I am happy that as class we were able to read a play. Compared
to the novels and other poems we have read in class, I realized the benefit the
play out loud in class. Similar to a speech, the audience gets more out of the
reading of the play if it is acted out or simply read aloud with other
characters.
A dramatic portion of the play that I would like to focus
some attention to is the idea of the subtle beats
that are found throughout the play. An example would be in the first scene when
Alice is degrading Bashir, in the second scene:
RHIANNON My gut. (Beat.)
But my questions won’t work. If I want to understand someone, I need to
dress like them, walk like them, talk like them. I need to become them.
And in the third scene:
Bashir: I used to have Asthma
Rhiannon: (beat) How’d you make it stop?
The beat can have many different meanings. It can be a
signal to an audience about some type of foreshadowing. When there is important
dialogue that beat occurs calling all audience members to pay attention. It can also be a reminder of what it is to be human.
In the play as a torturer, Alice dehumanizes Bashir. She
treats him like an object, an alien with no feelings. The beat in the play
throughout the the dialogue the heart beat sound remind everyone we share
humanity. The dignity of the human person is remembered through the heart beat.
I also think the heartbeat could be one individual person.
For this reason I believe it the heartbeat of Rhiannon. She is the character
that connects all the others through love. Obviously her parents love her, Riva
loves her, and there is a special bond between her and Bashir. The heartbeat
adds a dramatic effect to the play. An uncertain sound, an uneasy reminder, and
a leveling medium.
i would have to agree. after seeing the connection you have drawn it seem very likely to me as well that the (beat) is a way of showing connection between the characters. Rhiannon's connection to all of the characters is also a connection that i made while reading. the heartbeat's maintenance of the humanity of all of the characters during the story also makes it have a role of its own manipulating the reader/viewer to attain the intended connections and feelings between certain characters. and does so without words or action. in a story such as this where dehumanization seems to play a major role, humanity is something that we are meant to see as ultimately important and that we are all equals in more ways than one.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more with mark on this, the "beat" makes the reader draw a connection between each soul that is present during that specific scene. After reading over the passages again, that single word just made me remember how Rhiannon was conceived, thus sparking my memory of how Alice dehumanized Bashir. I think the author put in the "beat" so we don't forget the horrors that have occurred thanks to Alice. Speaking out loudly here, do you think Rhiannon represents something more than just the daughter to Alice? I just think that she has a more deeper role in the story but i am having a hard time trying to figure out what exactly it is.
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