kate in all my sons Essay Example
How does Miller use representations of speech and other dramatic techniques to present the character of Kate in this extract and in one other extract in the play? Section from the start of act 3 to the stage direction – “Jim exits to driveway” To beginact 3, Arthur Miller uses dramatic stage directions to set the scene. These stage directions present the character of Kate in a deranged way. It says that she is rocking “ceaselessly” in a chair. The use of the adverb “ceaselessly” suggests that her temperament is somewhat unstable. Following these stage directions, Miller begins the dialogue of the extract with an interrogative utterance from Jim – “any news?”, it is interesting that Jim comes straight in with a question and doesn’t form a phatic utterance to begin conversation with Kate. It makes the atmosphere feel more formal and dull. Kate’s response is extremely short which means she isn’t open to any other sort of conversation with Jim “no news”. This adjacency pair makes it clear that kate is not one for phatic conversation, this is known by Jim who doesn’t attempt any ‘chit chat’ with her. when Jim says –“ you cant sit up all night, dear, why don’t you go back to bed?”, in brackets, it says that he speaks gently. This has the connotation that Kate is fragile and requires to be spoken to in a gentler manner. The character of Kate is displayed at depressed. Miller does this by the short and limited replies she gives Jim. An example to show this is when Jim says – “don’t be afraid, Kate, I know, I’ve always known” and all she says back is “how?”. This one – worded interrogative utterance tells us that she is disinterested in what Jim has to say and also that she has other burning issues on her mind. Also when Jim explains and describes to Kate in detail how chris is going to come back and he makes an effort to convince her and put her mind at ease. Regardless of his effort, kate still replies coldly with a short “just as long as he comes back”. It is almost