The Beast Within Play Analysis

In plays, asides are often used to portray the thoughts and emotions of actors to the audience. It gives the audience insight through the use of dramatic irony because the audience knows the character’s thoughts and feelings while the surrounding cast does not. In the play, The Beast Within, three characters, Okonkwo, Jack, and Holden have different intentions for hunting a beast. Their different purposes are the cause of an interesting relationship and actions that occur throughout the play. Through the use of asides, The Beast Within shows that morals become lost when people chase personal ambitions.
In the play, asides are used to reveal Okonkwo’s desire to kill the beast. From Okonkwo 's perspective, he wants to kill the beast to boost his stature. However, instead of being upfront with this intention, he decides to deceive two unknowing boys. When Okonkwo reveals to the audience that he do[es] not care for the people the Beast kills” and only wants to “be the most respected man in the village” through an aside, it showed that he was not being as righteous as he made himself out to be (5). He makes himself to be a great leader of the clan, but he is willing to sacrifice other clansmen just to maintain the high position. This is similar to when Okonkwo kills his own son, Nwoye, to save face with the other clan leaders. Okonkwo loses sight of what it means to be a leader as …show more content…
As a result, the audience becomes much more aware of the characters gradually losing their morals as the play goes on. While asides may not be relevant in the real world, some people wish that they would exist so they can find out what people are thinking. It would help people better understand each other and cause less conflicts. After all, better communication is the key to a better world. However, as long as asides are a side in real life, there needs to be a different way for people to communicate