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Transcript

The Well Made Play

Scribe

Sardou

Ibsen

Enemy of the People -hypocrisy of politics

Ghosts - main character dies of syphilis

A Doll House and Hedda Gabler -marriage as a prison for women

Irritated Victorian society with his dress and talking points.

Outrage it with Dorian Gray, his novel of vice hidden beneath art.

Critiqued society on its own terms with Lady Windermere's Fan forcing them to soften harsh social codes in favor of a more nuanced view.

A Woman of No Importance another Victorian comedy: revolving around the spectre of illegitimate births, mistaken identities and late revelations.

Importance of Being Ernest (masterpiece)

"Bunburying" of main characters allows them to escape Victorian social mores.

Following the recommendations found in Aristotle's Poetics, the letters must bring about an unexpected reversal of fortune, in which it is often revealed that someone is not who they pretend to be. The reversal will allow for a quick dénouement, and a return to order, at which point the curtain falls.

The techniques of well-made plays also lend themselves to comedies of situation, often farce

started it all

Eugene

1792-1861

Most

Famous

Henrik

1828-1906

Points to know

The form has a strong neoclassical flavor, involving a very tight plot and a climax that takes place very close to the end of the action, with most of the story taking place before the action of the play; much of the information regarding such previous action would be revealed through thinly veiled exposition. Following that would be a series of causally-related plot complications.

A recurrent device that the well-made play employs is the use of letters or papers falling into unintended hands, in order to bring about plot twists and climaxes.

developed it

Also pretty

famous

Victorien

1831-1908

Oscar Wilde

1854 – 1900

Henrik Ibsen

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