The Glass of Water by Eugene Scribe fits
the description of a well made play perfectly. The play is 3 acts long. In the
first scene of the play many secrets are reveled. Dramatic irony plays a role
in the plot of the play. For example how some know that the Duchess is Masham’s
secret benefactor and others do not. In true fashion of a well made play the
characters are somewhat two-dimensional and the play focuses more on the plot
rather then the characters themselves. I believe that one of the moments we were
asked to discuss is towards the end of the play when Bolingbroke and the
Duchess kiss. This does not seem in accordance with the rest of the play because it focuses more on character development rather than furthering the plot
along. After kissing the two proceed to
slap each other, which makes for a funny bit but does nothing to further the
plot. Another part of the play that I feel is out of place is the part where the Queen sees a guardsman outside of her balcony and finds him attractive and
completely forgets about Masham. This is how the play ends which seems pretty
strange to me. With the ending as its stands right now it almost seems like we
could be starting a whole new play here. Well made plays are supposed to tie
everything up into a pretty little bow at the end and this does not.
You did a great job of highlighting specific examples in the play in accordance to the well-made play structure! While I agree with you, and wrote about it myself, that ending the play with the Queen's discovery of the guardsmen does not exactly fit in with the well-made play structure, I don't exactly know if the other part mentioned strays from the structure as much. In a way, the Duchess and Bolingbroke's final interaction reconciles a large part in the play, which is their hatred of each other. In this way, this part helps tie the play up. Could you elaborate on how this part doesn't fit a little more?
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