Blood Wedding: Journal One

"Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech." How far do you agree with this claim? In your answer you should refer to two or three plays you have studied.

I agree visual action is a very important aspect to the interpretation of these tragic plays because of the contrast of the stage directions. In the "Wild Duck" the stage directions were very descriptive down to the last item on the set, all placed a certain way and a certain color. Every single page has some description of the emotions and movements the actors are portraying which means to Ibsen the direction were symbolic and important. This importance in the stage directions brings symbols and further complements what the characters are doing in that scene. For example when Hjalmar is confronting Gina after having a long walk with Gregers Gina "(putting the shade on the lamp)" which is symbolic for her putting a filter on the truth so it would not blind someone (Ibsen 182). This portrays  there is a reason Ibsen wanted everything to look a certain way on stage and not changed to something else because it is all symbolic. The setting and the physicality of the characters in the "Wild Duck" is just as important as the speech because of the lengthy directions Ibsen uses and the descriptions of every movement a character makes. The visuals of this play are very descriptive as opposed to the "Blood Wedding" which has very vague stage directions and places importance on the dialogue. However due to this lack of description it is hard to follow what is going on and gives the reader room for imagination. "Blood Wedding" does not lead the reader step by step like Ibsen does. Ibsen creates a picture for his audience which is not as present in the "Blood Wedding" which makes the stage directions there are in the play significant because without them one would not be able to understand or make sense of the play. An example of these vague directions is "(the bride throw down the flowers)" if Ibsen had written this play he would have described these flowers as orange and told the reader they were made of wax however since Lorca is a different style of writer he left out these details to be figured out later through the dialogue (Lorca 41). Both the vagueness of the stage directions which create the visual action and the descriptiveness of them makes them just as important as the speech. Without the stage directions when the description is vague there is a necessity for them in order not to get lost, and with the abundance of detail one finds symbolism that complements what is said in the dialogue. Therefore I agree "Visual action can be as important on the stage as speech".

Comments from the Tragic Unit!

The ideas/motifs you have here are really great. I think it is interesting. I'm wondering how you interpreted the conclusion of the play because you say the sea brings hope and freedom (Ben Webster Wild Duck journal entry #3).

I agree visual action is extremely important. I enjoyed that you put specific instances to support your ideas. The only thing I am wondering is do you think the setting is more important to the play than the dialogue? I think you did a terrific job arguing that the visual action is important however I feel you could compare it to the importance of the dialogue (Kylee Rosette Wild Duck journal entry #4).

Isabel! Your journal entry has good insights! Your connection of "Oedipus the King" to religion is interesting and I hadn't thought about it that way.

When you say in Oedipus the play doesn't focus on the waiting parts I do agree to an extent, there were several times that Oedipus had to wait for something he wished to be brought like the Shepherd he did wait for him to come however to keep the action up he had conversed with the Messenger while he was waiting. I don't understand what you mean by the puzzling part Sophocles leaves out of Oedipus. Maybe clarify a little.

I agree with your analysis of the "Wild Duck" there does seem to be everyday conversation mixed in with the play (Isabel Harger Wild Duck journal entry #5).

The Wild Duck: Journal #3

Themes and Ideas in the Wild Duck

 The metaphor of the wild duck and its story to how it ended up in Hjalmar's household compares the reputation and relationships between characters. In the beginning of the play Gregers states how he wishes he could be a dog, and in this third act Gregers compares Hjalmar to the wild duck. In Gregers point of view Hjalmar has lost everything because of his father and now Gregers wants to be the dog to help bring Hjalmar back up to the surface because it was Mr. Werle who had caused him to be in that situation in the first place. The comparison of Gregers to the dog however gives us the impression that there is going to be some hardship/pain endured by Hjalmar because of the bite the dog takes to bring the duck to the surface. Through Gregers point of view Hjalmar's reputation has been hurt by Gregers father and Gregers wishes to redeem his reputation in his own eyes because of this injustice done to Hjalmar by his father Mr. Werle. However the question remains does Gregers do this out of his own personal wishes to make his reputation look better or does Gregers do this to redeem his old friend Hjalmar's reputation. It seems that Gregers does this out of his own personal commitment to restore his family name he believes has fallen because of his father's lack of supporting Edkel during the trial.

