Exiles Literary Elements

Drama

English

The action of the play is set sometimes in the 19th century and the action takes place over the course of a few days inside Richard’s house.

Because this is a play, there is neither narrator nor a point of view from which the play is told from.

The tone and mood in the play is a tense one, created by the different sins and secrets kept hidden by the characters.

The protagonist is Richard and the antagonist is his dead mother, the person who could never accept her son for who he was.

The major conflict is an internal one and is the result of Beatrice’s incapability to choose between Richard and Robert.

The play reaches its climax when Richard and Bertha reconcile and decide to get over the problems in their relationship and that who they really want is one another.

The first act begins with a conversation between Beatrice and Brigid mentioning the weather, which was ‘’wet’’. The mentioning of rain in the beginning of the play is used here to foreshadow the future turmoil the characters will have to go through.

One of the biggest understatements in the play is the idea that Richard loved Beatrice and that Robert and Bertha are meant to be together. This is however proved to be not true as both Bertha and Richard express their desire to be with one another.

One of the allusions made in the play in the second act is that Bertha and Robert had sex the night Bertha spent at Robert’s house. While both character denied it, the possibility still remains and in fact Richard is convinced that Bertha had sex with his friend.

An important imagery in the play is the way Protestantism is portrayed by the characters. Even though some of them admit they are religious people, they criticize Protestantism for being too righteous. What this description does is to portray the Protestant religion as an extremely strict religion which grounds its people into various doctrines and beliefs.

A paradoxical idea is the way in which Beatrice treats her father’s religion, Protestantism. In the beginning of the play, she expressed her belief that a person can find happiness only through religion and that she thought about going to a covenant and staying there in order to feel peaceful. However, when she talks about her father’s religion, Protestantism, she is quick to judge it and to label it as something which has a negative influence of a person’s life. This idea is paradoxical especially considering how much Beatrice tried to convince those around her that she wants to become involved in religion.

A parallel can be drawn between Bertha and Beatrice, in the sense they are both rather liberal women who do not limit themselves to only one man. Also, both women are outspoken, not fearing what others will think of them if they dare to speak their mind. However, what differs is the way they find happiness. In this sense, Beatrice differs a lot from Bertha because she does not have the strength to confess her feelings and to put herself in the position to be hurt.

No personification can be found in the play.

The narrator uses a multitude of dramatic devices in the play, starting from the First Act. For example, in the beginning of the first act, the narrator offers through the use of dramatic devices a very detailed description of the room where the action will take place. The narrator uses dramatic devices to signal the time and the manner when one character enters the room and another character leaves the room. The narrator also used dramatic devices to express the inner thoughts of various characters and also to present background information the reader of the person watching the play would not know otherwise.