Pagr Four

SCARLET AND BLACK

Friday. rNot/er‘nber 2, I 962

 

Tension seen as essence of‘ ‘Heclcla'i

S’rrengl‘h found

in framework

of emol‘ional polar opposi’res

By Jonathan Knplaii
5&1: Sinff Writer

The Grinnell Players will
present Ibscn' tragic draina,
"Hedda Gablei ‘ tonight. Satur-
day and Sunday \i 3 iii llobci-ts
Theater. The d nintic strength
of the play can be attributed
alone neither to richness ot’ tha—
logue nor to mechanical dyiiaine
ics of motion and staging.

The play is stretched upon a
tramework of emotional, ideal.
ogical and aesthetic polar op-
posites, which must be viewed
beyond the diaphonous, mun.
danc mood that iorms the sub-
stance of the play in order to
understand the tension that is
its essence.

“Hedda Gabler"
of one woman, the rich and
beautitul daughter of the late
General Gabler. She is mascu-
line in her drives to be free.
dominate, control and mold oth-
er people, but she is the “tem-
rne tatrle“ in her modes of ap-
proach.

As there is no challenge ior
her in her husband, this drive
iinds its object in Ellcrt Low
horg and destroys him. The
will to dominate in nedda is
iriistratcd by both social and
psychological strictures: as a
descent in economic means,
and hatred oi assuming the
responsibility implicit in con-
trol. Responsibility w o u l d
squash the kindyoi pagan iree-
dom she desires.

When she attempts to exer-

is the story

cisc this ireedom, Hedda is
plagued with the tear of social
condemnation Ncithci- oi her
affairs attain sexual tulrillinent
As long as she can insinuate
liorsell into the secrets ol hei-
victims and mold their ideas
and destinies, Hcdda is sale.

lsUT SEXUAL union with air
lhcr or them would admit subr
ordination. In her marriagc to
the ineffectual George Tcsinan,
Hedda has already compromis-
ed herseli too much. The inn
pression oi her masculinity as
seen in her drives for ircedom

and power is iurther roiniorc.
ed by her perverse hatred and
jealousy ot things icmininc,

Although repressing the cre—
ative impulse, Hedda dcnies the
opposite, dcath, also, She reius.
cs to accompany Tasman to the
bedside ot' his dying aunt: “I
will not look upon sickness and
death. 1 loathe all sorts oi ugli—
X1055."

This suggests another aspect
oi licdda Gablerean aesﬂlee
tic. rcoiiii-cnicnt. Even domin-
ance and freedom, her ideals.
were unacceptable unless they
ooniorincd to her somewhat
obscure aesthetic concept oi
beauty.

Lovborg's death violates this
aesthetic principle Because oi
this and partly because of her

subjection to Judge Bi-ack and
her comprehension ol the na-
ture oi the new union oi Tes-
man and Thea, Hedda
her last tragic move.
11‘ was To prove
deed oi deliberate courage
still possible in this world
a deed oi spontaneous beaut .
she falls in this. Her end i
noted with academic shock by
“ratify that," and with
Back People don't do such
”ling, The magnitude of the
deed is thus minimircd by the
use oi coiniiiou expression. ~

Even il Bl'tlclt and Tcsinan
do understand, they can only
express their ieelings in the
inane utterances oi a restrictive
society.

is

Women's hours, printed letters
raise concern on other campuses

By Kendall Sandoisoin
Exchange Editor

The University oi Michigan is
experimenting with changes in
rules regarding women's hours.
This year. any senior woman
may check a dorm key out.
She may check the key out ev-
ery night, but it must he re
turned by l p.mi the iollowing
day. president Lewis, in an-
nounclng this new policy said,
“We recognize the maturity oi
senior women in implementing
these changes"

The editor oi

the student

 

' WELCOME PARENTS

ENJOY A REALLY
SUPERIOR MEAL IN
THE SAME LEISURE

; You WOULD AT HOME

$4.00

EAT AT THE
LONGHORN

Grinnell's Newest and Finest

 

newspaper at the University oi
Colorado has been fired aiter
printing two open letters by a
senior philosophy major on the
campus. The iii-st letter de-
nounced Senator Barry Goldwa-
ter as “a fool and no better
than a common criminal.”

In answer to a demand by
Goldwater (which he denied at
a press conference held on this
Campus last Week) that (he edi-
tor be iii-cd, President Quig
Newton said “The ﬁght to
achieve it (genuine democracy
of ideas) has been fought
against those \Vl\O—-“l(e yourself
—believe the function of a uni-
versity is to indoctrinatc rather
than educate.

“THE CRY YOU raise has a
'vcry iamiliar ring to it! You
must silence those who do not
agree with me: Senator, i shall
not silence them." However, att—
.cr the publication oi a second
ilettcr by the same student in
jivhich torincr Pl‘estdent Eisen-
;howei~ was reierred to as a
pnice old lap clog,” Newton elid
announce the dismissal or the
editor.

The National Student Assoclar
tion coordinator at Cornell
,Collegc has set up a committee
‘to direct the NSA program on
lthe campus. An emphasis will

lbe placed on what NSA can

dcrbuilt University was being
heard at the NSA conference
_ can they endorse slHnsl—
they iclt that NSA voices opln~
ions on topics which are not
student aiiairs.

