Life and Death Themes in the Sandbox and Everyman

Research write up spiritedness and destruction Themes in The sandpit and Every manly concern COURSE ENGL-102_D22_200940 COURSE hu humanness playaction English 102 SEMESTER OF ENROLLMENT D F completely 2009 NAME Glen MacDonald Glen MacDonald Professor smith English 102 December 5, 2009 Research Paper Life and Death Themes in The sandpile and Everyman This paper explores the perception and treatment of demolition at points in history some 500 years apart by victimisation two dramatic gos as a portal into their respective fourth dimension finiss.The anonymously written 15th century victimize Everyman and the 1959 Edward Albee walkover, The Sandbox issue two extreme points of contrast to demonstrate the significant changes and similarities in mans support conditions and his perceptions and treatment of devastation. An overview of feel in gallant England rough the year 1500, and life in America in 1959 is provided up search to establish the realities of the eon period in which to review each play.Both plays leave alone be examined by referencing research regarding their respective authors, the works themselves and by incorporating early(a) materials that provide insight into their significance and meanings. The paper will conclude by providing a summary of insights and points of interest regarding the perception and treatment of death during twain(prenominal) eras. Life in 16th century mediaeval England was considerably diverse than American life in 1959.In addition to the substantial difference in day to day living conditions, such as a cover over ones head or heat and light, life in me eruptval England was brutal by straightaways standards. Many aspects of daily introduction that we lease for granted in late American cities such as sanitation, nutrition and medical heraldic turn offing were approximatelyly non-existent in a medieval English city. The limited availability of health and basic services, contributed to high pl ace of disease which reduced the average life expectancy to somewhat 40 years ageing.According to Carolyn Freeman Travers, a Research Manager with Plimoth Plantation, the rate of infant mortality and death from childhood disease was a lot higher during that time period than it was in 1959 (1). Travers points turn up that many nation did live to be older than the 40 year average, but it was only if they survived childbirth and so navigated the disease prone childhood years to make it to adulthood (1). By comparison, life in America in the late 1950s was much easier, as is reflected by the life expectancy statistics.According to the U. S. division of Healths, Life Tables for 1959, the average life expectancy in the United States in 1959 was approximately 70 years of age (76). This 30 year or so difference in life expectancy, although significant on its own, when combined with the medieval childhood death statistics and the fact that death most lots occurred in spite of reck onance ones home, the average medieval adult would have potential had a great deal of personal experience with death, probable indoors their own families.This is not the case in 1959 America where death often happened in a hospital setting or where the mature funeral line of reasoning rapidly whisked a body away from the home setting. An other kindle reference point for the two time periods is religion, and the level and significance of exponentiation in organized religion. According to Chris Trueman, a British history instructor apparitional participation has changed dramatically during the past 500 years. The knightly church service played a far greater role in Medieval England than the church service does today.In Medieval England, the Church dominated everybodys life. any Medieval wad be they village peasants or towns people believed that god, nirvana and pit all existed. From the very earliest of ages, the people were taught that the only way they could get t o Heaven was if the roman print Catholic Church let them. Everybody would have been terrified of Hell and the people would have been told of the sheer horrors awaiting for them in Hell in the periodic services they attended. (1) (Trueman, Chris. The Medieval Church. History Learning Site. N. p. , n. d. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. ) Although accurate estimates for spiritual participation in the United States in 1959 were not readily available, it is likely that between 80% 90% of Americans recruitd in regular religious activities during that period of time. Even though this participation number is not significantly abase that the medieval participation number, it is unmixed that organized religion no long-life plays the dominant role in the daily life of western assimilation that it did during medieval times.It seems that even though the majority of people continue to participate in organized religion, that adherence to traditional Christian based beliefs, rituals surround death, per sonal morals and family value all have deteriorated significantly in western culture since medieval times. An example of this change in family values is evident by the way in which we c ar for elderly parents today and how in many cases parents are treated with the out of sight out of mind mentality which is very pervasive in western friendship today.This trend is highlighted by the significant increase in the number of old age homes springing up across America. As Ruiping Fan reported in The ledger of Medicine and Philosophy in 2007, Across the world, socio-conomic