miércoles, 1 de febrero de 2017

Guess how much i love you By Sam McBratney


Guess how much i love you By Sam McBratney
Little Nut Brown Hare,who was going to bed, held on tight to Big Nutbrown Hare's very long ears.
He wanted to be sure that Big Nutbrown Hare was listening.
"Guess how much i love you," he said.
"Oh, I don't think I could guess that,"said Big Nutbrown Hare.
"This much,"said Little Nutbrown Hare,stretching out his arms as wide as they could go.
Bid Nutbrown Hare had even longer arms."But I love YOU this much," he said.
Hmmm,that is a lot thought Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you as high as I can reach,"said Little Nutbrown Hare.
"I love you as High as I can reach,"said Big Nutbrown HAre.
That is quite high, thought Little Nutbrown Hare. I wish I had arms like that.
Then Little Nutbrown Hare had a good idea.He tumbled upside down and reached up the tree trunk with his feet.
" I love you all the way up to my toes!" he said.
"And I love you all the way up to your toes," said Big Nutbrown Hare,swinging him up over his head.
" I love you as high as i can HOP!" laughed Little Nutbrown Hare,bouncing up and down.
"But I love you as high as I can hop," smiled Big Nutbrown hare-and he hopped so high that his ears touched the branches above.
Thats good hopping,thought Little Nutbrown Hare.I wish I could hop like that.
"I love you all the way down the lane as far as the river," cried Little Nutbrown Hare.
That's very far,thought Little Nutbrown Hare.
He was almost too sleepy to think anymore.
Then he looked beyond the thorn bushes,out into the big dark night.
Nothing could be further than the sky.
"I love you right up to the MOON," he said,and closed his eyes.
"Oh,that's far"said Big Nut Brown Hare."Thats is very far."
Big Nutbrown Hare settled Little Nutbrown Hare into his bed of leaves.
He leaned over and kissed him good night.
Then he lay down close by and whispered with a smile,"I love you right up to the moon-AND BACK."

martes, 31 de enero de 2017

Jorge Gaitán Durán.

Jorge Gaitán Durán
He was a Colombian critic and poet born in February the 12th in 1924 in Pamplona, Norte de Santander, Colombia and he died in Jun the 21st in 1962 in Guadalupe, France. One of the most important cultural magazine in Colombia was founded by Gaitán, ‘La Revista Cultural Mito’ in 1955. He belonged to the most famous poets better known as “Cuadernículas”. His poems were marked especially by eroticism not just for pleasure and parties but for Thanatic spaces.

Famous works:
Insistencia en la tristeza (1946): (Persistence in sadness)
Presencia del hombre (1947): (Man’s precense)
Ausencia (1949): (Absence)

Amantes (1959): (Lovers)


Quiero
Jorge Gaitán Durán.

Quiero vivir los nombres
Que el incendio del mundo ha dado
Al cuerpo que los mortales se disputan:
Roca, joya del ser, memoria, fasto.
Quiero tocar las palabras
Con que en vano intenté hurtarte
Al duelo de cada día,
Estela donde habitaban los dioses,
Hoy lisa, espacio para el gesto imposible
Que en el mármol fije el alma que nos falta.
No quiero morir sin antes
Haberte impuesto como una ciudad entre los hombres,
Quiero que seas ante la muerte
El único poema que se escriba en la tierra.

I wish (Translation) 
By Jorge Gaitán Durán.
I wish to feel all the names,
Given by the fire of the world
To the body which all mortals are fighting for
Stone, jewel of the being, memory, pomp.
I wish to touch the words
Which in vane I tried to pilfer from you
To the duel of each day
Trail where Gods used to live,
Now plain, free for the impossible gesture
That, on marble sets the missing soul
I do not wish to die before
Having put you as a city among all the men
I wish you to be in face of death
The only poem written on the Earth.

