The apple tree characters
The Apple Tree (1917) is a long short story written by a prominent English novelist, playwright and short story writer John Galsworthy. His most famous novels are The Man of Property, A Modern Comedy and The Forsyte Saga. In his works, he gives a truthful picture of English bourgeois society at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. The Apple Tree is called «most finely crafted, most symbolic, and most poetic tale».
The extract under analysis shows us two no-longer-students Frank Ashurst and Robert Garton who want to get to Chagford, Ashurst having an aching knee. On their way, they decide to put up for a night on some farm. They see a girl who invites them in her aunt’s farm and whom Ashurst find quite attractive. On the farm, they ask for a stream to have a bath and are told about one near an apple tree.
In the given extract, there is no conflict; it is only an exposition of the story, where we can see only the beginning of the relationship between Ashurst and Megan. In this part, the author shows us the contrast between people of different social classes.
The main characters are Frank Ashurst and Megan David. He is a representative of the upper class, a graduate from the university, he is «pale, idealistic», and he has a bent for literature. As an educated person, he loves talking about philosophical matters. The girl they meet is different. She’s wearing a «dark frieze skirt», «worn and old greyish blouse», «split shoes» and a Scottish bonnet worn usually by men, her hands are «rough and red», and her neck is «browned» because of working under the sun. She is, surely, not that educated as Ashurst is.
Two more characters reflecting this contrast are Ashurst’s friend Garton and Megan’s aunt Mrs. Narracombe. Garton is opposed to Ashurst to some extent (he is «like some primeval beast» and very communicative, while Ashurst is more meditative), but mostly for diversity of characters. He is also well-educated and intellectual and may even seem somewhat haughty. Mrs. Narracombe is hospitable, and this trait of character is more often demonstrated by representatives of the lower class.
In order to prove his point of view, the author uses stylistic devices. Firstly, there are a number of epithets in descriptions («peacock tam-o’-shanter», «crisp voice», «round-the-corner», «dewy eyes»), idioms («talking through his hat»), metaphors («haven’t met a soul for miles»), similes, trite and genuine («thin as rails», «like some primeval beast»). All these devices are used to create the atmosphere, to make the descriptions more artistic and underline the characters’ peculiarities in a more accurate way. There are also some poetic words («maiden»).
Galsworthy uses such a graphic means as graphon («I thought you were a Celt»). The reason to italicize the word «thought» is to show that Garton makes a special stress on it as if emphasizing his knowledge. There is one more graphon of different kind, which serves to create the atmosphere. The author uses dialectal forms «strame, sittin’, an'» instead of «stream, sitting, and» to show that the action takes place in Devonshire.
Besides, in order to reveal Ashurst’s feelings and meditation at the end of extract, the author uses enumeration of things which belong to different spheres: «He thought of Theocritus, and the river Cherwell, of the moon, and the maiden with dewy eyes». Here we can see also an example of polysyndeton which makes the sentence smoother and more poetic.
As for syntactic structure, there are both simple and complex sentences. The former are used in dialogues accompanied by ellipsis (which, alongside the absence of the author’s speech, makes them more vivid and natural), and the latter are used mostly in descriptions. In the description of Megan there is also anaphora («her shoes were, . her little hands, . her neck…») and some chaotic repetitions («her face was short, her upper lip short», «her brows were straight and dark, her lashes long and dark, her nose straight»). Those repetitions of simple adjectives create rhythm and, probably, make us think that Ashurst’s eyes are quickly jumping from one part of Megan’s body to another. In addition, there is an example of inversion («by the house door stood a woman») for the purpose of smoother narration.
The extract is written in a third-person narrative. The author helps us to see the action with Ashurst’s eyes and listen to his inner thoughts. Those thoughts characterize him well enough: we could do even without his direct description to understand that he is «full of absence». His thoughts change their direction quickly, e.g.: «The sky, the flowers, the songs of birds! Robert was talking through his hat.»
