STUDY QUESTIONS

G. B. Shaw: Mrs Warrens Profession

1. Plot
a. Observe the development of the plot, the sequence of events in time (the relationship
between past and present) and the causal relationship between events.
b. Which is the main conflict in the play, is it resolved?
c. What are the basic disclosures/revelations that affect the development of the play?
d. Does the writer fulfil your expectations? Were you surprised at any point in the play?
2. Setting
a. Read carefully the stage directions as regards the description of the setting in each act
and identify elements that create the effect of the illusion of reality.
b. How does the choice of the setting indoors, outdoors, room, working environmentcontribute to the ideas of the play.
3. Character
a. How does action, speech, external appearance, setting contribute to our understanding of
characters?
b. Comparing/contrasting characters that find themselves in similar circumstances enhances
our understanding of them. Identify such instances in the play.
c. Classify the plays characters according to their complexity. Are there one dimensional
characters, stereotypes?
4. Style
a. Identify instances of Shaws wit and comedy.
b. Identify instances where Shaw parodies melodramatic attitudes
c. In what sense does Shaw reject the well-made play
5. Ideas
Discuss Shaws image of Victorian England:
a. the role and position of women, the new woman
b. attitudes towards marriage, love and sex
c. peoples relationship to work, money, property and social class
d. family unit and power relations within the family, generation gap
e. morality, hypocrisy, selfishness, exploitation
f. capitalism and its impact on other social issues
g. art, feelings, romantic love and utilitarianism
Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman
1. Plot
a. What is the dominant feature of the structure of plot in this play? How does this plot differ
from the plot of a well-made play?
b. What is Willy searching for throughout the play? What is the function of his searching
in terms of the plays plot structure?
c. What is the nature of the conflict between Willy and Biff? What is the structural significance
of their conflict? What does this conflict reveal about the characters of Willy and Biff? At which
point of the action does the climax of the conflict occur? Is the conflict finally resolved?
d. What purpose does the Requiem serve?
2.Setting
a. What is the setting of the play? (Where and when does the action take place?)

b. How does the stage setting, as described by Miller in the stage directions at the beginning
of Act One, differ from a realistic type of setting?
c. Consider the function of the setting in terms of plot. (How does it facilitate the enactment of
dramatic scenes developing in different places, in the past or in the present time?)
d. Consider the function of music and lighting in terms of the plays atmosphere and theme.
e. How does the setting serve the dramatic illustration of Willy Lomans psychological state?
3. Characterisation
a. Analyse Willy Lomans character. What is his dream? What are his delusions? How did his
choice to become a salesman affect his life? Why did he fail to fulfil his dream? Why does he
commit suicide? To what extent is his commitment to the American Dream responsible for his
death?
b. Which of the plays characters are constructed according to the rules of realist drama?
Which characters would you describe as expressionistic?
c. What is the function of Ben in terms of a) Willys actions and dreams, b) the plays
atmosphere and theatrical style, and c) Millers critical approach to the American dream of
material success?
d. Who is Dave Singleman? What is the significance of his name? Consider his function in
terms of Willys dream of success?
e. Of what importance to the play are Charley and his son Bernard?
f. What does Linda represent? What is her function in terms of Willys dream of success?
g. What is the function of the Woman?
h. What is the function of Willys father in terms of characterisation and theme?
4. Style
a. Point out the expressionistic devices used in the play and consider their theatrical function.
b. How does realism blend with expressionism in this play? Is this blending theatrically
effective?
5. Ideas
a. Discuss Millers image of the business world. Why is it important for the plays meaning that
Willy is a salesman?
b. How and to what ideological effect does Arthur Miller deal with the myth of success in
Death of a Salesman? What is his attitude to the value of success?
c. Could Death of a Salesman be viewed as a modern tragedy? [Consider the play in terms of
a) Aristotles definition of tragedy and b) Arthur Millers essay Tragedy and the Common
Man.] Is Willy Loman a Tragic Hero or a Pathetic Victim?
Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot
1. Plot
a. What is the dominant feature of the plot? How does it differ from the plots of the two
previous plays?
b. How does the act of waiting affect the plot? How does the writer handle time?
c. How does the play keep your interest since nothing happens in it?
d. When did you start suspecting that Godot will not arrive? What is the effect of his non
arrival as regards the structure of the plot and the plays ideas?
2. Setting
a. What is the function of the country road? What does it suggest as a cultural sign and in
relation to the act of waiting?

b. What role does the tree play?

c. What is the purpose of the uncertainty concerning time, space and Godot himself?
3. Character
a. How do Estragon and Vladimir differ from realistic characters? Can you justify the common
description of them as clowns or tramps? How are they related to each other, what is their
past, their objective? How do they spent their time? Why do they attempt to commit suicide?
b. What do Pozzo and Lucky represent? How could you describe their relationship? Who is
the weaker? What is the meaning of Luckys speech? Why does everybody react violently
against him? How do you account for the change they both undergo in Act II?
c. Are there any common points between the situation of Vladimir and Estragon and that of
Pozzo and Lucky?
d. What is the significance of Pozzo being confused for Godot?
4. Style
a. Identify instances where characters understand language, the same phrases or words,
differently. Do these differences create uncertainty, laughter, annoyance, despair, pleasure?
Does this language use differ from language as used in realistic plays?
b. Identify instances of repetition concerning isolated lines, words, situations. What is the
effect of repetition? Identify similarities and differences regarding the boys appearance at the
end of each act.
c. Identify instances that combine comedy and tragedy
5. Ideas
a. What is the effect of Godots invisibility and omniscience? Why doesnt he arrive? Who is
he? Why do Vladimir and Estragon keep on waiting?
b. What is the significance of the instance concerning the story of Christs crucifixion and
the two thieves and the account of this instance in the Gospels? Are there any common points
between the thieves fate and that of the boy and his brother or Pozzo and Lucky? Where
does the play stand towards the issue of salvation, religious or otherwise?
c. What statement do you think Beckett is making about the postwar world?
Harold Pinter: The Dumbwaiter
1. Plot
a. Identify instances of stability and movement
b. How does the appearance of the dumbwaiter affect plot and character
2. Setting
a. Is the setting realistic?
b. How does Gus describe it?
3. Character
a. Ben and Gus as father and child
b. Gus as an inquisitive child
c. Language and power
4. Ideas
The play as social metaphor on contemporary reality