The Worn-out Dancing Shoes by Grimm Brothers

The Worn-out dancing shoes
Cast:
The King: Jhon Pabon
Princess Genevieve: Luisa Moreno
Princess Louise: Barbara Camargo
Princess Julia: Diana Rojas
The spokeswoman: Alejandra Lema
The knight Peter: Henry Velandia
Prince I: Leandro Castro
Prince II: Jocsan Jímenez
Prince III: Raúl Salgado


The Worn-out dancing shoes is a German fairy tale originally published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 in Kinder- und Hausmärchen as tale number 133. Its closest analogue is the Scottish Kate Crackernuts, where it is a prince who is obliged to dance every night.

Act 1: The King reprimmands her daughters for wearing out their shoes once again.

The King: I gave you a new pair of shoes yesterday and by today they are completely worn through. You have been dancing again, Haven´t you? Well, what do you have to say for yourselves. Speak up!

Princess Genevieve: I´m sorry, father.
The King: Are you sorry? You said you were sorry the last time this happened and still you defied me again. As fo you two, why did you stand by and say nothing while your sister disobeyed me.
Princess Louise: We were asleep, father.
Princess Julia: So, you see, we couldn´t know where she´s gone.
The King: I see! Well, Genevieve, you still have to explain me how you could go through a pair of shoes in a single night. Well, if silence is your only answer, then you leave little choice. From this day forward I shall post a guard around the castle to make sure you do not leave here without my knowledge.
Princess Genevieve: Yes, father!


Act II: Princess Genevieve puts on a beatiful gown and a new pair of shoes for another long night of dancing.

Princess Louise: Is that you, Genevieve?
Princess Julia: I don´t believe it, you´re going for another night of dancing again. Don´t worry! We promise not to tell our father as long as you take us with you.
Princess Genevieve: What?
Princess Julia: We just want to be able to dance through the night and have fun just like you. It´s only fair, you know!
Princess Louise: On, please, Genevieve! Take us with you.
Princess Genevieve: You don´t know what you are asking for. Father always finds out besides  it´s so exhausting.
Princess Louise: But you still go, so it must be wonderful. I think it´s dreadful of you to be having so much fun and not wanting to share it with your sisters.
Princess Genevieve: Very well, hurry! I do not want to be late.


Act III: The King breaks into the princesses chamber and awakes them as it is to late to be still sleeping.

The King: Wake up, daughters! It is too late to be sleeping. I cannot believe it! All three pair of shoes are tattered. All of them defied me now. Wake up right this minute.
The King: All of you are awfully quitely this afternoon. What´s the matter? Is the food not to your liking? You hardly touched the bite.
Princess Genevieve: I do not have much  of an apetite today.
Princess Julia: Neither do I, father.
The King: It´s not polite to yawn at the table.
Princess Louise: I am so tired I can hardly stay awake enough.
The King: Enough is enough! You´re gonna tell me the truth. Where is that you were dancing last night?
Princess Genevieve: We never left the castle, father.
The King: And you expect me to beleive that? From no won you are going to locked in your bedroom to make sure you don´t go anywhere.
The King: Since there is no way for you to leave your room I expect all of you to get a good sleep tonight.



Act IV: The kings finds new pairs of worn-out shoes and decides to look for a definite solution.

The King: What happened to your shoes? They are completely worn-out. Enough!
The spokewoman: I have a message from our beloved King.The Royal princess have a problema which deeply worries the King. For that reason, he requires everyone´s help. I´d be happy to help decipher the pricesses´ mystery once and for all. Each night the princesses have been sneaking from the castle to go dancing. If any man in the kingdom can manage to find where exactly the princesses go off to. He can marry the princess of his choice. However, if a man Price for three days and fails he will be locked in a dungeon as a criminal and the King shall not have patience.
The knight Peter: I will take up the challenge. How difficult could it possibly be to keep track of three princesses. Well, I´ll have this princess problema taken care at once.


Act V: The knight prepares to solve the mystery of the all night long dancing princesses after many brave men ended up in a dungeon because of failing to stay awake and fullfill their royal mission.

