proffessor2013

English 2020

Essay III

Date: 05-04-16

Crimes of the Heart

Crimes of the Heart is dark, comedic, and heart-warming all wrapped up in one. The play and film represent both black comedy and Southern Gothic styles. The characters are lively and relatable despite the fact that we may find ourselves at time horrified by certain aspects of their lives. The balance between tragedy and comedy is found in this work.

Part of the genius of Henley’s work is that the characters are rather relatable. Lenny is approaching thirty years old and is tasked with caring for her grandfather who is somewhere between life and death. But her problems are pretty slim compared with her sister who shot her husband claiming she did not like his looks. Her crime has been enough to bring their other sister, Meg home. Meg has been working on her singing career out in Hollywood, to pretty much no avail. Her character is really seen when she lies to her grandfather about her career as he lies dying.

The development of the characters is important to both the film and the play. Viewers can connect with Babe after learning more about her husband. The more we learn about him, the easier it is to dislike him. Even though Babe has committed a crime, viewers start to sympathize with her based on what we know about her husband. It is always interesting when a character has done something wrong and the audience begins to sympathize with him/her nonetheless. This story is no exception.

Meg is an extremely colorful character. Someone who leaves the culture of the South always plays an interesting contrast to those who stick around in literature and film. The worldview is changed by getting out of the culture for a while. Meg is one of those characters. However, her return home forces her to face some of the items from her past which gives us insight to her real character. Meg’s major crime is breaking her vow to marry her former boyfriend Doc Porter after a natural disaster leaves him limping. This gives us some insight into the kind of person she is, and how she deals with this demon from her past also colors her character.

Lenny deals with much of the family relations in this work. Her character is less colorful than the others. She has to deal with relatives such as her cousin, Chick, who places a stigma on her for the suicide death of her mother after her father left the family. This, however, is not Lenny’s burden to hear alone. Each of the sisters deals with this tragedy in her own way.

The characters, whether primary or secondary in both the play and the film are extremely important. The themes of both are shaped by character-driven action. Even those who are not speaking very much have importance in facial expressions and behaviors. The performances of each character drive the emotion and feelings of the play. The characters are lively, but not overly done. The characters are inherently Southern which adds some dimension to the play and the film. Had the action been set in another area with the same lines and character development, there are many things that just would not make sense. The story unfold of three sisters who are locked in despair and tragedy. However, in the end, hope and even a bit of comedy prevail. The characters make this happen. The characters play an essential role in unveiling the themes and ideas that are essential in understanding this work.