Cosi Essay Dale Tilley free essay sample

How Successful Has Lois Nowra Been in Challenging the Significant Ideas of Love, Fidelity, Sanity and Insanity in Cosi? In the play Cosi Louis Nowra challenges the important themes of love, fidelity, sanity and insanity within a range of dramatic techniques. Cosi is set in Melbourne, during the early 1970’s. Numerous political and radical events were occurring. The Vietnam War protest was raging, the sexual revolution was rolling, and mental illness was still misunderstood and mistreated. Due to these contexts, love, fidelity, sanity and insanity are big issues that surface throughout the play. Nowra comments on society’s issues. Firstly, he uses dialogue to convey the characters various thoughts and feelings towards these issues. Secondly, he uses symbols to comment on the treatment of mental patients. Thirdly, Nowra uses conflict to discuss the issues that are faced by society. Finally, Nowra uses character development to portray a shift in attitudes towards the issues. By examining these dramatic techniques, we are able to see how Nowra challenges the ideas of love, fidelity, sanity and insanity. One of the main and most important themes explored in Cosi is the question of love and fidelity. In Cosi, this issue is portrayed as a sore point for the characters, as most of them have split feelings about this topic and have very strong, different views. This is shown in Act 1 Scene 2 by Doug who says Women like to pretend they don’t play around but they’re just more secretive about it. Cherry and Ruth are very negative about sex, stating that most women work hard to keep men out of their pants. While Julie thinks that love is being foolish and stupid. Nowra uses these comments to show the characters feelings and thoughts towards love and fidelity. Another technique utilised in the play is conflict, in the context of love and fidelity, the topic ignites conflict between characters and the clash of conflicting views. Love is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection or to feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to  someone. At the start of Cosi, love is thought to be not so important and a second hand emotion to anger and fear, which are the two main emotions driving the debate over the Vietnam War. At first, Lewis shares the same values as his best friend Nick, and his girlfriend Lucy, who believe that love isn’t important due to the ongoing Vietnam War. This is shown when Lewis says â€Å"Love is not so important nowadays. † (Page 10) Referring to the Vietnam War and the fact that with the turmoil and problems that the world is facing at that point in time, love is just not important and accepted with the way the world is at that point. This statement implies somewhat of a middle ground as it reflects the views and values of one group at the time, (the group who believes that love isn’t important in a time of crisis) but it challenges the attitudes of those who believed that love is in fact important and necessary in a time where hatred, anger and fear are so prominent. Julie â€Å"†¦That’s what love is, being foolish. I’ve always thought love was being foolish and stupid. It’s about being on the edge and I like being on the edge†. From this quote Julie believes that to be in love is to be silly and do foolish things, go places, see and do things you haven’t done before and just live on the edge. It also seems that July sees love as a drug or having a drug like effect, which could be relevant as she is in the mental institution due to a drug dependency. This statement challenges the attitudes towards love in the 1970’s because in this time, even though societies view was starting to change, love was still viewed to e a simple straight affair. Nowra uses the technique of dialogue to convey the feelings and thoughts towards love by the cast members. Fidelity is defined as faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support, or in the context of Cosi; Sexual faithfulness to a spouse or partner. Cosi is set in a period of ‘free love’ where the traditional morals and ideals of society were being questioned, and often rejected by the younger generation. Women had access to the new contraceptive pill and this made it easier for women to engage in sexual relations outside of marriage. This bought about a questioning of the need for marriage and fidelity. During the play it becomes apparent that Lucy (Louis’ girlfriend and roommate) and Nick (Louis’ best friend) are having an affair. Nick and Lucy both share similar beliefs that the Vietnam War protest is more important than anything else. Nick and Lucy are the presented as representatives of the more modern attitudes towards love and fidelity. This is shown by Lucy and Nick being advocates of free love and seeing sex and love as two different things, this is evident when Nick says to Lewis â€Å"She’s