Death and the Maiden - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Death and the Maiden

Political ContextSlide2

National Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The ‘Investigation Commission

’, to

which Gerardo is

appointed,

was actually the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The report for this commission was released in 1991 and dealt only with the deaths and disappearance (mostly due to political reasons

)

under Augusto Pinochet’s rule. Slide3

Valech Report

There was another commission afterwards, named

the

Valech

Report (National

Commission on Political Imprisonment and

Torture)

which dealt with the victims of human rights – in this case, with situations like Paulina’s – and this report was published in 2004 and 2005.

The information obtained from the victims of torture, kidnapping, or children whose parents had disappeared or been killed was used to hand out pensions to these survivors. At the time that the play is set, only the first commission would’ve been around

.

For more details,

see

http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valech_ReportSlide4

Plebiscite

Plebiscite

:

a direct vote of the qualified voters of a state in regard to some important public question.

Augusto Pinochet’s downfall came in the form of a plebiscite suggested by his own constitution: after a failed assassination attempt of the dictator on the 7

th

of September 1986, Pinochet believed himself invincible and went ahead with the plebiscite. However, citizens had been non-violently protesting since 83’ and they were finally able to vote him out of power by 55% of the vote and establish democracy in 1988.Slide5

Amnesty

Amnesty

:

[

Law

.] an act of forgiveness for past offenses, especially to a class of persons as a whole.

Pinochet and the military continued to have a significant amount of influence until the amnesty law was passed, after which Pinochet gave up the presidential seat to

Patricio

Aylwin

, who became the first democratically elected president after a fifteen-year period of authoritarian rule

.

Pinochet still had muscle, though. He appointed himself Senator for life and still remained head of the military.Slide6

The Title of the Play

Death and the Maiden

(string quartet no. 14)

was composed in 1824, after a particularly difficult time in Schubert’s life, in which he realised he was dying. He’d been extremely ill for much of 1823 and 1824. This is what he wrote at that time in a letter to a friend:

"Think of a man whose health can never be restored, and who from sheer despair makes matters worse instead of better. Think, I say, of a man whose brightest hopes have come to nothing, to whom love and friendship are but torture, and whose enthusiasm for the beautiful is fast vanishing; and ask yourself if such a man is not truly unhappy."

This tells us about Schubert’s mood and attitude on life at the time, and helps our understanding of the energy this music is supposed to inject in certain parts of the play. Slide7

Who is Dorfman

?

Playwright, essayist, novelist, poet, and short story writer Ariel

Dorfman

was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 6, 1942, the son of an economist and a literature teacher.

His

life illustrates the fragmented experience of the modern Latin American exile

. At the age of two, his family was forced to flee to the United States because of his father’s opposition to the Argentine government of Juan Peron.

Dorfman’s

father was one of the architects of the United Nations, and the family lived in New York for ten years before leaving in 1954, during the McCarthy era, to settle in Chile.

Dorfman

became a naturalized Chilean citizen in 1967

. Working for the next several years as a journalist and activist, he published several works, including a study of the plays of Harold Pinter (

The Homecoming

).Slide8

Who is Dorfman

(cont’d)

A supporter of Chilean President Salvador Allende,

Dorfman

was forced into exile after a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet seized control of the country in 1973.

He lived abroad and

eventually settled in the United States (in 1980),

holding a variety of academic posts in each of the countries. In 1984 he became a professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he maintains a part-time residence.

Remaining

active in Chile’s political and social affairs while in exile,

Dorfman

first tried to return home to Chile in 1983 yet felt uncomfortable in the environment there

. He tried a part-time return in 1986, but the following year, he was stopped at Santiago airport, detained, and then deported.

Dorfman

returned to Chile again in 1989.

Following Pinochet’s abdication to a popularly-elected president in 1990, the playwright attempted to re-establish a semi-permanent residence in his adopted homeland

.Slide9

About Dorfman’s

Writing

Dorfman’s

writings have been translated into over twenty languages. Like many other Latin American authors, he is also a social critic who investigates the relationship between politics and culture

.

Death and the Maiden

is

ambiguously set to represent both the universality of the themes and the specific trauma of one country:

“The time is the present and the place, a country that is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long period of dictatorship.” Slide10

About Dorfman’s

Writing (Cont’d)

‘

Pinteresque

’ (based on the writings of Harold Pinter)

Pinter restored theatre to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each other and pretence crumbles. With a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the power struggle and hide-and-seek of

interlocution

.

Pinter's

drama

has been

characterised as 'comedy of menace', a genre where the writer allows us to eavesdrop on the play of domination and submission hidden in the most mundane of conversations. In a typical Pinter play, we meet people defending themselves against intrusion or their own impulses by entrenching themselves in a reduced and controlled existence. Another principal theme is the volatility and elusiveness of the past.Slide11

Justify

With a partner, justify and note why this play could be considered ‘

Pinteresque

’ theatre?

Provide evidence from the play’s setting and plot (3 mins)Slide12

From the websites

for Homework

Questions

Comments

Discussion

Consider: Why did

Dorfman

set the play in ‘

a country that is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long period of dictatorship’

?Slide13

In Week 6

We will spend the next two lessons discussing and analysing

Dorfman’s

dramatic techniques and choices to create thematic meaning in

Death and the Maiden

I encourage you to bring your own questions to class throughout this processSlide14

In Week 7

We will learn about the psychology of

Roberto Miranda

to better inform us of his hypothetical ‘turn’ to evil.

Questions to consider:

H

ow

is evil created?

Are

we born evil?

Does

society make us evil?

Can

evil

actions be considered conformity

in the face of conflict?

What

if you were never held responsible for your actions, would you be more likely to behave badly? Slide15

Our Plan

Week 6

L1- Today’s context

L2- Dramatic Techniques (How do the dramatic choices create meaning?)

L3- Thematic Devices (What are the themes and how are they created?)

Week 7

L1- Interactive Oral- The psychology of Dr Roberto Miranda (Reflective Statement for HW)

L2- Review for Supervised Writing

L3- Supervised Writing on

Death and the Maiden

and Reflective Statements Due