Death And The Miaden Commentary

Death And The Miaden Commentary

A Commentary on Act One, Scene 3 of the play “the Death and the Maiden”
The author, Ariel Dorfman does tend to use a lot of stage directions in the play. Stage directions are. The stage directions are not necessary in this scene as there is no one to communicate with. The use of stage directions makes the whole play much clearer and understandable. The stage directions in this particular scene bring a completely different side to the character of Paulina and it also puts some light on her background.   The stage directions further develop the mood of the play and in context. In Act one scene three there Roberto Miranda is kidnapped during the night by Paulina. He is tied up and is being prepared for some kind of investigation and torture. This scene shows Paulina’s desire to seek vengeance, and to know what the real real truth is. The scene also clearly shows a shift in Paulina’s Character and the way she reacts to situations.
Paulina develops this new character with a new beginning and a new night. The imagery of the moon and the cloud illustrates the swift change in Paulina. It could suggest that Paulina at this point makes this decision in haste and without much thought. She cannot see clearly the as she is blinded by the “Cloud”. The way the cloud covers the moon and the moon is therefore not able to provide light clearly the same way Paulina was unable to reason out clearly hence the whole scene occurs in darkness. The darkness cast by the cloud also descends upon her.   The way the whole scene starts it does create an atmosphere of fear or a feeling that something bad is going to happen “A short time later. The cloud passes over the moon. The sound of the sea grows, and then recedes. Silence.” The fact that the sound of the sea grows and then recedes could illustrate the transition in Paulina’s character, as it is after this that she kidnaps Roberta Miranda.
It is not the first time that Paulina takes out a gun, she does take out a gun...