Another interesting idea is Hedvig refers to Gina as "mother" and Hjalmar as "Daddy". The formality in which Hedvig addresses Gina shows that she is not a little girl she does work when she is around her mother. In choosing this diction to refer to her mother as give the impression that Gina has the authority in the household as opposed to her daddy. In Act 3 when Hedvig convinces Hjalmar to give her the brush to touch up the photograph Hjalmar says " But don't ruin your eyes! Hear me? I won't take the blame; you can take the blame yourself-you hear me?" which shows there is blaming happening because she is participating in an activity that could affect her eyesight (Ibsen 161). The blame is coming from her mother not her father which shows Gina has more of a concern for Hedvig's health and she is the head of the household as opposed to Hjalmar. Hjalmar has a more informal title which is "daddy". This informal title show he is less of a power compared to Gina even though he is the male of the household. The only time she does refer to Hjalmar as "father is when Gregers arrives early for dinner and says ""You seem to have workmen in the house." Hedvig: "No, that's only Father and Grandfather."" and in this case she has reason to be formal because she is talking to someone who is not from her family which means she has to have formality around them to maintain the family reputation (Ibsen 161).

The Wild Duck: Journal # 2

"Defiance becomes our duty in the face of injustice." Referring to at least two works you have studied, explore the ways in which writers have attempted to persuade us to accept or challenge this view.


In the Wild Duck the idea of rebelling against ones family is described in the following quote, "Defiance becomes our duty in the face of injustice" (writing prompt). Ibsen wishes us to accept this view that it is our duty to stand up for what is wrong. This idea in Act One and Two is shown through the relationship between Gregers and his father Mr. Werle. The relationship between father and son is one of external conflict because of the actions his father has done. Gregers has found out his father has taken advantage of Hjalmar's family for protecting his own reputation about having a child out of wedlock. Mr. Werle has his former house keeper Gina marry Hjalmar to protect himself from suspicion. With this in mind and the fact his father only protects himself (ie he gets acquitted when Ekdal gets convicted) Gregers rebels against his father's wishes of him moving back into his father's house. Instead he "left [...]the family home" to show his father he would not tolerate the crimes he has gotten away with in the past and is defying him. This conflict is prevalent throughout these two acts from when Gregers confronts his father and when he is at Hjalmar's house. There is a connotation in this act which Hedvig (Hjalmar and Gina's daughter) seems to pick up on however she doesn't understand. This connotation is used to convey the message from Gregers to Gina, he knows that Hedvig really is not Hjalmar's daughter.

Similarly Sophocles has a similar view on the idea "Defiance becomes our duty in the face of injustice". He portrays this view through Creon who is accused of treachery against Oedipus in telling lies. The confrontation between Creon and Oedipus, in rage and furious tone that Oedipus displays and Creon's defiance refusal to say that he indeed did plot to kill Oedipus shows he is fighting against injustice. In this case the injustice is Oedipus' judgment and Creon is defying Oedipus. Sophocles therefore is persuading us to accept this view that one must stand up for what is right through the conflict between Creon and Oedipus. He also does this through the conflict of Oedipus versus the truth. When Oedipus is told the prophecy he refuses to believe that he killed Laius because of the injustice against him. He believed he had never met Laius in his life.

The Wild Duck: Journal #1

In both Oedipus the King and the Wild Duck private versus public remains an issue. It is portrays this as extreme as having no private setting. The images portray this as well. Both of these plays use this conflict to prove two different points, Oedipus proves there is no value in private life, and Wild Duck proves that private matters must be separate from the public.

In Oedipus the King there was a private versus public issue. When Oedipus and Creon were fighting in public Jocasta scolds them for talking of private manners in public which shows Sophocles does not believe there is a private life when one is king or of some other high station, and since there is no privacy why not do private things in public if it will all come out eventually. This issue is touched on through the public setting of the play. There is no scene the audience sees without being in public, all the audience witnesses is in public which gives us a sense that Oedipus has no private life.

Much like Socrates, Ibsen addresses the same conflict of private versus public life. For example when Gregers and Hjalmar are talking in private Gregers says "Yes you do. The outer man hasn't suffered." then Hjalmar replies "Ah, but the inner man. Believe me he has a different look" portraying this concept. The outer man represents Hjalmar's physical appearance as well as his public life, the thing the people see in life. In contrast the inner man represents the feelings and the private life. Hjalmar's life has changed a lot since his father was convicted guilty on trial for crime changing his family life because Hjalmar's father can no longer acquire a profitable job thus he relies on his son for care. Hjalmar also sees his father at Gregers’ party and denies that he knows him which portrays that the private life and public life are very much a big effect of how people act in this setting. The effect of this public v private life shows that as much as one will do anything to keep matters private if it brings one shame or blood guilt.

Oedipus the King: Journal #3

The gap between the knowledge of the audience and the knowledge of the characters create situational irony. The effect of this gap gives the audience more knowledge of the fate of the character or the scheming of one character towards another.

In Oedipus the King, Socrates uses prophesies as well as the general public's outside knowledge to provide a way for the audience to obtain knowledge of the true birth of Oedipus. In the beginning of the text Oedipus declares he suffers more than his people because he has to suffer for them and for himself as well. Which is ironic because in the end he does indeed suffer more than they do because Tiresias' prophesy comes true. The entire book leading up to when Oedipus finds out that he has killed his father and slept with his mother, Oedipus digs himself deeper and deeper condemning the murderer of Laius, "He is the plague, the heart of our corruption" and in the end this is said about Oedipus himself "I'd never have never come to this my father's murderer". Oedipus first criticizes the murderer and then finds he is the murderer himself which is ironic because he threatens the murderer with exile or death if he found them. The effect of dramatic irony is to express the lack of knowledge is power if one does something for no reason or for the wrong reasons using assumptions they will pay for this terrible deed they have done on a whim.

Othello is another tragic play that has situational irony however it is conveyed in a different way. Iago is scheming to make Othello look terrible because he supposedly slept with his wife. Iago does this in the form of Apostrophes talking to the audience and scheming with other characters who fall to their ruin because of this fatal friend. The audience knows that Iago is scheming but Othello does not. Othello listens to Iago and believes Desdemona is being unfaithful to him by having an affair with Cassio because she thinks it was wrong of her husband to have stripped him of his rank. In the end he kills innocent Desdemona to find that she was indeed innocent then kills himself. The effect of using dramatic irony is to create a sense that what Othello is doing is wrong but see him as a misguided character and not as a hero or a villain.

Oedipus the King: Journal #2

Setting: Outside the Royal house of Thebes

The setting of the play Oedipus the King takes place in Thebes a Greek city in 430 BC. The entire setting of the book takes place outside the castle in Thebes which is significant because this gives the audience no way to see Oedipus' private life, and everything we see that Oedipus does is done the chorus or the people of Thebes.

The effect of having only one scenery in the entire play gives the audience no way to sympathize with Oedipus because he is always in the public. We never see him in a place he is more comfortable and more secluded from the people, we only see him in the public. This makes the audience have a more harsh opinion towards Oedipus because of his arrogance and his inability to trust anyone that could be wrong, and always has to get a second opinion. This setting in addition give the audience the illusion that he does not care what the public thinks about him because he has meeting of business such as conversing with the seers, Creon and the shepherds outside where everyone can see him. Thus the setting of the play outside the royal house of Thebes tempers with the way the audience views Oedipus as a character.

Since there is only one location the play has a narrow view point as opposed to being able to see what happens in other locations at the same time. This gives the reader no way to see Oedipus outside of the public or the way he runs his family household. This also narrows the way information is conveyed to the audience. Since during this time period in the style of Greek theater there was a Chorus the information that cannot be conveyed to the audience through other means. For example the Chorus gives the audience background information on the condition the city of Thebes is in which is dirty and dieing figuratively.

Since Oedipus the King takes place during ancient Greece there is a frequent number of  references to the Greek gods. There is also a frequent reference to branches of wound wool introduced to us on the first page and continues to resurface throughout the play. The branches of wound wool refer to offerings made to these gods because the people have lost hope and need their prayers to be answered which is exactly what Jocasta does towards the end of the play.

Oedipus the King: Journal #1

King of Assumption


What fear and rage one must feel when faced with the truth,
The light shinning in the sky behind the dark clouds of rain,
What Rage, Accusation, Murder lurks behind this curtain of time,
Stone-hearted blind seers, lying profits, condemned brothers are all brought to justice,
The one who caused this storm of hatred, doubt, skepticism fell
in the midst of this shattered land.


Seeking power for the benevolence he bestowed upon our beloved city-Thebes,
Carefully placing his trust in none but himself,
Doubting the word of all surrounding the palace walls,
Speculating an uprising as the rain becomes a drizzle
The clouds translucent as his rage escalates,
Time grows short,
His pride now desires to blind him, protect him from this terrible truth.


However the word is out,
Roaming the cross roads,
Blood guilt convicts all,
Prophecies become clear as the bright blue sky on a horrid summers day
Apollo scorching the earth with flames of rage and discontent,
Forever to be condemned in ignorance and shame.

By Isabella Lewis

(This poem about Oedipus the King, and is found not written by him.)