Blood Wedding Journal #2

"What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out?" To what extent do you find this statement applicable in at least two plays you have studied?

This statement can only de determined true or false by looking at individual plays. In Ibsen's Wild Duck, the statement is not applicable. The play was written to involve more common aspects of life, rather than only high intenstiy scenes. Since Wild Duck is a work of drama, this statement does not hold true to it. Ibsen wrote this play during a period of time when plays were moving from romanticism to modernism, and in modernism, it was more common for the "tragic hero" to be low or middle class. Therefore, a lot of the moments in Ibsen's book just revolve around dull, ordinary parts of life. For example, in Act 2, Gina and Hedvig dicuss the dull, simple matter of finances and budgeting:
"Gina: Do you remember how much we spent for the butter today?
Hedvig: It was one sixty five.
Gina: That's right. It's awful how much butter gets used in this house" (Ibsen 138).
This scene is just one of many that showcase the ordinary aspects of life represented ni Wild Duck, proving that drama can also be life with the dull bits left in.

However, in Lorca's Blood Wedding, the statement proves to be applicable for the most part. There are not a lot of very dull scenes portraying common parts of life. Instead, the play shows life without the dull parts. There always seems to be some action going on, or if not extreme action, then at least something that would not be classified as boring or ordinary. One scene in Act 2 that represents the truth of the statement (what is drama but life with the dull bits cut out) is when the families realize that Leonardo and Bride have run off together:
"Mother: What is it? Where is your daughter?
Wife: They ran away! They ran away! She and Leonardo! On the horse! They rode off in each other's arms, like a bolt of lightning!" (Lorca 76).
This scene proves the statement true because it is definitely not dull or ordinary. It is not a common thing for a bride to run away from her wedding with her ex-boyfriend, especially without telling anyone. This moment of intensity does in fact show that Lorca's kind of drama revoloves around portraying life with the dull bits cut out.