Playing With Literature: Video Games as Narrative Fiction

Video games are often described as lacking in narrative depth; that is, the gameplay is (obviously) more important than the need for a sophisticated plot or narrative structure and so any storyline takes second place, or even is not considered as part of a games design and delivery. It has even been argued by video game theorist Jasper Juul that ‘…game and narrative are two separate phenomena that in many cases rule each other out.’(Juul, 2001) For some games, there is no need for a narrative; best selling titles such as Tetris do not need a narrative structure, involving simply the scoring of points in order to progress through the game. This has been the case throughout the relatively short history of video gaming; the playing aspects of video games - the puzzles and violence found in many games, has, until recently, been the major selling point and indeed remains a major aspect of video game design. Games such as the bestselling Tomb Raider (Eidos Interactive, 1994) contain a story that is simply a device by which the game strands are held together; the game revolves around the search for the Scion, a tenuous narrative strand which allows the player to complete a number of puzzles and search for treasure without the need for a sophisticated story.

However, the recent past as seen a change in the demographics of video game users and so designers have had to change the construction of games as a result of this. According to the Entertainment Software Association, the average American gamer in 2009 is 34 years and somewhat surprisingly, considering popular beliefs, (Barry Atkins says in 2003 that the video game is ‘...fiction for children and adolescents...’ (Atkins, 2003, p5)) ‘Women aged 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (33%) than boys age 17 or younger (20%).’ (ESA, 2010) However, the change in video game players has meant that it is no longer adequate that games are merely point scoring exercises; similarly, having a narrative that is merely a device by which the game play is justified is no longer sufficient to hold the attention of a modern audience; that is one made of mature adults as well as younger people.

The difficulties in creating something which can mix game play and a strong narrative are evident upon a cursory exploration of video games; there are at least two distinct problems arising as game designers try to make narrative more sophisticated. Aside from what is seen as the weak plot in many games, there are also problems with delivering the story to the player without interrupting the playing of the game; that is interacting with the events of the game as they unfold. There are two basic solutions to this; the first being that the gameplay becomes simple with a reliance on cut scenes (pieces of cinematic style footage in which the player has no control over the characters or their actions) which interrupts the game play. This is the case with the 2010 game Final Fantasy XIII, which relies heavily on cut scenes to carry forward the story; however, despite the quality of graphics and the sophisticated storyline of the game, gameplay itself is somewhat restrictive, essentially consisting of ‘…fighting your way through soldiers, monsters and robots … down a long hallway toward an orange target symbol on your mini-map that triggers a cutscene, a boss fight, or both...’(Glasser, 2010) for the majority of the game, which can take upward of 60 hours of gameplay, based on personal experience. The large amount of cutscenes featured in Final Fantasy XIII also means player interaction is disjointed; the role playing element of the game, an important factor in the franchise, is lost in favour of the fantastic quality of the in game graphics and the fight sequences (Kohler, 2010) as the story becomes more important.

The second way to incorporate a strong narrative into a video game has been to concentrate on the game playing experience and insert aspects of the storyline at intervals. This has the advantage of making player interaction more central, but has the misfortune to make the narrative feel less important. Indeed, if a puzzle or fight sequence within a game is particularly difficult and it takes a long time to progress, the game runs the risk of having the player forget the narrative as they concentrate on gameplay. For these games, playing disrupts the storyline, which results in a disjointed narrative experience; this can be seen in Tomb Raider where the narrative, although simple, is lost as the gameplay takes precedence.

Whilst it is true that establishing the presence of narrative within a video game has been problematic, the past few years have seen marked changes in the way that video games are presented to the changing audience and the type of games that are being released. There have been many games which are aimed at adults, reflecting a level of real life, as in the case of the hugely popular game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, (Activision, 2009) with its portrayal of terrorism and warfare in such locations as Afghanistan, which can be seen regularly in the media. Alongside this, recent games have involved a serious endeavour to strengthen the narrative content alongside the improved capabilities of modern games consoles and personal computers, something which was recognised in 2003 by Barry Atkins in More than a Game when he saw ‘...the first signs here of a form of fiction...’ (Atkins, 2003, p2) when playing computer games. This technological advancement has produced games such as Red Dead Redemption, (Rockstar, 2010) a role playing game or RPG, which has the player take on the persona of John Marston and carry out a variety of tasks in the Wild West, including hunting, breaking horses and chasing down outlaws.

Red Dead Redemption features a ‘sandbox’ narrative; that is, the narrative is to some extent non linear and is typical in RPG games, where the player can roam throughout the games landscape at will completing various tasks at leisure. Despite this non linear approach to the game, there is a firm story running through it, not merely an effort to hold the player’s attention long enough to progress to the next level or section of the game. Set at the turn of the 20^th Century, Marston is hunting and killing an outlaw gang on behalf of the Government and the player follows Marsden through a series of events (some of which must be completed in a linear fashion) which culminates in his death. However, this game is still predominantly, a ‘first person shooter’ or FPS and the narrative, although stronger, is still lacking the sophistication of a novel or film.

While Red Dead Redemption contains a discernable plot which can be followed through the game, even one quite primitive by literary standards, there have been a number of other games in the last eighteen months which have the potential to lead the field in the creation of video games with some of the sophistication of a novel or film, with narratives substantially stronger than earlier games. In 2010 there have been at least two major releases which push video game narrative boundaries, Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream, 2010) for the Playstation 3 and Alan Wake,(Remedy 2010) for the Xbox platform.

Alan Wake, said by Time Magazine to be the top game of 2010 (Narcisse, 2010), is an RPG with a linear narrative and contains aspects which allow the player to explore the narrative potential of the game as well as conform to the more traditional shooter style game. The narrative content of the game is typical of the novels of prolific authors such as Stephen King or Dean Koontz and indeed the relationship to the work of King is foregrounded in the opening words of the game: ‘Stephen King once wrote that ‘Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there’s little fun to be had in explanations…’ Alan Wake tells the generic story of an author with writer’s block who, when on holiday in Bright Falls a fictitious American town, is tangled up in a supernatural event. Taking the role of the author, Alan Wake, the player tries to save the life of Wake’s wife Alice. As a third person shooter (TPS); that is a shooting game where there is a visible onscreen character, there are enemies which need to be neutralised; the player must shine a light onto the ‘Taken’, (characters that have been transformed by the Darkness - the representation of evil in the game) draining the Darkness from inside them, before being able to shoot or otherwise destroy them. The fundamental narrative of Alan Wake is simple enough to conform to the stereotypical gameplay of the TPS game; which James Merry describes in 2000 as often being

‘…nothing more than the player’s character’s fiancé…being kidnapped by a horrible evil character. The fiancé…must be rescued…’ (Merry, 2000)

As well as this basic adherence to the shooter gameplay, the creators of Alan Wake also made it possible for the player to choose whether they wish to explore the more sophisticated narrative, explaining that having the gamer collect pages from the manuscript that is Wake’s novel means that

Everyone who plays will get the skeleton of the story but there is a lot of optional content with TVs and radios in the game to flesh out the story. We do flashbacks as well. There is even a live talk show with live actors. And we use live actors for some of the other scenes as well. This is all optional content. (Howson, 2010)

For the player who chooses to explore this optional content, the attempts to build a sophisticated narrative are evident; the game raises issues around identity, the concept of good and evil and also questions what is real. Wake, as the protagonist requires the use of his mental faculties over physical strength to defeat an elusive enemy who takes the form of Darkness; he must write a novel in order to save the life of his wife, Alice, whilst also trying to discover whether what is going on in Bright Falls is simply a manifestation of his own psyche.

Alan Wake makes use of many of the tropes of psychological thriller fiction; the game is narrated in the first person by Wake as he recounts the events taking place and the players viewpoint is restricted to having the same knowledge as Wake, even if that is erroneous. Furthermore, the use of the interior monologue allows the player to gain an insight into Wake’s mind, as he relates his thoughts and fears to the player. In keeping with the psychological thriller theme of the game, Wake is not endowed with superb physical prowess; he quickly becomes out of breath when running and frequently needs to recover from battling. This further highlights the fact that Wake cannot use physical prowess to conquer the Darkness, but must rely on his mental faculties. There is also a significant portion of the game given over to backstory; Wake’s personal history and his reasons for being in Bright Falls. This allows the game designer to present Wake as a three dimensional character and encourages an emotional attachment between the player and Wake.

The Playstation 3 game Heavy Rain, again marketed as a psychological thriller, is another example of the way that narrative has become stronger within video games in the very recent past. In this game, the player takes the part of a number of characters and the decisions the player makes as the character affect the outcome of the game. Although the classification of Heavy Rain as a psychological thriller puts it in the same genre as Alan Wake, the differences in both gameplay and narrative are extensive. Where Alan Wake’s story is supernatural, featuring as it does ‘The Darkness’, which is a manifestation of evil, Heavy Rain is firmly grounded in reality and tells the story of a serial killer known as ‘The Origami Killer’ whose modus operandi is to drown his child victims and leave an orchid and a piece of origami on the their bodies. All of the characters played in the game are searching for the identity of the serial killer before his latest victim, Shaun Mars, is killed and the game design utilises the way that the player interacts with the game via the control pad.

For gameplay, Heavy Rain builds on experimental techniques found in the game Fahrenheit, (Quantic Dream 2005) with the control pad being used in innovative ways. Where Alan Wake has Wake pointing a torch, shooting and looking around him, Heavy Rain has the player complete a range of everyday tasks as well as those central to the narrative; the control pad is used in a variety of different ways, being shaken and tilted amongst other things, not just used for direction and pressing an ‘action button’ which is usual. This intimate interaction allows the player to become emotionally involved with the characters as the player literally becomes them, completing tasks such as brushing teeth and taking a shower as game ‘author’ David Cage explains; ‘They [the tasks]…tell so much about the characters, contribute to the role play, triggering empathy and identification – I could not imagine not having these moments.(original emphasis) (Stuart, 2010) Cage is clear in interviews that the narrative content of the game is important, so important that he took

‘a year to write this, to get the story [he] want[ed]. [He] also wanted to get rid of any supernatural elements, any sci-fi and what have you. [He] wanted to write about real people in real life.’ (Kendall, 2010)

As with Alan Wake, there are evident tropes of the psychological thriller; none of the characters are endowed with more than average physical prowess and the ‘central’ character Ethan Mars has to pit his wits against the serial killer, who gives him fives tasks to complete in order to save his son, Shaun; these tasks involves both physical and mental bravery, involving such things as cutting off his own finger and facing electrocution in the attempt to save his son.

Structurally, both Alan Wake and Heavy Rain are similar to visual narratives. Alan Wake’s construction is similar to that of a television series, with six ‘episodes’ complete with opening and closing credit sequences and the even the familiar words ‘…Previously on…’ recapping what has already happened. This is a movement away from the previous work of the game designers; the game which preceded Alan Wake, Max Payne (Remedy, 2002) is created to feel like a film, albeit quite primitively. As the managing director of the development company Remedy, Matias Myllyrinne, says in an interview shortly after the release of Alan Wake, Max Payne ‘…kind of stretched the film-style of storytelling over a game.’ (O Hannessian, 2010) However, Myllyrinne goes on to say that this format was not something that was suitable for Alan Wake, as the story was much larger than in the Max Payne games. Heavy Rain is more explicitly connected to the medium of film; this game utilises methods such as the split screen technique showing different events occurring at the same time in the same screen (Figures 1&2) which heightens tension in the narrative as well as ‘the excitement and frenzy of certain activities.’(Chandler, 1995) This technique can be found throughout film, and has recently become popular in television serials such as 24 and CSI:Miami.