There is also a symbol in this story — the apple tree (the title is not occasional, of course). In Celtic culture (Megan is a Celt), the apple tree deals with love, truth, beauty, remembrance, purity. These meanings are only hinted at in this extract, but we can see them fully in the whole story.
I cannot help admiring this work. I am charmed by the style and the master use of expressive means and stylistic devices, especially syntactic ones. They make me want to read the story again and again. I am also attracted by symbolism and poetics of the story. Besides, it is necessary to say that Galsworthy managed to create a good image of people from different social classes and living in different places.
Источник
Анализ текста The apple tree
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I’m going to analyze a long short story “The apple tree” by John Galsworthy , an English novelist and playwright, one of the most popular writers of the early 20th century. He was born in Coombe, Surrey in August 14, 1867. John Galsworthy was educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford.
Although Galsworthy is best known for his novels, he was also a successful playwright. John Galsworthy was awarded the Order of Merit in 1929 and the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932.
In “The apple tree”, John Galsworthy tells the story of Asherst, a middle-aged man who once goes to a village with his wife. While being there he remembers that 26 years ago just at that place, when he was a young man and just graduated from the university, he met a young girl, Megan by name, whom he fell in love. He promised to marry her and they decided to go away together. The next day he went to Torquay for money but there Asherst met his old friend, Phil Halliday by name , who invited him to spend a day with him and his sisters. Then the author passes on to say that Asherst fell in love with Phil’s sister Stella. The story ends with Asherst’s desire to look at the farm where Megan lived. There he meets an old man, who tells him that Megan commited a suicide because of unhappy love.
There is an external type of a conflict in the story. The two parties are Asherst that is protagonist, and Megan, antagonist. The author describes them combining two methods of characterization. The main character of the story is Asherst. He is a middle aged married man. He is well-educated. It’s quite clear that 26 years ago Asherst was inexperienced and young. He is very romantic as he says that he was always in love with somebody. It is important for him to have a person to admire and think about. Galsworthy succeded to show different sides of Asherst’s being. In the beginning of the story, when Asherst first meets Megan, we sympathize with him. The author managed to make the reader believe it to be real deep love which would end happily. But in Torquay he behaves as fully another person. He didn’t even want to explain everything Megan, whom he was supposed to love very much. He just decided to avoid superfluous problems pretending that he didn’d notice her.
Another main character of the story is Megan. She is a beautiful girl of seventeen years old. It doesn’t do the readers any difficulty to understand that she is very naïve and romantic young girl “with a loving heart” as an old man said about her. She doesn’t happen to be anywhere but in the farm. She is always busy doing all the job on the farm as she is the only woman there except her aunt. The author tries to make us sympathize with her. He shows that there isn’t any person on the farm with whom she could have heart-to-heart talk. Every day’s talks with Asherst make her be deeply attached to him. She is also a very honest and faithful person because it doesn’t come to her mind that Ahserst’s absence is caused by his unwillingness to come to her again. She doesn’t believe it because it is not in her nature and she doesn’t think it to be in somebody else’s nature. Megan is shown as a virgin character who has never loved before, never been anywhere, never faced with another people. Her commiting a suicide is an important part of the story. Even if she didn’t do that, she wouldn’t be that Megan that is shown in the story. She would be completely another person, would lose her naivety and “loving heart”, because such kinds of incidents totally change a person.
Galsworthy uses third-person objective narration. That means that the narrator doesn’t participate in the actions but knows everything concerning the characters. I think it to be a very objective and reliable type of narration because the author can enter the minds of the characters and the reader is able to know more.
The story is written in simple language. While showing the conversation with the children or with an old man on the farm, the author writes in dialectal words in order to make the reader deeply feel the atmosphere of that farm. He also writes that the two friends while going “haven’t met a soul for miles”. This metaphor is used in order to show that the farm is situated by itself and people on the farm live exclusive lives. While describing Megan the author also uses many epithets and metaphors. “Megan’s eyes were the wonder – dewy as if opened for the first time that day”. Using this stylistic device the author shows Megan’s beauties of nature. Such epithets as “greyish blouse”, “worn and old”, “split shoes” show her pressure of work. The language of an extract helps us to understand that the characters that day were all in good mood as they joke and try to be as friendly as possible.
