Lesson 4 the Game Lesson 4

PERCEIVE IDEAS
You may have read Faustus by Christopher Marlowe or
Everyman., a late 14th century play whose author has not been
established up to now.

This oneact play may remind you of the

points raised by the said plays.

PERUSE AND READ

What is a morality play?

An allegorical play (popular especially in the 15th and 16th
centuries) in which the characters personify abstract qualities
or concepts (as virtues, vices, or death). It involves a direct
conflict between right and wrong or good and evil and from which
a moral lesson may be drawn Morality Play."
- Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2014.
<http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/morality play>.

The Game
A morality play
by Louise Bryant

CHARACTERS
LIFE

YOUTH

DEATH

THE GIRL

[AT THE RISE, Death is lying on the ground at left, idly flipping
dice.

Now and then he glances sardonically at Life who is

standing at the extreme right and counting aloud.]

LIFE: (Counting abstractly) Fifty thousand, fifty-one, sixtyfive, ninety-- (She goes on through the next speech.)
DEATH: Come ,come, Life, forget your losses. It's no fun playing
with a dull partner. I had hoped for a good game tonight,
although there is little in it for me,just a couple of suicides.

LIFE: (With a gesture of anxiety) My dear Death, I wish you would

Thanatos and

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grant me a favor.
DEATH: (Grumbling) A favor. A favor. Now isn't that just like a
woman? I never saw one yet who was willing to abide by the
results of a fair game.
LIFE: (Earnestly) But I want these two, whether I win or lose. I
really must have them. They are geniuses--and you know how badly
I am in need of geniuses right now. Ungrateful spoiled children!
They always want to commit suicide over their first
disappointments.
DEATH: (Impatiently) How many times must I tell you that the game
must be played! It's the law--you know it as well as I do.

LIFE: (Shrugging) O, the law! Laws are always in your favor,

Death!
DEATH: There you are. I always said the universe would be in a
wild state of disorder if the women had any say! No, you must
play the game.
LIFE:(Indignantly)Whoever said anything about not playing? All I
want is your consent to let them meet here before the game
begins.
DEATH: I'll bet this isn't so innocent as it sounds. Who are
they? I haven't paid much attention to the case.
LIFE: Youth and The Girl. He is a Poet, and she a Dancer.
DEATH: A strong man and a beautiful woman. (He laughs,
ironically) Up to the same old tricks, eh? You sly thing, you
think1 if they meet they'll fall in love and cheat me! (Pause.)
Well, suppose I consent. What will you give?
LIFE: (Quickly) I'll give you Kaiser Wilhelm1 ,The Czar of
Russia22, George of England3i, and old Francis Joseph4-that's two
to one!
1Wilhelm was the last German emperor (kaiser) and king of Prussia,
whose policies helped to bring about World War)

2 The Czar of Russia was the last tsar of Russia under Romanov rule
whose handling of Bloody Sunday and WWI led to his abdication
33George of England was unpopular in England throughout his life the
perceived greed of his mistresses and rumors concerning his treatment
of his wife.

DEATH: Now that's dishonest. You're always trying to unload a lot

of monarchs on me when you know I don't want them. Why, when you
play for them you almost go to sleep and I always win. No
bargaining in kings, my dear.
LIFE: I'll give you a whole regiment of soldiers.
DEATH: (With scorn) Soldiers! What do you care about soldiers?
Look at your figures again. You've been losing millions of
soldiers in Europe for the past two years--and you're much more
excited about these two rattle-pated young idiots. Your idea of a
fair trade is to get something for nothing. You love too much.
With such covertness how can you ever know the thrill of chance?
LIFE: (Pleading) O I'll give you anything.
[Enter Youth, with hanging melancholy head.]
DEATH: Sshh! Too late! Here's one of them.
LIFE: (Turning) Youth! (To Death) You've tricked me. You were
only playing for time.
DEATH: Come, sister. Be game. All's fair in everything but the
dice. And just think. If you win this cast the other is half won.
They'll meet then ...
YOUTH: (Seeing the two and starting. To Life.) Who are you?
LIFE: (Anxiously) I am Life!
YOUTH: (Bitterly) O, I am through with you ... I want none of
you! (Turning his back and addressing Death) And who are you?
4

DEATH: (Rising with cheerful complacency) I am Death!

