NEB Grade:11 (English) 4.2 A Sunny Morning- by S.& J. Alvarez Quintero (One Act Play) Part -2
Setting: A Sunny Morning
¨ Setting: - Setting simply means time and
place.
¨ The play "A Sunny
Morning" is a light comedy in one act, by Serafin and Joaquin
Alvarez Quintero, set on a sunny autumn morning in a quite corner of a park
located in Madrid, the
capital of Spain where Dona Laura, a handsome, white-haired lady of
about seventy, refined in appearance, is feeding pigeons in the park and
then, there enters Don Gonzalo, a gentleman of seventy, gouty and
impatient man. Their servants Petra, Dona Laura's maid and Juanito, the servant
of Don Gonzalo come and go nearby.
¨ The Autuman season
A Sunny Morning: Summary
¨ Introduction
¨ The play “A Sunny Morning” opens with entering of Dona Laura, an old lady
in her appearance with her bright eyes into the park leaning upon the arm of
her maid, Petra and feels herself glad to get her seat on a beautiful morning.
It centres around the conversation between two lovers (Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura) who now in their 70th and
their recalling past joyful and romantic nostalgic recollections.
¨ Meeting of Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura
¨ Two key characters, Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura who have also lost their
prime youth and attraction, meet at the
park but they are not able to identify each other at the beginning. Don Gonzalo
angers Dona Laura as he scares away the birds she was feeding. These two
seventy-year-olds begins their conversation sarcastically, with each accusing
the other of encroaching on their private space. Don Gonzalo complains the
priests have taken his bench and says Dona Laura is a “Senile old lady! She
ought to be at home knitting and counting her beads.” She finds him “an ill-natured old man!” He resigns himself
to “sit on the bench with the old lady.” He retorts though, gives up soon and
offers her a pinch of snuff and reconciles with her. Their servants Petra,
Dona Laura’s maid, and Juanito come and go nearby.
¨ Flashback
¨ When Don Gonzalo reads from Campoamor’s ‘Twenty years past, he returns’,
both feel that they were the lovers in the past. But they choose to pretend to
hide their identities. Don Gonzalo tells Laura that he was Gonzalo’s cousin and
she says that she heard about Dona Laura’s story through her friend.
¨ Their Love story - Dona Laura’s
version
¨ In her youthful days, Dona Laura was known in her locality as ‘The
Silver Maiden’. She was fair as the lily, with jet black hair and black
eyes. She was in love with Gonzalo, the
gallant lover (brave/attentive). He used to pass by on horseback every morning
through the rose garden and toss up a bouquet of flowers to her balcony which
she caught. On his way back in the afternoon she would toss the flowers back to
him. But Laura’s parents wanted to marry her off to a merchant whom she
disliked. One day there was a quarrel between Gonzalo and the merchant, the
suitor. The merchant was badly wounded by Gonzalo and he fled from the home town to Seville and then to Madrid, being scared
of the consequences of a duel with a person highly regarded in that
locality. Laura waited for days and
months and not hearing from him for long she left her home one afternoon.
¨ Their Love Story : Don Gonzalo’s
version
¨ Don Gonzalo loved Dona Laura intensely too. After injuring the merchant
seriously, he took refuge in Seville and Madrid, fearing the consequences of
the duel. He wrote many letters to her but due to many interventions created by
her parents, they did not reach to her.
¨ Their pretending and Reality
¨ The old Gonzalo says that he is the cousin of the young man. According to
him, as there was no reply and all his attempts failed, in despair, he joined
the army and met his glorious death in Africa. The old Laura says that she
knows the woman named Laura, known as The Silver Maiden’ and that she was her
friend during her young age. She also lies that she knows the tragic story of
her love affair with a gallant young man named Gonzalo. The old woman reveals
that not finding her lover, the young and beautiful Laura committed suicide.
¨ But, in reality, after three months, being disappointed over his lost
love, Gonzalo ran off and married to a ballet dancer and settled down in Paris and Laura, on the
other hand, got married after two years and settled down in her life.
¨ Conclusion
¨ When they meet in the park after nearly 50 years, both of them were
able to recall their intense romantic affair. Although they came to know about
each other in reality, they did not want to reveal, for they had lost their
charming youth. Though they were separated, in their hearts their yearning for
the romantic love continued.
¨ When the play ends, they agree to meet at the park again, still not
acknowledging what they both know to be true perhaps to continue their longing
and love in their old age.
Understanding the text
¨ Answer the following questions.
a.