Figure 1: Heavy Rain (Robinson, 2009) Figure 2: 24 (Wikipedia, 2010)

Both the games Alan Wake and Heavy Rain allow the gamer to literally see what the character sees; there are methods by which the player can make the camera of the game look around them in the first-person; that is the camera angle temporarily becomes the eyes of the character, allowing the gamer not only to see what the character sees, but, more importantly, how the character sees something. As with the use of mundane tasks in Heavy Rain, the gamer becomes the character thereby heightening the emotional links between the player and the character.

Allowing the player to become emotionally involved with the characters in the game serves to garner the player’s interest in the narrative of the game; the player carries on playing in order to find out what happens next or how the story ends, rather than just to progress through the game and gain points or ‘kills’. Here, Alan Wake and Heavy Rain’s narrative successfully manages to hold the players interest; the usual cutscenes are dramatically reduced and the character can interact with the surroundings as the narrative is expanded. These scenes combine player activity with the cutscene; in Heavy Rain an example of this is when Ethan is talking with his psychiatrist. This segment of game consists of a lot of backstory, linking the introduction of the game, Ethan at home with his family, to the present of the game, which has Ethan as a single man with weekend access to his son. Previously, this would have taken the form of a cut scene, with no control over the proceedings on the screen; however, in Heavy Rain, the player can control Ethan to move around the room and interact with the furniture and objects found there while the psychiatrist explains the backstory. Within these portions of the game, there is also the use of Quicktime Events, (QTE’s) which, as the name suggests involves character events being played out in a fast manner. In Heavy Rain, this involves pressing highlighted buttons within a short time, with the failure to do this resulting in a penalty. There is also the potential within the QTE’s of Heavy Rain to change the path of the game, although, as a review of the game says it is ‘…in the game's latter half where your decisions really start to matter and it's here that the game impresses with its sense of consequence.’ (Wales, 2010) The presence of the QTE allows the narrative to progress without the player having to become a passive observer; the player continues to interact with the game as the story unfolds, avoiding one of the main problems of narrative delivery.

While Alan Wake has a linear narrative, with only one path that the gamer can take to get to the end, Heavy Rain has a different narrative structure. The game has the player making decisions which affect the outcome; whether the serial killer is apprehended and the child, Shaun, saved. Playing as the character Ethan, who is being manipulated by the serial killer, the player must decide whether to shoot another character to save the life of his son, with the instruction ‘Are you willing to kill someone to save your son?’ It transpires that the target is a drug dealer, who might, in other games, be thought of as worth killing; but within the context of the game, the player must make a moral decision as to whether to kill another person. In a way not usual for video games, the death of a single character becomes a major event; the player must decide whether to carry out a cold blooded murder, as the control pad simulates the reactions of the character. The pad shakes in the player’s hand, making it harder to aim the gun and hesitation can result in the character being shot, ending Ethan’s involvement in the game. Here, the game takes a common aspect of video games - killing, and makes it shocking; it makes the player seriously consider the consequences of their actions. This is evidence of social commentary, making comment on the frequency of violence in games and life, and having the player reconsider the morality of such actions. As with the everyday tasks of the game, it is clear that the peripheral equipment, the QTE aspects of the game and the ability to change the outcome of the game in this way immerses the gamer in the narrative, to the extent that the player effectively becomes the author, writing their own version of the narrative, although there are only a certain number of scenarios available to the player.

In the introduction to Intertextuality Graham Allan says that ‘texts, whether they be literary or non-literary, are viewed by modern theorists as lacking in any kind of independent meaning,’ (Allen, 2000) and this is something which can be seen in both Alan Wake and Heavy Rain. For players of Alan Wake, there are clear references to other texts and a quick search of the internet can uncover literally dozens of these cultural references, ranging from the Smoke Monster in Lost to the Raincoat killer from I Know What You Did Last Summer (Weijo, 2010). Although not academic, nevertheless, these references help to establish the type of game being played and highlighting an intertextual relationship can also serve to establish the game as a more sophisticated narrative, rather than just gameplay; some of the texts referenced in the game ‘...include the like of Twin Peaks, Lost and the works of Stephen King’ according to an interview with the games writer, Sam Lake. (Cowen, 2010) Twin Peaks is one of the first, and clearest, instances of intertextuality within Alan Wake; indeed, the games designers are clear that ‘...Twin Peaks is actually a big inspiration...’ (Howson, 2010) for the town of Bright Falls, which is the setting for the game. There are a number of clear connections between the two; for instance, the diner in Bright Falls is called the Triple D ‘Oh Deer’ Diner, echoing the name of the Double R Diner in Twin Peaks. Furthermore, the Light Lady in Alan Wake, who carries a lamp around with her is similar to the Log Lady of Twin Peaks, and‘…their appearance, behaviour and importance to the plot is almost identical…’ (Giant Bomb, nd) As well as these clear references to Twin Peaks, there are many other filmic intertextual references visible throughout the game, including a flock of birds which attacks Wake and his friend Barry, in the same way in which Hitchcock’s birds attack in the film The Birds.

Whilst there are many references to film and television within Alan Wake, there are also many allusions to Stephen King and his work within the game. As already stated, the game opens with a quote by King, but there are references to The Shining (King, 2007 ed) amongst others, with Wake comparing himself being chased by a crazed man with an axe to Torrance chasing his wife with an axe. There is also a sequence near the end of the game where Wake is being chased through a maze; again this can be compared to The Shining, where Torrence is chasing his son through the maze. However, the biggest instance of King’s influence is the storyline of the game, which has similarities to Misery, featuring as it does an author who is held captive, whilst being forced to write a novel with a particular ending.

