Word: melodye
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Melody (Daniel J. Travanti) is a displaced Irish gentleman drunk. Having fought with the Duke of Wellington in Spain at the Battle of Talavera, the anniversary of which he celebrates on the day of the play by dressing up in his old uniform and demanding a feast, Melody regards himself...
He focuses his rage on his peasant wife, the devoted Nora (Dearbhla Molloy), whom he married out of either propriety or love--the audience is never certain--and whom he has resented ever after as the locus and symbol of his failure. Their feisty daughter Sara (Elizabeth Marvel) resents Melody...
Travanti's portrayal of Melody asserting his privilege in a country where it no longer matters, and in a situation where he no longer has the money to make it true, is over the top to the extent that it becomes a caricature. The rapid flip-flopping of his moods...
This is, however, beautifully counterbalanced by the perceptive performances of Elizabeth Marvel and Dearbhla Molloy. Nora never falters in her love for Melody, or in her suffering for having left the Catholic Church to accommodate their early transgression which resulted in marriage. To the extent that Nora is the moral...
The 'Poet' that O'Neill refers to is the nebulous spirit which makes men dream and which the suffering women of the story are meant to understand and love unconditionally. The choice of poets supposedly echoes the American sentiments of the age, with Lord Byron representing Melody's Romantic longing...