YOUTH: (Taken aback) Death! How different from my dream of you. I
thought you were sombre, austere; and instead, you're--if I may
say so--just a trifle commonplace.
DEATH: I'm not as young as I once was. One's figure, you know-LIFE: (Delightedly) Ah!
DEATH: Look at her. A pleasing exterior, eh? And yet you wouldn't
be seeking me if you didn't know better. Alas, my boy, beauty is
not even skin deep.
YOUTH: That is true. (Going to Death) Ah, Death, I have been
seeking you for weeks.
DEATH: Yet I am always present. Where did you seek me?
YOUTH: (Excitedly, with gestures) I tried poison, but just as I
was about to swallow it they snatched it from me ... I tried to
shoot myself. They cheated me; the pistol wouldn't go off.
DEATH: Well-meaning idiots!
YOUTH: So I came here to leap into the sea!
DEATH: Very good. Only hurry. Someone might come.
LIFE: Why do you wish to die?
YOUTH: (Hotly) As if you didn't know. Did you not give me the
power to string beautiful words into songs--did you not give me
Love to sing to and take Love away? I cannot sing any more! And
yet you ask me why I want to die! I am not a slave! Slaves live
just to eat and be clothed--you have plenty of them!

LIFE: (Sadly) Yes, I have plenty of them.

YOUTH: If I cannot have love to warm me, I cannot create beauty.
And if I cannot create beauty, I will not live!
LIFE: Are you sure it was Love? I think it was only Desire I gave
you; you did not seem ready for Love.
YOUTH: (Passionately) Falsehoods. Evasions. What is Love, then?
You gave me a girl who sold flowers on the street. She had hair
like gold and a body all curves and rose-white like marble. I
sang my songs for her, and the whole world listened. Then an ugly
beast came and offered her gold ... and she laughed at me--and
went away.
DEATH: (Laughing indulgently) That is Love, my boy. You are lucky
to find it out so young.
LIFE: Now I know it was desire.
YOUTH: (To Death) Why will she persist in lying?
DEATH: (Gallantly) I am a sport and a gentleman and I must admit
that Life is as truthful as I am.
LIFE: Listen, Youth, and answer me. Did your sweetheart
understand your songs?
YOUTH: Why should she? Women do not have to understand. They must
be fragrant and beautiful--like flowers.
LIFE: And is that all?
YOUTH: (Slightly confused) I do not know many women.

LIFE: I will show you one who understands your songs. She is
coming here.
DEATH: (Harshly) To leap into the sea, like you!
LIFE: Because she is lonely--waiting for you.
YOUTH: For me! But I do not know her!
LIFE: But she knows you--through your songs...
DEATH: (Scornfully) And you have been seeking me for weeks! Are
you to be fooled again by this tricky charlatan? You who have had
enough of Life? There is no place for cowards among the lofty
dead!
YOUTH: O Death, forgive me! Life, farewell!
[He stretches out his arms and turns towards the cliff.]
LIFE: (Crying out) Hold! We must play first.
[Youth stands as he is, with outstretched arms as they play.]
DEATH: (Jovially) So now it is you who are asking me to play!
Come, Life do me a favor. Give me this one and the girl shall be
yours!
LIFE: (Excitedly) No. The game must be played. It is the law!
[Death laughs. They go to center stage and throw the dice. Death
frowns and grumbles.]
LIFE: (Rising with a happy smile) I have won!
YOUTH: (Dropping his arms and turning slowly. Sadly.) Then I am
to live--in spite of myself. Death, I have lost you. Life, I hate
you. Without Love you are crueller than Death.

