1. How are the beatings of Dromio acted out? Should the actors play to humor or severity? Support your answer with the text.
2. How should Adriana deliver her speech in lines II.ii.109-145? What is she saying and what do you think of her use of repetition?
13 comments:
1.
The beatings in my mind should be acted out in humor and not severity. The play is supposed to be a comedy and for a master to beat his slave a couple of time sends a message of severity to the audience. If the beating is more carefree and less serious, the play can continue with is humor and not delve in seriousness. Take for instance the second beating, in which Antipholus beats Dromio for jeering and flouting his master. The reason behind this friendly interaction was because Antipholus reasoned on line 45-46 that Dromio deserved it because he flouted him. This rational is purely for fun and I can hint no real severeness in Antipholus's tone.
1) I agree with Bo that the beating should be played with humor as opposed to severity. This is, after all, a comedy, and the text lends itself more to humor than hard-hitting (hah!) drama. Antipholous is beating Dromio and he says, "Nay, an you will not sir, I'll take my heels." (I.ii.94). He gets beaten, and then casually decides to walk away. If it was serious, Dromio wouldn't have been able to just decide not to get beaten and run.
2) In her speech, Adriana is commenting on her relationship with Antipholous. First, she speaks to how she fees tat they are falling apart and then somehow transitions into how she committed adultery. I think that her entire delivery has to be incredibly serious and heartfelt for this. If it's cheesy and fake, Antipholous (of Syracuse)'s next line wouldn't have nearly as much power. The whole point of the monologue as I see it is to build up the incredivbly powerful emotional speech to be delivered to a character who has no idea what's going on.
1) Like Bo and Ross, I also think this would be better if played humorously. The audience understands the mistake that has occurred, where both characters believe one another are entirely differently people. The audience does not share that characters’ confusion, and the result is comedy. By playing this moment severely, the audience only sympathizes with the characters, and it makes the play much less pleasant to watch. Ross’ piece of evidence is a strong example of how it simply makes more sense to have this be true.
2) I think this speech should be melodramatic. Adriana’s emotions match the intense nature of her words, but the entire monologue is long-winded and overdramatic. It should be extremely real to the actress playing Adriana, and the audience should be convinced that it is genuine. However, the audience should also realize that this is somewhat excessive. Otherwise, the following dialogue does not work properly. The audience should understand Adriana’s distress, but not to the point where it clouds the humor in this scene.
I agree with the above that the beatings should not be severe at all and more like slapstick humor. Since the concept of beating a slave is not at all funny, the director would have to be very careful to make it so. In addition, it should look like the "beating" doesn't actually hurt. Something like a few gentle whacks on the side of the head or simply pushing him over would be enough.
I agree with AJ that the speech should be way over dramatic. It can seem completely serious to Adriana, as long as the audience can tell the director did not intend it to be so. Like the paragraph we read in class about us knowing something the characters don't, it will be like the audience is enjoying an inside joke. They know she sounds ridiculous even if she doesn't.
1.) I agree with the others that the beating should be acted out through humor, rather than severity. The humor is that the audience knows the joke that Antipholus and Dromio think that the other person is someone completely different, thus giving humor to the action of Antipholus "beating" Dromio. When Dromio responds to Antipholus's smack agross his face he says, "For God's sake, hold your hands"( I. ii. 95). If a slave was really beaten, would he tell his master to put his hands away? No, a real beating would result in a slave being so injured and tired that he would not be in the state to make a humorous remark to his master. If his beating was serious Dromio would beg for mercy from Antipholus apologizing for his rude actions.
2.) I think Adriana's speech should be played very dramatically. It should give the audience some laughs about how serious and how into her lines Adriana is. Also the audience will laugh because Adriana is expressing all of her emotions to a man who she thinks is her husband. I also believe this lines should have a serious side when Adriana admits that she has committed adultery and "contaminated her blood" because in this period the act of adultery was a very punishable crime.
1) Like the other posters, I too believe that the beatings should be humorous. While I was reading this part of the play, I thought that it should be acted out like a Buster Keaton or Three Stooges act. The moments that would lead up to the beating could be played like their "Who's on First?" while the actual beating would be more of a slapstick style humor. Antipholus of Syracuse keeps asking Dromio of Ephesus where the money that he just lent him is: "Where have you left the money that I gave you? O, sixpence that I had o' Wednesday last...the saddler had it sir. I kept it not./I am not in a sportive humor now " (1.2.54-58). This happens about seven times before Dromio gets beaten. I agree with Ross' post about how Dromio is not seriously injured. Had Dromio been beaten with severity, he would not have been able to say if Antipholus did not stop, he would leave (which is exactly what he does).
