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.