with. I truly believe you have to be an expert thespian to understand what's going on in this play from scene to scene. With the difficult terminology and similar naming of the characters it was hard for me to get a complete understanding of the meaning of this play. It was also very lengthy and lacked intrigue for me.

I honestly felt like this play was lacking excitement. It was supposed to be a love story but it did not put me in the mindset of a love story and I wasn't taken to any particular place in my mind as I was reading it. To me Shakespeare's language is confusing and therefore takes away the real meaning of the words and the understanding of the play. Maybe it's only like that for me as a modern day reader of this play, I'm sure that in the time that it was written that the audience understood just fine.

This play lacked the drama of a true drama. The relationships between the characters were very predictable and the play was not suspenseful at all as I thought it might be. I was honestly down by the absence of romance in the play, I thought it was going to be a suspenseful, over exaggerated love story with loving poems and scenes of fairies dancing and singing abundantly. I was really disappointed at the end of this play and I still don't know the point of the play inside the play, that further confused me.

All in all this play left me wondering a lot of things and questioning why were certain things even put in the play? Like, Titania falling in love with an ass and then not being in love with the ass but still not giving up the boy. I did not leave off reading this as a fan of Shakespeare, if anything I became less of a fan than I was before. Also a lot more confused than ever. I really don't have much to say about this play or much to critique , it did not give me any insight or open my mind to new things in any way.