Okay, I’ve read the play. I know what happens. I have experienced the play as much like an
audience member as I can without actually seeing a production. Now what?
Read the play again.
Why? Because now I need to understand the play, and everything it contains. This time I will read
it slowly, looking for any words or phrases that I don’t understand. I will also come up with a
one sentence summary of what I think the play is about. What I think the play is about will
probably change over the course of my investigation, but I need to have a point of reference from
which to begin.
♦
Upon reading the play again, I found the following words I didn’t really know, so I looked up
their meanings in the dictionary:
disassembles every pretense in her life, finally allowing her to see the folly of both their ways, and
a path towards a happier future for herself and the one she truly loves.
I also noticed the quote at the beginning of the play: “As of old when the world’s heart was
lighter.” The quote is unattributed, and Google turned up nothing, so I don’t know if this was
written by Hankin himself or was a saying he had heard somewhere else. As to its meaning I will
only offer an educated guess – the author is reminding his reader (and presumably his audience, if
this were printed in the program) that this play is a comedy, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
In this respect Hankin is different from Shaw I think, and his harkening back to an earlier time
might be referring to the silly, stylized melodramas of the 19th century that were extremely
entertaining but offered almost none of the stern social lessons common on the stage in Hankin’s
time.
audience member as I can without actually seeing a production. Now what?
Read the play again.
Why? Because now I need to understand the play, and everything it contains. This time I will read
it slowly, looking for any words or phrases that I don’t understand. I will also come up with a
one sentence summary of what I think the play is about. What I think the play is about will
probably change over the course of my investigation, but I need to have a point of reference from
which to begin.
♦
Upon reading the play again, I found the following words I didn’t really know, so I looked up
their meanings in the dictionary:
- • Pastoral – the simplicity, charm, etc of rural areas and life in the country
• Rueful – expressing or feeling sorrow or repentance
• Fatuous – silly or pointless, especially in an unconscious manner
• Mugging (in chambers) – unclear, closest I can get is “a foolish undertaking”
• Frowsy – musty or stale, uncared for
• Stodgy – dull or uninspiring
• Demure – modest or reserved, shy
• Preposterous – contrary to reason and common sense
disassembles every pretense in her life, finally allowing her to see the folly of both their ways, and
a path towards a happier future for herself and the one she truly loves.
I also noticed the quote at the beginning of the play: “As of old when the world’s heart was
lighter.” The quote is unattributed, and Google turned up nothing, so I don’t know if this was
written by Hankin himself or was a saying he had heard somewhere else. As to its meaning I will
only offer an educated guess – the author is reminding his reader (and presumably his audience, if
this were printed in the program) that this play is a comedy, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
In this respect Hankin is different from Shaw I think, and his harkening back to an earlier time
might be referring to the silly, stylized melodramas of the 19th century that were extremely
entertaining but offered almost none of the stern social lessons common on the stage in Hankin’s
time.
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