The kignt Peter: It seems so easy but all the others failed; there must be some details that everyone else missed (soliloquy)
Princess Genevieve: I have brought you some refreshments to make your night pleasant. I know how difficult it must be to stay awake when everyone sleeps.
The knight Peter: That´s very thoughtful of you, thank you!
Princess Genevieve: Good night, gentleman!
The knight Peter: Good night, my lady! Wait a minute, why are they still concerned about my well-being when I´m here to stop him from leaving.They must put something in this wine. I´ll play along with them. Well, it smells wondeful, thank you. This is the best wine I have ever tasted. Oh, what´s happening to me? I feel so sleepy.
Princess Louise: I can´t  believe it; he´s already asleep.
Princess Julia: Maybe we should wait to be really sure
Princess Genevieve: Don´t waste our time! The princes are waiting for us. “Princes from beneath the floor, open now your magic door”
The knight Peter: A secret passage, I think this is going to be as easy as I thought.


Act VI: The knight Peter follows the princessses while they go down the passage.

The knight  Peter: How will I get to that castle with Golden rooftops? Oh, I know. I´ll wear this magic imvisibility layer. This way I´ll ge tinto the Ball room and find out what the princesses do with the so-called princes.
Princess Genevieve:  I´m so happy
Prince I: I think you should be happy always. I want you to stay with me al night long and stay with me forever.
The knight Peter: Oh, now I can see. They are hideous monsters. Princess, Genevieve. Wake up. They are not princes.
Prince II: What have you done? How dare you, insignficant human? You won´t be able to set our princesses free.
The night peter: Run, princesses! Run. Let us escape the monsters
Prince III: After them! They shall not leave our castle ever since if they do so tonight, the spell we have casted on them will be broken forever.
Princess Julia: How are we gonna get out of here?
The knight Peter: Do not worry, my ladies. We are going to hover the ball room and finally get to the gate.
Prince II: Release our serpents army
Prince III: Stop them from leaving this place
Prince I: I´ll bust the princesses meanwhile
The knight Peter: Keep running!
Princess Genevieve: Close the gate!
Princess Louise: They pushing to break through
The knight Peter: Wait! Keep pushing, the light of dawn is coming
Princess Julia: Oh, they´re gone. We´re saved!
Princess Genevieve: Oh, I´am so greatful to you and sorry we tried to trick you.




Act VII: The knight stands before the King to prove true the fulfillment of his misión

The King: Well, Peter, can you tell me where my daughters have been dancing?
The knight Peter: Yes, Your Majesty. Your daughters were tricked by the magic of evil spirits who forced them to dance in an underground palace night after night.
The King: But, you have proves this palace is real?
The knight: Yes, I do. I brought this as prove. These are golen ans silver leaves that were in a forest in front of the palace. Consider this my gifts to you, your highness.
The King. What can I do for you?
The knight Peter: I wish, as promised by you, the hand of Genevieve in marriage.
The King: Then, you and my daughter shall marry. We´ll have a celebration





























A Chritsmas Carol By Charles Dickens

Ebenezer Scrooge: Jhon Pabon
Phantom of the Christmas past: Alejandra Lema
Phantom of the Christmas present: Diana Rojas 
Charwoman: Luisa Moreno 
Last Phantom: Bárbara Camargo
Jacob Marley: Henry Velandia
Fred: Jocsan Jímenez
Bob Cratchit: Raúl Salgado
The Gentleman: Leandro Figueroa

Scene i. Scrooge in His Shop:
·         Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by his nephew

FRED: A Merry Christmas, Uncle! God save you!
SCROOGE: Bah! Humbug!
FRED: Christmas is a humbug, Uncle? I hope that‟s meant as a joke.
SCROOGE: Well, it‟s not. Come, some, what is it you want? Don‟t waste all day, Nephew
FRED: I only want to wish you a Merry Christmas, Uncle. Don‟t be cross.
SCROOGE: What else can I be when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out with Merry Christmas! What‟s Christmas to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older but not an hour richer. If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.
FRED: Uncle!
 SCROOGE: Nephew, keep Christmas in your own way and let me keep it in mine.
FRED: But you don‟t keep it.
SCROOGE: Then leave it alone then, much good it may do you. Much good it has ever done you.
FRED: There are many things from which I might have derived good by which I have not profited, I daresay, Christmas among the rest. And though it has never put a scrap of gold in my pocket, I believe it has done me good and will do me good, and I say God bless it!