What makes Dona Laura think that Don Gonzalo is an ill-natured man? Why
do neither Dona Laura nor Don Gonzalo reveal their true identities?
While Dona Laura was feeding the pigeons,
Don Gonzalo walked into the midst of them. Furthermore, for her question why he
did so, he replies that he did not care about the birds and asks her how dare she talk to him. These
rude actions made by Gonzalo make Laura conclude
that he was an ill-natured man.
Neither Dona Laura nor Don Gonzalo reveal
their true identities because by their words, they learn from each other in what high
esteem they held each other before they departed. They know that fact that they
were separated in life by fate.
Thus, they decide not to reveal their true identities.
b.
At what point of time, do you think, Laura and Gonzalo begin to recognise
each other?
Laura
and Gonzalo begin to recognise each other exactly at the time when Dona
Laura takes the book from Don Gonzalo and reads aloud saying, "Twenty Years Pass”. Furthermore,
they acquaint (familiarise) to each other as they disclose about their places
and secrets.
c.
When does Dona Laura realise that Don Gonzalo was her former
lover?
When Don Gonzalo reveals
the fact about her as ‘the Silver
Maiden’ and describes her beauty
as a poet, at the moment, Dona Laura realizes that Don Gonzalo was
her former lover.
d.
Why do Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo spin (rotate) fictitious
stories about themselves?
Dona
Laura and Don Gonzalo spin fictitious stories themselves because they
consider revealing their identities at the old age was not a good matter.
Moreover, Dona Laura was
a married woman while Gonzalo suffered from gout (arthritis).
e.
How do Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo feel about each other?
As the play is over, we find absolute
change in the feeling of Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo because they know
each other as past ‘darlings’ .
They officially thank for meeting each other. Don Gonzalo gets the lilies
dropped by Laura and they wave goodbye to
each other as companions.
Reference to the context
a. Look at the extract below and answer the questions that
follow:
¨ “Yes, you are only twenty. (She sits
down on the bench.) Oh, I feel more tired today than usual. (Noticing Petra,
who seems impatient.) Go, if you wish to chat with your guard."
i.
Who is the speaker? – The speaker is Dona Laura.
ii.
Who does ‘you‘ refer to? – ‘You’ refers to Petra, her maid.
iii.
Who is the 'guard' the speaker is talking to? The speaker is talking to the ‘guard’ of the park.
b.
Read the extract dialogue from the play and answer the questions that
follow:
DONA LAURA: (Indignantly.) Look out!
DON GONZALO: Are you speaking to me,
senora?
DONA LAURA: Yes, to you.
DON GONZALO: What do you wish?
DONA LAURA: You have scared away the
birds who were feeding on my crumbs.
DON GONZALO: What do I care about the
birds?
DONA LAURA: But I do.
DON GONZALO: This is a public park.
i. Who is Dona addressing by saying "Look out"? - Dona is addressing Don Gonzalo by saying “Look out."
ii. What was Dona doing? – Dona was feeding crumbs to the birds.
iii. Who scared the birds? - Don Gonzalo scared the birds.
iv. Are they pet birds? – No, they are not pet rather park birds.
v. Where are the speakers at the time of the conversation? – The speakers are a park of Madrid, the capital of Spain.
c.
What is the effect of flashback in the play when Dona Laura
and Don Gonzalo knew that they were the lovers in the past?
¨ Yes. flashback in the play plays significant role as Dona Laura and Don
Gonzalo knew that they were the lovers
of the past. They think that they are same romantic lovers Maricela who were separated in life by fate and are now in their 70s
¨ They decide not to reveal their identity because they learn from each
other in what high esteem they held each other before they departed. They
concoct fictitious stories so as to conceal their identities completely and to
make the other believe that he or she was dead. And now they do not want to
shatter their mutual images in the eyes of the other. It also states that though
they were separated, in their hearts their yearning for the romantic love
continued.
¨ The flashback conversation has
affects them a lot. When the play ends, they agree to meet at the park again,
still not acknowledging what they both know to be true perhaps to continue
their longing and love in their old age.
d.
Discuss how the play is built around humour and irony.
¨ ‘A Sunny Morning’ is a romantic comedy built around humour and irony with only two main characters Don Gonzalo and Dona Laura.
¨ The two old characters meet on a sunny morning in a park in Madrid and
relive the story of their love affair even after 50 years is itself humorous. Their whole conversation is
built up through witty and humorous instances.
