1. Oleanna
Whether Oleanna is a misogynistic play, can be argued either way. It depends on which point of view one sees it from. The play portrays Carol, a woman, as a manipulative character lacking any positive qualities. She is portrayed as a feminist that is out to get her "sexist" teacher, John. However, John is no angel. He misuses his power as a teacher and under minds her. Although it seems that Carol is solely responsible for John's demise, he too played a part in it. Carol sets him up by putting him in an awkward situation where he is most certain to fail. She succeeds by manipulating the facts and eventually driving him to madness. .
It is clear that Carol is failing the course because she is incapable. However, Carol feels that it is not because she is a bad student, but because John is a bad teacher. She goes to his office to tell him that she couldn't afford to fail and that she has tried everything to try to understand but she still can't. John understands her problem and offers to give her an "A" for the term if she stops by his office more often and talk about what she doesn't understand. Carol asks "why would you do this for me" and he replies "because I like you". Carol doesn't understand why he likes her and John tells her that he believes that "perhaps we"re similar". This is where John's demise starts unraveling. .
Although Carol is mostly responsible for what happens to John, he too made certain mistakes. John abused his power as a teacher. He was even going to break the rules for Carol by giving her A when she didn't deserve one. He under minded her by using his large vocabulary that he knew that she wouldn't understand. He made Carol feel dumb. John would talk of schooling as hazing and this somewhat angered Carol because she worked hard to get into the University. He would also cut Carol off whenever she tried to speak. This angered Carol and caused her to want revenge.
"Oleanna" I agree with David Mamet's statement that Carol and John are "both altogether right and altogether wrong". I can see how he can relate to John from a teachers perspective as well as from the standpoint as a man communicating to a woman. John is in a position of an authoritative figure a...
Oleanna, a two-hander play, is set in a college professor's office. The professor, John, is only partly interested in his students. He has tenure and a new house on his mind. The student, Carol is not that bright and can"t understand his course. John tries to help her. But Carol takes the expression...
... claim he had to continue being seen as a man working in the men's world of business. In Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow, and Oleanna, Mamet retains a central theme: if men did not have to deal with women, business could operate unhindered. First, though, one must consider Mamet's ... to the studio chief's office. The men's business remains intact and on track, despite the female assault. However, the male protagonist in Oleanna would not be so lucky. Unlike Bobby Gould in Speed-the-Plow or James Lingk in Glengarry Glen Ross, John the professor had no ... she cannot understand. Joh...
... meaning what the subject is. The books chosen for this paper are The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton and The Quiet American by Graham Green and the play Oleanna by David Mamet. The Book of Ruth If we look at the first thing in The Book of Ruth we see how a young girl, whose name is Ruth ... of the matter. Pyle and Fowler do not change and they are still the same people inside, while Pyle shows us being the quiet American that he is not. Oleanna Oleanna is a short play that gives us no side story and no innocence. There are two characters that are not showing who is the protagonist and the...
... ) can move an audience but if done in correctly it can make someone question what is trying to be said and not what it means to them. For example in "Oleanna" by Mamet there was no real reality to the construction of the deception of the teacher by the student and it leaves the audience wanting the hero to get knocked ... over the head by a chair instead of relating to her struggle. "Oleanna" also did not sit well with me because there was no emotional bonding done with the characters. A play must allow a reader/viewer to identify with the characters or they will ... ...
... amounts of time, so that's where the media fits in. There are always books and plays being made into movies, and a lot of them deal with important issues and events. "Oleanna," for example, deals with the issue of sexual harassment and the relationships between the professors and their students, and men and women. It's also about power; who holds it and ... ...
... in Timothy Daly's "Kafka Dances" won her the Newcomer Award from the Sydney Theatre Critics Circle. Cate continued with the Sydney Theatre Company, starring opposite Geoffrey Rush in David Mamet's, "Oleanna". She won her second award for the year for the Rosemont Best Actress Award. Cate starred in the Belvoir Street Theatre Company's production of "Hamlet" in 1995, for which she ... ...