sic forces are unsteady the focus of long-term care from the family to institutional settings, producing significant moral, not righteous financial costs (1). Fan goes on to discuss the increasing transport away from filial piety (respect and responsibility for parents), which had been a staple in eastern culture, towards more western oriented cultural norms, which includes institutional care for elderly parents (2) .Fan explains the reasons for these cultural changes verbalise, It is just not feasible for most of us to undertake family care in todays society because most of us are living in a household where both husband and wife are working to support the household (7). In looking at how the author of Everyman perceives and treats death, one must keep in mind that the primary purpose of medieval morality plays was to communicate the religious content of the day to the mostly uneducated and illiterate population.In this case the plays author demonstrates the high significance of his message regarding death by immediately and dramatically introducing death in Everyman. He accomplishes this by quickly and specifically orienting the audience to the plays solution of death and by introducing the Death theatrical role to the audience. The introduction of Death takes place at the end of Gods speech where He calls upon death by saying Where art thou, Death, thou mighty messenger? (line 63). This is somewhat nusual for a play of this time as Allen Goldhamer notes in his 1973 journal article where he says In order to understand the plays greatness, one should bear in mind that Everymans presentation of death is highly unusual. The dramatization of death usually occupies the latter portion of the final act of a play and is often handled sensationally or sentimentally. In Everyman the hero begins to die near the opening of the play, and the focus of the drama is on a man involved in the stages of death. (87) (Goldhamer, Allen D. Everyman A dramatisation of Death Quarterly Journal of Speech 59. 1 (1973) 87. colloquy Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. ) For those attending a circa 1500 performance of Everyman, the dramatic delivery of this play combined with the pertinent messages of repurchase and salvation along with the death theme would have both capture the audience and instilled extreme fear in them. As noted by Dennis Moran in his 1972 paper on Everyman, in speaking about the plays character Death, he notes that . . .Death physically quits the stage with four-fifths of the play remaining and the terror aroused by his summons almost only subsides with Everymans return to sanctifying grace (324). Speaking in todays terms, this would have translated into a prime time television commercial for the Roman Catholic Church, representing the only way in which one could access Gods salvation, achieve eternal life and not be dammed to hell. It is besides interesting to note the evident Roman Catholic theme regarding trade good Deeds as the measuring stick of ones secular life, the price for salvation and entry into heaven upon death.This is highlighted when Good Deeds says All earthly things is but vanity Beauty, Strength, and Discretion do man forsake, inadvisable friends, and kinsmen, that fair spake all fleeth save Good Deeds, and that am I (lines 870-73). As you read this play and visualize watching the play from the audiences thought or maybe even being placed this instant in Everymans literal situation, one becomes aware of the specific acquaintance the author portrays regarding the mental manipulation involved in dying.This is evident as the plays author leads Everyman through the initial stages associated with his impending death, commencement exercise where he demonstrates a lack of recognition of Death, then by inquire Death for more time and then by attempting to bribe Death with ? 1,000, all which happens before he starts to consider and then later expect his fate. As Goldhamer notes in his paper, this process closely parallels modern psychological thinking on death as he alludes to when he says There is no reason for us to assume that earlier ages feature any less profound insight than our own in the division of death (88).In complete contrast to Everyman is Edwards Albees 1959 play The Sandbox, where death is false into the farcical backdrop for this generational satire. The death of granny is used to highlight the absolute nonsense that goes on in many multi-generational family relationships, and highlights how elderly parents are often treated like children or even worse, like pets, by their own children. Unlike in Everyman, where death pursues our protagonist based on Gods command to do so, in The Sandbox, Albee uses the aggressive momma and the meek grumbling Daddy characters to drag granny knot to her death.They bring her on stage against her will dumping her cockeyed in the sandbox where the nonesuch of Death is hovering near by. According to Mathew Roudane in his book about Albee, he notes Albees use of death as a common theme in many of his plays and then adds that Albee continually returns to exploring the darker side of the human soulscape (6). later Roudane makes reference to comments from an interview with Albee regarding his perception of death, here he recounts Albee as saying how we lie to ourselves and to each other, how we try to live without the cle ansing consciousness of death (23).Although one could interpret Albees comments a number of ways, he is clean clear that he feels death is an important theme in The