SCROOGE: Bah!
FRED: Don‟t be angry, Uncle. Come! Dine with us tomorrow.
SCROOGE: I‟ll dine alone, thank you.

…..
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: Scrooge and Marley‟s, I believe. Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?
SCROOGE: Marley‟s dead. Seven years tonight. What is it you want?
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: I have no doubt that his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner. Here, sir, my card.
SCROOGE: Liberality? No doubt of it? All right, all right, I can read. What is it you want?
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: At this festive season of the year…
SCROOGE: It‟s winter and cold.
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: Yes…yes, it is, and the more reason for my visit. At this time of the year it is
more than usually desirable to make some slight provision for the poor and destitute who suffer
greatly from the cold. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of
thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.
SCROOGE: Are there no prisons?
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: Many, sir.
SCROOGE: And the workhouse, is it still in operation?
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: It is, still, I wish I could say it was not.
SCROOGE: The poor law is still in full vigor then?
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: Yes, sir.
SCROOGE: I‟m glad to hear it. From what you said, I was afraid someone had stopped its operation.
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind of body to the multitude, a few of us are endeavoring to raise fund to buy the poor some meat and drink and means of warmth. We chose this time because it is the time, of all others, when want is keenly felt and abundance rejoices. May I put you down for something sir?
SCROOGE: Nothing.
GENTLEMAN VISITOR: You wish to be anonymous?
SCROOGE: I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish, sir, that is my answer. I don‟t make merry myself at Christmas and I can‟t afford to make idle people merry, I help support the establishments I have mentioned…they cost enough…and those who are poorly off must go there

….
SCROOGE: Latch the door, Cratchit. Firmly, firmly. Draft as cold as Christmas blowing in here. Charity!
SCROOGE: Is it?
CRATCHIT: Christmas evening, sir.
SCROOGE: Oh, you‟ll want all day tomorrow off, I suppose.
CRATCHIT: If it‟s quite convenient, sir.
SCROOGE: It‟s not convenient, and it‟s not fair. If I was to deduct half a crown from your salary for it, you‟d think yourself ill used, wouldn‟t you? Still you expect me to pay a day‟s wage for a day of no work.
CRATCHIT: It‟s only once a year, sir.
SCROOGE: Be here all the earlier the next morning.
CRATCHIT: I will, sir.


Scene 2. Scrooge goes home:
·         Ebenezer gets ready to spend Christmas Eve alone

CHARWOMAN: Yes, sir?
SCROOGE: Hurry, hurry. The door…close it.
 CHARWOMAN: Did you knock, sir?
SCROOGE: Knock? What matter? Here, light me up the stairs.
CHARWOMAN: Yes, sir
CHARWOMAN: Something to warm you, sir? Porridge?
SCROOGE: Wha…? No. No, nothing.
CHARWOMAN: Merry Christmas, sir.
SCROOGE: Fright a man nearly out of his life…Merry Christmas…bah!  
CHARWOMAN: Your room, sir.
SCROOGE: Hmm? Oh yes, yes. And good night.
CHARWOMAN: Warm your bed for you, sir?
SCROOGE: What? Out! Out!
CHARWOMAN: Aye, sir.
SCROOGE: What‟s that?
CHARWOMAN: Me, sir? Not a thing, sir.
SCROOGE: Then, good night.


