Paradoxes of a Conventional Society: A Study of Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist and Benard Shaw’s Heartbreak House
Keywords:
Paradox, Society, Drama, Alchemist, Heartbreak House, Social Learning TheoryAbstract
Drama is a cognitive process and means of concretely translating abstract ideas into reality. It provides a vent for dramatists to vividly capture the rhythms of life in their societies. From the eons of time, the modus operandi of drama has placed it on a pedestal of a gadfly that prods, points and comments on the realities of its time. It is, therefore, pertinent to say that the mind of the dramatist is fertilized by the various social, economic cum political realities that are operational within the domain of his/her existence. This study focuses on two English plays; namely Ben Jonson’s Elizabethan play, The Alchemist, and George Benard Shaw’s modern drama- Heartbreak House. The selection of these models is anchored on the staggering power of their authors to detect the symptoms of social diseases that are present in their societies at their moments of writing and which by their being exacerbated in our own time, appear transhistorical in nature. The objectives of this study are to highlight the contradictory qualities and properties (paradoxes) of a modern society; one that seeks growth in all ramifications (education, politics, science, among others) and yet finds solace in mundaneness as exemplified by the two plays. The second objective is to comparatively look at the realities in the world of the two plays and what is obtainable now in our own age. Therefore, the interpretation of the past and the new meanings of the present will be juxtaposed and evaluated. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory will provide frame of reference for the study while interpretive approach shall be content analysis.
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Published on: 2024-01-15
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