Three Viewings

With this play, I had an extremely difficult time identifying something that united these as the same show.  There did not seem to be much connection between one monologue and another.  Other than the obvious fact that they are all talking about a funeral, they seemed pretty different to me.  As usual, though, I slowly started to pick up on something.  I knew that there had to be some sort of motif that connected these three very different characters.  All of these characters were talking about the funeral of someone.  With both Mac and Virginia, the funeral was for a person who was extremely close to the character giving the monologue.  However, in all three of the monologues, there is a very obvious disconnect between the person who has died and the person who is giving the monologue.  In Emil’s monologue, he often hardly seems to realize that he is talking about a funeral.  He is very caught up in his admiration of “Tessie” most of the time.  When he does mention Nettie, it seems extremely casual and not very respectful.  In Mac’s monologue, there is an even greater tension there because Nettie was her grandmother.  It should be a funeral that is sad for her.  However, she speaks of her grandma’s death rather casually as well.  Her focus is completely on obtaining that ring.  There is a switch at the end, though.  That is something that we do not see nearly as much with Emil.  Lastly, in Virginia’s scene, she is talking about her deceased husband.  This seems as if it should be a heart wrenching, very sad sort of scene.  But again, I just get this feeling of casualness.  I’m not completely sure why this exists in this play, but it stood out to me and puzzled me.