· Where?
o Small (fictional) village of Doprava in Czechoslovakia
§ Its isolated
§ Everything is made of stone/cobble streets
§ Majority of the people earn their lively hood by farming
· The farms are far away from the village, when the people are in the fields, the whole village is pretty much deserted
· When?
o 1890s
§ Some social and cultural changes happening in Europe
§ The village is mainly unaffected by it though, they do not matter there
· What?
o Plot description
§ Story of mother trying to keep her daughter close to her
· She wants the “best” for her
§ Her husband died
§ She is scared she can’t support her daughter
§ She wants her daughter to get married and have children
§ Daughter wants to run away and join the Russian ballet
§ The mother is desperate for her to stay
§ The daughter decides to leave and has told her mother that she will go in the morning
§ Fearing this, the mother makes a deal with the undertaker, the deal happens in a shady alley
§ The undertaker has always been hated throughout the village
§ No one knows what happened to his wife, everyone suspects he killed her and then hid the body
§ He has a son
§ No one’s seen his son
§ They don’t even know if he’s alive
§ The undertaker couldn’t get anyone to marry his son
· The mother only agrees to it because she’s so desperate
§ The deal is struck and to make sure that the daughter doesn’t escape, the undertaker kidnaps her
§ He puts her in the basement of the mortuary (in the morgue)
§ Eventually she gets to meet the son
· The son is a normal boy, his only flaw is that he can’t speak
· The undertaker was embarrassed by him and hid him away, making him socially crippled
§ Seeing a woman for the first time he gets overly excited
§ He starts to make advances, when she refuses he brutally rapes her
§ After days of being confined with him the wedding arrives
§ The mother returns to find her daughter bruised, bleeding and weak , she hasn’t been fed in days
§ The girl is forced to marry the undertakers son
§ The two are forced to spend the rest of their lives underground in the morgue
§ The mother is never allowed to see her daughter again
§ The play ends with the mother realizing what a huge mistake she made and she is hysterical as the undertaker locks her out of the mortuary
o What does the audience take from it
§ Shock
§ Horror
§ Realization of intolerance in the world
§ Realization of how something that is done with good intentions can go horribly wrong
§ Realization of how unforgiving life is
§ Realization that not everyone gets a happy ending
· Who?
o Ivana Oravec- young vivacious girl who recently lost her father, which reminded her to embrace everyday and live life to the fullest. Her dream is to get out of her small village and join the Russian ballet. She loves her mother very much but does not agree with her more conservative ideas of what women should do.
o Katya Oravec (Mother)- the village seamstress who lost her husband (the cause of his death is unknown), after his death she is worried that she won’t be able to support her daughter and desperately wants to find her someone who she can marry that will take care of her. She used to be calmer and relaxed in her youth but after her husband’s death she is overprotective and cautious all the time. She was once a beauty as well, the most desired woman in the village but her looks have faded.
o Szilard Zabavnik (the undertaker) - a cruel, cold hearted man, he is the towns hated undertaker. His very presence makes people feel as if death is around the corner. He is a stern man who no one has ever seen smile. No one know how he got his wife to marry him, moreover no one knows what became of her. It’s suspected that he killed his wife and son since he has easy access to a cover up. Embarrassed by how his son isn’t perfect, he locks him up under his mortuary and never speaks of him. Since he is tired of taking care of his son, he tries to find a wife for him. Naturally no woman agrees to this so he is thrilled when he finds that Ivana’s is willing to have her daughter marry his son.
o Nikolas Zabavnik (the undertakers son)- born without the ability to talk, he was an embarrassment to his father. While locked in the basement for over 18 years, he never got the change to develop any social skills or ever meet anyone other than his father. He is emotionally and socially crippled and often very scared. He fears his father a great deal. He also has no self control and can be very violent
o General town people- the people are mostly pessimistic because they live in suck a dark village. They are also all gossips and always talk about the town news. They have no regard for other people’s feelings and usually just do whatever they can to “get by”
No comments:
Post a Comment