2) I think that the first part of the speech (lines 119-133) where Adriana is talking about how much Antipholus used to love her should be soft and real, as Adriana is reminiscing about her happiness in the past. However, in the next half of the speech, Adriana seems incredibly angry (calling herself a harlot to mock Antipholus). In this section, Adriana talks about how she is upset at Antipholus for not caring about her anymore (even calling him "poison" on line 152).
1) I agree with everyone that the beating should be slapstick, mostly because it happens three times. The comedy rule of three, you know, exists, and the beating happens three times, once by a woman. That's just comedy gold.
2)Adriana should deliver her speech seriously: comedy is funny when the stakes are real to the characters. She's saying that Antipholus is acting strangely, that he is acting like they aren't married, which is funny to the audience because they aren't.
2.
Adriana's speech in my mind should be played in an air of melodrama that seems comical to the audience. Adriana however, should seem to believe that her monolouge is serious and of the upmost importance while the all knowing audience can quietly laugh at the humor in the scene. Pretty much there should be a balance between serity and humor in which both sentiments aid in making the following scene work properly.
1. I agree with what everyone said, the beating should definitely be funny. First, this is a comedy so I don't think that any sort of beating (or anything else for that matter) should be serious. However, like Amalie said, for something to be funny the stakes have to be real for the actors. Also, what Amalie said about the rule of three is completely true - by the third time the audience should be on the floor rolling with laughter.
2. Again, I agree with everyone else in saying that Adriana's speech has to be delivered seriously for it to be funny for the audience. The stakes have to be very high and real for Adriana for the audience to think it is funny. If it is not important to her the audience won't care enough to laugh. But if it means everything to her and she says it with sincerity then the audience will die of laughter.
1. I agree with Bo and Ross and A to the J and all the others that the beatings should be acted out humorously. The audience understands the confusion while the characters don't, so this silly violence should get the crowd laughing, since this is of course a comedy.
2. Adriana's speech would be given very dramatically, as a sharp contrast to the humorous beatings. I'm obsessed with lines 122-127, where she talks about Antipholus' senses that were once only intrigued by Adriana. I think those lines sum up her melodramatic feelings about the strange situation at hand. She is basically saying that Antipolus no longer loves her in the way he once did. Like the situation with the Dromio beatings, the audience can find humor in things that are not actually funny (beatings and melodramatic speeches).
1. I think the actors should play to severity because it brings out the humor in the play. I know that doesn't make sense, but when i think about it, if I saw them so seriously acting out the beatings I would laugh. Maybe if it was over serious, but a humorous acting would just seem typical to me. The line Ross chose was brilliant because I just think that if someone had said that seriously I would have started to crack up in laughter. In my opinion I just think the severity would actually add to the comedic part of the play
2. I agree that the speech should be over dramatic because that also will had to the humor of the play. I think its funny that Adriana is taking it seriously, so that the audience can. For this to all work out it needs to go that way so that it can be funny.
I agree with everyone that the beatings are more humorous than punitive. This play is a comedy, and also the foreign Dromio exits after his beating, and if it were more serious I would think that he would lay on the ground in pain. I imagine somewhat of a slapping fight, ending with Antipholus chasing Dromio around the stage while they fling insults at each other. While they are slave and master, they've grown up together their entire lives, so there is some camaraderie there.
Adriana should not be too offended. I think she is playing the role of then nagging wife, and should let some of her pent-up emotions out in this spiel, but it should be humorous. Shakespeare is appealing to a male-dominated society, and like today, men love to complain about their wives. Since a man would be playing Adriana, it's even funnier to the audience, and they can relate easily.
Like everyone else said and the emphases is on the fact that this play is a comedy and all the serious scenes like a fight should be a comedic and acted out in a comedic way. The main example to support this would be the fight between Antipholus and Dromio. Although it may have seen to be a serious situation it was actually a funny one because of what they fought about: the way Antipholus talked to him. That in itself isnt a real reason for and a fight yet if it were to cause a fight, it wouldnt be a serious one.
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