Analysis Dangerous Corner
J.B. Priestley is one of the outstanding English authors of his time. His Time Plays brought him world fame.
The extract under analysis is taken from the play “Dangerous corner”. The situation described in the play deals with the state of affairs in the family of Caplans. From the beginning of the extract we can see the development of two sub-plots: wireless play, and the situation on the foreground, which are mixed.
The main character of the play is Robert. As I’ve seen Priestly had a dual attitude towards his main character. On the one hand he distinguishes Robert, as an honest man among the liars. Robert was the only one who insisted upon telling the truth: “Serious or not. I’m all for it coming out. It’s healthy.” But on the other hand, Robert was the only one who lived in “a fool’s paradise”, in the illusions where he tried to hide from the truth of life.
The wireless play is called “The Sleeping Dog”. As the characters explain, the sleeping dog is the truth, which you shouldn’t disturb. But not all characters agree with this statement. Robert Caplan starts investigating the trifling facts about his brother’s suicide. A big quarrel arisen leads to Robert’s suicide.
From the stylistic point of view, a play is a stylized dialogue, stylized because of the effect of natural speech: a lot of elliptical structures, interruptions, and it is the peculiarity of the drama works. One more feature is the language used: it is a harmonic mixture of bookish and colloquial style.
In the structure of the extract we can find exposition, which is the preface for the quarrel; intrigue, which is the quarrel itself, climax – the revolver shot, and the denouement – the second variant of events.
The first part produces the effect of the idle talk mostly thanks to author’s remarks: “who doesn’t care”, “in her best childish manner”, or “still fiddling with the wireless” – they imply that the characters pretend to be not so deeply interested in the topic discussed.
For example:
The extract under analysis is taken from the play “Dangerous corner”. The situation described in the play deals with the state of affairs in the family of Caplans. From the beginning of the extract we can see the development of two sub-plots: wireless play, and the situation on the foreground, which are mixed.
The main character of the play is Robert. As I’ve seen Priestly had a dual attitude towards his main character. On the one hand he distinguishes Robert, as an honest man among the liars. Robert was the only one who insisted upon telling the truth: “Serious or not. I’m all for it coming out. It’s healthy.” But on the other hand, Robert was the only one who lived in “a fool’s paradise”, in the illusions where he tried to hide from the truth of life.
The wireless play is called “The Sleeping Dog”. As the characters explain, the sleeping dog is the truth, which you shouldn’t disturb. But not all characters agree with this statement. Robert Caplan starts investigating the trifling facts about his brother’s suicide. A big quarrel arisen leads to Robert’s suicide.
From the stylistic point of view, a play is a stylized dialogue, stylized because of the effect of natural speech: a lot of elliptical structures, interruptions, and it is the peculiarity of the drama works. One more feature is the language used: it is a harmonic mixture of bookish and colloquial style.
In the structure of the extract we can find exposition, which is the preface for the quarrel; intrigue, which is the quarrel itself, climax – the revolver shot, and the denouement – the second variant of events.
The first part produces the effect of the idle talk mostly thanks to author’s remarks: “who doesn’t care”, “in her best childish manner”, or “still fiddling with the wireless” – they imply that the characters pretend to be not so deeply interested in the topic discussed.
For example: