Preview

Cosi Madness

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5345 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cosi Madness
Madness, love & transformation
Everyone goes mad in their own particular way. Nowra thinks madness is too generalised, and it is based on each individuals past and experiences etc.

At the end of the play, Lewis is no longer afraid of madness. Lewis is thoroughly transformed by the patients. Nowra uses a mixture of laughter and madness, which is a volatile mixture. We usually see madness as dark and scary, so we can keep it in a corner and ignore it. When he adds humour to it, then we begin to be able to relate to it, they share similar emotions. .fear.

Lewis has to face various hurdles throughout the play. He suffers from a lack of gumption at first. His major hurdle is Henry. Lewis realises that he has got to get Henry to stay. Through rehearsing he is connecting emotionally with the patients.

Every scene is a hurdle. Each time he learns to care about the patients as individuals. He goes on what is called a character arc (complete change). It is a ‘fish out of water’ story. Lewis is thrust into another world to transform him. Often, when someone doesn’t have a family or friends etc, due to a dysfunctional past etc whatever (in Lewis’ case his relationship with Nick and Lucy is going downhill) he then makes the patients his family, he finds a new sense of reality with them.

Vietnam War is what Lewis believes in at first. But he will agree with anyone at the start, so long as it keeps the peace. Mozart may seem an insignificant detail to the play, but that’s the point. To Lewis, how you can show love for someone becomes more important than politics etc, i.e. it’s the little things that count etc
(Hence Mozart’s music, just a simple beauty).

When Lewis enters the asylum it is like an island (thrust into another world). The patients don’t even know there is a war going on. Lewis is transformed by his experience. How it works is that you stick people on this island, and watch how they change. They are forced to face their demons because they
can’t

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Cosi - Louis Nowra (Devices)

    • 3406 Words
    • 14 Pages

    | |Lewis has to come to terms with his preconceived conception of a mental asylum and mental patients |…

    • 3406 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Anthropologist on Mars

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Sacks’ had a particular method of investigation for all of his patients. He used a more of “personalistic” method that involved an understanding of the patient’s self and identity. He believed strongly that patients could be taught to adapt, or get used to their conditions as fully as possible even if they remained sick. He did it in a matter where not only he examined and learned patient’s history but he became involved in their personal lives as well. Oliver Sacks who was a neurologist used various techniques where he learned each individual differently in a very personal and respectful manner. He examined their qualities from inside out. Sacks would make time out of his busy schedule to do private outings with each one of the patients who he was treating. He made arrangements to be part of activities in such a way where he can learn more about the problem and have better idea of how to treat these individuals.…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hot Lights, Cold Steel

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The emergency room rotation had damaged the relationships he had with his wife and children—“I had been a terrible husband, a terrible father. I was rarely home, and when I was, I had no patience for anything, no energy for anything, no interest in anything.” His brother Denny, needing shoulder surgery, visited the family for a few days and proved to be the reality check Collins needed: “What the hell kind of life am I leading? I wondered. I hardly ever see my wife. My kids don’t even know me. My brother is more of a father to them, and more of a husband to Patti than I am. Is that what I want?” Through this interaction, Collins highlights the importance of attending to the aspects of life that are not related to one’s career, such as family. Collins admits on several occasions throughout the book that a healthy relationship with his wife Patti helped him immensely through the rigors of surgical residency. While long hours require residents to invest a substantial amount of time in the hospital, one must prioritize in order to do justice to all the other important things in life. The other issue worth discussing is the concept of moonlighting, when residents work overtime hours at rural hospitals to earn some extra cash. Collins clarifies that the purpose of this extra cash is not to support a lavish lifestyle; instead, the money can merely help him put food on…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cs Lewis Analysis

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The extract is full of suspense and anxiety which lewis has tries to capture through his use of dark and perturbed imagery and characterization. The evident tension is created by lewis' use of diction such as 'drumming', 'shouting' and 'slam' as they represent sudden loud noises, ultimately creating tension. The passage is extremely effective, confusing the reader, as the reader cannot interpret what is going to happen next. The author's use of caps and flashback in the narration helps to convey the inevitable terror and fear the protagonist feels. The choice of words used by the author also plays a major hand in creating and maintaining the tension throughout the excerpt. The theme that stands out the most to the reader is the theme of self-questioning and self-doubt. The author's choice of words helps in creating an apprehensive atmosphere in the extract. Vivid feelings of dementia and fear have been expressed by the protagonist, which has helped in successfully creating the mood and tone for the setting. Lewis continues to add to the idea the protagonists character is not entirely stable by jumping from different attitudes. He is rational, as well as, irrational. The part of him that is valorous and composed seems to come to indifferently perceive that insanity is, in fact self evident to…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The entire play takes place in a hospital in London, where different doctors are taking care of him. He has been there for four month.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conservation Principles

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages

    An ongoing process of change in which patient maintains his integrity within the realities of environment…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the Oxford Dictionary (2013), madness can be defined as the state of having a serious mental illness. It is also defined as extremely foolish behaviour. In the text, “King Lear” by Williams Shakespeare and the film, “Ran” by Akira Kurosawa, both the author and the director deal with the fact that the Protagonist’s past haunts them so much that they eventually become insane. As a result of their hamartia, both King Lear and the Great Lord, Hidetora, have a past that haunts them, and because they are unable to accept their sins and mistakes in the past, they become mad. Their journey into madness is evident throughout the film and play, and can be seen through their sudden loss of power, through their ‘loved ones’ betrayal, and through their blindness to reality. Although the protagonists do undergo a dramatic change in character by the end of both the play and the film, it is their past mistakes and sins that lead them into madness, and what eventually leads them to their own downfall and catastrophic death.…

    • 2439 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The beautiful mind

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages

    slowly eats up his mind, destroying his bond with the people around him. With this illness, he…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cosi-Louis Nowra

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Lewis is a young adult who has just graduated from university. In order to earn some extra money he gets a job directing a play at a mental asylum. He starts off shy and lacking confidence meeting all the patients at the mental asylum, especially Roy who is seen as controlling and passive.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    4. He tries to bond with the patients as quickly as possible, hoping to forge an alliance in which the patient feels comfortable confiding even the most intimate details.…

    • 805 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Loius Nowra’s play, Cosi, set in Australia in the 1970’s ironically suggests that although the play is set in a mental institution, most of the madness occurs in the outside world. This is explored through the actions of the government in the Vietnamese war that lead to strong anti-war attitudes and a seemingly foolish society that value ‘free love’ instead of fidelity. Nowra also blurs the line between sanity and insanity, implying that ‘crazy’ people aren’t necessarily as mad as the community labels them to be.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Characters cannot handle life outside the asylum because reality is just to much for them to handle. Roy creates a fantasy to escape his depressing childhood memories and his time spent in the asylum; 'I had a dream Jerry' (Pg 63). Julie…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    just relax

    • 5036 Words
    • 21 Pages

    As a doctor he inherit the power to either save or heal the patient and allow the effects of disease to snuff life are perhaps the reason why he had emotionally detached.…

    • 5036 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    father is on the brink of insanity, she solemnly vows that she will recover him.…

    • 7431 Words
    • 26 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sticks and Stones.

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Lewis is without a doubt influenced by the episode that he experienced as a child. He is obsessed with it and can not let it rest. He is leading his obsession on to those who are close to him. But eventually they get enough. “”It’s become an…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays