Rivals. Main Text

7/30/2019 Rivals. Main Text

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The Rivals(main text)


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A dramatic analysis: I, ii (1)

Act and scene division

Literary conventions

We must reflect upon their dramatic use and the concept

of intervals or entractes.


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Indoor/outdoor scenes

This change demands more time in orderto be able to move the different scenes

on their rails.


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1.1 is an outdoor location

: A street in Bath should display the

liveliness of this pleasure city, full of citizens

and newcomers who stay there to drink

the waters, a fashionable activity at the

time.


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1.2 is an indoor location

: A Dressing-room in MRS. MALAPROP'S

Lodgings.


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Once we have notice the change of scenes...

Organize the conversation in sequences in which the

scene is organized:

a) specific aspects within the general location

b) the characters involved in each sequence and their

mood (when one of the characters leaves the stage or

a new one enters, a new sequence starts)

c) the organizing theme for each sequence or topic of

conversation.


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Draw a communicative map

of the scene

Purposemanipulate the content moreeasily

(it is complicated to work with text as a whole)


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Sequence 1 (ll. 1-37)a) specific aspects b) Characters &

moodc) Organizing

theme

Lydias dressingrooma sofa + [a table]with the glassand smelling-bottle + books

LydiaLucy

the reading tasteof Lydia isdiscoveredthrough the titles


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Sequence 2 (ll. 38-167)a) specific aspects b) Characters &

moodc) Organizing

theme

Same Lucy (secondarypresence)

Julia & Lydia

the love prospectsof the differentcharacters:Lydias interest forJack, Juliasromantic

attachment toFaulkland and theridiculous affairorganized by Mrs.Malaprop toseduce Sir Lucius.


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Sequence 3 (168-225)a) specific aspects b) Characters &

moodc) Organizing

theme

a) the same +books hidden andon display

Lucy (secondarypresence)LydiaMrs MalapropSir AnthonyAbsolute

The laughablecharactersexposed to theaudience.Resistance oftheir wards

The best comiceffect in the play:malapropisms


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moodc) Organizing

theme

a) the same Mrs Malaprop

Sir Anthony

Absolute

The display of

dictatorial but

ineffectual

guardians.

the display of comic

butts continues

Comments on

female education by

the witless fools

They decide the

match between

Lydia and Jack (in

theory abroad with

his regiment).


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a) specific aspects b) Characters &mood

c) Organizingtheme

The same Mrs. Malaprop

Lucy

Mrs Malapropcontinues herflirting with SirLucius and sheexposes herself asshe considers

Lucy, the craftyservant, asimpleton


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moodc) Organizing theme

The same + Lucysprivate notes

Lucy (amonologue)

The closing speech.Lucy reveals her truemanipulative self as

she is both able totrick all her superiorsand she presentsherself to theaudience as anactress (she even

changes her accent:Altering hermanner). As sheherself explains:


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Lucy (331-35)

Let girls in my station be as fond as they

please of appearing expert, and knowing in

their trusts; commend me to a mask of

silliness, and a pair of sharp eyes for my own

interest under it !


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Once we have achieved thisdramatic map....

focus on specific sections of eachsequence

decide if we want to keep those partswhich help to advance the plot

get rid of them if they are superfluous toour own adaptation.


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Bear in mind that... These decisions will affect the type of adaptation.

Act I, ii has a pivotal importance as it introduces the central

laughingelements of the comedy

These elements justify Sheridans position in the on-going

discussion about the true nature of comedy.


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Alternatively

We may focus on the most comic aspects

exploit an actors or actress ability toperform as a leading comedian.


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Going back to the fragment we

watched last week (I, ii)

Sequence 1 (1-37):

Books are an essential tool to draw Lydias character

those she has asked Lucy to get from the circulating library

represent the new trends in sentimental and epistolary

novel.

It was the art form through which women could express

themselves as both writers and readers (OST, 194).

Lydia might show different attitudes towards these titles and

that would imply different shades of meaning in her tastes.


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Episodic structure and prevalence of characters

upon plot I, ii

The Rivals and the new novel:

Try to consider those sections in this scene that help to

keep the plot moving and those that are merely

digressive and hold up the action.


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Sequence 2 (38-167):

While sequence 1 is essentially digressive, the second

between Julia and Lydia is more directly focused upon

plot as we learn of Lydias problem with the fake ensign

Beverley and Mrs Malaprops attempt to engage with

the Irish baronet (Sir Lucius).

Another important issue appears in lines 93-105.

Marriage as a social contract rather than the final

purpose of a romantic liaison.


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Money and social status

Marriage and love as two different conceptual

realms in 18th society.

Marriage as a tool

a) to promote either an increase in family property (if

both partners had a similar wealth or if the woman

brought an important dowry into the marriage)

b) a way to raise in the social scale (a poor aristocrat

might benefit from marrying a rich girl who in turn

might help to promote her family origin).


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Lydia in line with her readings only aspires to a

romantic marriage with the poor ensign Beverley.

Another aspect of the plot development refers to

Julia and her presentation as a down-to-earth girl inopposition to Lydia. Julia describes Faulkland and his

romantic melancholy as a caprice very much in

line with Lydias mood.

This sequence then is essential to present the future

development of the plot.


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Sequences 3-4-5 fulfil one essential purpose: to

introduce two of the laughable characters in the

play: Sir Anthony Absolute, the tyrant father and Sir

Malaprop, the ridiculous aunt.

We may notice the careful pattern of couplings in

which the characters are organized:

LydiaJuliaLydia/Beverley

BeverleyFaulklandFaulkland/Julia

Sir Anthony/Mrs Malaprop

Sir Lucius/Bob Acres

Fag/Lucy


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The arrival of the elder characters enables Lydia a new

display of her fashionable tastes in literature (and what she

doesnt like: boring, moral treatises like The Duty of Man, a

book that Lucy uses for ironing lace.

Malapropisms or the misuse of words: a way to characterize

her pretentious attitude to learning as opposed to Lydias.

See the whole exchange (181-232)

Illiterate/obliterate (188)

Extirpate/extricate (root out) (201)

Controvertible/incontrovertible (not open to debate) (203)

Intricate/ingrate (ungrateful/obstinate)(226)

Misanthropy/misanthrope-mysogynist


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A final example of the digressive function

in these sequences:

Mrs Malaprops speech about female

education (249-64)


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The combination of episodic structures including

conversational sequences that move the action forward

and others which just exploit the comical aspects of the

characters

Allow the author to introduce by means of digressions certain

moral, cultural and even political issues.


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Aspects of plot and character

Mark S. Auburn the Pleasures of SheridansThe

Rivals: A Critical Study in the Lilght of Stage History

(257) (Modern Philology, 72:3, 1975, 256-71)

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