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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Gurney, A R--(Albert Ramsdell), --1930-2017--Criticism and interpretation; Burke, Kenneth, --1897-1962; Gurney, A R--(Albert Ramsdell), --1930-2017; Criticism, interpretation, etc;

Abstract

WASP playwright A. R. Gurney, Jr. defies the traditional notion of realism with his use of theatrical device. One such recurring device used in his plays is an offstage presence. Critics seem to agree that the onstage action affected by this offstage presence is often contrived. This study offers a response to this critical contention through its examination of the function of the offstage presence in seven of Gurney's full-length plays: Children, The Middle Ages, What I Did Last Summer, The Perfect Party, Another Antigone, Sweet Sue, and The Cocktail Hour. The study's methodology is based on Kenneth Burke's "analysis of poetry as symbolic action." According to Burke, every poet engages in a pollution-purification redemption process; his or her works are symbolic records of this journey. Using a four-step method, the analysis portion of this study examines each play on the basis of its adherence to this "rhetoric of rebirth" paradigm. In step one, an equation of the kind "offstage presence equals an image or theme" is computed, according to an extensive indexing of textual associations. Step two determines the existence of a character mediating between two opposing imagistic or thematic principles. This determination is justified in step three, a detailed analysis of the structural progression of the work. Step four translates this structural progression into Burke's "rhetoric of rebirth" model. The conclusion of this study first synthesizes the analysis section in noting functional similarities of the offstage presences in the plays. With one exception, the offstage presence's sacrifice is impetus for the purification process in Burke's model, thereby allowing the mediating character to return "home" redeemed. Part two of the conclusion denotes a connection of this understanding to the reader, based on Gurney's intent for using the offstage presence as a conscious playwriting device. Gurney's explicit violation of psychological realism parallels the reader's search for, in Burkean terms, the "better life." The final portion of the conclusion links Gurney's intent as a playwright with critical contention that a Gurney character is unmotivated. Gurney's use of one-dimensional characters is a dialectical response to a culture whose mores preclude a two-dimensionality.

Year of Submission

1991

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Communication and Theatre Arts

First Advisor

Jay Edelnant

Second Advisor

Beverley Byers-Pevitts

Third Advisor

George Glenn

Comments

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Date Original

1991

Object Description

1 PDF file (225 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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