Saturday, January 29, 2011

Zach D's Essay

In the story Wit there is an underlying theme and understanding of death. The appreciation for life and the meaning of it to people is apparent. Vivian is an ovarian cancer patient. The chances for survival are at the very minimum. Doctors make it clear that there is now a timeline on Vivian’s life. Death is an aspect of life that does not make sense to most people or in most cases not even trying to be understood. Making a connection to death and its meaning is difficult for people to grasp. Yet, understanding that in a lifetime there will be an end. In Wit Vivian does not like to speak about the light at the end of her tunnel. The light slowly is dimming for Vivian and as the play continues on you begin to realize her acceptance to this next part of her life.

I believe that John Donne in his poetry uses a lot of metaphors and allows for a deeper meaning to his words. I found in his poem “Holy Sonnet X,” “Death Be Not Proud,” Donne explains death as time in which he will accept. In line 7 Donne says, “And soonest our best men with thee do go,” implying that everyone in this world will die eventually. I believe in this sonnet Donne helps to assure people that we must come to terms with death, that it is a part of life. 


In the story Wit I believe that Vivian has come to terms with death and accepted that she is under an hourglass. In the play the use of death in Donne’s poetry is not present because death is already present in the story. While reading the play I found myself continuing to wait for the final scene and how Vivian will die. I felt that death is what made this play so interesting. When dealing with death as a predetermined ending to a story the reader or viewer is anxious and that is what makes the play flow. As a reader to see how the character, already knows that she is going to die, reacts and views the last times of her life. 


The most influential scene that comes to my mind is the last when Vivian suddenly dies. The urgency by the medical staff to try and save her life when she in actuality didn’t want to be saved, were they trying to save Vivian for her life sake or for the research aspect end of it all. To me this shows Vivian had come to terms with her light at the end of the tunnel and accepted that there are better things on the other side of the tunnel. On page 29 and 30 Vivian recites the passages from “Holy Sonnet X,” by she is saying these lines to herself. I felt in this scene she is allowing herself to see death in a new vision. Death is something people have a difficult time grasping and accepting, Donne allows in some of his poetry to give the reader opportunities to understand it’s a part of life. Donne tells us death is not going to judge you depending who you are; death will meet you when your time comes.

1 comment:

  1. This doesn't really respond to the prompt. Edson does, in fact, show an ongoing interest in Donne's portrayal of death, as does Vivian as a character. If anything, that's the most prominent feature of the Donne poetry included in the play - it's witty and complicated, yes, but it's exclusively focused on death. Consequently, you're telling us things about Donne's poetry, and its role within the play, that any reader should immediately understand. Your job in an essay is to argue something that isn't obvious or trivial - you don't go beyond the obvious here.

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