jgfantasticks

**//The Fantasticks //**

 * 1) A major character is the main character of a theatrical piece. A main character can also be considered the protagonist of the story line. The main character or characters is who the story is about. Meanwhile, a minor character is a subsequent character that may not seem as important, but is necessary in order to build the story. In basic terms, the major character is who the story is about and the minor character helps build and clarify the story. In //The Fantasticks// the main characters are Louisa and Matt. The fathers, El Gallo, Mortimer, Henry, and the Wall are minor characters. Each of the minor characters are important in developing the story between Louisa and Matt.
 * 2) I really enjoyed the El Gallo character. I think I enjoyed his character the most because it was almost contradicting which seems more like true human nature to me. El Gallo encouraged the fathers to put on this huge spectacle to solidify the relationship between Matt and Louisa, yet El Gallo also argued in a way that the world is full of things that will burn a man. I think instinctively people want to believe in fairytales, but at the end of the day we know that there is also truth in the reality of the world being slightly unforgiving and I think the El Gallo character demonstrated this concept well. I thought the best actor from my limited technical knowledge was probably Louisa’s father. He seemed to really embrace the role of a father to a girl that she believes she is a princess. I thought he did a very good job. In addition, I think that he didn’t let the mask be the only part of the character; I think he utilized it well as an extension of the character.
 * 3) I think I sympathize most with Matt. I truly feel sorry for the people who make irrational decisions that have such lasting effects. Matt is the kind of person that I want to tell “slow down! Think this through!” Though I tend to not act upon urges to do irate things, I tend to say things that I later regret similar to how in a way I think Matt regretted leaving because the outcome isn’t what he (or I) anticipated.
 * 4) I recognize a lot of myself in Louisa. I can be foolish when it comes to love. So many people mistake a small amount of interest for being more. I wouldn’t say that I easily give my heart away, not in the slightest, but I have found that I trust people too easily even in everyday relationships. I trust that people are inherently good and will do the right thing. I trust that people will help others in times of trouble. Just like Louisa though, I find that people will take the best of you (whether it be your time, your advice, your help) and run. Though there is really no true loss in this sort of exchange, there is a sense of loss in more complex relationships. Even recently in my own life, I find that I give my spare time to my long distance relationship expecting some sort of reciprocation, but like Louisa they take the most prized possession (time in my average college student life and the necklace in Louisa’s) and they disappear.
 * 5) Throughout the play Matt and Louisa change by first being so called secret lovers hiding from their parents in secret meetings where they declared their love for each other. Then Matt and Louisa are “allowed” to be together because Matt is deemed a hero for saving Louisa from El Gallo. The pivotal change though is when night turns to day and they realize that there are things they don’t like about each other. This change is the most significant because Matt leaves Louisa. From this point on, the characters are no longer innocently in love. Louisa looks for love from El Gallo while Matt searches the world, but in the end they both return to each other hurt by their individual experiences. In the end though, Matt and Louisa seem to have a much more grown up perspective about life and expectations.
 * 6) When El Gallo says that he will remember the girls kiss, I think he was foreshadowing to the fact that he already knew that he was going to leave her. I think this statement is meant to resound the fact that El Gallo never had any intentions of really being with Louisa.
 * 7) The fathers differ in very few ways in my opinion. They both want their children to get married. After the discussion with El Gallo, both the fathers agree to a big lavish abducting. Both of the fathers are slightly obsessed with the fact that their gardens are the only thing that is dependable. Both of the fathers think that their child is without blame. However, it is interesting if you compare their gardening habits to their parenting habits. Louisa’s father was obsessed with making sure his plants were well hydrated and his daughter turned out to be quite spoiled. Matt’s father however, was always cutting back his plants just like he did not appreciate what Matt had learned at college in the sense that the things he learned at college were just “extras” that should be trimmed.
 * 8) Henry and Mortimer served as comic relief to the play. Henry seemed to almost make fun of the institution of theatre by being so over the top and trying to quote famous plays based on a few lines from well-known plays. I was a bit distracted by what seemed like a little bit of racism in Mortimer’s character. I am not really sure why Mortimer had to be the controlling image and stereotype of the “dumb Indian,” and truth be told that kind of bothered me. The actors themselves were quite effective. The gentleman playing Henry did an outstanding job. I think that for what was written, the gentleman playing Mortimer also did exceedingly well. I thought it was really interesting that the two men fit into that little box. Besides acting as comic relief, Henry and Mortimer serve as instruments in manipulating the lives of Matt and Louisa. They act as allusions to other great works that allow the audience to draw parallels, as well as contrasts, against the story that is unfolding of Matt and Louisa. It is interesting that Mortimer and Henry end up as a pair because they seem to be such opposites of each other, which parallels how Matt and Louisa’s fathers take opposite parenting approaches. Henry and Mortimer may have been paired in order to make these differences stand in a more stark contrast.