LIFE: Soon the Girl will be here. Then you will think me
beautiful.
DEATH: That's the comedy of it. You probably will, you know.
YOUTH: (With a gesture of revulsion) Promises. Promises. Love
comes but one-[He breaks off and stares as the Girl rushes in. She almost runs
into Life, then suddenly recoils.]
GIRL: Who are you?
LIFE: I am Life.
GIRL: O, Life dear, I must leave you! I cannot bear you any
longer. You are so white and so cold!
LIFE: What have you to complain of? Have I not given you Fame,
and Worship and Wealth?
GIRL: What are all these ... without Love?
DEATH: (With a smile) What--you without Love? How about those who
stand at the stage door every evening--and send you flowers and
jewels? One of them shot himself because you stamped on his
flowers. Believe me, my dear, that is all the Love there is-GIRL: Love? No. That was Desire!
DEATH: Bah! Desire when they seek you--Love when you seek them.
GIRL: No, No. Love understands. They didn't. They wanted to buy
me in order to destroy me. That is why I stamped on their
flowers.
DEATH: (Humorously) Ah, the young. Incurably sentimental.

YOUTH: (Impetuously) Good. I'm glad you did.

GIRL: (Startled) Why, who are you?
YOUTH: I am Youth.
GIRL: (Drawing back) Youth, the Poet? You? O I know all your
songs by heart. I have kissed every line. Always, when I dance, I
try to dance them. (Looking around fearfully) But why are you
here?
DEATH: (Grimly) He came to throw himself into the sea!
GIRL: (Alarmed. Clutching him by the arm.) Oh, no. You must not.
What would the poor world do without your beautiful songs?
LIFE: Do not be afraid, my dear, I have won.
YOUTH: (Sighing) Alas!
GIRL: Why did you want to die?
DEATH: (Slyly) His sweetheart left him.
GIRL: (Drawing back coldly) His sweetheart! So he loves someone!
I don't believe you. How could any woman he loved ... when he
sings so sweetly-LIFE: His songs meant nothing to her.
GIRL: Nothing! (Going to Youth) O then she was not worth your
love. She was like the men who wait for me at the stage-door; she
wanted to destroy you.
DEATH: Such is Life, my dear young lady, Love is the destroyer
always.

YOUTH: (Bitterly) You are right. It is all a myth--Life, Love,

Happiness. I must idealize someone, something--and then the
bubble bursts and I am alone. No. If she could not understand, no
one could understand.
GIRL: (Eagerly) O how wrong you are! I understand. Don't you
believe me? I have danced all you have sung. Do you remember "The
Bird Calls?"
[She dances. Youth watches with astonishment and growing
delight.]
YOUTH: How beautiful! You do understand--you do! Wings flash and
soar when you dance! You skim the sea gloriously, lifting your
quivering feathery breast against the sunny wind. Dance again for
me. Dance my "Cloud Flight!"
GIRL: The loveliest of all! (Remembering sadly) But I can never
dance for you anymore. I came here to die!
DEATH: And you'd forgotten it already! O you're all alike, you
suicides. Life's shallowest little deceit fools you again--though
you have seen through her and know her for what she is.
GIRL: (Hesitating) But I have found Youth.
YOUTH: (Swiftly) Yes, and Youth has found Love--real Love at
last. Love that burns like fire and flowers like the trees. You
shall not die. (To Death) And I will fight you for her! Love is
stronger than Death!

