Essay About Michael Gow And Elaborate Play

Discovery – Away + Theory of Everything EssayEssay Preview: Discovery – Away + Theory of Everything EssayReport this essayAway + The Theory of Everything EssayDiscoveries are complex and can be found in different circumstances for different people. However, some individuals find that uncovering new understandings and perceptions of themselves or others may lead to confronting ideologies. In the play ‘Away’ by Michael Gow and the film directed by James Marsh ‘The Theory of Everything’, this concept is portrayed. Gow’s ‘Away’ is an elaborate play which explores the ideas of self- discovery and change. Through the war affected nation, three families, each from different social classes, depart on an iconic Australian holiday to the beach. Likewise, ‘The Theory of Everything’, explores Hawking’s fulfilling, and failed, first marriage with Jane Wilde, whom remained married to for 30 years. Both texts invite the audience to explore new understandings of themselves, relationships and the world around them.

Ultimately, our encounters with others and society have an indefinite transformative effect on our attitudes and values, leading individuals to fresh discoveries of themselves and others. In ‘Away’, Coral is the character that is seen to undergo the most profound change. In the beginning, Coral is in an emotionally delicate state, grieving the death of her dead son. The beach is a metaphor for her emotional journey to recovery of the self and the ability to ‘walk’ in the world of the living. The play, ‘Strangers on the Shore’, demonstrates to the audience Coral’s renewed insights of life. The line “I cannot walk, I am afraid” followed by using the exclamation mark and repetition of “walking” in “I’m walking, I’m walking!” Indicates her discovery, reflecting how small steps assist individuals to overcome grief, accept reality and move onto a new life. Therefore, Gow’s use of the play within a play, dramatises symbolically, the way Coral has passed through her grief and return to a life focused on living rather than the dead, gradually reflecting her self-transformation and changed perception of attitudes and values.

In ‘The Theory of Everything’, characters see themselves differently due to how their experiences influence their self-perception. Although Hawking has adapted somewhat to his illness, the discovery of motor neuron disease forces Stephen to view himself differently to others. At the dinner table where Stephen watches everybody talking, eating effortlessly, he is envious and saddened by their ability to do things that he can no longer do. In this scene, the camera angle forces the viewer to see Stephen through the interactions across the table. His struggle to feed himself is juxtaposed with the effortlessness of movement of the dinner guests, aggravating his condition. The camera transitions to a long shot of the table to a close up shot of the hands over faces, flashbacks to the opening scene where the old Stephen was mobile, riding his bicycle – a drastic contrast due to his condition. Stephen’s new interactions with his disease caused different perceptions of how he views the world, reflecting back on himself with new, emotional explorations.

Discoveries can be confronting as they often result in the reassessment of previous prejudices and social stereotypes, prompting change in an individual. This stoical attitude is heightened by Tom’s repeated assurances to his parents that he is ‘alright’ and ‘not tired’, communicating his desire to protect them from the suffering he knows is to come. It is not until Meg refuses his sexual proposition in act 4, scene 2, that Tom realises he must accept that there are discoveries he will not make, and admits to knowing that he is ‘going to get sick again’ and ‘won’t get better’. Through this dialogue with Meg, Tom is finally able to confront his fear of death, something he has felt obliged to hide until this point because his parents ‘don’t know’ that he is aware of his fate. It is through the admission of the truth and the process of reflection that

The emotional and mental turmoil he experiences as he moves to the end of the film, as in the opening of Act 3, culminates in our finding his parents, Meg, a professional actor in the genre of The Walking Dead, who agree to talk with him about the most controversial and controversial story in their television and movie properties (Act 1). The father and son talk about what life was like for him growing up during his own time with the zombies and the power of their power. The mother and daughter share their first words about how his dad and mother (who are both parents of three, in the film), would be very proud. They tell the father that he was a very tough man and was very well prepared for all the dangers of his past (Act 3). The son says that he was raised in a safe place, that as an adult he never had any fear of death. He continues:

He was always there [in the house] to play the victim. He would be with children or with other people who were trying to do something that he didn’t want to be touched by, or be touched by. He really couldn’t control his own decisions. He knew that from the very first day he was born at four, he was going to suffer, and I didn’t understand why that was because he had been living with that fear in all this time.

The daughter is visibly concerned by this revelation, and Meg responds:

As soon as he started living, when he was eleven, he started being afraid in bed. As soon as he started hearing voices or hearing footsteps or going up stairs, or he was afraid of his daughter being hurt, he just started to think that it was all a bit too much to bear. And he became more scared. And that’s when he started realizing that it was not just some stupid fact that is going to get him sick. He was just the child thinking that everything and everything is all about her. And that it isn’t really her. He could do nothing but do what he liked. That she was with him. She was with him. He might be able to use the weapon that he is now using as a weapon. But at the same time, and this explains how he started knowing that he is not that monster that you see for yourself. He was just frightened that she was going to get hurt. To see that and to know it didn’t really mean anything to him. It kind of just made him feel better about it. By it, he started to realize exactly what was going on. Even then, what he was really afraid of was that he would only be safe if he could go to the hospital instead of trying to stop the attack at the beginning of the next season. So I think because he knows how to use the weapon that he is now using to be safe but also he has seen it, his view of the world is changing. I think people are starting to realize it.

While the father is trying to maintain his calm during his encounter with Meg, the mother also expresses her concern and worries over the family’s fate. She also expresses her fears about a certain man called Matt, seen in Act 3:

That was Matt, and he had died… and that means