Category Archives: Responses

Guided responses to course readings and screenings

The Waste Land

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By far, the best and most eye-opening documentary screening we’ve had thus far. This was not just about the amazing art that was made, this was about the people. Behind each work of art, there was a human being. Each of them had a unique character, personality, and a story behind each portrait. It was amazing to see how each of their lives were changed even though the conditions they were in didn’t necessarily change. One of the most important lessons that Vik Muniz wanted to accomplish with this project was for each of the individuals to see the work of art and to not think to themselves that, “Wow, Vik Muniz did this”, but rather, “Wow, we did this…I did this.” Vik wanted them to realize that this was all done through their hard work and created with their hands. I thought that that was really powerful. It was also extremely humbling to see how Vik became so involved with each of the people he worked with. All in all, it’s amazing to see how even art made of garbage can have the potential to change someone’s life in so many ways.

Thinking Back to Week 1

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If you think back all the way to week one of classes I  remember the huge discussion on chefs and bakers being artists.  Quite honestly I still feel that they should deserve this title and I feel that Majakaur’s post who can create art somewhat helps support why.  In his post he mentions that “only those who are artistically skilled enough to incur change, cause disruption, or gain precedence (politically, socially or even economically) can create influential art.”  If you think about some of the greatest works of art they are all able to invoke great emotions through the combination of sensory stimuli.  Exquisite food products do just this, they invoke great smells, tastes, sights, feelings, and even sounds.  Just look at the picture attached.  These pastries have an amazing bright color and I am sure also can invoke great smells and other stimuli.  Those that create these products have to hone a lot of skills and must have great precision especially in baking.  The skills necessary in baking and cooking must be at least comparable to the skills required to drawing a great work of art.  Also the chefs and bakers that are most able to hone their skills are able to gain precedence over others as they get hired by more prestigious restaurants or bakeries.  For instance just look at Hell’s kitchen or any other shows about different amateur cooks, and then compare their cooking to that of professionals.  In this disparity of skill set and the creations that are being produced these people should all be considered artists.  As a baker myself I am personally attached to this idea and would love to hear feedback from anyone else on whether or not chefs and bakers should be considered artists.  

By the way, I really do intend on bringing in cookies to Monday’s class if Professor Drabik allows!

And finally on another note, there was a major shift in culture after tea and coffee started to gain popularity throughout Europe and the Middle East.  I remembered learning this years ago in global history about how this adoption of drinks actually had larger impacts than one might think.  Usually people of all classes would have met, consuming alcohol which as many know can cloud judgement.  After the introduction of tea and coffee many people of upper classes began meeting in local tea and coffee houses, and with the lack of intoxication they discussed many important political, social and philosophical topics.  The influence of these houses was considered to be a large factor in the start of the Enlightenment.

Check out this link: http://www.stephenhicks.org/2010/01/18/coffee-and-the-enlightenment/

 

Who Can Create Art?

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I believe that the film Wasteland answers an important question that was brought up in class: “Who can actually create art?” Of course there is the stereotypical answer that anybody can create art. However, I believe that question can be refined to focus on the creation of influential and lasting art. I believe that the answer to that question comes down to artistic privilege. In other words, only those who are artistically skilled enough to incur change, cause disruption, or gain precedence (politically, socially or even economically) can create influential art. I believe that is the reason why certain pieces of public art are cherished over others. This is why childish graffiti is painted over by the city and why The Charging Bull is still standing. It is also why Vik Muniz’s art, portraying the catadores, became globally famous.

Muniz said something that stood out to me. He claimed that he reached a point in his career where he’d like to give back to his roots. The only way he knew how to do that was through his art. This statement depicts his great understanding of art and the artistic process. He realizes that he has the ability to cause social change via his own artwork. By depicting the catadores in an unconventional piece of art, portraying them via the same garbage that makes up their livelihoods, Muniz was able to make them known worldwide. Muniz himself commented on the extent of his artistic skill and privilege. He notes that he wants to focus on a modern twist on art, and break away from the contemporary, depicting his confidence in his skill.

It Piles Up!

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I did a little research to see where the trash from New York City goes. Most of our trash is sent to landfills in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, as well as upstate New York. But they can and often do go as far as Ohio and South Carolina and points further west and south as well. It costs New York City $300 million each year to dispose of this waste. So next time when you throw something out, think about this. Maybe, just maybe, that material you are trying to throw out can be use in many crazy different ways, like how Vik created art.