sleeping with you, were having sex† (referring to the relationship between Nick and Lucy. ) and â€Å"Lucy’s not possessive about you, I’m not possessive about her. What’s the fuss? † This shows how societies’ views of love and fidelity and what is acceptable are changing to a more laid back, free attitude. These quotes reflect the values and attitudes towards sex at the time, as women were now more freely engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage, and demonstrating ‘free love’. After Lewis’ learns of the affair between his best friend and girlfriend, he comes to the realisation that â€Å"Woman’s consistency is like an Arabian Phoenix†, which in this context, means a woman’s fidelity is often talked about and widely believed to be genuine, but never seen. Lewis now believes that women are deceitful and not to be trusted. The quote very much supports the attitudes of society towards fidelity as society viewed women to be untrustworthy and unfaithful. Another reference to fidelity in Cosi is the play with in the play, Cosi Fan Tutti, an opera written by (OddFuture) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1790. The title roughly translates into â€Å"Women are like that† and involves two men who pretend to go to war but rather, they stay and disguise themselves and attempt to prove their lovers infidelity, which they eventually do. This opera demonstrates a view that woman’s fidelity is an ideal that is never achieved. Cosi fan tutti encourages this theme and Cosi shares the same view. Cosi shows that this view of a woman’s faithfulness is a timeless view as it has spanned nearly two hundred years and is still shared in the play. Although the women in these two productions (Cosi and Cosi Fan Tutti) are unfaithful, so are the men. In Cosi Fan Tutti, the men do lie and disguise themselves from their lovers. Also, in Cosi, Lewis is unfaithful to Lucy as he kisses July. The line between sanity and insanity is explored through Nowra putting the patients side by side with society in the 1970’s. People who behaved abnormally were declared insane and placed in mental institutions that were shunned by society. While the institutionalised patients in Cosi were viewed as ‘madmen’ from outsiders, Lewis soon discovers that they are, in many ways, ordinary people. Societies’ treatment of supposedly ‘mentally ill’ people provides an important background to the play. Cosi shows  the state of the mental institutions of the  time in Australia. This is symbolised by the burnt out  theatre  at the mental institution. This setting of a burnt-out theatre depicts the miserable environment the patients of mental institutions are forced to live with. As they are ostracised by the community, a lack of care and support is shown through the rejected and deteriorating theatre. The treatment and misunderstanding of mental patients reflect the values and attitudes of society at the time, which were wrong and mislead. Insanity is described as â€Å"a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behaviour, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill†. Throughout Cosi, the patient’s sanity is referred to using the dramatic technique of dialogue. Society’s understanding and acceptance of mentally ill patients is very low and misinformed, this is evident in the quote from Nick â€Å"Mad actors are bad enough, but madmen†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This quote reflects the attitude and values of society extremely well. Nick, like the rest of society at the time, is uninformed and mislead about mental illness. He believes that conducting a play with mental patients would be an incredibly hard task to complete successfully. On the positive side of the sanity conflict theme, is Justin, a social worker, who believes the patients are â€Å"Normal people who have done extraordinary things, thought extraordinary thoughts. † Another quote from that supports the patients is: â€Å"The thing is, and you’ll discover this, is that they are just normal people, well, not quite normal, or else they wouldn’t be here, would they? † These statements are significant because they challenge the attitudes towards mental illness in the 1970’s, a time where mental illness was misunderstood and shunned. Justin brings a voice of understanding into Cosi, and appears to be the only ‘sane’ character that truly understands the patients and confronts the attitude of the time. Nowra uses the dramatic technique of dialogue to convey Justin’s understanding of the mental patients and give them normal qualities. Louis Nowra has successfully challenged the themes of love, fidelity, sanity and insanity through the skilled use of themes, techniques and context. Nowra has challenged society’s expectations of a woman’s rights and commitment and brought into light the treatment and misapprehension of mental patients during the 1970’s.