The syntactical pattern is not very difficult and it doesn’t do any difficulty to follow the main idea.
The story is devoted to the problem of relationship between people from different social classes. It is difficult for Asherst to decide to go back to Megan as he understands them to be too different to live together. It is important for some of us to get on with people from our social class. There would be too many things on which we would have different points of view. And of course misunderstanding makes it more difficult to get on with a person.
And also there is another problem in the story. The problem of responsibility of our words. If we say something, we should do it. Asherst prefers to disguise himself instead of coming up to Megan and explaining his intentions. We should think in advance whether we could do something or not. No matter how difficult it is to be responsible for our words. It is better not to promise than to disappoint a person who believed you.
Источник
The Apple Tree
| The Apple Tree | |
|---|---|
| Music | Jerry Bock |
| Lyrics | Sheldon Harnick |
| Book | Jerry Bock Sheldon Harnick Jerome Coopersmith |
| Basis | Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve [1] Frank R. Stockton’s «The Lady or the Tiger?» Jules Feiffer’s Passionella |
| Productions | 1966 Broadway 2005 Encores! 2006 Broadway revival |
The Apple Tree is a series of three musical playlets with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and a book by Bock and Harnick with contributions from Jerome Coopersmith. Each act has its own storyline, but all three are tied together by a common theme (someone who believes that they want something, but once they get what they wanted they realize that it wasn’t what they wanted) and common references, such as references to the color brown. The first act is based on Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve; the second act is based on Frank R. Stockton’s «The Lady or the Tiger?»; the third act is based on Jules Feiffer’s Passionella . The working title for the evening of three musicals was Come Back! Go Away! I Love You! [2]
Contents
Production history
Director Mike Nichols and producer Stuart Ostrow initially considered Dustin Hoffman for the musical, based on a recommendation from casting director Michael Shurtleff. Hoffman was rejected because his singing ability did not fulfill the vocal requirements for the role, which went to Alan Alda. However, Nichols was so impressed with Hoffman’s audition he gave him the lead male role in the 1967 film The Graduate , which launched Hoffman’s career. [3]
The Apple Tree opened on Broadway on October 18, 1966 at the Shubert Theatre and ran for 463 performances, closing on November 25, 1967. It starred Barbara Harris, Alan Alda, and Larry Blyden. Robert Klein was among the ensemble members. Harris won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The production’s other major Tony nominations included Bock and Harnick for Best Composer and Lyricist, Nichols for Best Direction of a Musical, Lee Theodore for Best Choreography, and the show for Best Musical.
During the show’s run, Alda was replaced by his and Blyden’s standby, Ken Kercheval, then by Hal Holbrook. Harris was replaced by her standby, Phyllis Newman, then Carmen Alvarez and Sue Ane Langdon.
The original Tour starred Tom Ewell & Rosemary Prinz.
Alan Alda returned to play a season of the show alongside Dorothy Loudon for Mineola Playhouse: https://ovrtur.com/production/2901057
The Encores! staged concert production ran from May 12, 2005 through May 16, 2005 and starred Kristin Chenoweth, Malcolm Gets and Michael Cerveris. [4]
The Roundabout Theatre Company mounted a revival that ran from December 14, 2006 until March 11, 2007 at Studio 54 with Kristin Chenoweth in Harris’ roles, Brian D’Arcy James in Alda’s roles, Marc Kudisch in Blyden’s and Alda’s recorded voice portraying God. The consensus of reviews was that the playlets themselves are all creaky with age, the music interesting but not inspired, and Chenoweth’s performance a marvel and the evening’s only important attraction. [5] [6] It ran for 18 previews and 99 regular shows for a total of 117 performances.
