Choose a primary character? Type the name of the character and the play that they are in.
Lloyd was the main character in Nursing.
What are five relevant Given Circumstances to that character? Use a sentence to explain each one so you have five sentences total.
He was an army veteran. I’m pretty sure he’s in love with his brother’s wife. He did some horrible things in the army. His mother was a nurse. He had a son with a woman named Erin.
What do they want and Why do they want this? Use three sentences to answer this.
Lloyd claims that he wants to be loved, the guard thinks he wants to suffer, and the reporter thinks he wants to be famous. Joan convinces him that they should reintroduce disease to the world and he agrees to help so that the next generation will grow up with suffering. Having sex with Joan is what seemed to motivate him though.
What are five examples of tactics/verbs that they use throughout the play? Five Verbs
Accusing, threatening, begging, hurting and caring.
Cite an example/moment in the play where they use that tactic/verb? One sentence.
When the guard accused Lloyd of doing something terrible in the army.
Each of these plays has an example of a monologue – or one character speaking undisrupted for at least 10 sentences. Use one of the monologues to answer the following questions.
What page number is the monologue you are looking at from? Single word
70
Who are they speaking to and what is their relationship to that person/people? Single sentence.
Joan is hypothetically speaking to all the people she is going to attempt to infect.
What do they want from the person/people they are talking to? Single sentence
She wants them to know suffering in their lives.
Why do they speak uninterrupted? Think about this a little. Normally, we don’t get to just talk a long time without another person answering us. Political Speeches are an example where the speaker is uninterrupted. A Thank You speech after getting a reward. Why does this character get to speak uninterrupted? What is your opinion? Five Sentences
She speaks uninterrupted because the people she is speaking to can’t hear her. She is giving the speech on a mountain right before she kills herself to start a plague. In the beginning of the monologue it almost seems like she’s testifying in a court case.
Themes
What would you identify as the theme of the play? What is the play About? Five Sentences
The play is about a potentially idealistic world without any disease, but one that’s riddled with war, as shown by people mentioning that apparently California blew up. I believe there are two possible themes to take away from the play and they both kinda contradict each other. The first one is that humanity needs things like disease to show us suffering and make us appreciate our lives. The second one is that mankind will never be satisfied, that there will always be people who look back at times of fear and agony and wonder why we can’t go back to that.
What in the play resonated with you right now? What felt relevant to you? What did you identify with? Five sentences.
Well, the whole theme of a plague is fairly relevant right now for obvious reasons, but the whole play kinda grossed me out. Like, the stuff describing the sicknesses were gross and the sex scene was just super uncomftorble to read. I don’t like the possible message of sickness being a good thing, that just feels like a very backwards way of thinking. The play doesn’t feel super consistent with itself either.
Nice work Emily! You chose some really strong Tactics/Verbs for Lloyd. And I really enjoyed your exploration of the theme. I completely agree with you; it can be a little much (aka gross) I really enjoy the ideas of the play and I like the story, but sometimes I have to admit, I wonder if the playwright is going for shock value a little too much sometimes. I have never seen the play performed; I think it was only done like once ever. I imagine some of the things you mentioned might be why.
Moving forward, I am excited to see you incorporate you sharp understanding of tactics in the monologue you will write. Keep thinking about what your character wants from another person and what they are DOING with their text to get.
Nice work!