Well that was pretty sad. Sure they are all together. But here they are in the Underworld, dead and completely unaware of each other. Well played. Still it was a pretty good story, I guess I forgot that this was a tragedy. I blame it all on Eurydice, she didn’t want to go back, she wanted to be with her dad, what was more like her anyways. Even so, it still sucks. At least they all got to be together at the end…right?
On another note, I love how creepy the kid is, how he comes in on a tricycle, awesome.
This is what that kid on a tricycle reminded me of.
The kid was also the nasty interesting man as well. There was a scene where he wanted to kiss her eyelids, what a great moment of foreshadowing! I loved it. Over all the play was fun to read and I can’t wait to read more of her works!
So far this is a great play, I have only read the first half and thus far it is amazing, I have never read any of Sarah Ruhl before, and I am hooked. Plus I loved how she built her father into the storyline ,he had such a strong role, and is one of my favorite characters. In the supplemental reading there was a reference to Ovid, I think I would like to read that at some point because it sounds like that falls in line with a lot of the theory of tragedy that we have looked at this term. I actually like all of our supplemental readings so much that I am purchasing the book! Anyways, back to Eurydice.
The chorus of stones was also pretty cool as well. In the class they were getting a lot of negative feed back, but in a way I saw them as both commentators and as a comedic relief. That also explained things that might have been confusing, like that inability to speak or the lack of memory of a life above in that land of the living. She is also amazing with water. I loved that it was raining in the elevator that brought Eurydice down to the underworld.
Isn’t this so amazing!
So I just found something really cool!
From Arcade Fire’s new album Reflektor
Lyrics:
You and I were born in a little town
Before the awful sound started coming down
Oh no, oh
You came home from school and knew you had to run
Please stop running now, just let me be the one for you
I know you can see things that we can’t see
But when I say I love you, your silence covers me
Oh, Eurydice, it’s an awful sound
I was so disappointed you didn’t want me
Oh, how could it be, Eurydice?
I was standing beside you by a frozen sea
Will you ever get free?
Just take all your pain, just put it on me
So that you can breathe
When you fly away will you hit the ground?
It’s an awful sound
I know there’s a way, we can make them pay
Think it over and say, “I’m never going back again”
I know there’s a way, we can leave today
Think it over and say, “I’m never going back again”
You were born in the little town
Before the awful sound started coming down
There’s so much inside you that you won’t let me see
You fly away from me, but it’s an awful sound when you hit the ground
It’s an awful sound when you hit the ground
I know there’s a way, we can make them pay
Think it over and say, “I’m never going back again”
I know there’s a way, we can leave today
Think it over
We know there’s a price to pay for love in a reflective age
I met you up upon a stage, our love in a reflective age
Oh no, now you’re gone
///
Hey, Orpheus!
I’m behind you
Don’t turn around
I can find you
Just wait until it’s over
Wait until it’s through
And if I call for you
Oh, Orpheus!
Just sing for me all night
We’ll wait until it’s over
Wait until it’s through
You say it’s not me, it’s you
Hey, Orpheus!
De l’autre côté de l’eau
Comme un écho
Just wait until it’s over
Wait until it’s through
And if I shout for you
Never doubt
Don’t turn around too soon
Just wait until it’s over
Wait until it’s through
It seems so important now
But you will get over
It seems so important now
But you will get over
And when you get over
When you get older
Then you will remember
Why it was so important then
Seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
Seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
When you get over
And when you get older
Then you will discover
That it’s never over
Hey, Eurydice!
Can you see me?
I will sing your name
Till you’re sick of me
Just wait until it’s over
Just wait until it’s through
But if you call for me
This frozen sea
It melts beneath me
Just wait until it’s over
Wait until it’s through
Seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
Seems like a big deal now
But you will get over
And when you get over
And when you get older
Then you will remember
He told you he’d wake you up
When it was over
He told you he’d wake you up
When it was over
Now that it’s over
Now that you’re older
Then you will discover
That it’s never over
It’s never over (it’s never over) [8x]
Sometime (Sometime)
Sometime (Sometime)
Boy, they’re gonna eat you alive (eat you alive)
But it’s never gonna happen now
We’ll figure it out somehow
Sometime (Sometime)
Sometime (Sometime)
Boy, they’re gonna eat you alive (eat you alive)
But it’s never gonna happen now
We’ll figure it out somehow
Cause it’s never over
It’s never over (it’s never over) [6x]
We stood beside
A frozen sea
I saw you out
In front of me
Reflected light
A hollow moon
Oh Orpheus, Eurydice
Its over too soon
Pretty cool huh? I think it sounds pretty good too!