¨ When Don Gonzalo comes near Laura looking for a bench, Dona Laura accuses
him of scaring away her birds.
In reply, Don Gonzalo tells her that it is a public park and he doesn’t care
about the birds.
¨ Laura remarks that he should have taken her permission to sit on that
bench. With her witty remarks, she makes him tongue-tied and helpless. He says
that she was a senile old lady and she ought to be at home knitting and counting her beads, she asks him not to
grumble any more.
¨ Another witty remarks, Laura sees as he was cleaning his shoes with his handkerchief, she taunts him asking
whether one uses a handkerchief as a shoe brush. In reply, when Gonzalo asks
her what right she has to criticize his actions, she answers playfully as a
neighbour.
The
play 'A Sunny Morning‘
cleverly connects ironical instances into
the play. Irony, in its broadest
sense, is a rhetorical device, or event in which what on the surface
appears to be the case or to be expected differs radically from what is
actually the case having artistic effects.
i.
Though the old lady is referring
to the arrival of the birds, it
also hints at the entry of Don Gonzalo and Juanito. Dona Laura throws three
handfuls of crumbs for the pigeons to eat soon after Don Gonzalo and scar the birds.
ii.
Don Gonzalo starts reading aloud
statements supposedly from Campoamor’s work, “All love is sad but sad as it is,
it is the best thing that we know”. “Twenty
years pass… Heavens, is it she?” These lines can be taken as examples of
‘Dramatic irony’.
iii.
When Dona Laura tells Don Gonzalo
that Laura Llorente was called ‘The
Silver Maiden’ in that locality’ as she was talking about herself but
pretending herself as other.
iv.
He starts giving a description of her
beauty, “She was ideal, fair as a lily,
jet black hair and black eyes…” and finally says “what forms of
sovereign beauty God models in human clay! She was a dream”.
v.
“Here are you and I, complete strangers, met by chance, discussing
the romance of old friends of
long ago! We have been conversing as if we were old friends”, Dona Laura tells
Don Gonzalo after both of them have told their made-up stories.
e.
How is the title 'A Sunny Morning' justifiable? Discuss.
ü ‘A Sunny Morning’ is a beautiful one
act romantic comedy which shuttles between past and present and presents
youthful romance of the lead characters’ past and romantic aspects of love in
the guise of new friendship for the veteran souls.
ü The title is befitting considering ‘A
Sunny Morning’ contrasting their late evening years. They just want to relive
the past romantic moments when Gonzalo stoops (hunt/pick up) with great
difficulty to pick up the violets Laura dropped while leaving the park.
ü The title A Sunny Morning’ is quite appropriate and aptly captures the
spirit of the play. The play can be justifiably called a romantic comedy
because there are elements of both romance and comedy in the play. In its most
general sense the word ‘romance’ suggests elements of gallant love, chivalry
and adventure. The phrase ‘romantic comedy’ denotes a form of drama in which
love is the main theme and love leads to a happy ending.
ü To wrap up, we can say that "A Sunny Morning" is a
humorous one act play of romance and comedy with active, romantic and lively atmosphere of sunny
morning but now they inactive, moody and irritated.. But the past experiences
make them forget their age and think that it is a sunny morning. By
the time they are ready to leave for the day, they recognize each other’s
identity. They do not disclose it but tell atrocious lies to conceal it. Even
in the end. Offering of flowers is romantic and comic.
Reference beyond the text…
1.
What do you predict will happen in the next meeting between Dona Laura
and Don Gonzalo? Discuss.
q By the time Dona Laura and Don
Gonzalo are ready to leave for the day, they recognize each other’s
identity. They do not disclose it but tell atrocious lies to conceal it. They just want to relive the past
romantic moments. Therefore, even in the end, Gonzalo stoops (hunt/pick up) with
great difficulty to pick up the violets Laura dropped while leaving the
park. Offering of flowers in the old age
states their love is still romantic and comic.
q Their waving farewell to each other with a smiling face as if she were
again at the window and he is below in the rose garden and promising to meet
tomorrow at the same place justify that as they will meet tomorrow
morning, they will continue their
romantic stories and romance in their old age but with respect without
disturbing their personal life.
b.
Was it wise for Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo to keep their identities
secret? How might their secrets affect future meetings?
Ofcourse,
it was wise for Dona Laura and Don Gonzalo to keep their identities secret and
meet each other as strangers making tactful remarks.
