...Rawson World Literature Assignment 1 An analysis of the role of minor characters in The Visit and Chronicle of a Death Foretold in establishing a collectivistic or individualistic society. March 13, 2011 Word Count: 1073 Rawson 1 Without any characters; there is no story. Every tale needs a knight in shining armor to save the endangered princess or a misguided hero to meet a tragic end. A protagonist and an antagonist are the most basic of writing conventions and are crucial to the story. It is important; however, to not overlook the roles of minor characters in the plot. For example, Snow White would have been a radically different story without the seven dwarves. This exemplifies how minor characters can drastically influence the outcome of a story in a number of ways. In both Durrenmatt’s The Visit and Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, the minor characters have an influential role in determining the fate of the protagonist. These minor characters are used by Durrenmatt and Marquez to establish an individualistic or collectivistic society within their works and by doing so isolate the protagonists and lead them to their deaths. In a collectivistic society, the people tend to view themselves as part of a group and hold the needs of the group over that of the individual. This is the society which Durrenmatt has presented in The Visit. In Durrenmatt’s The Visit, the town of Guellen is populated by minor characters lacking any names. Throughout the play...
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...------------------------------------------------- Victims of a Corrupt System?:The Inequality of the Criminal Justice System in The Visit Fyodor Dostoevsky is celebrated as one of the greatest authors and literary psychologists of this century. His novels often wrestle with several debated subject matters such as: politics, social structure, and religion. In his most famous work, Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky calls for an intense revolution and regeneration of many Russian social norms. Perhaps the most ubiquitous call for reform in this novel is the need to change or correct the criminal justice system. In the following paper, I will discuss one of Dostoevsky’s central themes and how this theme applies to another popular novel, The Visit, written by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. First, I would like to provide a very brief summary of this renowned novel. The Visit opens with the townspeople of Güllen hastily preparing for the arrival of the famed, charitable billionaire Claire Zachanassian, who had been a resident here for many years. This town’s economic state has recently taken a turn for the worst and its citizens have fallen on hard times. Alfred Ill, owner of Güllen’s general store and most likeable man in town, was once Claire’s lover and believes he can convince his past aficionada to help. The mayor agrees and Alfred is given the opportunity to, in a sense, liberate the town from this recent hardship. At her homecoming ceremony, Claire announces a huge donation will be...
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...Assignment – The Visit English Literature SL Ms. Glystra Significance of Minor Characters The use of dialogue keeps the character alive in a play. If the character is in the play, what other things can the character do than act and be apart of the play. The dialogue assists the character into what he or she should be doing. The place and timing on when and where the characters appear is very important. Not only does settings sets the place and time for the play, it also shows the characters background information on where they come from. Friedrich Durrenmatt uses both these literary techniques to help understand the characters. The word ‘minor’ refers to something or it could also be someone that is not as important but when having to take the word ‘minor’ and put it in front of the word ‘character’ we would have minor characters. Thus, if labeling the characters minor and major would it have an affect on how we as reader see the characters and if the character is a minor character, would it make any difference if the character were taken out of the play? Usually when thinking about the significance of a character, the main character is more significant than any other characters. However, some minor characters could also hold a significant role. In many television series the killer or the guilty ones are always the ones who watches from the sidewalks or the ones that seems to be too innocent to do it, but don’t let their behavior fool you. In the play The Visit by Friedrich...
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