When playing the game Alan Wake, it quickly becomes clear that the central theme of the game is light and the way light destroys darkness. As already mentioned, Wake must use a torch to destroy the Darkness in the ‘Taken’ before they can be neutralised; but this is merely part of the preoccupation with light that the game displays. There is the ‘Lamp Lady’ who carries a lamp everywhere she goes, and has lights burning at all times; if the player gets lost in the game, heading towards the light is the easiest way to get back on track; Wake can recover faster than usual if he is within a circle of light and it is light that drives the darkness out of the ‘Taken.’ As a motif in literature light has a clear meaning, with the relationship between light and religion being well known; there are many references in The Bible to light and to Jesus being the light. These include Jesus being ‘…the real light which gives light to every person (John 1:9) Jesus described himself as light: ‘I am the light of the world. No follower of mine shall ever walk in darkness. (John 8:12)…’ (Dues, 2006, p182) Light plays a major role in the game, and as such can be easily interpreted as having a religious significance. Here, in what can only be described as obvious religious imagery, light is the saviour of Wake, his wife and the community of Bright Springs, with The Darkness being representative of evil, especially in the way it can penetrate a person and only be destroyed by the presence of the light.

Alongside the presence of light as a motif of Alan Wake, there is a preoccupation with the written word in the game; as previously discussed, Wake is a frustrated writer who must write to save the life of his wife. However, there are also more subtle ways which the written word takes a dominant place in the video game; there are 106 pieces of manuscript scattered throughout the game, which when read together make up the entire narrative of the game, which makes up some of the optional narrative content of the game. Literally speaking, the game can therefore be read as well as played, with the player gaining access to parts of the backstory of the game and insights into other characters that the restrictive narrative style of the game does not allow. Throughout Bright Falls, there are many signs which can be read, giving the history of the area, a tactic which allows the player to gain an understanding of the setting, and again fills in elements of backstory which Wake (and the player) would otherwise not know. There is also the presence of glowing words; that is, written messages which can be seen to glow when light is shone on them. Words are known to have a religious significance, alongside the representation of light; indeed one of the more famous passages from The Bible is ‘In the Beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.’ (John 1:1, King James Version) Alongside the religious motif, the presence of text is significant in showing the importance and power of the written word within both the game and life; words give meaning to the fictional town of Bright Springs through the signs displaying aspects of the history; words are also able to build a cohesive whole, as in the way the manuscript pages build up the entire narrative of the events in Bright Springs. Finally, words are a way of changing events; this is clear in the game as the physical manifestation of the Darkness wants Wake to write a particular story, which will allow its influence to spread further than the boundaries of Bright Springs and in the way Wake eventually understands that in order to save Alice, he needs to write his own ending.

It is clear then, that the video game has become more sophisticated throughout its short history and that game writers are beginning to consider more than shooting and point scoring when they embark upon creating a new game. This includes inserting examples of intertextuality in the text and an exploration of themes and motifs as well as making allusions to contemporary life. However, the narrative of games is often derided for being simplistic and lacking any depth when it is present; something which film has endured for much of its existence. It is true that video game narrative is in its infancy, indeed there is a vast scope for improvement within the games analysed; Heavy Rain’s conclusion where the serial killer is unmasked is not a sophisticated piece of storytelling, involving action replays which undermine the previous narrative, inserting actions which were not evident when playing as the character at the time the events took place. While the narrative of Alan Wake is fairly generic, echoing a number of stories by authors of the psychological thriller, nevertheless there is definite potential for the expansion of the video game narrative as a genre, with the techniques used in these games being built on and expanded to allow games to involve the player as much as reading a piece of fiction can. Technological advancements should also aid in this, with recent innovations regarding the Xbox Kinect making the potential for interaction greater as the player does not need a control pad; the player can mimic real actions as the camera attached to the console interprets the movements and shows them on the screen. While the player will not have the sensory interaction that the control pad offers in Heavy Rain, for such actions as moving through landscapes this could be invaluable.

It is evident that the video game has the potential to grow into a sophisticated narrative form, rivalling the efforts of filmmakers of the 21^st Century, who are exploring the potential of animated film, by creating an interactive experience in which the player is not only an observer, but also an active participant in the outcome of the narrative. There are a number of issues with the way that the narrative is delivered to the player, but this can be overcome with close attention to the story that is being created and careful consideration of the whole narrative. It can also be suggested that the continuing technological breakthroughs by console making companies can create a more immersive experience for the player and affect the way that the narrative is delivered. With the popularity of video games, it is possible that video games could become a mainstream and popular way for people to enjoy narrative, with games such as Alan Wake and Heavy Rain being instrumental in expanding the interactive fiction of video games.

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HOW USEFUL IS A TEXT WHEN TRYING TO RECONSTRUCT THE CONDITIONS AND CONVENTIONS OF ELIZABETHAN AND/OR JACOBEAN PERFORMANCE

In deciding the usefulness of a play’s text when trying to reconstruct the conventions and conditions of the stage in order to stage a performance, a close reading of that text is required. Other than undertaking this close examination of a text, in many cases there is no direct proof of the way that actors behaved on the stage in the Elizabethan era, and so this reading gives the analyst the main evidence as to how the play would have been performed in its original state. Conducting such a scrutiny of the text would include looking for examples of such things as embedded stage directions and spoken clues to inform the way that the actors would behave on stage.

Evidence of metadramatic features to show the way that the theatre company’s business would take place off-stage and the way that a play might be learnt would also be found using this method, and clues within the texts could be found which would illuminate aspects of the stage, such as how the discovery space and the trap door might be used could also be learned from the text. Further, the speech of the characters, and the way the words were created by the playwright, would inform the analyst of the uses of gesture within the plays and of the way that the lines would be delivered to the audience within the original performance. The choice of text used when aiming to reconstruct the conventions and conditions of the time is an important factor when approaching this problem; choosing a text that contains a large number of these clues would be vital for the success of the reconstruction. A play such as Hamlet, (Shakespeare, 1993 - All further references involving act, scene and line will refer to this text unless otherwise stated) would be ideal for the reconstruction of an original performance as it contains many of the conventions of the Shakespearean stage within its lines.