Source:

  1. http://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/100000003131953/where-does-our-trash-go.html (3:13 to 3:24)
  2. http://nyc.sierraclub.org/2012/08/new-york-city-trash-where-does-it-all-go/

 

~Christopher Chong

P.S. The Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island closed in 2001, and is now on its way to become a new park.

 

99 is not 100

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Ahh yes, something my father would always say to me.

The Waste Land was probably one of the best documentary films I’ve watch. Little did I know that the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup has such a background to it. And little did anyone in our class know either! Vik is a truly talented man for being able to create art out of garbage, something we wouldn’t expect. In fact, his art is probably one of the most moving thing some people have ever seen. For the catadores, some of them realize who they are for the first time (I think it was Suelem). My favorite character was perhaps the elderly Valter, of whom kept reminding everyone that 99 is not 100, and that 1 single soda can can make a difference. There was one thing I was wondering. Was Vik trying to expose the complete other side of the spectrum, of people who work in dumps to raise global awareness? Or was he just trying to create art from an angle that rarely people expect? Nonetheless, Vik was able to be part of the catadores, and was able to put himself as equal then to stand over and authorize the process. This reminds me of a show in Britain called Art Attack (not from Canada as I said in our meeting after watching the film). At one point during the show, the host would take random items and create a piece of art from it, similar to what Vik did.

 

~Christopher Chong

 

Reaction to The Waste Land

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One of the most unique documentaries I have ever watched. This documentary was exposing a huge part of life in the world that I have never been aware of. Whenever I throw out anything, I never give it a second thought about where this is going, who is dealing with my trash, or who is making money off of it. At first, I saw the movie in disgust because of all the trash, and I did not understand why people would go through such hard conditions to pick up dirty things for a living. However, as the documentary went on, I realized how desperate those people are and all they want to do is to support themselves and their family.

It was really interesting to show the world that dirty things can come together to create something beautiful. My favorite part of the documentary was when they gave the picture that was made of garbage to the pickers and they felt proud of it. One of the workers said that she used to be embarrassed about how she was a picker and she did not wanted others to know, but now she proudly tells them that she was a picker and that was the reason why she was part of the famous portrait.

Waste Land

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I had no idea what to expect going into this film, but this was a pleasant surprise, as it went beyond the works of art by Vik. What made this documentary so entertaining and powerful were the relationships formed between Vik, Fabio and the pickers. Early on in the film, it seemed as though Vik was only going to Rio de Janeiro to accomplish a new challenge, but once he was there, it was clear that that was not the main reason he went there. Instead, Vik and Fabio formed strong relationships with many of these people and then went out of their way to help improve their current situation. During the early interviews with pickers, they seemed very happy and content with working in the garbage, once they had gotten used to it. However, as the film progressed, it became clear that they dreaded their job and wished to never have to return. I was initially very skeptical of how the association would use the money from the portraits because Erika’s intro mentioned that their jobs were taken away soon after; however, they actually put that money to great use. They not only set up programs to help young kids, so they would not end up in a similar situation, but also created training programs for their workers when they found out they would soon be losing their jobs.

Carnegie Hall: The Power Behind Music

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Being a former trumpet player, I found much of the first piece of music rather boring.  It just lacked the brass sound that I love.  The second and third pieces fully brought out the crisp brass sound and even highlighted the strength of the sound.  I recall one of the best parts of playing any piece is to be able to gradually play louder and louder, allowing the music to grow in intensity and fill up a room.  It invigorates you with power and makes you feel unstoppable.  Although I no longer play, the pieces brought back the memories of the days I played.

Another thing I had noted was the immensity of the chorus.  We had once talked about the ability of the human voice to completely fill the room when we had gone to the opera, but the chorus at Carnegie composed of at least 50 different people was deafening loud.  There is such great power to the human voice.  It was clearly the dominating sound throughout the final piece (of course the translations also made the song paint a clearer picture of what the song is showing).  It might just be my youth drawing me to the loudness of the brass and chorus but I usually always associate loudness with power (sometimes jubilee and celebration) in a piece of music.

I had also found it very interesting that one of the pieces we had heard was at one point lost for 200 years and was found only days before the composer’s works were being collected to be made into a book.  Coincidence or not?

