Drama and believing, 2
The conversation in the play
We're going to work with what was assigned in the last prompt:
Go back to your part of the play (the part you read in advance) and find at least two things that characters say that you think allow us to see what the character values -- to infer, or guess at, a deeper belief or value that lies under or behind what they're saying. Transcribe each speech (carefully), print them out at the top of separate pages, and bring them to class Thursday afternoon. You may need to include a bit more of the text so your reader will understand the speech you want to discuss. An example of how you might do that (what your page might look like) is on the back of this prompt.If you haven't done this, go away. If you've done it but not printed it (or if it's not printed in that form -- for instance, if you've put two on one page), you can do that right now.
Thinking about believing
Read at least a half dozen of the sheets with quotations from the play on them. For each, write below the quotation, in a sentence or so, what "deeper belief or value" you think might underlie what the character says. Think about what we've discussed before about those "fundamental" beliefs and values -- individual freedom, the preeminent value of individual human beings, reason as more (or less) important than passion, justice as equality among individuals, the rights of individuals to keep what they earn, and so forth. As you work, you'll be working with pages that already have someone else's guess on them; think about what's already said and see if you can add to it or extend it (or disagree with it). Sign your comment.
I've put an example of what I'd have said about the one I set up last time on the back.
We'll take about a half hour or so for this, and then I'll set up some groups to select one or two you think particularly worth talking about.