It is known that in Elizabethan theatre the stage is a place bare of both scenery and props and that the speeches of the characters convey important information such as the time of the year and the setting of scenes in order that the audience is made aware of these facts. Similarly, the words of the characters can convey a mass of information that the analyst will find useful in trying to re-enact an original performance in the Elizabethan theatre. In seeking to reconstruct how gesture, for example, was used in the original rendition of the plays, the words used in dialogue can show the modern performer, as well as the analyst how gesture could be used in performance - although this is to some extent supposition as there are no physical renditions of Elizabethan performance available for reference. Gesture on the stage allows the viewer of the plays to be able to understand what the performer might be saying, even if the actual words are not heard, or there are no words spoken, as in the case of the ghost at the beginning of Hamlet.

When considering the ghost’s first appearance on the stage, the way that character is to behave can be found in the gestural cues within the words of the other characters. As John Astington states in his paper, Gesture in their Very language: Shakespeare’s Actors and the Body, the ghost ‘…is read entirely through its movement and facial expression…’ (Astington, 2004) This is informed by the words of other characters. Barnado gives the reconstructor the initial clue as to the ghost behaviour in the line

‘It would be spoken to’ (I, i, 48)

This embedded stage direction allows the actor playing the part of the ghost to infer the way that he should behave at this point. Even the way that the ghost departs the stage can be seen within the dialogue of the other characters taking place at that point in the scene, with the line

‘It is offended.

See, it stalks away’ (I, i, 53)

This line shows the way that the ghost could go about leaving the stage, which is reinforced by having two characters showing the behaviour pattern being shown at that point. Following this line, certain actions would be expected of the character referred to, in the way that it moves and indeed the facial expressions used by the actor; an offended ghost would not be smiling, for example.

Understanding embedded stage directions for the actors to follow within the text is an important aspect in the reconstruction of an original performance of Hamlet; however, there are more subtle ways that the words spoken in the play can be used to inform the actor’s behaviour on the stage. For example, using the famous speech of Act III, scene i, ‘To be, or not to be’ (III, i, 56-90) there are a number of examples of the way that the lines spoken can reveal the way that the character could behave on the stage. Simple things like the line

‘Must give us pause – there’s the respect’ (III, i, 68)

allows the actor to literally pause, if he had been walking around the stage. The words give the direction for the actor to follow. According to Patrick Tucker, as a result of his experimental reconstruction of the original way of performing Shakespeare’s plays

‘A pause…is usually a pause for business not just a cessation of talking. Do something…’ (Tucker, 2002, p259)

Therefore, it is clear also that the punctuation, which creates the pause, in the speeches of the actors is important in the delivery of the lines.

Throughout the soliloquy in Hamlet, the way that the actor moves around the stage is affected by the way that the lines are delivered, with the aforementioned pause, and also agitation, until the end of the speech. At this point the speech is directed by the playwright, with an example of caesura:

‘And lose the name of action. Soft you now’ (III, i, 88)

This has the effect of literally stopping the way that the actor is delivering the lines and allowing a pause in the speech. The next lines are important in this also, as the word ‘soft’ within the line allows the actor to begin to speak again, with a different vocal temperament. The soliloquy ends with Hamlet’s speech becoming calm again, ready for his interaction with another character.

Again, taking the ‘To be…’speech, the actor can be informed of aspects of the way to act for a length of time. The way that the playwright constructs the monologue in this case allows an actor to control the tempo of his soliloquy and the temperament of the delivery of that speech. In the beginning of the speech,

‘To be, or not to be, that is the question:’ (III, i, 56)

The punctuation at this point indicates that the way that the lines are spoken is calm, in that there are plenty of opportunities for breathing. However, during this speech, the tempo of the lines speeds up and lends an air of agitation to the words and so the way that the actor moves and the temperament of the delivery of the lines could be affected by this. The punctuation within the lines is important in the way that the speech is delivered. As James Michael Thomas says in Script Analysis for Actors, Directors and Designers ‘Period, commas, exclamation and question marks ellipses and single and double dashing all have distinctive meanings…’ (Thomas, 1999, p.128) Within the soliloquy in question, the placing of the punctuation allows the tempo of the speech to become faster and the character appear more agitated as can be seen at this point:

‘No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to...’ (III, i, 61-63)

There is a break in the speech at the end of the word ‘more’ in line 61 and then there is no punctuation until after ‘…is heir to:’ intimating that this is to be said without pause creating the speed in the speech at this point.

When studying the text of a play in order to recreate an original staging of a performance, then it is vitally important to get the correct text. The original spellings, punctuation and indeed entrances and exits for the characters can vary between editions of the texts, and the nearest that the actor will get to the original playwrights scripting of the play is the First Folio version. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the analyst studies this version of the text, as well as the modern to understand the way that the play was originally performed. According to the actor Ian Richardson in a discussion with Patrick Tucker, ‘Whenever I have a problem with a speech, I go back to the First Folio, for that is an actor’s punctuation…’ (Tucker, 2002) This illustrates the importance of the punctuation in the written text, but also highlights the way that the said text changes throughout the years since its original inception.

