NEIL SIMON: UTILIZING CHARACTER EXAGGERATION Neil (Doc) Simon stands al nonp aril as by far the virtually successful American playwright of this vitamin C and most probably in the history of the American plate (Litz 573). He has entertained audiences for over thirty years with many Broadway productions, screenplays and television scripts. He has been hailed as the most formidable go down-on author in American theater (Geitner 253). Despite his large success, the majority of critics corroborate refused to look past Simons detonatingly funny quips and punchlines to the reward matter in his plays (Geitner 253). He has been virtu whollyy igno redness by these literary critics, who r stunnedinely dismiss him as a author of popular comedies that cater to the tastes of a well-established and loyal audience (Litz 573). It is with out delay and then true that Simon sacrifices meaning and depth for a favorable joke, scarcely even in Simons lightest comedies there ar undertones of earnestness (Geitner 253). Simon illustrates serious themes through the medium of comedy. He conveys the encounter spell at the corresponding age, cracks a joke. harmonise to Simon, My nous of last-ditch achievement in a comedy is to drive a whole audience fall onto floor, writhing and express joy so hard that few of them pass out(a) (Geitner 254). Simon uses different elements to determine show on the bout and to a fault to forethought in the humor of his plays. The jokes that Simon produces sneak from the situation, usuallybrought forth by variegated elements, one of which is lineament overstatement. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â In 2 of his early plays, interpose imbibe Your thrust and give out of the cerise change up Lovers, Simon utilizes computer address extravaganza. In individually of these plays the conflicts are post up by the hyperbole of the characters, which reveals each characters inclination clearly and accuratel y. Situations are step up and apparent, th! us the profound conflict is easily perceived. The character exaggeration also promotes themes that arise throughout Simons plays. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Neil Simons have intercourse brag Your Horn, is centered almost two fellows, Alan and comrade. They both work for their catchs cover fruit company. Alan, the old(a) of the br some others, is a swinging bachelor who comes amply equipt with his own flat and some(prenominal) willing women to involve it. Buddy, on the other hand, is Alans opposite, hard working and conscientious. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The play opens up with Alan laborious to seduce one of his lady whizzs, Peggy, with whom he fatigued the week pole at a ski resort. To overstate his character further, he repeatedly called Peggy, Connie who is a nonher one of his girlfriends. To top it inattentive , he, unknowly at the time, missed an important sales meeting. After Peggy left, Alans reverse lightning associate Buddy enters. Buddy had just now moved out of his parents house to live with Alan, unbeknownst to his parents. Alan is happy to square up his brother brake away from their overbearing parents. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Soon after, their paternity, Mr. Barker enters. Simon vividly conveys Mr. Bakers characterization. From The moment he steps into Alans flatbed and nods disgustedly, his personality shoot tos shape. He examines the room and, It is obvious he approves of nonhing in the flatbed (Come verso Her Horn 17). Mr. Baker does not talk, he yells and as best put by Alan, We dont talk. We commence core host to heart threatening- (Come Blow Your Horn 10). Mr. Baker barks at Alan, time Buddy hides in Alans bedroom, the brothers fear of their father is obvious. Mr. Baker runs dash off a coarse list of complaints to Alan, everything from missing the meeting to fall a vacation, to being an unmarried bum. Alans slothful attitude and conductstyle interferes with his job, and hence his father, who is his boss. The fact that when Alan moved away ! from home Mr. Baker began to crouch down of him, and now Buddy, the son to whom Mr. Baker had decided to seat all his commit, moved away from home unquestionably put the turn around in the coffin. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â perish of the tearing tropic Lovers is Simons attack on despair through comedy. Last of the redness blue Lovers is not merely a comedy, alone a commentary in the manner of Joseph Hellers Catch-22 (1961) (Geitner 257). The main character, Barney Cashman, who is the last of the red hot lovers is veneering a mid- feeling crisis. For the first time in his life he is meditating nigh final stage. He feels as if he has missed out on many things during his lifetime. In an act of desperation forward he gets too old, He decides to introduce excitement into his life via adultery (Martin 4). The exaggeration of Barneys characterguides the play through its development. He tries too hard to clear an action and usually, inadvertently dialogue his way out of having intercourse. He owns a restaurant where he uses cheap pick up lines to lure some of Manhattans most disturbed women back to his mothers trifling apartment. Barneys would-be lovers all incur from one affliction or another. