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Language Used In Oleanna

Decent Essays

The quote, “The less seen, the more heard. The eye is the enemy of the ear in real drama” by Thornton Wilder, means that what we see distracts us from the real meaning and drama of the play. In the play, Oleanna, by David Mamet, the visual movement seems important, a piece of the play that it cannot be without, however it is actually inconsequential. The words, what is heard, carries the action, meaning, and drama of Oleanna. The words of this play is convoluted and often mean nothing at all, however it is these qualities that make the words important. The professor often speaks words that sound interesting but have no meaning and is called out by Carol. He uses language that are flowery, used to create the idea that he is an intellectual. These words, while having no straight meaning, creates the overall implication that language is meaningless. This is increased by Carol’s frustration at not being able to understand his lectures. …show more content…

This creates a clear continuity and imagery that is only helped with visual movement but is not needed. Without a visual scene to this dialogue, the intensity of the aggressive emotions would actually be emphasized. In this play, John’s overpowering speech and cutting off Carol when she tries to speak shows that he has control over the situation, that he is in the dominant role. This is later switched when Carol learns the power of language that she has been able to make everything that he says or does becomes whatever she defines it to be. If the visual is taken out, the way that she defines how it happened would be stronger, we would be able to see it more from her

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