 

Ruminating on shipwrecks and art

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During the class’s discussion today, the wheels in my head screeched into motion as everyone thought about the line from Lorca’s poem (“as if they had just escaped a shipwreck of blood.”)

I seem to be surrounded by shipwrecks lately! The poet I work on in my own research uses them poignantly in his poems (notably in “A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish

Vernet

Vernet

Chance,” and “Stilled beneath the Oppressive Cloud”). At our concert outing to Carnegie Hall, Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest (inspired, of course, by the Shakespeare play of the same name) involves a fantastic shipwreck whose turbulent booms and crashes vibrated our seats. And now, beloved Lorca closes his dawn with that image (which seems to fittingly correspond to the light of dawn as many of you brought up).

Though in all these things, and especially the Lorca poem, I come back to a Moroccan writer, Tahar Ben Jelloun, who used the word in perhaps one of the most powerful contexts I’ve encountered. Writing about under-served and neglected youth in French suburbs (comparable to “inner-city” youth of American inner cities), he speaks of “the shipwreck of their destiny,” to hit home the catastrophic plight (in France) of their immigrant parents.

I find myself wondering if Lorca intended some sort of social commentary about the shipwrecked lives of these people in the mire of New York, as well.

 

Art for Art’s Sake?

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I was looking for something to post in this new “Thoughts on Art” category, and my mind drifted to the bohemian cause célèbre from the 19th century of Art for Art’s Sake, engaged by notables such as Théophile Gautier and our very own Edgar Allan Poe.  I stumbled upon this Ted talk on art that I thought might prove thought provoking (though it does drag at moments, I think DeVlieg brings us some interesting conclusions).

Mary Ann DeVlieg brings up a deceptively simple question in her talk to drive home her point: (I paraphrase) If art is such a non-issue, an unimportant question, why are artists censored, persecuted, and shunned in so many instances even today?

 

Some of the artists she cites in her talk:
Robert Rauschenberg
John Cage
The Wooster Group

123rd Street Rap

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In amazing brevity Willie Perdomo is capable of illustrating this street from Spanish Harlem from the perspective of an observant and knowledgeable outsider. His use of alliteration (bullets bounce, stoop steps, bells bong) adds to the rhythm of the rap as well as quickens the pace of poem as a whole in company with the shorts stanzas. This quickened pace adds to the message of the poem in relation to having to grow up quickly in setting such as 123rd St. From the diction of the poem readers can pick up on a sense of roughness in relation to the neighborhood and fiscal struggles for the speaker. Lines such as “Sun that don’t shine”, “Trees that won’t grow”, and “Wind that won’t blow” also give off a sense of hopelessness.

This poem heavily relates to a section I recently studied in Anthropology on drug-dealing in Spanish Harlem and the social consequences/causes of this. In many ways Perdomo is trying to convey the fact that these children grow up surrounded by violence and drug-dealing and as they come of age they are struck with this internal moral conflict (“And I can’t tell what’s wrong from what’s right”). Many times stereotyping and prejudice bar these individuals from the inner city from attaining respectable jobs or being respected in the workplace which then forces them towards illegal means of income just to stay afloat. This relentless cycle traps many children, such as the ones Perdomo describes in his poem. Therefore, people are left with the question of if the illegal means of earning money which they are accustomed to or the discriminatory and degrading positions they acquire in the work force are correct. What outsiders many times fail to see is that this a social issue in which the victims are wrongly being blamed in a sense for partaking in this illegal activity, which in reality they are being forced into by societal pressures around them.

The Cabdriver’s Smile

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The initial description of the cabdriver portrays him as a tough, stern New Yorker. The speaker’s brief and matter-of-fact statements describing the situation give off a very unemotional tone as he analyzes this man. This poem is greatly a commentary on human connections and the simplicity of our relationships with people we encounter daily. Everyday we come across hundreds of people especially in a populous city such as New York. As a cabdriver you come in contact with a variety of people but are only with them from point A to point B and in reality how much do you actually get to know about the majority of those people or moreso how much effort are the majority of passengers putting in to get to know their cabdriver, sadly very little. Though the cabdriver may seem cold in his interactions with the other friendly cabdriver as well as the speaker/passenger, I think he is just aware of the sad fact that so many people are too self-concerned much of the time to get to know the people around them; in that we are limiting our own opportunities for human connection. It is very easy to feel lost and insignificant in the large group of people which constitute the population of NYC. Even interactions like that of the cabdriver who “bows like a king” may seem somewhat false and the fact that he is being aligned with a king give off the sense that his actions are self-righteous and he acts as though he is superior. And the brief glimpse of a smile which the speaker sees on the mouth of the cabdriver conveys a small ember of hope that there are still members of society who see him as more than just a mode of transportation and dehumanize him in such a way, that there is still genuine compassion left in humanity.

Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

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Although I am not a huge fan of classical music, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s was enjoyable. What struck me as the most interesting was the movement, which flowed through every aspect of the orchestra. You could trace it from the movements of the conductor which varied based on the emotion conveyed, to each individual moving with passion while playing their intruments, to each section of the orchestra as a whole, and was tied together by the movement of the music which flowed through the hall. I found myself not only listening to the music but also watching each group of instruments move with the music, in a way, from these movement I could deduce the emotion which the music conveyed without even really listening. At parts where the music would become militant I could tell by the vigorous movement of the conductor in unison with the violent stabs of violinist’s bows into the air almost like an army of soldiers saluting or when it was sad I could see the slowness and gentleness in the orchestra’s movements it was really interesting. I also was not expecting to see another opera but the last performance was great and the storyline was amazing, although I did get a bit lost while trying to read the translations. It was through and through a good experience and the hall was very beautiful.IMG_7992

BAM Harvey

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When I approached BAM Harvey expecting to see “Six Characters in Search of an Author” I was firstly struck by the modernity and light emitted from the building which set it apart from the surrounding neighborhood. I told the woman at the Box Office that my professor had left me a ticket for the play under the name Drabik and this is where things got a bit confusing. The woman handed me a ticket and said hurry they may not let you in then kindly escorted me to a door and said “once it starts you can’t leave because it’s a live recording”. As the door closed behind me and I turned around I immediately saw a small room with a band set up, many cameras, and about 8 people seated (none of them my classmates). So I awkwardly sat down and realized “oh shoot this is not the right show”. I ended up watching a live recording of a small podcast called B-Side and got a free performance from a small Brooklyn-based indie band called Empyrean Atlas. I actually really enjoyed their music although their interviews and stage presence were at times painfully awkward. The band was composed of a drummer, a bassist, and three guitars and the lead-man also switched to a saxophone for a few songs. The music was entirely instrumental and ranged from slow ambient to more upbeat afro-pop influenced sound. Overall, after I overcame my panic at the fact that I had sat through the completely wrong performance I sort of laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and was appreciative of the fact that I found a new band to listen to. Here is a link to the show if anyone is interested: http://vimeo.com/110581319 And a link to Empyrean Atlas’s bandcamp: http://empyreanatlas.bandcamp.com

Fall For Dance

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Each performance and studio brought very unique stylistic differences and each studio’s aimed impact for the audience varied greatly as well.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

I didn’t necessarily enjoy this performance as much as the others. The music was harshly, industrial which in my opinion suited the performances mechanical and uniform style. Furthermore, the unshapely black smocks which each performer wore added to this uniformity. Although the performance was very robotic and formulaic and at times seemed to be discordant due to the lack of connection between the rhythm of the music and the movements of the dancers, their was an underlying level of unity which allowed the piece to flow and come together.

 

LUCINDA CHILDS DANCE COMPANY

Of all the performances this was my favorite. The entire time I analyzed each couple and began to see each color with the differing styles of each couple as a part of a documentation of a romantic relationship. Alternately, I saw that it could be a general representation of the trials and tribulations as well as the benefits of a romantic relationship rather than the rocky relationship of one couple. With each movement the audience could see either the tension in the relationship, or a simple dip could be interpreted as the dependency on had on the other, and the red performance I remember as being implicitly sensual. This one truly amazed me because it was a perfect representation of how body language can be utilized to convey so much meaning, its truly like a language of its own.

 

SEBASTIEN RAMIREZ & HONJI WANG

From the moment Ramirez and Wang entered onto the stage I knew this performance would be different from the others. Even their casual, non costume seeming, clothing gave the performance a different energy completely. Their incorporation of modern street style dancing into traditional ballet was very fun and energetic and also portrayed a relationship between the two dancers. Some of the moves they did were very impressive and evoked verbal responses from the audience. Overall, It was very playful and I feel like it really woke up the reinvigorated and woke up the crowd.

