The Suicide Essay, Research Paper
The Suicide
A Critique
Irony, ridicule and nonsense combined with an
unimaginable plot and unthinkable characters make
the farce one of the one of the more entertaining
genres. Although it is not what you might call
knee-slapping humor, The Suicide certainly does
have its comical moments. Unfortunately it also
has its slow points as well. The Suicide was
apparently not so humorous to the Russian
leadership during the Communist era as Lennin
promptly banned the play after seeing the
performance. This was certainly not a rare
occurrence during the Communist era as many works
of art and information were banned including plays
written by Chekov and Bulgakov. It?s not very hard
to understand why the play was banned because it
absolutely ridicules every aspect of the Soviet
society and the various segments of people that are
in conflict with each other.
The story focuses around Semian who is an
unemployed Russian living off of his mother. He
basically feels lowly and worthless as he is much
to old to be living with his mother. He hasn?t
seemed to find his place in life yet and almost
seems like he has given up and is a loser. Semian
does see himself as able to do great things though
and thinks he should be famous. When the
opportunity to become a hero arises the audience
takes the journey with him to make his final
decision. Semian is asked to commit suicide for
the cause and by doing this unthinkable feat he
would die a hero and a famous man. Because Semian
does not have a job and feels like he has no
purpose in life he actually does consider killing
himself. Although I found this unrealistic at
first, when analyzed in the content of a farce it
seems rather humorous. While Semian decides if he
wants to die or not he questions what happens after
death. Sure, if he kills himself he dies a hero
but he is unsure if there is life after death, and
doesn?t want to enter into the great unknown.
Ultimately, Semian chooses life. He decides
not to commit suicide and to take his life into his
own hands. He wants to live life for himself and
get a job and a place to live. He decides that
it?s better to live a normal life than to die with
heroism and fame. This is certainly socially
significant because in reality so many people do
give up on themselves and their lives just like
Semian almost did. But in the end people are in
control of their own destiny and they should take
their lives into their own hands rather than giving
up on it.
The more entertaining aspects of the play
revolved around some of the more minor characters.
These characters, although having meaningful
purpose in the story, were meant to ridicule the
various segments of the Soviet society. For
example most people directly connected with the
church are thought of as wholesome and without sin
but the clergyman in this story was drunk all the
time. By showing this representative of the
Russian church as an alcoholic suggests the
corruption of Russia as a whole. The Postman had
only two things on his mind, first the Revolution
and anything that would forward it, and secondly
women. He can?t control himself around women and
when he sees one he has a comical outburst. He
just can?t seem to control his urges. This
character ridicules Communism. The member of the
Intellegencia does not seem so intelligent at all
and completely contradicts the organization, which
he represents. The butcher acts as a typical
dishonest, conniving swindler, which seems to
ridicule the businessman. These characters and
what they represent coming into conflict with each
other suggests the segments of society that are in
constant conflict.
Overall, the acting was quite convincing. I do
think that the actor who played Simian could have
been in more visible conflict with himself. As a
man who?s deciding between life and death I would
expect more inner turmoil. Some other individual
performances that impressed me were the clergyman
and the postman. The clergyman did a good job of
portraying a drunk; it was so convincing that I
wouldn?t be surprised if he actually was drinking
vodka. The Postman was an entertaining character,
every time he saw a woman and acted like a dog the
audience broke into laughter.
I thought the technical elements were all well
done. At first I was unsure about all the doors on
the stage but then I saw their purpose when they
signified different rooms. The lighting was very
effective and so were the costumes, which were
quite convincing of the time period.
Overall, The Suicide was an entreating farce,
which made a good social point and was well worth
my time.
The Suicide
A Critique
Irony, ridicule and nonsense combined with an
unimaginable plot and unthinkable characters make
the farce one of the one of the more entertaining
genres. Although it is not what you might call
knee-slapping humor, The Suicide certainly does
have its comical moments. Unfortunately it also
has its slow points as well. The Suicide was
apparently not so humorous to the Russian
leadership during the Communist era as Lennin
promptly banned the play after seeing the
performance. This was certainly not a rare
occurrence during the Communist era as many works
of art and information were banned including plays
written by Chekov and Bulgakov. It?s not very hard
to understand why the play was banned because it
absolutely ridicules every aspect of the Soviet
society and the various segments of people that are
in conflict with each other.
The story focuses around Semian who is an
unemployed Russian living off of his mother. He
basically feels lowly and worthless as he is much
to old to be living with his mother. He hasn?t
seemed to find his place in life yet and almost
seems like he has given up and is a loser. Semian
does see himself as able to do great things though
and thinks he should be famous. When the
opportunity to become a hero arises the audience
takes the journey with him to make his final
decision. Semian is asked to commit suicide for
the cause and by doing this unthinkable feat he
would die a hero and a famous man. Because Semian
does not have a job and feels like he has no
purpose in life he actually does consider killing
himself. Although I found this unrealistic at
first, when analyzed in the content of a farce it
seems rather humorous. While Semian decides if he
wants to die or not he questions what happens after
death. Sure, if he kills himself he dies a hero
but he is unsure if there is life after death, and
doesn?t want to enter into the great unknown.
Ultimately, Semian chooses life. He decides
not to commit suicide and to take his life into his
own hands. He wants to live life for himself and
get a job and a place to live. He decides that
it?s better to live a normal life than to die with
heroism and fame. This is certainly socially
significant because in reality so many people do
give up on themselves and their lives just like
Semian almost did. But in the end people are in
control of their own destiny and they should take
their lives into their own hands rather than giving
up on it.
The more entertaining aspects of the play
revolved around some of the more minor characters.
These characters, although having meaningful
purpose in the story, were meant to ridicule the
various segments of the Soviet society. For
example most people directly connected with the
church are thought of as wholesome and without sin
but the clergyman in this story was drunk all the
time. By showing this representative of the
Russian church as an alcoholic suggests the
corruption of Russia as a whole. The Postman had
only two things on his mind, first the Revolution
and anything that would forward it, and secondly
women. He can?t control himself around women and
when he sees one he has a comical outburst. He
just can?t seem to control his urges. This
character ridicules Communism. The member of the
Intellegencia does not seem so intelligent at all
and completely contradicts the organization, which
he represents. The butcher acts as a typical
dishonest, conniving swindler, which seems to
ridicule the businessman. These characters and
what they represent coming into conflict with each
other suggests the segments of society that are in
constant conflict.
Overall, the acting was quite convincing. I do
think that the actor who played Simian could have
been in more visible conflict with himself. As a
man who?s deciding between life and death I would
expect more inner turmoil. Some other individual
performances that impressed me were the clergyman
and the postman. The clergyman did a good job of
portraying a drunk; it was so convincing that I
wouldn?t be surprised if he actually was drinking
vodka. The Postman was an entertaining character,
every time he saw a woman and acted like a dog the
audience broke into laughter.
I thought the technical elements were all well
done. At first I was unsure about all the doors on
the stage but then I saw their purpose when they
signified different rooms. The lighting was very
effective and so were the costumes, which were
quite convincing of the time period.
Overall, The Suicide was an entreating farce,
which made a good social point and was well worth
my time.