The results ircm a poll taken
at Carleton College were des<
cribcd as “depressing" by the
student body president.

The poll asking ior student
support oi the Tuterhaitli
Council's pos on that “At-
tendance at religious activi—
ties should he voluntary," and
religious activities . should
have more student participa—
tion, was signed by only 609
of the students.

Alternatives to the compul-
sory participation which are be

ing considcrcd are a course sub..
stitute or a Conscientious Ob-l

jector clause.

A resolution lormally
dcmning discrimination by any
college organization is being
considered by the Simpson Stu-
dent Senate. If the resolution is
passed. any group found guilty
oi discriminatory practices or
any group having discriminatory
clauses in its constitution would
lose its seat in the Student Scn-
ate and its right to organize
on the campus »

ldo on the local, rather than .

~the regional level. However.
:lhey will also consider ways in
‘which the Nebraska-Iowa block
can work together [0 make its
vote more ciiective.

l The Student Senate at Van.

Movie Tonighl

“The Lady Killers" will be
shown free tonight and to-
morrow at 9:30 p.m. in ARH
auditorium.

 

 

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Election Night Party
TUESDAY, NOV. 6th

9:00-12:00 P.M

NBC and CBS election statistics by TV. current Tabulations of key races.
coffee. and soft drinks.

Caucus Room. Carnegie qul

Everything free — including election predictions!

Co-sponsored by Young Republicans. Young Democrats. and PPPE

sandwiches. cookies.

 

 

"that a,

con- .

FOFEyM
DESCENT

By Tom Phillips

makes

I hardly know anything about
dances, but i saw 'btllll periorm—
nccs given by the Canadian
‘National Ballet Tuesday, and i
would like to say some things
about what they did

OUT or ElCliT ballets they

periormcd, two were clioreo
graphed by George Balanchine
and three by Antony Tudor, both
oi whom i understand to be im—
portant riguies in the contem—
porary dance world. Their dances
.were distinctly dinci-ent, and l
happened to like the ones by
Balanchine much better than the
,ones by Tudor.
,i The three Tudor dances 7
“‘Judgment of Paris," "Lilac Gare
,den" and “Offenbach in the Un-
derworld”~all involved dancers
laying the parts of people. re-
‘ectcd lovers, iamous operetta
;ial's, drunken playboys and
:such. Now i can’t say that it's
bad for a ballet to have a story,
‘because “Swan Lake” has a
‘story and it‘s a good ballet, but
the trouble with these was that
they were lousy stories.

In “Lilac Garden." Tudor
takes the worn—out theme of
the dnublc triangle and adds
absolutely nothing to it. The
wrong lovers get paired off,
they dance around tor a while
throwing ﬂowers at each other
while their hearts break, and
then everybody walks off ex-
cept one or the starrcrossed
young men, who hangs his
head down and iaccs rear as
the curtain falls.
ln “Judgment oi Paris," the
myth is set in a barroom with
June, Minerva and Venus as
three slutty ladies. Paris chooses
lVenus because he is drunk Now
I'm sure this is a parody oi some
kind, but rm airaid i just don’t
get it, because it seems to me
that all Mr. Tudor has done is
to take all the signiﬁcance out
oi the myth and replace it with
a tow slightly cheap laughs.

l BUT THE Balanchine dances
ywel'cn't like that at all. There
twel‘e no stories and no real
lcharacters, so that the ballets
lalways looked like ballets, and
lnever like skits. in “Concerto
lilaroeco," the opcning work oi
lthc matinee, the two lead bal—
llerlnas weren’t princesses or oi-
‘phzm girls or anything, and all
{they did was dance a wonder-
iull-y vigorous counterpoint to
the violin parts. _

And “Serenade" was the best
t dance in the evening pcriorm—
: ance because it was the only
; one in which people could
dance together just because it
was right that way, and not
1 because they were supposed to
be Boyiricnd and Girlfriend.

l Well, I may be coniusing you.
‘All I really want to say is that
lthe meanings of Tudor's ballets
,might just as well have been
iexpi-cssed in words, but Balan—
chlnc's meanings were much too
jclear to be expressed in words.
And while we’re on the subicct,
:I’d like to say that i thought
,Gulina Saintsova was a wonder-
‘lul ballerina because she ﬂew
;like a bird and spun around so
jiast you couldn't see her,. and
‘ncver once did she wobble or
‘lcan ovcr too tar.

T‘Choir will present
tantala for vespers

l The Gl'lnnell Choir, under the
.direction ot Don Jones, tinusici,
twill sing a cantata, "Jestl. meine
gri-cude" by Dietrich Buxlclludc,
tat an d p Choir Vesper Fri-
day in l-ierric chapel.
Featured as soloists with the
. Gﬂsvoice eiisciuble will be
.lulia Johnson, soprano senior
irom Manning, and Craig Wcle
tcrlcu. bass, Manchester supllr
. omnrc.
l Jones said the choir will be
‘accompanled by an instrumental
‘cnsenible. Joan Pederson, Oma-
ha iunior. will be at the organ
for the Chorale Prelude.-

 

 

