Essay on Angels in America Essay Angels Angels in America Essay Essay on Angels in America

1. Essay on Angels in America
Angels in America
The play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, by Tony Kushner, contained
situations in which characters' personalities underwent great changes from the beginning of the
play to the end. One of the most significant and noticeable changes was that of Harper. She was
married to the character named Joe, who she knew was gay and the way she dealt with this came
to relate directly to her own sanity. In part one, Harper spent a lot of time with her imaginary
friend and travel agent Mr. Lies. He was her escape mechanism from the horrible reality she could
not deal with that was her life. In part two, Harper came to grips with her husband's homosexuality
and the fact that she was not going to change...show more content...
Stated as it is above, this notion makes sense. Harper knows that she is delusional and out of
touch with reality, but she is appreciating her current condition and taking it for everything it is
worth. In actuality, Harper is in a park in NYC, but in her dream world she is in a cold desolate
place where it is too cold for her feelings to bother her.
In part II, Perestroika, Harper begins to come back to reality. Part two starts off with her literally
trying to chop down a pine tree in Prospect Park by chewing on it. She is shocked back into reality
because her task is impossible by the means she is using. However, at this point in the play, she is
still not prepared mentally to deal with the events of her real life. Even though Harper is not
completely turned around yet, she has made progress from the beginning of the play. Now that
Harper is coming to grips with her marriage and her life as a whole, she is in the position to do
something about them. It is often said that the first step to recovering from something is realizing
and admitting that you have a problem. Harper knows that she is hallucinating and that her
dependency on Valium is bad for her mental and physical health, but she appreciates what the drug
is doing for her. The Harper of Part Two is at an advantage to the Harper of earlier acts in the play
because she is able to look at her situation from a rational point of view and see what is wrong with
it. Harper
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2. Essay Angels
Angels
The term angel derives from a Greek translation of the Hebrew word mal'akh, which first meant
"Shadow side of God," and now means messenger (Jeremiah 59). Angels as an article of faith have
become an unshakeable part of our society. One in every ten popular songs involves angels in some
way (Freeman 2). They appear in paintings and in museums as sculptures. Our culture is filled with
angels that appear on clothing, cards, or as souvenirs, and jewelry. It would be reasonable to assume
that one might find the most information about angels in the Christian bible. However , the bible
only mentions three angels by name and actually contains very little information about these beings.
Almost all of the information we...show more content...
The focus of this paper will be on the angels of heaven who make up the heavenly hierarchy and the
fallen angles of hell.
The creation of the angelic hierarchy is attributed to Pseudo–Dionysius. St Ambrose is responsible
for the categories of angels which were taken from traditions whose origins are lost in time (Bloom
59). There are three hierarchies, each with three orders. The Upper Triad: Seraphim, Cherubim, and
Thrones. The Middle Triad: Dominations, Virtues, and Powers. The Lowest Triad: Principalities,
Archangels, and Angels (Guiley 17). The Upper Triad: The first triad seems to be centered around a
central core of purity and light, closest to God. It is only in the third choir, the last choir of the triad
that matter begins to appear. The First Choir – Seraphim: These angels are the highest of God's
angelic order. Their names mean "burning ones" (Lang 49). The only mention of Seraphs in the
bible is Isa 6:2. They circle the throne of God chanting in Hebrew the Trisagion "Kadosh, Kadosh,
Kadosh," which is "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His Glory"
(Godwin 25). The Seraphim are identified with the serpent or dragon. They are in direct
communion with God and are of such pure thought and light, they resonate with "the fire of love"
(Guiley 17). They are known as the "fiery flying serpents of lightning," who "roar like lions"
(Godwin 25). When these angels
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3. Angels in America Essay
Angels in America
Everyone has his or her own personal faults in life. Some are looked down upon more for their
issues than others are. Homosexual relationships are considered sacrilegious and unethical, so much
that we scrutinize persons having those relations. We as a society should not look down upon
individuals whose sexual preference is different from our own.
The 80's were a time of economic growth and global power. It is also the setting for Tony Kushner's
play, "Angels in America". In Kushner's play it was at time of gay revelation. Reagan's reforms and
policies gave homosexual people the power and...show more content...
Joe is married to Harper, a woman who is addicted to Valium. He is like Roy Cohn in that he is a
well–respected person whose career would be affected if it came out that he was gay. Joe's
situation is different from Roy's because he is a married man that is on an adventurous path
towards love. He is experimenting with his sexuality, not really sure of what path to take. When
Joe tells his mother, Hannah, she is furious and does not believe him. Her Mormon son is a
homosexual, a hard concept for her to understand. He is scared to reveal his secret life to society
for the fear of resentment. This is true in society that we criticize those who are in a homosexual
relationship. Mathew Sheppard is an obvious example. He was a teenager murdered because he
was gay in a society that does not accept such behavior. Whose at fault for his murder, his killers or
society?
Prior is another homosexual man in Kushner's play. He is different from Roy and Joe because he is
not a professional. Prior is also affected by the
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4. Essay on Angels in America
Within modern society when a character strays away from what society depicts as morally right,
the individual is frowned upon as if he or she doesn't belong. In "Angels in America" a gay fantasia
on National themes, characters struggle to be themselves upon fear of whether or not society will
accept them as an individual. The characters not only struggles with whether or not society will
accept them, but they also struggle with their inner demons, and ultimately the question of what is
truly good or evil. In this paper several characters will be analyzed and discussed from several
different viewpoints. "Angels in America" is a highly dramatic piece that deals with the AIDS crisis
in New York, and the lives that are impacted directly...show more content...
As Prior is laying in the hospital be suffering he asks Belize, "I want Louis. I want my boyfriend,
where is he? I'm dying, I'm dying where's Louis?" (60) Prior shows that he is vulnerable, and he
depends on his boyfriend to comfort him and give him strength, As the story progresses the
antagonist of the play is introduced. Roy Cohn was one of New York's most powerful attorneys
whose power and influence was initially destroyed by the infectious virus, the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus. Roy doesn't believe that he is gay, he simply feels that he is a
heterosexual man who occasionally has the desire to be satisfied by a man. Roy also didn't identify
himself as an homosexual because he considered homosexuals to be weak and who have no political
clout. "Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying cannot get a pissant anti–discrimination
bill through the city council." ( 45) He also conveys, "Homosexuals are men who know nobody
and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout. Does this sound like me Henry?" (45) Roy
threatens to destroy Henry's career if word got out that he had contracted the virus. He
pronounces, "I will proceed, systematically, to destroy your reputation and your practice and your
career in New York state Henry. Which you know I can do." (44) He also states, "AIDS is what
homosexuals have. I have liver cancer." (46) Roy Cohn serves as the antagonist of the play because
of his cunning and deceitful ways, which he uses
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