The changes that are made to the text of the play by the editors reflect the way that they see it being performed for an audience, but can change according to subsequent performances. Whilst the changes to the script may be sensible to the editor, they are, nevertheless changes that the playwright did not intend. In modern texts, changes to the original directions are shown in the text as being part of the text, and ‘modern’ changes are shown in box brackets. Again, looking at the play, Hamlet the use of box brackets can be seen at the end of Act 1, scene V with the stage directions

[They Swear] (I, i, 163, 169, 189)

This is not in the Quarto 1 version of the play (Shakespeare, 2009), which was written in 1603, and so is contemporary with the playwright. These directions are an editor’s later addition to the play and so are surrounded by box brackets to signify this. Equally, the way that the editor omits things in later productions of a play are visible in the differences between a modern text of a play and the earlier versions. This can be seen in Hamlet by comparing the two texts. The quarto 1 version of the play contains the direction

‘Hamlet leapes in

After Laertes’ (Shakespeare, 2009)

At the equivalent point to Act V, scene I, line 245. In the modern text used for this piece, this stage direction is missing completely, and so perusal of the earliest written text allows these instructions to be rediscovered, just as the way that the punctuation in the earliest texts are a means to see the original way that the playwright intended the speeches to be spoken.

The examples cited here are a very small portion of the way that looking at the text of a play can be used in the recreation of the original conventions and conditions of the Elizabethan theatre. However, the written words of the playwright themselves provide the actor and the reconstructor with the main evidence of how Shakespeare intended the play to be acted. By closely analyzing the text; the sentences, the words and even the punctuation a great deal of information that was written into the plays can be seen, as has been demonstrated herein. Comparing the modern text to the original allows the actor to consider the way that the performance differs to his own modern approach to the role being played, and to change it accordingly. This comparison also allows the stage directions to be modified as needed to allow the action taking place on the stage to closely follow that of the original performers when the play was first performed. In understanding the changes made to the different editions of the play, then the analyst can reconstruct the different aspects of the staging of that play, and so a subsequent reproduction of the play can be successful in showing the way that the original performances would be conducted.

Bibliography

Astington, J; (2004) “Language in their very gesture”: Shakespeare’s Actors and the Body [Online] Available at: http://www.semioticon.com/virtuals/gestures/astingtongesture.pdf Last Accessed 6 December 2009

Longstaffe, S; (2009) Lectures on Shakespeareand Performance; [Lectures to Ba English Students year 3]; September – December 2009

Shakespeare, W; (1993) The Arden Shakespeare: Hamlet; London: Routledge

Shakespeare, W; (2009) Hamlet (Quarto 1, 1603) [Online] Available at: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Annex/Texts/Ham/Q1/Scene Last Accessed 9 December 2009

Thomas, J M; (1999) Script Analysis for Actors Directors and Designers; Oxford: Focal Press

Tucker, P; (2002) Secrets of Acting Shakespeare; London: Routledge

Let Me Begin With the Facts: Stokers Use of the Epistolary Technique in Dracula

How these papers have been placed in sequence will be made manifest in the reading of them. All needless matters have been eliminated, so that a history almost at variance with the possibilities of latter-day belief may stand forth as simple fact. There is throughout no statement of past things wherein memory may err, for all the records chosen are exactly contemporary, given from the stand-points and within the range of knowledge of those who made them. (Stoker, 2000, p2)

The preamble on the previous page is also found at the beginning of the novel Dracula, (Stoker, 2000) and establishes the nature of the narrative as being epistolary. This novel, constructed through different texts including letters, diary entries and newspaper articles, allows the point of view to be that of a number of characters, without the need to provide an omniscient narrator and these documents are woven together in chronological order to form a cohesive narrative. Using this technique in Dracula allows Bram Stoker, the author, to show both public and private documents, placing the reader in a voyeuristic position, almost akin to looking over the shoulder of someone transcribing their private thoughts, this assists in establishing the novel as being precise and trustworthy, with specific facts being reported, regardless of their seeming pedantry, something which Harker’s journal at the beginning of the novel shows very well, with its detailed descriptions of events at Castle Dracula.

The epistolary method of narration in Dracula is significant in that, as well as providing different perspectives, it also allows the inclusion of technology into the novel, through the ways each document is created, this permits the author to comment on contemporary society and the significant happenings of the time, including modern writing methods, such as shorthand or the stenograph which are used to make the original diary entries later transcribed by Mina Harker, the female protagonist of the novel. The film, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so called because of its supposed adherence to the original text, attempts to recreate the main aspects of the novel (with the significant addition of the love story between Dracula and Mina) and has met mixed reviews when compared to the original text. However, as well trying to follow the narrative technique used by Stoker, the film also aims to recreate the use of technology found in the novel, showcasing late Nineteenth Century advancements throughout the film, some of which are very obvious, like the cinematograph, but others references to modernity in the film are more subtle being visually represented in scenes in the film.

The narrative of the novel Dracula, comprised of a variety of documents, encompasses the full story of the fight against Count Dracula when placed in chronological order. These documents almost resemble evidence with the primary texts corroborated by newspaper clippings and other secondary evidence, drawing the reader into the illusion that what they are reading is based in fact. Stoker, in the 1901 translation of the text into Icelandic (Stoker & Klinger(ed), 2008, p5) writes, ‘I am quite convinced that there is no doubt whatsoever that the events described here really took place…’ (Stoker & Klinger (ed), 2008, p5) and suggests that he is a friend of the real ‘Harker;’ Stoker also makes a tenuous link between Dracula and Jack the Ripper in this preface blurring the distinction between reality and fiction even more. The suggestion of the story as evidential is made explicit in the film adaptation, Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) with Professor Van Helsing, commenting as he joins the narrative

‘For the record, I do attest that, at this point, I Abraham Van Helsing became personally involved with these strange events.’ (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 1992)

According to David Rogers in the preface to the Wordsworth Classics edition of Dracula; to the Victorians, ‘…reality conforms to that which we observe and then faithfully and meticulously record…’ (Rogers, 2000, pxvi) and this collection of documents, with the attention to detail found within and the way they (mostly) substantiate each other, support the premise of the documents having their basis in reality. Separately, these documents are, as Jonathon Harker says ‘…nothing but a mass of type-writing…’ (Stoker, 2000, p315) especially with the destruction of the originals by Dracula; but these documents nevertheless, when taken together provide the only proof of the Vampire’s existence. This admittance and acceptance, along with the confidential nature of documents such as journals and letters, underpins the whole narrative and helps with the levels of realism that Stoker constructs with his epistolary method of narration.

