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The textual conversation between John Donne’s 17th-century metaphysical poetry and Margaret Edson’s late 20th-century metatheatrical play W;t is distinctly established through the shared exploration of the awareness of death as a universal human condition. Despite a paradigmatic shift from a theological to a postmodern society and the various and language features and textual forms, such disparity in context and form adds depth to the value of enduring resonances between the persona Donne and the protagonist Vivian Bearing, which act to highlight the intellectual facet of human nature and its consequences. The meaning of the two texts is mutually enriched by realising the radical purpose of spiritual faith, in unmasking the existential anxieties concealed under one’s metaphysical facades, when confronted with the fear of mortality, and the subsequent facilitation of self-effacement through provoking the desire for redemption.
Framed by a contextual faith in God, Donne in his poem Death be not proud claims victory over morality, employing his personification and intellectual prowess in the oxymoron “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die” to obscure his own apprehension of death, diminished due to the Christian view of the eternal soul. Since Donne had been an Anglican priest in the early 17th century, his argument seemed valid and therefore irresistible to his audience. His arrogance can be seen in the poem If poisonous minerals, through the repetition of rhetorical questions “If poisonous minerals… if that tree, … If lecherous goats, if serpents envious”, logically questioning God’s judgement of humanity, catalysed by the religious tension between the Catholics and the Protestants after the death of Queen Elizabeth. Yet, his initially insolent tone becomes submissive in claiming the simplicity of salvation as seen in the ironic line, “And mercy being easy, and glorious” in which he indirectly confesses that his wit and superficial spirituality are incapable of resolving qualms regarding mortality. Analogously, Edson’s play W;t dramatises Vivian, a scholar of Donne’s poetry in a science-oriented and secular context, who like Donne, conquers her fear of death through a confident and arrogant facade, demonstrated by her intellect and the academic register she employs. Her analytical tone is immediately evident in the initial diagnosis of her ovarian cancer, deconstructing the medical jargon as “Antineoplastic. Anti: against, Neo: new, Plastic: to mould”. Being a scholar specialising in Donne’s poetry, deconstruction is a familiar and effective approach for Vivian to eliminate her fears by ‘studying’ the unknown. However, in the scene where Vivian teaches Donne’s poem poisonous minerals, through the accumulation of her words “aggressive intellect, pious melodrama, and a final fearful point” she admits that her academia, dedicated to Donne’s wit, has failed to facilitate her attempt at overcoming existential anxiety. Furthermore, in the same scene, Edson employs a stage direction where “VIVIAN moves in front of the screen, and the projection of the poem is cast directly upon her.” This dramatic device creates visual intertextuality that conveys parallelism between Vivian and Donne: Vivian’s relationship with Donne is aligned to Donne’s relationship with God. This alignment is an example of the value that can be added when two texts are considered in tandem resulting in a textual conversation. In this case, Donne questions his faith in God and Vivian questions her faith in Donne.
The universal pursuit of self-effacement and salvation is foregrounded by both Donne and Edson as prompting an exploration of human connection and spirituality. Despite the theological dissonances in the context, the value of self-redemption and spiritual legacy is realised in both texts, as demonstrated in Donne’s poem This is my plays last scene through the biblical allusion within the extended metaphor “my pilgrimage’s last mile”, confessing the notion of spiritual journey in preparing to face judgement after death. Furthermore, Donne’s Christian virtue is evident through his acceptance in Hymn to god, my god, in my sickness, where the extended metaphor “I joy, that in these straits I see my west” signifies his acceptance and embracing of death, while the wordplay likens his personal suffering to an ocean voyage. On the other hand, the dominance of scientific paradigm in a postmodern society has reduced Vivian’s life to something purely academic, demonstrated by her sardonic use of alliteration in “published and perished”, conveying her trivialised personal legacy. However, the didactic flashbacks catalyse Vivian to desire for a self-redemption and to relinquish her pride, as evidenced by her regretful tone in “I look back, I see these scenes, and I…”, mirroring Donne’s spiritual process, while independent of religion. As a result, Vivian accomplishes her self-introspection in her transition from life to death, visually denoted in the stage direction “The instant she is naked and beautiful, reaching for the light” asserting that human connection and spirituality transcends tempting trappings of the workaday world, such as academic title and other honours. This notion is furthered in Donne’s poem Hymn to god, my god, in my sickness through paradox “death doth touch the resurrection”, conveying that regardless of the presence of religious belief within a society, it is spiritual faith that defines us as human.
Overall, the parallel relationship formed in two texts, incongruent in context and from, realises a conversation which reveals misconceived faith hidden behind the assertation of wit, as the true catalyst in detracting the human ability to acknowledge the universal inevitability of death. The reimagining of true faith across poetic and dramatic forms reveals the enduring significance of spiritual value entrenched within humanity.
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