Plays and Poems

After reading Glaspell's Trifles, I must say that I believe reading plays and poetry are highly similar, disregarding plays that actually are poems. The author formats the lines in such a way that a special feeling comes across and uses punctuation to help speed the lines along or slow them down. In Trifles, I often encountered little dashes that caused me to take a break or read something in a hushed or nervous tone. One line reads, "And then she- laughed." Personally, I flew through the lines leading up to that one because no pause was elicited. Then I suddenly stopped because this line forces you to. There's a creepy feeling lingering in the poem and the laugh creates an almost maniacal feel to go with it. It almost catches you I guess. You're rushing through the lines and suddenly you stop because a character is laughing in what seems to be a serious situation. And then I realize the author did it on purpose. Like a poet, the playwright wants certain things to be noticed about his or her work, they want special feelings to be emitted. They want something to sound sorrowful or happy. They want pauses or rushing depending upon the scenario being portrayed. To use an example Gardner already called upon: "To be or not to be." Rushing through that line would lose the contemplative feel. It would change the overall feeling of the play. Thus, I believe, despite the visual nature of a play, reading plays and poetry are quite similar. I think it would be a fair statement to say that you could call upon your skills at reading poetry to help you with reading plays.

Cinderella is an Untrue Story

I think "True Stories" and "Cinderella" are very similar and interconnected. "True Stories," in my opinion, meant that the story you hear or read is not the true one. It is one that is manipulated to sound wonderful and to have a happy ending, but there is plenty untold. There are hardships that get you to that happy ending, if you even make it that far.
"Cinderella" is one of those untrue stories. She goes against her evil stepmother for a night and she meets prince charming. However, as Sexton writes, "Cinderella and the prince lived, they say, happily ever after" (100-101). The true story is probably more along the lines of: they broke up a couple of months after getting married because Cinderella was nothing more than an object to the prince. If anyone has seen the musical Into the Woods, you'll understand what I'm talking about. No marriage is perfect and there's plenty that needs to be told about that of Cinderella's and her prince charming. As Sexton sarcastically remarks, they lived "like two dolls in a museum case" (102). If only.

For anyone curious as to the scene in Into the Woods I'm talking about, here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ5-9Ho3n_I  Be warned of some plot spoilers though (especially with the movie coming out in a couple of months).