Journal 7: Blood Wedding

Ibsen and Lorca both emphasize the roles gender and age can play in a relationship. While Ibsen chose to focus on the change oppressive characters had while speaking to a certain age or gender, Lorca simply implied it through his isolation of characters. Ultimately the point remains the same; personalities are significantly modified to match what is socially acceptable.

The Wild Duck


Ibsen makes his point very clear with the character Gregers. Gregers, who is generally viewed as an aggressive confrontation character is softened when speaking to the character Hedvig. Hedvig, who has little personal relationship with Gregers, receives a kind and loving personality, whereas his own father saw the most brutal of treatment. The fact that Hedvig is a young girl emphasizes the point that in their society, children, especially women, are to be treated with respect.

Blood Wedding


The point is revealed in Blood Wedding in the opposite manner. Rather than highlighting the positive relationship between an adult and a young girl, Lorca highlights the negatives between an adult and a grown male. The Bridegroom is harassed by his mother for tedious daily tasks and is constantly being interrogated, implying a lack of trust in judgement. This treatment by the mother results in a sort of ignorance by the child; he no longer pays any particular attention to what his mother says.

Comments

Matt Wild Duck 3:

Very nice. Thematic element of the whole "ignorance is bliss" concept. It would be interesting to contrast the literary techniques used in the two plays to convey this message and see how that ties in to the time period in which the plays were written.

Tanner Wild Duck 2:

Nice. The quotes are highly relevant and make comparing the two plays very easy. Questions also add to your concept, good work.

Ivan Wild Duck 3:

Very nice poem! Historical references are great even though I don't understand any of them, good work. Nice tie in with the plot development of The Wild Duck.

The Wild Duck: Journal 6

Prompt: Letters the characters might have written


Father-

You must understand I cannot possibly return home. My very core has been shaken by the horrendous actions you have committed. You may call me my mother, you may beg and plead, but I will not come back. I have decided to inform Hjalmar about the affair. You think after all you have done, that I would come pleading back at your doorstep? There is too little logic in your feeble mind.

You must understand I cannot tell you my reasons for departure; I have found a personal quest that could not be shared with you. A light in the darkness you have shrouded me in all my life. A reason to continue. In short father, it is time you understand that not all can be forgiven, and in the case of your miserable son, it certainly will not be.

Gregers

The Wild Duck: Journal 5

Prompt: “Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech.” How far do you agree with this claim? In you answer you should refer to two or three plays you have studied.


I agree with this claim to a small extent in all cases. However, I think the importance of visual action varies with the particular play. For instance, for a play that derives its intensity from conflicts between characters, visual action is absolutely critical to make the conflict both authentic and clear. In a relatively dull play with little conflict between the characters, it is still important, but certainly less. Character traits also play a role in how important visual action is. For a highly emotional character, supplementary visual action is essential to make the play enjoyable, whereas flat static characters would require a less emotional performance to convey the fact that they are in fact flat and static. Oedipus the King and The Wild Duck both require different levels of visual action, but the importance of having a small amount of visual action is just as critical as a large amount.


Oedipus the King


As you may have predicted, I believe Oedipus the King would require a much more dramatic performance than Ibsen's The Wild Duck. Oedipus was a highly emotional character, constantly in conflict with his surrounding characters, even those he was related to. He even went so far as to defy prophets, and Sophocles dedicated pages of the play to his ranting. As a result, visual action is critical to portraying this character accurately and demonstrating how unstable he was.


The Wild Duck


Visual action is also critical in The Wild Duck, but in the opposite direction. Ibsen's characters are relatively dry and do not undergo significant change in the play. The character Hedvig is completely satisfied with being in the home all day and never exploring her surroundings, opposite of what the typical fourteen year old would do. This stagnant repetitive setting must be reflected accurately through a lack of visual action. As mentioned, the primary literary techniques in this tragedy largely revolve around foreshadowing, something independent of character emotion.

The Wild Duck: Journal 4

Prompt: Readers are attracted to moments of intensity in a writer’s work. By what means and with what effect have writers in your study offered heightened emotional moments designed to arrest the reader’s attention?


