Suicide In William Shakespeare's Of One Chord

I like plays that make me think. Of One Chord presented me with a scenario where my best friend’s girlfriend had died and my girlfriend who I love is abusing me. I had to ask myself what I would do in the face of such inner torment. The senior theater project Of One Chord employs the elements inherit to drama—performance, lines, set, and props—to communicate that suicide is not the answer to pain.
Katie accurately embodied the character Michelle’s hurt and hate. Her body language suggested distance, not anger. She was to afraid to open up to Jonah and show that she loved him because she feared that he too would hurt her. I could identify with the lack of trust and pushing people away when they try to comfort you. She did not want to be comforted, because that would suggest vulnerability. She picks fights so that she can keep Jonah, her boyfriend, at arm’s length. Katie embodies all these emotions by the harshness of her voice, distance of her body language, and unpredictability of her emotions. …show more content…
In the beginning of the play, Jonah speaks directly to the audience. He tells the audience that we all have a story to tell. Then he goes on to say that at the end of the story, one of the characters will die. The fact that he narrates the story suggests early on that in some way he is separate from the scenes that are being portrayed. Thus, when his parents find that he has killed himself, the audience is not surprised. They were feeling his emotions throughout the play as he narrated them. The choice of Jonah as the narrator of the play effectively guided the audience to the traumatic climax: when Jonah hangs