Scene 3. Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by Jacob Marley
·         Ebenezer is given a chance to purify his greedy soul
SCROOGE: What do you want with me?
MARLEY: (In a ghostly, unreal voice.) Much.
SCROOGE: Who are you?
MARLEY: Ask who I was.
SCROOGE: Who were you?
MARLEY: In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.
SCROOGE: He‟s Dead.
MARLEY: Seven years this night, Ebenezer Scrooge
SCROOGE: Why do you come here?
MARLEY: I must. It is commanded me. I must wander the world and see what I can no
longer share, what I would not share when I walked where you do.
SCROOGE: And must go thus?
MARLEY: The chair? Look at it, Ebenezer, study it. Locks and vaults and golden coins. I
forged it, each link, each day when I sat in thesechairs, commanded these rooms. Greed,
Ebenezer Scrooge, wealth. Feel them, know them. Yours was as heavy as this I wear seven years
ago and you have labored to build it since.

SCROOGE: If you‟re here to lecture, I have no time for it. It is late, the night is cold. I want
comfort now.
MARLEY: I have none to give. I know not how you see me this night. I did not ask it. I have
sat invisible beside you many and many a day. I am commanded to bring you a chance,
Ebenezer. Heed it!
SCROOGE: Quickly then, quickly.
MARLEY: You will be haunted by three spirits.
SCROOGE: Is that the chance?
MARLEY: Mark it.
SCROOGE: I do not choose to.
MARLEY: Then you will walk where I do, burdened by your riches, your greed.
SCROOGE: Spirits mean nothing to me.
MARLEY: Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls one, the second the
next night at the same hour, the third upon the next night when the last stroke of twelve has
ended. Look to see me no more. I must wander. Look that, for your own sake, you remember
what has passed between us.
SCROOGE: Jacob…Don‟t leave me! ...Jacob! Jacob!

Scene iii. The Spirit of Christmas Past

SCROOGE: Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?
FIRST SPIRIT: I am.
SCROOGE: Who and what are you?
FIRST SPIRIT: I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.
SCROOGE: Long past?
FIRST SPIRIT: Your past.
SCROOGE: Why are you here?
FIRST SPIRIT: Your welfare. Rise. Walk with me.
SCROOGE: I am mortal still. I cannot pass through air.
FIRST SPIRIT: My hand.
SCROOGE: Jack Walton. Young Jack Walton. Spirits…? Yes, yes, I remember him. Both of them. Little Ben Benjamin. He used to… They…they‟re off for the holidays and going home from school. It‟s Christmas time…all of the children off home now…No…no, not at all… there was one. Yes…reading…poor boy.
FIRST SPIRIT: What, I wonder?
SCROOGE: Reading? Oh, it was nothing. Fancy, all fancy and make-believe and take-meaway.
All of it. Yes, nonsense.
FIRST SPIRIT: She dies a woman and had, as I remember, children.
SCROOGE: One child.
FIRST SPIRIT: Your nephew
FIRST SPIRIT: Then I will leave you.
SCROOGE: Not yet! Don‟t leave me here! Tell me what I must do! What of the other spirits?
FIRST SPIRIT: They will come.
SCROOGE: And you? What of you?

Scene iv. The Spirit of Christmas Present
SECOND SPIRIT: Hello, Scrooge.
SCROOGE: But you can‟t be…not Fezziwig.
SECOND SPIRIT: Do you see me as him?
SCROOGE: I do.
SECOND SPIRIT: And hear me as him?
SCROOGE: I do.
SECOND SPIRIT: I wish I were the gentleman, so as not to disappoint you.
SCROOGE: But you‟re not…?
SECOND SPIRIT: No, Mr. Scrooge. You have never seen the like o fme before. I am the Ghost of
Christmas Present.
SCROOGE: But…
SECOND SPIRIT: You see what you will see, Scrooge, no more. Will you walk out with me this Christmas Eve?
SCROOGE: But I am not yet dressed.
SECOND SPIRIT:  Take my tails, dear boy, we‟re leaving.
SCROOGE: Wait!
SECOND SPIRIT: What is it now?
SCROOGE: Christmas Present, did you say?
SECOND SPIRIT: I did.
SCROOGE: Then we are traveling here? In this town? London? Just down there?
SECOND SPIRIT: Yes, yes, of course.
SCROOGE: Then could we walk? Your flying is…well, too sudden for an old man. Well?
SECOND SPIRIT: It‟s your Christmas, Scrooge; I am only the guide.
is by the hearth.) How did our little Tiny Tim behave?
BOB CRATCHIT: As good as gold and better. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people
saw him in the church because he was a cripple and it might be pleasant for them to remember
upon Christmas Day who made the lame to walk and the blind to see.