 

SEMPEROPER BALLET DRESDEN

The final performance was also particularly interesting to me. It was a very complex intertwining of playful, silly dancing and a very serious social commentary. When it began I was confused at whether the singular man dancing was part of the performance or just a transitional skit between performances. I really liked that they were so inclusive and interacted with the audience it added a new level of entertainment and excitement to the performance. Furthermore, the music was really interesting and I like how they incorporated a sort of tribal vibe to it. It was surprising when the performers, in identical suits and ties, sat in the semi circle and the mood immediately became very serious and somber. I think the first round of the performers systematically flailing with the last man falling to the ground was a bit of a shock to the entire crowd. Aesthetically, the circular wave they created was very interesting. I feel as though the choreographer was making a commentary on the cyclic nature of a workingman’s lifestyle, which much of society believes is the norm. It conveyed this idea that we end up living to work rather than working to live and in the end some of us begin to get fed up with this systematic, mundane lifestyle and become bogged down by the tiresome cycle of life (symbolized by the man falling to the ground). Contrastingly, the silly parts of the dance were a reminder to let loose, live a little, and find some joy in the simple things in life even if it is just randomly dancing.

Patti Smith

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Patti Smith is a very interesting character. She isn’t known first and foremost as an author but rather a musician. She is a singer, songwriter, poet and visual artist. Her band the Patti Smith Group debuted their first album Horses in 1975, this album was a major influence on  the punk rock scene in New York City. This album was ranked number 44 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 issue of 500 greatest albums of all time. Patti Smith is also known as the Godmother of Punk as she fuses rock and poetry. She has also co-written a song with Bruce Springsteen, “Because the Night”.

Listen to it here:

— Chloe Chai

Banksy Art: Graffiti

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After today’s class I went and looked up some of Banksy’s pieces on Google. I found one that particularly stuck with me:

A photo taken of Banksy street art in London. Found at: http://streetartlondon.co.uk/blog/2011/04/26/banksy-street-art-clipstone-street-fitzrovia/

A photo taken of Banksy street art in London. Found at: http://streetartlondon.co.uk/blog/2011/04/26/banksy-street-art-clipstone-street-fitzrovia/

I feel like this piece is particularly powerful because of its blatant contradictions.

“If graffiti changed anything, it would be illegal.”

Obviously, graffiti is illegal. Thus, Banksy’s point is made clearly through this painting: Graffiti does have the power to change things and that is why people in power don’t want it to exist.

It reminded me of the conversation we had today about what kind of art is allowed in public space, who dictates it, and of course the tearing down of 5Pointz.

I feel like graffiti is so powerful because it is raw. It portrays a viewpoint of a generally voiceless community. Sam commented on one of my last posts something along the lines of this: graffiti is the only outlet that some people have, so we have to let their voices be heard. If we do, it can have the power to change everything.

Philippe Petit: The Human Definition of Dream

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Philippe Petit definitely must be one of the most driven men in history.  His entire life from the point he saw the construction of the towers in a paper in the dentist office, to his achievement of walking across the towers, was consumed by the desire to just do it.  It is impressive how much practice he had done on other great public places knowing just what the consequences would be such as getting arrested.  The sad thing is that he could not do it alone and he essentially just used all of his friends throughout the entire process.  His girlfriend had even mentioned that she had to put her own dreams aside while she was in the relationship.  She had to help him realize his own dream before hers and then after the success and fulfillment of that dream he left her for someone else.

This was not only what happened to her but also to all of his closest friends.  All of them had contributed to Petit’s success and realization of his dream but all were essentially abandoned after the completion of his dream.  While he was granted amnesty for his act that was considered to be illegal, his friends were all kicked out of the United States and were not allowed to come back.  Petit did not even do anything to make amends with his friends.  It truly was sad to watch one of his long time friends start to cry during the documentary, because of the memories that are all now almost faded.  A big part of his life was to be able to help his friend accomplish his dream and then once it was done it was all over for him, the friendship and this big role.

I also can not imagine how Philippe reacted at the end of it all.  I understand he still performs publicly his art of tightroping but there is nothing else to really strive for.  After accomplishing such an immense dream, what else is there really to do in life?  It seems he has made peace with it but I can not imagine how he would be able to view his life in the same way as he did before his walk between the towers.