Synopsis
In the first story, Adam awakes to find that he is required to name all of the animals. He names them simply: flyers, swimmers and crawlers. He enjoys being the «sole and single man» on Earth. Then, he meets Eve, the «long haired creature», in the garden. Eve greatly enjoys her time «Here in Eden», and begins to name everything with more detailed names: cows, ducks, horses, etc. Adam becomes annoyed with Eve and she hurts his feelings when he discovers that she thinks she is superior to him. Eve doesn’t think that Adam appreciates her and he makes her feel put out, but she begins to have some «Feelings» for him. Adam builds a shelter for himself, but when he sees Eve sitting in the rain he invites her in, where she immediately begins redecorating which Adam hates. Although Adam is annoyed, he too begins to have Feelings for «Eve.» The two get into another argument, this time about cutting the grass around their house. After the fight, Adam storms away and Eve decides to go to a pond, where she thinks her reflection is someone just like her and that they are best «Friends». Soon, a snake appears. It seems to know everything, and tells Eve that she can know everything, too, as long as she eats the apples from the tree over the hill — the tree that Adam told her was forbidden. The snake tells her that Adam is wrong and that the apples are not «Forbidden Fruit». She eats an apple, but suddenly Adam realizes that something has happened to his «Beautiful, Beautiful World». Once the couple is out of Eden, they become closer. They now need each other more and have come to tolerate each other’s weaknesses. Soon, Eve has their first child, Cain, but Adam thinks that «It’s a Fish». Eve sings the baby a «Lullaby», and soon they have another son, Abel. After the boys grow up, Cain kills Abel and Eve reflects on her life, including her feelings for Adam. She tells Adam that she wants the two of them to die together, or at least have her die first because she needs him more than he needs her (to which he protests). She then reflects on «What Makes Me Love Him». Eve dies, and Adam, who has never cared much for flowers, begins to water her garden, because she loved the flowers so much.
The Lady or the Tiger?
The second story takes place in a somewhat barbaric kingdom. The story, told by a balladeer, is about love and jealousy («I’ll Tell You a Truth»). He introduces King Arik and his daughter Princess Barbára entering a great banquet that is being held («Make Way»). They show a traditional trial: the prisoner is put into a large arena with two doors. Behind one door is a beautiful woman — if the prisoner chooses that door, he is innocent and is required to marry the woman. Behind the other door is a ravenous tiger. If the prisoner chooses that door, he is deemed guilty and the tiger will kill him. After the trial, the King’s Captain Sanjar returns from a long battle that they have won. The captain collapses, but the King and his court leave him there and decide to celebrate. A slave, Nadjira, stays behind to comfort him, but Princess Barbára comes back and orders that she leave. It is then discovered that Barbára and Sanjar are in love, but that because of class no one can know. They discuss their «Forbidden Love» and consider running away to Gaul. They realize that their place is here, and while they are stealing a kiss, King Arik walks in and catches them. Arik sentences Sanjar to a trial, much to Barbára’s dismay. She decides to find out which door the tiger is behind so that Sanjar is not slaughtered. She asks the Royal Tiger Keeper (who is also the balladeer) to tell her which door hides the tiger. He tells her, but first warns her about having the information. She sings to herself, «I’ve Got What You Want», until she sees Nadjira being led to the arena to hide behind the other door. Barbára had forgotten about this door, but she now realizes that he will have to marry Nadjira if he doesn’t chose the other door («Tiger, Tiger»). King Arik, Princess Barbára and their court entourage enter the arena («Make Way (reprise)») and the court contemplates «Which Door» Sanjar will choose. Sanjar begs Barbára to tell him which door to choose, and hesitating, she points to a door. The balladeer reenters and sings about the pains of jealousy («I’ll Tell You a Truth (reprise)»). What lies behind the door Barbára chooses for Sanjar is not revealed.
Источник
