Specimen Passage and Commentary

Abstract

There are a few rules for analysing dramatic text which I think it would be worthwhile stating before we look at a selected passage. Like all rules, they are made to be broken on specific occasions, but they provide a basic approach.

• 1. State the context of the passage briefly and clearly; otherwise you will find yourself having to refer back to it in a most clumsy manner.

• 2. Remember that this is a play, not a novel or a film. The stage has its particular methods of presentation, as well as its limitations.

• 3. The reason for things being said is as important as what is said.

• 4. A speech represents a sequence of thoughts, not one big thought that comes at the beginning.

• 5. Scenes change direction.

• 6. Try to keep the author in mind; he chose specific words, as a poet does, to create desired effects. Assume that nothing in the text arrived there by chance, and that, therefore, all of it has a purpose. If at first it seems obscure, look again, and keep your mind’s eye fixed on the stage.