Sandbox and in his other plays. It appears that he uses the death theme to tell people to wake up and live life completely, because life is short and ends all of a sudden with death. The life and death contrast he is alluding to is made evident in The Sandbox by how alive Albee makes the soon to die elderly Grandma character appear in contrast to the emotionally dead characters of mamma and Daddy. Aside from the Angel of Death played by the young man, The Sandbox contains no forthwith visible religious references.In a literal sense, Grandmas death is portrayed as strictly the physical act of dying, much like the treatment of death in modern American culture where rituals associated with death and the proceedings at some funerals appear to be surreal. However, Albee has built excess metaphors into this play by using t he somewhat wide stage setup including the background of sea and sky along with the sandbox and a few chairs. As Lucina Gabbard states in her 1982 review of The Sandbox In this play, the sandbox is the entrance hall of life, the hospital dying room, and the grave.It is located on a sandy beach near the sea, whose waters symbolize both birth and death (28). Gabbard goes on to point out how the characters support these additional metaphors as she writes As the action of the play proceeds, the symbolism deepens. mum and Daddy, sit opposite the sandbox, perform two rituals simulta-neously sic baby-sitting and death-watching (28). Albee stretches out the plays climatical event, the death of Grandma, with extreme patience, all the while emphasizing each characters role and thought processes.For Grandma, she recounts her life from a dear spot as a wife and mother when talking about living on the farm with her now deceased husband and then from a less serious perspective when she says I had to raise that big dismay over there all by my lonesome (1068). The offstage noises house that Grandmas death is looming closer, which causes the silly dialogue between Mommy and Daddy to increase, thereby focusing the audience on the contrived spirit of Grandmas disposal from the family.Finally after Mommy and Daddy fake to leave and Grandma is nearing her end, Mommy says We must put away our tears, take off our mourning . . . face the future. Its our duty (1069). The ending and last death of Grandma incorporates the only noticeable moment of love in the entire play, this kiss between the Angel of Death lets Grandma leaves the world with a final contented line Youre . . . youre welcome dear (1069). In the end Albee treats the death of Grandma with the love and benignity you would hope for and expect in real life.Although these two plays, Everyman and The Sandbox appear at opposite ends of the spectrum in many ways, they both deal directly with issues surrounding death and provide insight and a historical perspective of the prevailing culture. At the time that Everyman was first playing, the Roman Catholic Church held the monopoly on the rituals associated with death, and they were striving to educate the population on how to live within the context of honoring Church and God.Although this is meant to be a very serious play, the dry humor and embedded entertainment value is made evident by how the plot and characters combine to ensure salvation for Everyman. At the other end of the scale, Albee establishes a very novel approach to communicate his message of abandonment and how American culture has evolved into a self-centered miserable organism for the masses. This play makes the point that without a purposeful, intentional life including thought and reflection regarding ones own death and even ones eternal life, that life itself can become an ir germane(predicate) meaningless struggle.Both these plays hit the cultural check of their respective historical periods by providing enlightening insights into death and other relevant issues of the day by incorporating some comedic value into the entertaining dramas.Works Cited Albee, Edward. The Sandbox. 1959. Perrines belles-lettres Structure, Sound, and Sense. 10th ed. Ed. Thomas R Arp and Greg Johnson. BostonWadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009. 1064 1070. Everyman. Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays. Ed. J M Dent. North Claredon Tuttle Publishing, 1993. 197 225. Fan, Ruiping Which Care? Whose Responsibility? And Why Family? A Confucian billhook of Long-Term Care for the Elderly. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 32. 5 (2007) 495-517. Philosophers Index. EBSCO. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. Freeman Travers, Carolyn. Myth and Reality. Plimoth Plantation. N. p. , n. d. Web. 13 Dec. 2009. . Gabbard, Lucina P. Edward Albees Triptych on Abandonment. Twentieth Century publications A Scholarly and Critical Journal 28. 1 (1982) 14-33. Hofstra University 10 Dec. 2009 Goldhamer, Allen D. E veryman Dramatization of Death Quarterly Journal of Speech 59. 1 (1973) 87 98. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 10 Dec. 2009. Moran, Dennis V. The Life of Everyman. Neophilologus. 56. (1972) 324-30. MLA International Bibliography. Gale. Liberty University. 11 Dec. 2009 . Roundane, Mathew C. intellect Edward Albee. Columbia University of South Carolina Press, 1987 Trueman, Chris The Medieval Church. History Learning Site. 1. , n. d. Web. 14 Dec. 2009. . U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Public Health Service. New York State Life Tables 1958-61. Vol. 2. chapiter n. p. , 1966. 76. Center for Disease Control Web. 13 Dec. 2009. .