Awakenings and Changes in Consciousness

... Discuss awakenings and changes of consciousness as presented in two or more texts you have studied in class. In drama, plays often seek to achieve one, if not more, of a variety of effects: perhaps to be moralistic, as in many Medieval plays; perhaps simply 'to be' and, in turn, to be art, as in 19th Century drama; more recently, to serve as a visual and theatrical rendering of a playwright's own views on both society of the time and human nature infinite. Though separated by style, centuries and even continents, Ibsen's A Doll's House and Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire both, through their depiction of the events within the play, are able to critique society and mankind by exploring its effect on a central female character. This effect is most tangible in the shift of consciousness both experience: Nora, in philosophical emancipation and Blanche in an unfortunate decline into lunacy.

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