The Wild Duck Journal #1

"Visual action can be as important as stage speech." How far do you agree with this claim. In your answer you should refer to 2 or 3 plays you have studied.

I agree with the claim that visual action is just as important as speech. To be able to fully understand what is going on you need to be able to picture it in your head and the text that explains what they are doing. In Oedipus, the text for that is needed to be able to figure out what is going on. In Oedipus, it says "Oedipus strains to see a figure coming from the distance. Attended by palace guards, an old shepherd enters slowly, reluctant to approach the king" (Sophocles). It is good that they show us what the characters were visually doing. In this we know that something is wrong and that there is something that he does not want to say to the king because the shepherd is hesitant about seeing the king. This gives us insight before the shepherd starts to talk that there is something wrong.

In The Wild Duck, The various visual actions help us as readers to understand what some of the characters in the books are thinking through there body language. Before Gregers is about to talk in one scene it first saying that he is "trembling" This helps us to think of how he is feeling even before he talks. In another part it says that Gregers "Looked at Werle coldly". This helps us to know what Gregers thinks about Werle before he talks. All around I think that visual actions are very important and gives us as readers insight into the characters by knowing what their body language is and their facial expressions.