Yep all in a kitchen, which I think is pretty cool. So this is a story of class, a woman who is high up wants to try out live as a commoner and a guy that wants to move up get a taste of just that. But this causes issues. So Julie comes down to the kitchen, and begins to hit on him. At first he keeps her at bay with the separation of class argument. Of course that does not last long, and they end of sleeping together. This causes a whole slew of issues, specifically with John’s boss who is also Julie’s father. One of the things I like is the power that the father/boss has over them. He is not actually a person in the play, but rather he is represented in props. First as a shoe.
Who would have thought that shoes would mean enough to cause fear!
John is polishing the shoes at the beginning and continues to polish even when Julie shows up, this prop serves as a reminder that both Julie and John are at the mercy of the man in charge. His presence is so powerful that the very things he owns scares others. The best I think is the bell. When the bell rings everyone jump up in fear. It is a lot like Pavlov’s experiment with bells and dogs. These people are conditioned to fear him!
If only John and Julie thought they had this much power. Then they could be free!
Overall it is just sad that these people screwed up the lives they already. At the end Julie commits suicide, kind of extreme but whatever. That is the tragedy though, and it is a woman, I still think it was a bit much. Even so, I think that it is a tragedy second and a critique on class conflicts first. If only there was a way to fit a play like this into the class structure of society today. I think that the class disparity that we have in current America could make a similar tragedy. So I may not like this play all that much, I still love August Strindberg’s writing and the premise behind this play.
This play was pretty annoying. It seems like Moscow is the place to be for the characters as they are neither happy with their location or their status in life. These people are everyday people, you know like you and me, and I like to compare them to Americans who always want to go the big city, New York or San Fransico, even just the idea of going anywhere but the town we were born into.
Of course this place is better than your home town. Unless it is your home town.
Way better than home, right?
But for us Moscow is even more exotic!
The characters in this play are us, and that is why I think this play is so boring, that and that fact that nothing happens. I mean I think that things actually happen to me on a day to day basis, and I would wager that these characters think the same of their lives. I almost read this as a commentary on our lives and how boring our lives our from a third person perspective, and even more so when applied to a third person narrative. Even changing the medium and writing this thing from a first person perspective would not have enhanced the play nor would it have made it anymore exciting. Like I said though that is the point. One of the hardest things about reading a play like this is that I expect to be surprised in some way, I expect to learn something, to feel some enjoyment. In this play I felt none, all I felt was a lethargic boredom that already exists in my own life. So why would I want to see more of my own life. Half of the time I get sick of it anyways, hence the need to sleep.
I can’t blame them for wanting to escape their life, but I don’t think that will be any kind of a solution. None the less I know that I carve travel, I too have the need to escape my home. I feel that way when ever I stay in one place too long, so in some way I may be a hyped up version of the three sisters. This kind of reminds of some lyrics to an Irish drinking song, that is almost unrelated, but I can’t help but to add it here:
The Moonshiner
I’m a rambler, I’m a gambler, I’m a long way from home
And if you don’t like me, well, leave me alone
I’ll eat when I’m hungry, I’ll drink when I’m dry
And the moonshine don’t kill me, I’ll live til I die
This is the best work that I have read in this class all term. I seriously love how Agnes gets to sample life. It is as though we get to explore and see from a different perspective that very lives that we live. To me our lives seem pretty much an ordinary thing, even when there is some level of excitement it is not as though the world has never seen these actions before. Yet it all gets repeated. None the less Agnes and he innocent child like look at our lives is pleasurable watch. Though I took this story as not of the God Agnes coming to the real world, but rather of an aspect of the consciousness exploring ideas in the safety of the dream state, or the world. I viewed Agnes coming down from the tower as descending from being awake to being fully asleep. I especially loved that chrysanthemum , and the meaning that could be implied by it.
This burning rendition so beautiful.
Dreaming of chrysanthemums indicates an unfolding of the inner self, during a tumultuous time of life. More specifically, it may represent a time of deep personal growth forged by hardship or conflict. The result leading to a stronger, more realized self.(Written by avenefica on April 28th, 2009)
The flower says so much about the play, almost like a commentary on what is to come. This unfolding of an inner-self is what Anges is embarking on for both herself and for the consciousness that she serves. Then she was trying to understand the hows and the whys behind human nature and our suffering as this flower stand for growth; a growth that occurs in her. Then this result leading to a better more realized self supports my claim that this play is about an aspect of the unconscious exploring new ideas. For Agnes to explore ideas in these random and unconnected way, the way that dreams naturally are. This mirrors my dreams, and what my imagination naturally does, even without my knowledge. Agnes also represents for me what I wish my unconsciousness would do for me more often, as it gets old when I learn the hard way in life.
Seriously though, what’s up with the boobs? Who is that supposed to be?
What power there is in dreams, to explore the world or ones self, absolutely incredible and beautiful and most of all:safe. To write a play like this was just amazing. yes it was confusing, yes it was odd and uncanny, but that is the dream world.
Tragic Women and Tragic Pleasure 