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The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer/3. The Deer Park: Difference between revisions
The Structured Vision of Norman Mailer/3. The Deer Park (view source)
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The major shift in emphasis apparent in ''The Deer Park'' (P) lies in the fact that Sergius, though still the narrator, is far less important as a character than he was in the novel. The major conflicts with which he was presented in the novel, that of the movie contract offer and the visit from the government men, are absent from the play. The result is to throw the character of Eitel into a position of far greater importance to the dramatic structure of the play. Further, Eitel seems a stronger, more positive character than he was in the novel. He is given lines which did not appear in the novel and which some times look forward to the statements of Stephen Richards Rojack, narrator of ''An American Dream'', rather than back to the Eitel of the novel. For example, the play Eitel, speaking of his first night with Elena, says: | The major shift in emphasis apparent in ''The Deer Park'' (P) lies in the fact that Sergius, though still the narrator, is far less important as a character than he was in the novel. The major conflicts with which he was presented in the novel, that of the movie contract offer and the visit from the government men, are absent from the play. The result is to throw the character of Eitel into a position of far greater importance to the dramatic structure of the play. Further, Eitel seems a stronger, more positive character than he was in the novel. He is given lines which did not appear in the novel and which some times look forward to the statements of Stephen Richards Rojack, narrator of ''An American Dream'', rather than back to the Eitel of the novel. For example, the play Eitel, speaking of his first night with Elena, says: | ||
{{quote|. . . something flew in like a madman on wings. An angel. For the first time in my life I felt there were some sweet substance to be found in love, not power, but the sweetest thing I’d ever known-heaven. . . . it was as if God had touched me with a finger, and I didn’t want to lose that sensation ever again.<ref>{{ | {{quote|. . . something flew in like a madman on wings. An angel. For the first time in my life I felt there were some sweet substance to be found in love, not power, but the sweetest thing I’d ever known-heaven. . . . it was as if God had touched me with a finger, and I didn’t want to lose that sensation ever again.<ref>{{harvnb|Mailer|1967|p=318}}. Cf. {{harvnb|Mailer|1965|p=122.}}</ref> }} | ||
And later, speaking of their lost love to Elena, he says, “It wasn’t all wasted, Elena. I never knew what it was all about, until I learned from you.”<ref>{{ | And later, speaking of their lost love to Elena, he says, “It wasn’t all wasted, Elena. I never knew what it was all about, until I learned from you.”<ref>{{harvnb|Mailer|1967|p=187}}. Cf. {{harvnb|Mailer|1965|p=123.}}</ref> At the end of the play, Eitel dies, a major plot departure from the novel. And this death has the ring of tragedy about it. For although Eitel has failed at love and at defying the committee in the play, he dies raging at what he should have done with his life: | ||
{{quote|Aiiiiihhhh, the clot of unborn rage at all I have not done and all that I will never do . . . it tears now at my heart, and I am going to die. . .{{sfn|Mailer|1967|p=188}} }} | {{quote|Aiiiiihhhh, the clot of unborn rage at all I have not done and all that I will never do . . . it tears now at my heart, and I am going to die. . .{{sfn|Mailer|1967|p=188}} }} | ||
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:of the sucker esprit | :of the sucker esprit | ||
:to get something | :to get something | ||
::for no.<ref>{{ | ::for no.<ref>{{harvnb|Mailer|1959|p=510}}. The poem is written by a homosexual who, as {{harvtxt|Mailer|1959|p=504}} tells us “is obsessed with the thesis that men become homosexual in order to save themselves from cancer.”</ref> | ||
</poem></blockquote> | </poem></blockquote> | ||