SCROOGE: Hardly hospitable is what I‟d say. Spirit. I…I have seen enough. Tiny
Tim…will he live?

SECOND SPIRIT: He is very ill. Even song cannot keep him whole through a cold winter.
SCROOGE: But you haven‟t told me! If he be like to die, he had better do it and decrease the
surplus population. Erase, Scrooge, those words from your thoughts. You
are not the judge.

3 scene. Ebenezer learn the lesson
LAST SPIRIT: He was Christmas Past. There was a lifetime he could choose from. I have only
this day, one day, and you Scrooge. I have nearly lived my fill of both. Christmas Present must
be gone at Midnight. That is near now. Come.

SCROOGE: Is this the last spirit who is to come to me?
LAST SPIRIT: They are no spirits. They are real. Hunger, Ignorance. Not spirits, Scrooge,
passing dreams. They are real. They walk your streets, look to you for comfort. And you deny
them. Deny them not too long, Scrooge. They will grow and multiply and they will not remain
children.
SCROOGE: Have they no refuge, no resource?
LAST SPIRIT: (Again imitating Scrooge) Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
(Tenderly to the children) Come. It‟s Christmas Eve. (He leads them offstage.)









miércoles, 25 de enero de 2017

Literary analysis of the cat on a hot tin roof

The cat on a hot tin roof
(Analysis)
About the author
Tennessee Williams


Thomas Lanier ‘Tennessee’ Williams III was born on March the 26th in 1911 and he died on February the 25th in 1983. Williams was an American playwright. O’Neill, Arthur Miller and Tennessee were the most important playwrights in in 20th century America Drama. His most famous plays include: the cat on a hot tin roof (1955),the night of the Iguana (1961), the glass menagerie (1944), the mutilated (1965) and much more.
About the play
The cat on a hot tin roof
The cat on a hot tin roof is a play written by Tennessee Williams on March the 24th in 1955. The premier of this famous play was in Morosco theatre New York City in New York. The original language is English and it has as subjects: death, mendacity, homosexuality, relationships and alcoholism.
Genre
‘The cat on a hot tin roof’ is known as a family drama. It is the story of a family with so many problems among there are conflicts related to wealth and dying patriarch. This play is important because is dramatic and realistic; everybody has a family with too many problems as well.
About the structure of the play
The play is divided into four acts.
1st act: This act begins with the conflicts between Brick and Maggie, both are married but they are not exactly in love, their discussions begin from Big Daddy’s cancer to their marriage and the relationships between Brick and Skipper. This act ends in violence when Brick attacks Maggie hurting her terribly.
2nd act: This act shows the truths of the story. Big Daddy decides to have an honest conversation with Brick; he pretends to know if all the facts about his homosexuality are true. At the end, Brick tells Big Daddy his love story with Skipper and besides he informs Big Daddy about his real medical condition: cancer.
3rd act: This act shows how Gooper and Mae inform Big Mamma about Big Daddy’s cancer, this information with the purpose of asking for the family’s fortune. Big Mamma asks to everybody to listen to her solution when suddenly Maggie informs that she is pregnant, everybody knows that this is untrue, however, Maggie will look for a way to get pregnant from Brick.
4th act: After having said that she is pregnant, Maggie is asked for the gynecologist’s name, Mae is looking for the truth but Brick helps Maggie from telling it. He asks to Maggie not to sleep in the bed with him. Maggie accuses him for being a drunk. She is really sad for living with a husband as Brick.
Characters
Maggie: She is the cat and Brick’s wife; she is a very hysterical woman who is really unhappy with her marriage. Despite of having a husband she feels completely alone. Besides she is always discussing with her husband because of his sexual condition.