Stoker promotes the view of the documents being authentic in the way that the journal entries, until Mina begins to transcribe them at least, are the private thoughts of a character; Harker’s journal is explicitly shown to be a private document, with the events in Transylvania ‘…wrapped…up in white paper and tied… with a little bit of pale blue ribbon…and sealed…’ (Stoker, 2000, p88) in order to ensure their not being read. Similarly, Dr Seward admits his potential addiction to Chloral Hydrate to his phonograph, something which a professional doctor would not want to be a matter of public record. Letters are similarly shown as being the private correspondence between confidantes, something Lucy makes explicit in her letter to Mina, ‘P.S. – I need not tell you this is a secret’ (Stoker, 2000, p48). The film adaptation, Bram Stokers Dracula attempts to show this by having Mina disposes of her journal entries to the sea on her voyage to marry Harker; the intimation, after the words ‘Jonathon must never know…’ (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) is that her private documents are to remain as such, despite the bond she is about to make, although the viewer, placed in the same voyeuristic role as in the novel has been privy to this information. However, the confidential nature of the other documents, such as the journals or letters, is not evident in the film adaptation in the way it is in the novel.

Jonathon’s journal, making up the first portion of the novel also establishes the preoccupation with facts that is evident throughout the entire text. From the opening journal page, Jonathon is shown as being preoccupied with facts and specifics, an intrinsic part of his career as a solicitor; describing his journey to Dracula’s castle in minute detail as shown in the opening sentence. ‘3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8.35 p.m. on 1^st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6.46, but train was an hour late.’ (Stoker, 2000, p3) In this entry, Harker gives the first indication of the implicit solidity of documents, using ‘…books and maps in the library…’ (Stoker, 2000, p3) to find out about the Count’s home; this is something revisited in conversation between Harker and Dracula in the castle, when Dracula admits his knowledge of ‘…your great England…’ (Stoker, 2000, p18) is through the pages of the books in his library, which will later aid his being able to integrate with English society. The preoccupation with facts is frequently referred to throughout Harker’s journal, with his being ‘…glad [he] went into detail from the first…’ (Stoker, 2000, p23) on 8^th May and his opening sentence of the 12^th May ‘Let me begin with facts – bare meagre facts, verified…’ (Stoker, 2000, p27) This allows the recognition that the information being presented is fantastic, and indeed that the narrator himself understands this, saying ‘…who reads them may fancy that I dined too well…’ (Stoker, 2000, p6) but that he is ‘…prosaic so far as facts can be...' (Stoker, 2000, p23) and that in reporting these facts, it helps his imagination to ‘…not run riot...' (Stoker, 2000, p23) Here the author is creating a foundation for the way that the documents comprising the novel are thought of. In reiterating throughout the journal of the solicitor, Jonathon Harker, that the events he is reporting are factual and not the fantasy they appear to be; by extension, all the other documents after this should be of the same calibre.

Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of the novel, Bram Stoker’s Dracula also attempts to portray the use of documents throughout the film in a similar way to the original text, reflecting the epistolary facets of the written narrative; as discussed, Mina destroys the journal evidence of her secret trysts with Dracula whilst Harker is locked up in his castle, but there are many other instances of text being used within the film. Jacqueline LeBlanc, author of It is not good to note this down maintains that ‘Coppola attempts an accurate rendering of Stoker’s narrative production process…’ (LeBlanc, 1997, p261)and indeed the film does show the various characters producing the documents that make up the novel; Harker is shown writing his journal, Seward speaks to his phonograph and Mina types her diary. The film also shows the use of the telegram and letters with both being physically present and referred to throughout. There is also evidence of the fascination with modernity that Stoker shows through the novel in the use of the technology that constructs these documents, with the characters methods of production being visually represented. But the film also shows how the presence of text does not mean that a thing is fact. In the opening sequence, a cinematic addition to the story featured in the novel, Dracula’s wife, Elizabeta is given false news of her husband’s death via a letter sent in revenge by the Turks causing her to commit suicide; it is this which sets off the chain of events make up both the film and the novel.

After the events at the beginning of both the novel and the film, the so-called ‘Crew of Light’ begins a battle against Dracula;

‘…a battle only one side can win, with representatives of modernity, including scientists, lawyers and technocrats use the tools of Nineteenth Century science and technology and finally conquer the forces of the primitive past.’ (Senf, 1997)

