rivals. main text
TRANSCRIPT
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The Rivals(main text)
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A dramatic analysis: I, ii (1)
Act and scene division
Literary conventions
We must reflect upon their dramatic use and the concept
of intervals or entractes.
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Indoor/outdoor scenes
This change demands more time in orderto be able to move the different scenes
on their rails.
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1.1 is an outdoor location
: A street in Bath should display the
liveliness of this pleasure city, full of citizens
and newcomers who stay there to drink
the waters, a fashionable activity at the
time.
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1.2 is an indoor location
: A Dressing-room in MRS. MALAPROP'S
Lodgings.
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Once we have notice the change of scenes...
Organize the conversation in sequences in which the
scene is organized:
a) specific aspects within the general location
b) the characters involved in each sequence and their
mood (when one of the characters leaves the stage or
a new one enters, a new sequence starts)
c) the organizing theme for each sequence or topic of
conversation.
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Draw a communicative map
of the scene
Purposemanipulate the content moreeasily
(it is complicated to work with text as a whole)
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Sequence 1 (ll. 1-37)a) specific aspects b) Characters &
moodc) Organizing
theme
Lydias dressingrooma sofa + [a table]with the glassand smelling-bottle + books
LydiaLucy
the reading tasteof Lydia isdiscoveredthrough the titles
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Sequence 2 (ll. 38-167)a) specific aspects b) Characters &
moodc) Organizing
theme
Same Lucy (secondarypresence)
Julia & Lydia
the love prospectsof the differentcharacters:Lydias interest forJack, Juliasromantic
attachment toFaulkland and theridiculous affairorganized by Mrs.Malaprop toseduce Sir Lucius.
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Sequence 3 (168-225)a) specific aspects b) Characters &
moodc) Organizing
theme
a) the same +books hidden andon display
Lucy (secondarypresence)LydiaMrs MalapropSir AnthonyAbsolute
The laughablecharactersexposed to theaudience.Resistance oftheir wards
The best comiceffect in the play:malapropisms
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Sequence 4 (226-306)a) specific aspects b) Characters &
moodc) Organizing
theme
a) the same Mrs Malaprop
Sir Anthony
Absolute
The display of
dictatorial but
ineffectual
guardians.
the display of comic
butts continues
Comments on
female education by
the witless fools
They decide the
match between
Lydia and Jack (in
theory abroad with
his regiment).
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a) specific aspects b) Characters &mood
c) Organizingtheme
The same Mrs. Malaprop
Lucy
Mrs Malapropcontinues herflirting with SirLucius and sheexposes herself asshe considers
Lucy, the craftyservant, asimpleton
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Sequence 6 (330-54)a) specific aspects b) Characters &
moodc) Organizing theme
The same + Lucysprivate notes
Lucy (amonologue)
The closing speech.Lucy reveals her truemanipulative self as
she is both able totrick all her superiorsand she presentsherself to theaudience as anactress (she even
changes her accent:Altering hermanner). As sheherself explains:
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Lucy (331-35)
Let girls in my station be as fond as they
please of appearing expert, and knowing in
their trusts; commend me to a mask of
silliness, and a pair of sharp eyes for my own
interest under it !
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Once we have achieved thisdramatic map....
focus on specific sections of eachsequence
decide if we want to keep those partswhich help to advance the plot
get rid of them if they are superfluous toour own adaptation.
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Bear in mind that... These decisions will affect the type of adaptation.
Act I, ii has a pivotal importance as it introduces the central
laughingelements of the comedy
These elements justify Sheridans position in the on-going
discussion about the true nature of comedy.
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Alternatively
We may focus on the most comic aspects
exploit an actors or actress ability toperform as a leading comedian.
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Going back to the fragment we
watched last week (I, ii)
Sequence 1 (1-37):
Books are an essential tool to draw Lydias character
those she has asked Lucy to get from the circulating library
represent the new trends in sentimental and epistolary
novel.
It was the art form through which women could express
themselves as both writers and readers (OST, 194).
Lydia might show different attitudes towards these titles and
that would imply different shades of meaning in her tastes.
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Episodic structure and prevalence of characters
upon plot I, ii
The Rivals and the new novel:
Try to consider those sections in this scene that help to
keep the plot moving and those that are merely
digressive and hold up the action.
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Sequence 2 (38-167):
While sequence 1 is essentially digressive, the second
between Julia and Lydia is more directly focused upon
plot as we learn of Lydias problem with the fake ensign
Beverley and Mrs Malaprops attempt to engage with
the Irish baronet (Sir Lucius).
Another important issue appears in lines 93-105.
Marriage as a social contract rather than the final
purpose of a romantic liaison.
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Money and social status
Marriage and love as two different conceptual
realms in 18th society.
Marriage as a tool
a) to promote either an increase in family property (if
both partners had a similar wealth or if the woman
brought an important dowry into the marriage)
b) a way to raise in the social scale (a poor aristocrat
might benefit from marrying a rich girl who in turn
might help to promote her family origin).
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A dramatic analysis: I, ii (11)
Lydia in line with her readings only aspires to a
romantic marriage with the poor ensign Beverley.
Another aspect of the plot development refers to
Julia and her presentation as a down-to-earth girl inopposition to Lydia. Julia describes Faulkland and his
romantic melancholy as a caprice very much in
line with Lydias mood.
This sequence then is essential to present the future
development of the plot.
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A dramatic analysis: I, ii (12)
Sequences 3-4-5 fulfil one essential purpose: to
introduce two of the laughable characters in the
play: Sir Anthony Absolute, the tyrant father and Sir
Malaprop, the ridiculous aunt.
We may notice the careful pattern of couplings in
which the characters are organized:
LydiaJuliaLydia/Beverley
BeverleyFaulklandFaulkland/Julia
Sir Anthony/Mrs Malaprop
Sir Lucius/Bob Acres
Fag/Lucy
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A dramatic analysis: I, ii (12)
The arrival of the elder characters enables Lydia a new
display of her fashionable tastes in literature (and what she
doesnt like: boring, moral treatises like The Duty of Man, a
book that Lucy uses for ironing lace.
Malapropisms or the misuse of words: a way to characterize
her pretentious attitude to learning as opposed to Lydias.
See the whole exchange (181-232)
Illiterate/obliterate (188)
Extirpate/extricate (root out) (201)
Controvertible/incontrovertible (not open to debate) (203)
Intricate/ingrate (ungrateful/obstinate)(226)
Misanthropy/misanthrope-mysogynist
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A final example of the digressive function
in these sequences:
Mrs Malaprops speech about female
education (249-64)
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A dramatic analysis: I, ii (12)
The combination of episodic structures including
conversational sequences that move the action forward
and others which just exploit the comical aspects of the
characters
Allow the author to introduce by means of digressions certain
moral, cultural and even political issues.
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Aspects of plot and character
Mark S. Auburn the Pleasures of SheridansThe
Rivals: A Critical Study in the Lilght of Stage History
(257) (Modern Philology, 72:3, 1975, 256-71)