Dona
Laura and Don Gonzalo meet each other, they decide not to reveal their identity
due to following reasons:
Ø Because they learn from each other in what high esteem they held each
other before they departed. They concoct fictitious stories so as to conceal
their identities completely and to make the other believe that he or she was
dead.
Ø And now they do not want to shatter their mutual images in the eyes of
the other.
Ø It also states that though they were separated, in their hearts their
yearning for the romantic love continued.
Ø They fear that it might be embarrassing to know about each other in real
in their 70s.
So,
they spin fictitious stories where Laura identifies herself as the friend of
the Silver Maiden while he identifies himself as the cousin of Don Gonzalo.
Their secrets might help them to meet and continue their romantic past stories
and romance but with respect in the future meetings.
c. Write the summary of the play. (already mentioned)
Don Gonzalo: Character Sketch
¨ In the opening of the play, an old man enters with his attendant in a
park in Madrid, the capital of Spain who is none other than Don Gonzalo. He is
seen to be quite irritated as he finds no bench in the park to be vacant.
Moreover, the one that he usually uses during his visit to the park is occupied
by three priests. Therefore, he comes near Laura and shares her bench who gets
infuriated as he arrival has scared the pigeons and she calls him "an
ill-natured man." But after a few moments of disagreement, both of them
have a pinch of snuff and reconciles with each other.
¨ Gonzalo says that he is from Valencia revealing that he knows a woman
named Laura Liorente who lived in a villa there, who was perhaps the most
beautiful woman he had ever seen. Both Laura and Gonzalo pretend not to reveal
their identities.
¨ As Gonzalo departs from the park, he promises to meet her tomorrow waving
farewell with a smiling face and stoops (hunt/pick up) with great difficulty to pick up the violets Laura
dropped while leaving the park. Offering of flowers in
the old age states their love is still romantic and comic.
Dona Laura : Character Sketch
¨ When the play opens, Dona Laura, a handsome, white-haired old lady of
about 70s is happily speaking to the pigeons and feeding on the bread crumbs.
When Don Gonzalo arrives there for a bench, Dona Laura accuses him of scaring
away her birds. In reply, Don Gonzalo tells her that it is a public park and he
doesn’t care about the birds. While giving reasons, he complains about the
priests who had taken his seat. When he tells her that she ought to have only
returned his greeting, she remarks that he should have taken her permission to
sit on that bench. Finally, with her witty remarks, she makes him tongue-tied
and helpless. When she finds him cleaning his shoes with his handkerchief, she
taunts him asking whether one uses a handkerchief as a shoe brush. In reply,
when Gonzalo asks her what right she has to criticize his actions, she answers
playfully that it was her right as a neighbour.
¨ When she departs the park, she drops the violets for him and waves farewell with a smiling face and a promise to meet tomorrow at the same place.
NOTES
¨ Senora: a Spanish way of addressing a married woman, similar to 'Madam'. Senorita
is the term used to address unmarried women, and senor is used to address men.
¨ Adios: a courteous way of saying 'goodbye' in Spanish
¨ Mass: a religious celebration
held regularly in the Roman Catholic Church
¨ Aravaca: a village near Madrid
¨ Campoamor: Ramón de Campoamor (1817-1901), a Spanish poet and philosopher
¨ Espronceda: José de Espronceda (1808–1842), a Spanish romantic poet
¨ Zorrilla: José Zorrilla (1817-1893), a
Spanish romantic poet and dramatist
¨ Bécquer: Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870), a Spanish poet
¨ Ferdinand and Isabella: the king and queen of Spain who financed Christopher Columbus's voyage
across the Atlantic Ocean in the late 1400s
¨ Valencia: a city on the eastern coast of Spain
¨ Seville: a city in southern Spain
Glossary:
¨ atrocious (adj.): very bad; disgusting; horrifyingly wicked
¨ boudoir (n.): a woman's bedroom
¨ caravels (n.): ships built in Spain and Portugal in the fifteenth century
¨ duel (n.): a contest between two people with deadly weapons in order to settle a
point of honour
¨ glutton(n.): a person who is greedy for food
¨ gouty (adj.): suffering from the swelling in the joints
¨ snuff (n.): powdered tobacco
¨ graven (adj.): carved
¨ grotesque (adj.): comically or repulsively ugly or distorted
¨ indignant (adj.): feeling or showing anger because of something unjust or unfair
¨ parasol(n.): a small, colourful umbrella used for protection from the sun
¨ Providence (n.): a force that determines human fate; God
¨ spryest (adj.): active and lively
¨ threnody (n.): a song of lament for the dead
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