Themes Flashcards
(28 cards)
Under the theme of punishment and rehabilitation, what does the play discover?
If punishment should be the primary focus to resolving crime or if there’s an opportunity to reform through culture exposure and human interaction
Explain the theme of hope for change
Rehabilitation is possible with effort, trust and providing the capacity for a change
Explain the theme of rehabilitation through art
Ralph allows the convicts to self express with art = highlighting the potential for artistic endeavours to act as a vehicle for rehabilitation and drive convicts away from their harsh prisons
What does wertenbaker suggest about change?
She raises the question about human capacity to change suggesting that rehabilitation is possible when criminals are treated not as lost causes but as humans ready for change
Name the main themes
Punishment and rehabilitation
Theatre, liberation and unity
Love sex and power
Governance and justice
Guilt regret and forgiveness
Explain the theme of theatre, liberation and unity
Highlights the power of art to unite and liberate people
The artistic process brings the convicts together although they seem animalistic at the start: they enjoy the emotional freedom they have which comes from the artistic expression = less-likely to reoffend and more likely to reform into productive societal members
Wertenbaker highlights the therapeutic and restorative nature of the process
Explain the theme of theatre, liberation and unity on Phillip
He suggests the theatre is a way of coaxing the prisoners into inhabiting a new life, as he understands the art’s transformative process
Believes the convicts will experience new behaviours
Believes in personal growth and promoting harmony among the penal colony
Give a Phillip quote on the theme of theatre and unity
The theatre is an expression of civilization
Explain the theme of theatre and unity on dabby
The convicts discourage her to run away during the plays final scene and she follows this = emphasising the power of the theatrical process in collaboration with
Wertenbaker suggests that for a romantic relationship to be successful, there must be what?
A reliance on equal power dynamics
Give an example of a healthy relationship
Mary and ralph
Give an example of an unhealthy relationship
Harry brewer and duckling
Why do mary and Ralph have a successful relationship?
Their feelings grow organically
They don’t want anything tangible from each other
So they’ve cultivated a mutual affection which Wertenbaker suggests healthy romances occur when both are following their natural romantic instincts
What is dabby’s view on sleeping with authorities?
Believes selling yourself is a mandatory spirit which is a part of the human sexuality nature
Destigmatizes the practice of having sex for perks and encourages Mary that her sexuality is a way of seizing a modicum of power
What is Mary’s view on sleeping with authority?
She says she will “never wash the sin away”
Meaning she believes that engaging with transactional sexual affairs is more emotionally complex that’s dabby had suggested
What is the main reason that duckling and harry have an unhealthy relationship?
They have an irreconcilable imbalance of power
Define irreconcilable
So different to each other that they are completely incompatible
Why is harry worried that duckling doesn’t like him?
He completed the execution of her past lover, handy baker
= he enrages himself as he feels that his willingness to help her in an exchange for sex hasn’t led to a healthy relationship
Give a quote that shows ducklings love for harry
“I wish i were dead. At least when you’re dead you’re free.”
When duckling is devastated about Harry’s death, what does wertenbaker show?
Just how emotionally fraught relationships can be when overcoming a significant imbalance for both parties.
What is ketch’s role?
The colony’s hangman
Why is ketch the hangman?
He was caught for stealing and it was the option of becoming the hangman or dying
Define absolved
Freed from guilt
