/lit/ - Literature

Of course plays
I'm not a /lit/ regular but I swear if they claim to not read/allow play posts I'll never come back.

>>3203304
>>3203330
Plays are fair game.
Bump because I've been meaning to read The Spanish Tragedy, and this seems like a potentially interesting discussion.

>>3203304
Can we make this a plays general thread? What does /lit/ think of The Duchess of Malfi? I'm about to start reading it.

OP here
Good to know there's awesome people here.

>>3203346
i actually just covered that in my class. pretty simple and straightforward, some big themes to me were corruption, and social class.


off topic, how fast does /lit/ move?

>>3203364
>off topic, how fast does /lit/ move?

Threads vanish in ~3 days.

>>3203364
Not fast, but to get an approximation, subtract your thread's post number from your most recent post number, and divide that number of posts by the time between the two posts and you have a good idea of posts/minute or posts/hour

I'd say low medium speed, you can expect your thread to have a good number of posts the next day

Anyways, has anyone heard of a play called Simply Maria by Josefina Lopez? I thought is was very fun to read, had some nice themes and I would love to actually see it onstage

My favorite play is J.B. by Archibald MacLeish. Absolutely phenomenal

>written in verse, beautifully so
>utilizes bible to reinforce secular ideas (I don't think I'm phrasing this well, but it's like a more subtle "Dear Laura" thing)
>Play-within-a-play is confusing, but meaningful
>Explores existential questions-- specifically theodicy-- specifically why bad things happen to good people

Bump for original question.

First they said /lit/ was for plays, and I didn't speak out because I enjoy reading plays.
Then they said /lit/ was for movies, and I didn't speak out because I enjoy watching movies.
Then they said /lit/ was for vidya, and I didn't speak out because I enjoy playing vidya.
Then it came to me, that /lit/ is now /v/.

Nah but plays are alright. I don't know many, but I've been meaning to read 'Tis Pity She's a Whore sometime soon. I wish I followed theaters in my area more closely as it's been a while since I've seen a performance of anything, really.

Not to derail the topic with my ignorance (tho apparently Harold Bloom said something about Hamlet's play within a play being a way of containing the power the Dane because Shakespeare felt he was becoming more powerful than he could handle, more powerful than Shakespeare himself. I dunno what that really means and I don't know if it applies here but it's alls I've got), but as much as there is no 'normal' path to becoming any sort of artist, what do people study now to become playwrights? There are plenty of classes on screenwriting and creative writing and so on, but it seems like theater schools treat writing as something secondary.

In response to OP's question, Hieronomo was driven mad by the unjust murder of his son. He attempted to seek vengeance through the proper channels, i.e. asking the King for justice. Since the law of man is unjust, he has to take vengeance into his own hands.

He conspires with Bel-Imperia to hand out the justice denied to them through the guise of a play. In order to trick Lorenzo and Balthazar into a position of vulnerability, Bel-Imperia agrees to marry Balthazar. Thus, the two villains are killed within the play by Bel-Imperia, who subsequently commits suicide, and Hieronomo for murdering Horatio.

Post 2 continues with literary elements.

Part 2

The theme of the play within a play is meant to convey a lack of understanding. The play is in a different language than what Lorenzo and Balthazar speak. Thus they can speak but they cannot understand. This is also reflected in the court's reaction to the play. The King saw what happened, but he did not understand it. Even after Hieronomo explains in great detail of what transpired, from Horatio's death to the dead royalty at the end of the play, the onlookers ask him again why he has done this. They have seen but they haven't understood. As a result, Hieronomo cuts out his own tongue because he has already stated all there was to know. It was then up to the court to listen and understand.

I hope I have answered your questions. If you think of anything else I will be here for a bit.

>>3203626
>>3203648
so the whole point of the play was just to get the murders done then? Cool. i was looking for a bit of a deeper reason to it.

anywho, this has been intensely helpful. Thanks a bunch.

Next week i need to read Fuente Ovejuna
anyone got some pre-gaming for me?

>>3203617
in answer to your question i actually have a friend studying to become a playwright, she started out in Theater with a concentration in acting and then fine tuned it through the school and department into one of those "make your own majors"

pretty much its basic acting and movement (so you understand how to put a story on stage) directing, and shit loads of literature, like.. 3 or four drama courses, 2 or 3 extra english classes and stuff like that.

So.. what is the point of Creating a confusing (language wise) play if the only motive was to kill them?

at first i thought that the play might be to explain to everyone else why he is killing them but it seems odd then that he would use such confusing language.

That Hieronimo. Mad again! You be crazy Hieronimo.

>>3205617
>Hieronimo
Is this where "geronimo" comes from?

>>3203304
Plays are good.

>hamlet (who's play was intended to prove the kings guilt)

Are you so sure?

>>3205623
Quite.
act two scene two:

"I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle. I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick. If he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be a devil; and the devil hath power
T' assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I'll have grounds
More relative than this. The play's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King"