Copyright (c) 2013 Occidental College All rights reserved. http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student Recent documents in ECLS Student Scholarship en-us Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:58:56 PST 3600 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/27 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/27 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:31:58 PDT According to nineteenth and twentieth-century playwright George Bernard Shaw, a theatergoer with an appetite for “true comedy” in the late Victorian era was hard-pressed to find any at all. Shaw defines true comedy as "the fine art of disillusionment"; one found, instead, in the late-Victorian comedy, a lot of "harmless laughter," or frothy escapism without a lot of deeper meaning(Meisel 122-123). Shaw's work, consisting of over sixty plays, is unusual because it attained much commercial success as it shattered Victorian theatrical tradition; a prime of this type of work is found in the "Don Juan in Hell" episode of Shaw's "comedy and philosophy," "Man and Superman,” a dream sequence-like fragment of the third act. In this “Don Juan in Hell,” Ann, Jack, Ramsden, and Mendoza’s alter egoes from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” meet in Shaw’s imagined hell and discuss love, war, religion, vitalism, and most interestingly, the status of women. The seemingly irrelevant nature of “Don Juan in Hell,” in addition to its humorous yet disturbing discussion of women’s roles not only breaks from late-Victorian theatrical tradition, but anticipates a style of writing and theatrical performance largely viewed as the epitome of modern theater: Brechtian "alienation," or "estrangement." While I argue that Shaw’s playwriting in a way anticipates Brecht’s writing and theory, I also maintain that Shaw does not conform, exactly, to Brecht’s standards of the modern “epic” theater; Brecht describes the component of his “alienating” epic theater in his essay “Theatre for Pleasure or Theatre for Instruction,” which derives its title from the Horation platitude that theater should both “please and instruct.”

]]> Sarah Flocken http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/26 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/26 Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:48:30 PDT Shakespeare’s "Antony and Cleopatra" presents a beautiful narrative through its elaborate and eloquent passages. The masterful descriptions and dialogues make use of the ideals of Renaissance rhetorical practices with which Shakespeare was undoubtedly familiar. Emblematic of these linguistic devices are the messengers who transfer information amongst the characters. They hold the power of knowledge, but with the responsibility of moving the textual language faithfully; they thus become the functionaries of Renaissance rhetoric. Through a study of contemporary Renaissance rhetorical manuals, as well as an examination of criticism of Shakespeare and his play, this paper finds significance in the various linguistic tools Shakespeare assigned to the messengers of the play.

]]> Chloe Jenkins-Sleczkowski http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/25 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/25 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:08 PDT Yennaedo Balloo http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/24 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/24 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:07 PDT Ryan Barr http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/23 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/23 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:07 PDT Allison Beresford http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/22 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/22 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:07 PDT Stephanie Bundy http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/21 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/21 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:06 PDT Erin Conley http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/20 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/20 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:06 PDT Emery Desper http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/19 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/19 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:05 PDT Michelle Gamboa http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/18 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/18 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:05 PDT Sarah Hunt http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/17 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/17 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:04 PDT Emily Isenberg http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/16 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/16 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:04 PDT Alison Kjeldgaard http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/15 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/15 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:03 PDT Erica Liepmann http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/14 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/14 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:03 PDT Alejandra Malhotra http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/13 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/13 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:03 PDT David William Martinez http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/12 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/12 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:02 PDT Daniel Minguez http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/11 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/11 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:02 PDT Julian Mitchell http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/10 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/10 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:01 PDT Gabriel Moseley http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/9 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/9 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:01 PDT Ashley Pond http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/8 http://scholar.oxy.edu/ecls_student/8 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:52:01 PDT Safari Ross