Dramatic Intentions

'Dramatic Intentions' are a concept which may well be alien to non-theatre students, but which are crucial to the understanding of any play - especially given the number of marks given in this exam to the understanding of the plays as plays.

An outline of dramatic intentions within "Basic Drama Theory" is given in Wikipedia.

So, what are they?
They're what the playwright or director wants an audience to get out of a play; for example the dramatic intentions in a comedy would be to amuse.

In some plays they are more evident than others; for example, in 'Equus', it can be seen fairly easily that Shaffer wants his audience to question psychoanalysis and the justice system, as well as the role of nurture and environment in the personality and psychosis of a child.

In 'Othello', however, dramatic intentions are harder to decide; they could be to lead the audience to question the role of race, or Iago's motives, or the nature of evil. None of these has a truly solid grounding, the way that the intentions for 'Equus' seem to, and so a degree of hedging in thus necessary so as not to generalise or make wild assertions with which the examiner could easily disagree.

Questions? Ask :)

- HistGrrl x

Context: what counts?

As explained in the specification, it's important to have a heavy contextual knowledge of random little nuggets which you can throw in for the examiner's pleasure.

The more random, the better - because, after all, that'll make you unique. You just have to make sure that they're correct!

So, some general contextual ideas for each play are listed below. They may be approached in greater detail at a later date, however.

Context in 'Othello'

Race
The Elizabethans and Jacobians had no concept of race, therefore the characters in the play cannot be construed as racist. This means that the effect of the play on a contemporary audience is very different from the effect of the play on a modern audience.

Arrangement of marriages
Women of Desdemona's stature would simply not have chosen their own marriage partners - and this is a common theme in Shakespearean drama. See 'Romeo + Juliet' for example.

Turkish wars
These date the play precisely; more information can be found on Wikipedia.

Role of women
Especially with reference to the character of Emilia, who is not the traditional meek wife, given that she is the one who 'outs' Iago as the culprit for all of the events of the play. Desdemona, too, subverts convention by marrying of her own free will. Iago's attitude to women should also be considered.

Tragedy
How does 'Othello' fit in the traditional tragic ark? (To be covered in a later blog)

Context in 'Equus'

Religion
An especially touchy subject given the 1970s setting and the Irish problems (to be covered in a later blog)

Commercialism
Alan's fixation on products and jingles, as well as Frank's socialist tendencies, lend themselves to the theme of 1970s materialism; the 1970s are a period when it is believed that Britain's materialistic edge fully began to develop, and 'Equus' highlights Shaffer's views on the effects this might have on society.

Psychoanalysis
A particularly relevant theme, given that attitudes to psychosis were altering significantly in this period.

Role of women
Debatable - but could possibly be shoe-horned in if the worst came to the worst!

Conservatism
And it's effects on people's attitudes to Alan; cold war politics and fear of the unknown.

Utter proof that I'm truly a history geek and not a literature student; I managed to get the words "cold war" into this! YAY!

Any questions are welcomed - comment :)

- HistGrrl x

'Equus' Synopsis

Equus, by Peter Shaffer, tells the story of a psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, who is asked to treat a particularly disturbed young boy named Alan Strang.

Strang has blinded six horses for no apparent reason, having been a horse lover all his life, and through a investigations into his past, upbringing and family background, Dysart begins to create a picture of what lead to this crime.

Through this, however, he is also lead to doubt the power of his profession: he sees that Alan has more passion in his life than he himself, in an unhappy marriage, has ever had, and knows that it is his duty to take this passion from the boy in order to make him "normal".

Through the play, the audience are lead to consider injustice, the morality of psychiatry, the influence of parents, the power of religion, and, ultimately, what it means to be normal.

Synopsis (c) TheHistoryGrrl 2010

For a more detailed synopsis, see wikipedia.