Brick: He is Maggie’s husband considered the favorite son of the family. Brick is well known because of his masculinity but through the story the truth emerges showing that he is homosexual and he has a relationship with skipper.


Big Daddy: He is Brick’s father also known as ‘Mississippi redneck’. This man is really sick and very rich as well. He wants to give all his fortune to his favorite son, Brick.

Big Mamma: She is an honest and excellent woman who is sadly not loved by her husband. He does not appreciate her with each other.


Themes
Homosexuality: Through the play, it is possible to see the romance between Brick and Skipper, two men who seemed to be really masculine but they actually were in love with each other.
Alcoholism: After Skipper’s death, Brick got really depressed, he used to drink alcohol daily becoming himself in an alcoholic.
Lie: Behind Maggie’s intentions there are too many lies; one of those is the child that she is expecting with Brick fact that is untrue.
Death: Through the play, it is possible to perceive deaths coming from Skipper’s suicide and the future death of Big Daddy due to his cancer.
Symbolism
The crutch: The crutch used by Brick, he uses it to escape and to attack other people. Besides, Maggie and Big Daddy take the crunch from him in order for him to be stranded.
Cancer: This shows how cancer makes Big Daddy crumbles in the same way his family is crumbling with him.
Setting
The play takes place especially in Maggie and Brick’s bedroom that is described as ‘Victorian with a touch of the Far East’. This bedroom is located in cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta during the 1950s during the summer.




martes, 24 de enero de 2017

Fairy tales: The sleeping beauty by Grimm brothers.