The Significance of Humanity

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Upon reading the journal entries I have gotten back today, I noticed a particular interest in one phrase I used by Professor Drabik.  My phrase was “humankind as a whole has no significance” and the response to this phrase was “Are you sure?”  This entry dates back to our fourth class, we were discussing the poems “Man Listening to Disc” and “The Weary Blues.”  I believe during this class we entered into one of the most heated debates about the significance of man.  Many believing that we do in all ways have much significance however my point is that in a cosmic scale we do not.  Even on a more global scale, the history of the conquered is always lost to those that conquer.  One specific example was the burning of the libraries at Alexandria, which set back medical science and research centuries of work.  The significance of those that published and researched for the good of all of mankind was lost because their only legacy left to the ages was also lost, burnt in a fire.

Simply put, humans only have significance because we give each other significance.  It is only in society can we have any effect on the scheme of things.  Without society, we are nothing.  You can not rebel against a society that does not exist, you can not progress a society that does not exist, you can not influence, control, manifest or do any like action on a society that does not exist.  If you look up the term significance in the dictionary, you are returned with this: the quality of being worthy of attention; importance.  When you really think about it, our whole existence is in no way signifiant.  If there was any cataclysmic event that were to wipe us out, a mass extinction of man, there would be nothing left of us.  No one, even if there were other intelligent forms of life, would know or hear about what we have endured, what we have created, or what we have suffered.  Without knowing, there is no “importance” in our existence because any step toward progress will eventually be forgotten to the cosmos and to time.

As I said this is all relative to the global scheme of things.  As long as there is society, we all have some individual significance.  We all effect those around us, for the good or for the worse and we all have some small local meaning and “importance.”  It would be an imprudent decision now to stop striving for progress because the in the present, the end of our species currently is unforeseeable.  However our significance as a species overall will eventually run out with time, but in the present, as long as there is a present, we will maintain our importance and significance.

“Six Characters in Search of an Author”: Reality or Fiction

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This play has most definitely sparked the question of what is real and what is fiction.  Even out of the context of the play reality is always something that is relative to the viewer.  Everyone has their own interpretation of what they see this interpretation cultivates their own reality.  This individualized reality explains why there is such a large variance in the comments made about the play.  There are those who believe that the characters were never real and therefore the daughter and son never died, and there are those that believe everything that occurred on stage was real (at least in the sense of the play).  It all depends on perception.

I personally believe that within the realm of the play, the characters that appeared on stage were real people.  The events that transpired on the stage were real in the play.  These characters were not simply fictional but real living people. This point can be made when the father talks to the director about the nature of his work, after the director claims the father is a madman.  The father rebuts, stating that the director himself is the true madman, making the stories of fiction into reality when there are already real stories going on in reality that do not need to be dramatized.  The father’s family, the characters, were symbolic of this.  Their entire lives had turned out to be one giant tragic plot and in the end they wanted their story to be told, and an ending of their story to come.

These characters provide a dynamic view of reality.  As I mentioned before there is no single reality, as every person has their own perception of it.  Every single character has their own perception, they all provide a piece of the overall picture and interpreted different events in different ways.  They all made the story a more realistic one, and was also a source of great confusion from many onlookers.  Nevertheless all the pounding emotions led to the intrigue of the director and with each passing minute of the director he had become more and more enamored by the stunning story.  As the family members were going on about their miserable and bleak lives, the director would make some remark such as “Brilliant” or “Perfect” indicating his isolation from the family’s tale, for he was just one of the audience right now, taking everything in and looking at what riches this play can bring him once performed on stage.  Once the play comes to the close, the girl drowning and the boy shooting himself, the director’s mind is changed on the subject.  He was no longer just the spectator, no longer just the listener, he was in the midst of the action.  The horrible cruelties and drama that the family had was no longer “fiction” to him as he was in the presence of it.

The overall play was bleak and morbid and very much unlike other tragedies.  Generally tragedies were produced and created to allow onlookers to feel a sense of relief that their own lives were not as damaged as the lives of the characters.  However after this play I could not leave feeling any more thankful for my own life with the lack of as significant hardships, but leaving upset with the unfolding of all the events in such an unexpected and horrible climax.