Dr. White concludes his discussion of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with an in-depth examination of reality versus illusion. He stresses the idea that the play teaches that there is more to reality than what we perceive. To demonstrate he describes the unreality of movies, which are by their nature unreal, using The Truman Show as an example. Film is an image, i.e., not real; that which occurs on a stage is real. He warns of the unreality of our lives but proclaims that out of great evil God will bring great good.
Described by Dr. White as an elegy – both a paean and lament directed towards a dying and passing world – this second of Shakespeare’s plays on Henry IV features the recurring themes of death, disease, and corruption. Again, Hal (the future Henry V) takes center stage, with a view towards his eventual role in the final of the Henry plays. In this extensive conference, Dr. White addresses, along with making many other insightful and passing observations, the perplexing prologue offered by an allegorical character; a climactic battle which never occurs; themes of frustration and disappointment (consonant with the overall focus of the play); and, as in the play’s predecessor, Henry IV, Part 1, the person and wit of the inimitable Falstaff.
Dr. White opens this discussion of Shakespeare’s As You Like It with a quick review of the filmed versions of the play. Then he characterizes it as a romantic comedy that is Catholic in a profound way in that it portrays conflict and envy between individuals and society but ends with compromise and renewal. As You Like It, according to White, represents a notion of free will and he describes it as a simple pastoral comedy in a woodsy setting. Spiced by dramatic readings, Dr. White explains the characters in some detail before opening his presentation to questions from his audience.
Here Dr. White makes passing reference to O’Connor’s affection for the films of W.C. Fields, as he segues into a discussion of “Everything That Rises Must Converge.” White characterizes this story as frightening, and one in which O’Connor presents an empty, dead world wherein she deals with intellectual pride and the racism of the deep South in a bygone era.
Here Dr. White makes passing reference to O’Connor’s affection for the films of W.C. Fields, as he segues into a discussion of “Everything That Rises Must Converge.” White characterizes this story as frightening, and one in which O’Connor presents an empty, dead world wherein she deals with intellectual pride and the racism of the deep South in a bygone era.
In this talk Dr. White discusses O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” within the context of the four stages of violent charity; which like Christ’s suffering is a charity that wounds. He opines that it is O’Connor’s vision that the modern world is mad, sealed off from God’s grace. Dr. White discusses what he describes as the comic first half of the story along with the shocking second half.