I
Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who were very unhappy because they had no children. But at last a little daughter was born, and their sorrow was turned to joy. All the bells in the land were rung to tell the glad tidings.
The king gave a christening feast so grand that the like of it had never been known. He invited all the fairies he could find in the kingdom—there were seven of them—to come to the christening as godmothers. He hoped that each would give the princess a good gift.
When the christening was over, the feast came. Before each of the fairies was placed a plate with a spoon, a knife, and a fork—all pure gold. But alas! As the fairies were about to seat themselves at the table, there came into the hall a very old fairy who had not been invited. She had left the kingdom fifty years before and had not been seen or heard of until this day.
The king at once ordered that a plate should be brought for her, but he could not furnish a gold one such as the others had. This made the old fairy angry, and she sat there muttering to herself.
A young fairy who sat near overheard her angry threats. This good godmother, fearing the old fairy might give the child an unlucky gift, hid herself behind a curtain. She did this because she wished to speak last and perhaps be able to change the old fairy’s gift.
At the end of the feast, the youngest fairy stepped forward and said, “The princess shall be the most beautiful woman in the world.”
The second said,
“She shall have a temper as sweet as an angel.”
The third said,
“She shall have a wonderful grace in all she does or says.”
The fourth said,
“She shall sing like a nightingale.”
The fifth said,
“She shall dance like a flower in the wind.”
The sixth said,
“She shall play such music as was never heard on earth.”
Then the old fairy’s turn came. Shaking her head spitefully, she said,
“When the princess is seventeen years old, she shall prick her finger with a spindle, and-she-shall-die!”
At this all the guests trembled, and many of them began to weep. The king and queen wept loudest of all.
Just then the wise young fairy came from behind the curtain and said: “Do not grieve, O King and Queen. Your daughter shall not die. I cannot undo what my elder sister has done; the princess shall indeed prick her finger with the spindle, but she shall not die. She shall fall into sleep that will last a hundred years. At the end of that time, a king’s son will find her and awaken her.”
Immediately all the fairies vanished.
II
The king, hoping to save his child even from this misfortune, commanded that all spindles should be burned. This was done, but it was all in vain.
One day when the princess was seventeen years of age, the king and queen left her alone in the castle. She wandered about the palace and at last came to a little room in the top of a tower. There an old woman—so old and deaf that she had never heard of the king’s command—sat spinning.
“What are you doing, good old woman?” asked the princess.
“I am spinning, my pretty child.”
“Ah,” said the princess. “How do you do it? Let me see if I can spin also.”
She had just taken the spindle in her hand when, in some way, it pricked her finger. The princess dropped down on the floor. The old woman called for help, and people came from all sides, but nothing could be done.
When the good young fairy heard the news, she came quickly to the castle. She knew that the princess must sleep a hundred years and would be frightened if she found herself alone when she awoke. So the fairy touched with her magic wand all in the palace except the king and the queen. Ladies, gentlemen, pages, waiting maids, footmen, grooms in the stable, and even the horses—she touched them all. They all went to sleep just where they were when the wand touched them. Some of the gentlemen were bowing to the ladies, the ladies were embroidering, the grooms stood currying their horses, and the cook was slapping the kitchen boy.
The king and queen departed from the castle, giving orders that no one was to go near it. This command, however, was not needed. In a little while there sprang around the castle a wood so thick that neither man nor beast could pass through.
III
A great many changes take place in a hundred years. The king had no other child, and when he died, his throne passed to another royal family. Even the story of the sleeping princess was almost forgotten.
One day the son of the king who was then reigning was out hunting, and he saw towers rising above a thick wood. He asked what they were, but no one could answer him.
At last an old peasant was found who said, “Your highness, fifty years ago my father told me that there is a castle in the woods where a princess sleeps—the most beautiful princess that ever lived. It was said that she must sleep there a hundred years, when she would be awakened by a king’s son.”
At this the young prince determined to find out the truth for himself. He leaped from his horse and began to force his way through the wood. To his astonishment, the stiff branches gave way, and then closed again, allowing none of his companions to follow.
Resultado de imagen para la bella durmiente hermanos grimm
A beautiful palace rose before him. In the courtyard the prince saw horses and men who looked as if they were dead. But he was not afraid and boldly entered the palace. There were guards motionless as stone, gentlemen and ladies, pages and footmen, some standing, some sitting, but all like statues.
At last the prince came to a chamber of gold, where he saw upon a bed the fairest sight one ever beheld—a princess of about seventeen years who looked as if she had just fallen asleep. Trembling, the prince knelt beside her, and awakened her with a kiss. And now the enchantment was broken.
The princess looked at him with wondering eyes and said: “Is it you, my prince? I have waited for you long.”
So happy were the two that they talked hour after hour. In the meantime all in the palace awaked and each began to do what he was doing when he fell asleep. The gentlemen went on bowing to the ladies. The ladies went on with their embroidery. The grooms went on currying their horses, the cook went on slapping the kitchen boy, and the servants began to serve the supper. Then the chief lady in waiting, who was ready to die of hunger, told the princess aloud that supper was ready.
The prince gave the princess his hand, and they all went into the great hall for supper. That very evening the prince and princess were married. The next day the prince took his bride to his father’s palace, and there they lived happily ever afterward.

Taken from
Vladimir Propp’s functions in order to analyze fairy tales.
Function 2: an interdiction is addressed to protagonist(s) = interdiction
It was supposed that the princess could not use any spindle.
Function 3: interdiction is violated = violation
The princess despite of the interdiction decides to learn how to spin
Function 7: victim(s) / protagonist(s) accept deception and unwittingly help antagonist(s) = complicity
The princess decides to help the woman who is really the evil fairy
Function 8: antagonist(s) causes harm or injury to victim(s)/member of protagonist's family
The evil fairy
Function 9: misfortune/lack made known, protagonist(s) approached with request/command, they are allowed to go/dispatched = mediation, the connective incident.
With the news about the sleeping beauty many people decide to leave the castle which causes danger on doing there
Function 10: protagonist(s) agrees to or decides on counteraction = beginning counteraction
After listening to the story the prince decides to go and see if he can help the princess
Function 19: initial misfortune or lack is liquidated = liquidation
After the prince’s kiss the misfortune is gone from the princess
 Function 26: task resolved = solution
The princess finally wakes up
Function 31: protagonist(s) marries and ascends throne = wedding
They get married and live happily for ever