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â First, Elaine Navazio is a depressed, cynical range smoker who asks only for alert energise and no complications. Elaine just wishs satisfaction, while Barney describes his intentions as of a romantic nature (Johnson 45). Elaine is emotionally frozen by nature, and un standardized Barney, she does not want to essay her situation, for she does not realise any hope of improving her circumstance in life. She states, I happen to like the pure, physical act of reservation love. It warms me, it stimulates me and it makes me feel like a cleaning lady- but thats another awful story (Last of the expiration acerb Lovers 27). When Barney tries to be romantic towards Elaine, she tells him, If you want undying love and roman ce, take a guitar and go to Spain (Johnson 45). When! Elaine complains agile Barneys ceaseless talking, Barney explains that he just wants her to know a little bit more(prenominal) around himself. Atthis master top chase Barney realizes that, In sum, he cannot, after all, be like the unexampled swingers he has heard about who have rouse, plain and straight, with correspond strangers (Johnson 46). Barney and Elaine become irritated with each other and get into a heated argument, about eachothers philosophy of life, which ends with Elaine getting up and walking out of the apartment. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Barneys second tone-beginning of adultery is Bobbi Michele. She is an incompetent nightclub singer with a spacious genre of cordial problems including paranoia and delusions of grandeur. They met in the park one day, and Barney bring her money for an accompanist for her theater audition. The next day she showed up at Barneys mothers apartment to supposedly to pay him back. Bobbi doesnt seem to have a firm grip on reality. non long after she arrives at the apartment, she says, I love this neighborhood. I knew this street looked familiar. I erstwhile had a girl friend who lived on this block. Forty-seventh betwixt First and York (Last of the Red Hot Lovers 33). Barney corrects her: This is Thirty-seventh (Last of the Red Hot Lovers 33). Which she concludes with,Thirty-seventh. Of course. Then she couldnt have lived on this block. Ohh, thats founder (Last of the Red Hot Lovers 33). She also tells Barney he is shorter than he looked ahead, and that she remembered him having a moustache (Johnson 47). She is very misdirect and explains bizarre episodes in her life.
She complains about rece! iving obscene phone calls; but then it turns out that, sooner of hanging up, she listens to the obscenities for fifteen legal proceeding at a clip (Johnson 47). Bobbis angry outbursts point to another look of her personality. She undergoes sudden moodswings. When a roommate is decrease to answer Bobbis phonecall, Bobbi remarks, She hears the phone. Shes just a lazy bitch (Last of the Red Hot Lovers 37). Bobbi comes at Barney from too many directions for him to steer her where he wants to go. Barney gives up on trying to analyze Bobbi and opts to listen to her stories before she leaves. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The final woman Barney chooses to pursue is Jeanette Fisher. According to Last of the Red Hot Lovers: She is probably the singularly most depressed woman the face of the Western Hemisphere. She wakes up to gravity and goes to bed with gloom. She fills the in between hours with despair (52). Jeanette and her husband, Mel, are exhaustively friends of Barney and his married woman, Thelma. At this point, Barney is in almost the exact frame of mind as Elaine. He does not want to chitchat, he wants sex. Ironically, he has waited too long and has picked the wrong partner for this mood. Jeanette, however, brooding about Mels having an affair with another woman, is too depressed to honour through on her previous impulse to have sex with Barney (Johnson 45). She is aroused and tells Barney: I dont particularly be intimate sex (Last of the Red Hot Lovers 55). Instead, she leads Barney into a debate about whether there are any decent community in the world. Jeanette asks him if he have in minds death is terrible. This question catches Barneys attention, for it was his intensified sense of death that lead to his desire to have an affair. He says that he does think death is terrible. Jeanette follows up with: You mean you enjoy life?( Last of the Red Hot Lovers 60). Barney responds, I love living. I have some problems with my life, butliv ing is the best thing theyve come up with so far (Las! t of the Red Hot Lovers 60). Barney convinces Jeanette that there are some good people in the world. Soon after, he phones his wife so they can meet. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â In Come Blow Your Horn and Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Simon uses character exaggeration to come to the fore conflict and construct a comedy that progresses expeditiously and predictably. In Come Blow Your Horn, the conflict is between the lifestyles of the two brothers and how their father thinks that they should live. The exaggeration of the brothers makes their lifestyles seem very extreme, as is the same concerning their fathers negative attitude toward them. In Last of the Red Hot Lovers, the exaggeration of the Barney outlines conflicts that arise, and the exaggerations of the women he pursues, adds both stress and humor. Also, In Last of the Red Hot Lovers Simon employs exaggeration for thematic enrichment (Geitner 257). The exaggeration of the characters in Simons plays aids the conflict, the hum or, the evolution of themes, and makes personality traits unawares obvious. These unique elements which he incorporates into his plays convey the theme and make you joke in the process. Like many of his plays, in the end of Come Blow Your Horn and Last of the Red Hot Lovers conflict is resolved and they end on a good note. The office of a Neil Simon play and the reason most people see one of Simons works is for the laughter that always comes with the cognize (Patterson 2). Through Neil Simons efforts he is and will hold on one of Americas most popular and fecund playwrights. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website:
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