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Shock in Literature

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Shock in plays
Both Tennessee Williams and Mark Ravenhill set out to surprise and shock their audience

In my opinion, shock is a very effective way of conveying a message, as it is an emotional reaction that stays with the audience for a long time, meaning that they remember the scenes until they can consider the significance. As well as this, it is far easier to make people realise something about the society they see as normal if it is possible to put them in a situation where they see actions that are considered ordinary and find themselves shocked by these. For example, the situation of a group of teenagers engaging in casual drug use and self destructive behaviour could be seen as relatively normal and stereotypical today, but when this is explored in depth, the levels of this behaviour become very shocking and make the audience consider whether the stereotypes placed on teenagers – that they will have problems but that these problems will eventually pass, have made them behave in a way that is very unsafe.

I think that Ravenhill uses shock value to a far higher extent than Williams, although this may be because his play is far more ‘in-yer-face’ than ‘Streetcar’ and has a faster pace. As well as this, the way in which the play is written makes it difficult for the audience to get lost in the story and ignore the issues explored by the playwright. However, I do think that both plays make the audience question aspects of society, especially the audiences that viewed it at the time where the play was written and

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