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Play analysis 1: Dinner With Friends by Donald Margulies Donald Margulies' play Dinner with Friends is a reflection of time, feelings and human relationships. The author considered his play the mirror of real life. And this life is very changeable with joy and rage, marriage and divorce, real feelings and illusions. Thats why the plot of the play seems to be known to many people. But before summarizing main crucial moments, it is necessary to know more about main characters; because the play is made up of different conversations between characters. In the first scene we meet Gabe and Karen.
They are a happy couple, who have been married for 12 years, have children and the same hobbies they like cooking. As they say, it is the basis of a happy family life. But having known them better, we can say a lot of their personality. Karen is a stereotype to a loving, steadfast woman. She has a deep capacity to be hurt. At the beginning of the play, Gabe hides his feelings behind humor and silence.
But after a while his confusion and bewilderment are evident. He begins to understand that the problem of his friends is not easy and has impact on his relationships with Karen. Beth is Karen's best friend. She became Toms wife after Karen and Gabe had organized their date. She is exact opposite to Karen. She cannot cook well, unorganized.
Emotions in her life play more important role than thoughts. Beth husband is Tom. He is also Gabe's best friend. But they are different and chose different ways in life. From the beginning Tom is shown as a self-confident villain. But then the author reveals his real thoughts and feelings, such as loneliness, fear of the future etc.
Comparing these couples (Gabe-Karen, Tom-Beth), we can say that they are directly opposed. But lets follow the plot of the play; do the families really have different problems? In the first scene of the play Dinner With Friends we see Gabe and Karen, cooking a splendid dinner for their friends Tom and Beth. But soon Beth comes alone. She says that Tom is on a business trip. Later she confesses that he is with another woman.
Then Tom appears. He proposed his variant of the events. In Act 2 the events take place in a period when our heroes were young, 12 years earlier. Happy Gabe and Karen are newlyweds.
They want to introduce his college friend Tom and to her co-worker Beth. Karen is sure that there is no harm in it. Romantic evenings and happy days with good friends, at last, awake a deep feeling and lead Tom and Beth to marriage. Everything seems to be good.
Then we meet with our characters after Tom and Beths divorce. Tom looks happy with his new love; but Beth has a lover too! She met with him secretly during her marriage. Nothing left from love and respect.
The family fell to pieces. Examining the situation, Karen and Gabe talk about relationships why they succeed or fail. The theme of the play is based on different relationships of marriage. They are different inside and outside of them.
Showing the past, Donald Margulies wants to examine how feelings develop through attraction. Then he watches them changing with time; finally, he emphasizes the results of them. Food in Margulies play is used as a fitting background. It is a metaphor for human relationships, comparing them with the process of preparation and consumption of food.
A person can feel pleasure, comfort and tedium as well as in relationships between people. The dialogues of the play are full of witty and humorous cues. Many comic scenes are arisen from the food motif. But the author calls the play a rueful comedy.
Why does he use such unusual formulation? The answer is in understanding the real problem of human relationships, revealed in the work. More the play reaches the end more complicated relationships are. And finally, comedy turns into tragi-comedy. For some people it can be painful to see the play.
It is because the problems, shown in the play, are familiar to them. Many couples went through uneasy relationships inside the family, and knew the real price of happiness and love. I think Donald Margulies could create a good play, which is generally recognized. Bibliography: Donald, Margulies.
Dinner With Friends. The New York Times Almanac, 2002.
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