Both Sophocles and Ibsen use heightened moments of intensity during their tragic plays. Their methods of revealing this intensity to the author is near identical. Throughout both Oedipus the King and The Wild Duck, family relationships are exploited to create the ultimate tragedy and intensity.


Oedipus the King


Sophocles attracts his readers/observers to his plays through his use of tension. This is amplified during the play as emotion is clearly shown versus simply text, but the literary technique is present in both. Foreshadowing through the form of prophecies in the play heighten the tension and leave the observer wondering when and who will fulfill it. The high levels of intensity in the play occur when the prophecy is revealed by the character Tiresias to Oedipus and the following argument between the two. The intensity of the play is parallel to the emotions of Oedipus; as Oedipus rages and loses sight of himself when speaking to his wife, Tiresias, and Creon, it is reflected with the intensity.


The Wild Duck


Ibsen's play has its moments of intensity, though minute in comparison to those of Sophocles. A primary reason for this is the social standing of the characters. In Oedipus the King, you have Oedipus the King, Tiresias, Apollo, Oracles, and the general population. The point is that many of his characters are either divine or royal, making it significantly easier to create intensity. Because of the smaller tools Ibsen has to work with, he uses foreshadowing rather than conflicts between characters to create intensity. Examples included his frequent references to hunting and the loaded gun, and the symbolism of the wild duck. By keeping his observer out of the know, Ibsen draws them in just as well as Sophocles, simply through a different method.

Oedipus the King: Journal 3

Prompt: Stylistic techniques (imagery, figurative language, sensory detail)

Sophocles uses many literary techniques in his play to add a sense of parallelism between his writing choices and the plot structure of the play. The most prominent is syntax in dialogue. The beginning of the play features a confident Oedipus; he believes he will conquer the plague of his city and overcome all challenges. Simultaneously, he views himself as a selfless man, always working for the people. His temper is kept at bay only because no events have challenged it yet. However, as Oedipus begins to lose control over himself, the syntax is much more crisp and concise; this is reflective of the fact that Oedipus no longer takes care in his words, his emotions have taken over. A prime example is the conversation between Oedipus and Tiresias "Who could restrain his anger hearing you? What outrage-you spurn the city!" (Sophocles 386-387). This is contrasting to the flowing elegant speeches he provides in the beginning of the play, such as when he addresses his people: "Well I know you are sick to heath, all of you, but sick as you are, not one is sick as I" (Sophocles 71-73). 

Another major literary element in the play is the motif of sight. Sophocles creates an irony within the physical ability of sight; while being one of the primary senses, it ultimately hinders our ability to judge what is truly surrounding us. Sophocles is able to logically create this as a motif due to the character of Tiresias, a blind prophet that sees all. By condemning Oedipus to gouge out his own eyes, Sophocles has simultaneously given him wisdom. This is accurately represented in the play when Oedipus finally agrees to listen to Creon rather than resenting him and his words earlier in the play.

Oedipus the King: Journal 2

Prompt: Diary entries from any of the characters

Dear Diary-

My dear and beloved brother-in-law Oedipus, glorious king of Thebes, sent me to Delphi today to embark on a quest to purge this city of its rancid state. The road was light, but the weight of my task burdened me nonetheless. Upon my arrival, I greeted the great oracle of Apollo with a sacred olive branch. Upon its acceptance, I was welcomed into the temple. The beautiful oracle did not provide pleasant news; in an incredibly tense voice she let me know that the murderer of our former king Laius was loose on the streets, and that our city could not rest until he was expelled from our lands. The task seemed easy enough; the road to Thebes was far greener than the road to Delphi.

Trouble struck not in the task, but the prophecy that the blind prophet Tiresias brought to our king. The Oedipus that received this message is not the one that married my sister all those years ago. His rage and arrogance is something I have never seen out of him. He accused me, his own brother outside of blood, of treason! I explained the fatal fate of his logic to closed ears. He is convinced beyond all doubt in his mind that it is I who is attempting to take his kingdom. His curses hit me like spears. I prayed to Athena that wisdom unravel in his mind, and to Hades in case it did not. May the next page of this book not be as bleak as its predecessor.

Creon