Stoker, in creating Dracula, filled pages of his novel with the technologies of the modern age even down to the way the various texts are constructed in both the novel and the film with technology shown to be a key factor in the defeat of the primitive and evil Count. Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, was a man who ‘…embraced technology…’ (Dawidziak, 2008) and there is evidence of this throughout the novel. The various documents which make up the narrative are created using a variety of modern techniques, which are the result of advances in technology; these include Harkers use of shorthand, Seward using the phonograph to record his journal and the use of telegrams to send messages between the characters. There is even evidence within a journal entry of a telephone being used. At the beginning of the novel, Harker’s journal is ‘…kept in shorthand…’ (Stoker, 2000, p3) and the letter he attempts to smuggle to Mina is written in this medium so ‘…the Count shall not yet know [his] secret…’ Whilst shorthand in itself was not a new invention when the novel was published, having been in use since the dawn of writing (Ager, 2010), Harkers use of this medium is ‘…nineteenth century up-to-date with a vengeance…’ (Davison, 1997) Equally, the scientific Dr Seward uses a phonograph to record his journal, again an up to date piece of equipment; (Machine-History.com, ND) this is a method of recording information he prefers, bemoaning ‘How I miss my phonograph! To write diary with a pen is irksome to me…’ (Stoker, 2000, p279) on the final journey to destroy Dracula. Even Van Helsing makes use of this piece of technology, dictating a letter to Harker through the phonograph on 4^th October. Along with this, the characters make frequent use of the telegram, sending communications back and forth, although this is shown a fallible method when a telegram from Van Helsing to Seward goes astray due to insufficient recipient information resulting in Lucy’s death. Stoker, in doing this‘…places modernity in the foreground, while at the same time, showing us its disturbing limitations…’ (Anderson, 1997, p328) However, technology is not restricted to communication, and is shown to be fundamental in the destruction of Dracula. Mina collates the documents, using her typewriter and manifold to make more than one copy of each document. Manifold, thin sheets of paper which are interleaved with carbon paper was invented early in the century, but became popular with the advent of the typewriter, and this particular aspect of modernity allows there to be a remaining copy when Dracula destroys all the original evidence of his existence, but further allows Mina to piece together from the documents the means by which they can destroy Dracula. When these technologies are added to the epistolary technique they construct, the result is to show a ‘…modern age…conceived as exact, civilised, rational and efficient’ (Senf, 1997, p79) which contrasts directly to the image of Dracula that is shown in the text. He lives in a country which is not mapped, there being ‘…no maps of this country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey maps…’ (Stoker, 2000, p3) (again a reflection of the importance of documents which runs through the novel) which was once ruled by Attila the Hun, and populated by people Harker thinks of as ‘…barbarian…’(Stoker, 2000, p4) The man himself is proud of his long heritage and is glad that his new home of Carfax is an old building, telling Jonathon ‘I am glad that it is big and old… to live in a new house would kill me…’ (Stoker, 2000, p21) This is directly opposite to the modern England of the novel and the characters who eventually destroy him.

Modernity is a significant factor in the 1992 film adaptation of Dracula. In this, Coppola uses technology to show the relative modernity of the late Nineteenth Century, with visual references to a variety of technologies of the time. As already stated, there is reference to telegrams in the film and Mina is shown working at her type-writer; but there are ways in which Coppola inserts technology into the film including the cinematograph. Whilst this does not appear in the novel, the film shows Mina and Dracula visiting this ‘…Wonder of the modern world…’ (Bram Stoker's Dracula) an invention from 1895, which makes it very contemporary to the writing of Dracula. However, there are other more subtle ways in which the modernity of the late Nineteenth Century is shown. For example, Dr Seward uses gas lamps in his quarters within the hospital and Van Helsing admits that the process of blood transfusion is experimental when attempting to save Lucy’s life. Whilst the cinematograph in the film is used as a metaphor, according to LeBlanc, for ‘…the Count’s foreplay… [and]…remind[s] us of the monstrous threat of unregulated technology…’ (LeBlanc, 1997, p261/262) nevertheless the use of this and other technology in the film is reminiscent of the technologies found in the pages of the novel, reflecting the modernity of an England able to defeat the ancient evil which is Dracula.

The epistolary narration method of the novel Dracula is a matter which can withstand a great amount of analysis, covering subjects as diverse as the battle between modernity and antiquated society, or the relationship between the written word and fact. However this method of narration, within the context of the novel, can also be seen to represent a host of other issues relevant to the time in which the novel was written, such as the ‘New Woman’ question which was becoming prevalent at this time, which has not been mentioned here. The narration method also shows aspects of English society which the author himself was sensitive to, as with modernity and the emergence of new technologies; the way the documents are constructed and reassembled shows this fascination without the need for the author to bring explicit attention to them. Both the representation of modernity and the use of documents as the foundation for the narrative are attempted in the film adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, even down to using excerpts from the novel as the basis for parts of the script, showing the characters constructing some of the documents which the novel is made of from the technologies of the late Victorian era and obliquely making reference to a variety of other modern equipment. Whilst it is true, as the preamble states that the novel contains ‘…a history almost at variance with the possibilities of latter-day belief…’ (Stoker, 2000, p2) the basis of both the novel and the film being a variety of texts allows the narrative to be thought of as potentially factual and the characters who make up this story, along with the secondary texts which are used to corroborate the journals, telegrams and letters create a story which could almost be considered as evidence of the existence, and destruction, of the Vampire, Count Dracula.

Bibliography

Ager, S (2010) Shorthand [Online] Available at: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/shorthand.htm Last Accessed 20 April 2010

Anderson, R (1997) Dracula, Monsters and the Apprehensions of Modernity in in Davison, C M (1997) Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Sucking Through the Century, 1897-1997; Headington: Durdon Press

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola [Blue-Ray] London: Sony

Davison, C (1997) Blood Brothers: Dracula and Jack the Ripper in in Davison, C M (1997) Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Sucking Through the Century, 1897-1997; Headington: Durdon Press

Dawidziak, M (2008) The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Dracula; London: The Continuum International Publishing Group

Griswell, J (2008) Dracula: Bram Stoker Meets Francis Ford Coppola [Online} Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1065&context=essai Last Accessed 20 April 2010

Hughes, W (2009) Bram Stoker’s Dracula: A Readers Guide to Essential Criticism; Basingstoke: Macmillan

LeBlanc, J (nd) It is Not Good to Note This Down in Davison, C M (1997) Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Sucking Through the Century, 1897-1997; Headington: Durdon Press

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Marsden, S (2010) Lectures on Film and Literature; [Lectures to Ba English Students year 3]; January – February 2010

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Stoker, B (2000) Dracula; Ware: Wordsworth Editions

Stoker,B & Klinger L (ed) (2008) The New Annotated Dracula; New York: Norton