DEATH: Than Life, you mean. Think of the great lovers of the
world--Paola and Francesca, Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde.
I, I claimed them all. Who are you to set yourself up against
such august prcedentsprecedents? (To the Girl) You think he loves
you. It is not you he loves, but your dancing of his songs. He is
a Poet--therefore he loves only himself. And his sweetheart, for
lack of whom he was going to die. See! He has already forgotten
her! (Slowly) As you will one day be forgotten.
LIFE: (To Girl) Why ask too much of me? I can only give happiness
for a moment--but it is real happiness--Love, Creation, Unity
with the tremendous rhythm of the universe. I can't promise it
will endure. I won't say you will not someday be forgotten. What
if it is himself he loves in you? That, too, is Love.
GIRL: To be supremely happy for a moment--an hour--that is worth
living for!
DEATH: Life offers you many things--I but one. She pours out the
sunshine before you to make you glad; she sends the winter to
chill your heart. She gives you Love and Desire--and takes them
away. She brings you warm quietness--and kills it with hunger and
anxiety. Life offers you many things--I but one. Come closer,
tired heart, and hold out your weary hands. See! What a pearl I
offer--to kings and beggars alike. Come--I will give you peace!
GIRL: (Spurning him) Peace? Do you think I want peace--I, a
dancer, a child of the whirling winds? Do you think I would be

blind to the sunlight, deaf to Youth's music--to my sweet

applause, dumb to laughter? All this joy that is in me--scattered
in darkness? Dust in my hair--in my eyes--on my dancing feet?
(Hesitating) And yet--and yet Life is so cruel!
YOUTH: (Going to her) My dearest. We will never leave one
another.
LIFE: She is mine!
DEATH: (Sardonically) Haven't you forgotten something? The game!
LIFE: It is half-won. She too has found love.
DEATH: Ah! But in willing to die she laid her life on the knees
of the Fates. So we must play for her. It is the law.
LIFE: O I am not afraid to play. This time I have you, Death.
DEATH: Have me! Ho, Ho. Nay, Life. I am cleverer than you. On
this game hangs the doom of both!
LIFE: (Astonished) Of both? (Furiously) You lie, Death! I have
already won Youth, he cannot die.
DEATH: (Laughing) Ho. Ho. Youth cannot die, you say. True. But
the Girl dies if I win; isn't that so? (Life nods.) Well, and if
she dies, what then? He loves her, yet he cannot follow. Nay, he
shall live--forever mute, forever regretting his lost love, until
you yourself will beg me to take him!
LIFE: (Falling on her knees) O Death, I beg of you-DEATH: Ho. Ho. Life on her knees to Death. No, sister. I couldn't
help you if I would. It is the law. Let us play.

LIFE: (Resigned) It is the law.

[They go to the center of stage and play.]
LIFE: (Joyously) O I have won again!
DEATH: (Blackly, hurling the dice to the ground) Yes, curse the
luck! But some day we'll play for those two again--and then it
will be my turn.
YOUTH: Yes. But we will have lived. Until then, Death, you are
Powerless. I fear you not, and I will guard her from you.
DEATH: (Shrugging) Geniuses! Geniuses!
GIRL: (To Youth) How brave--how strong--how beautiful is my
lover!
[They go offstage with their arms about each other.]
DEATH: Well, it was a good game after all. You see, that's the
difference between you and me; you play to win, and I play for
the fun of the thing. (He laughs.)
LIFE: O, soldiers don't matter one way or the other to me; but
some day the dreamers will chain you to the earth, and I will
have the game all my way.
DEATH: That remains to be seen. But how about kings?
LIFE: Kings are my enemies. Do you remember how careless I was
during the French Revolution? I've always had it on my
conscience, and I think I'd feel better if I told you; whenever I
threw a good combination, I--juggled the dice!

DEATH: (Nodding) I'm not surprised. Heavens, aren't women

unscrupulous! And yet they call me unfair ... Well, I suppose
I've got to keep an eye on you.
LIFE: I warn you I will stop at nothing. By the way, what's the
game tomorrow night?
DEATH: A Plague. And in that game, I regret to say you haven't a
chance in the world.
LIFE: Don't forget I have Science to help me.
DEATH: Science, Bah! A fool's toy! I sweep them all together in
my net--the men of learning and the ones they try to cure.
LIFE: But remember that the sun, the blessed healing sun still
rises every morning.
DEATH: (Irritated) Oh, don't remind me of the sun!
[He goes.]
LIFE: (Beginning to count her losses again) Two hundred thousand,
seventy-five, three hundred and ten. (Looking up.) I must never
let him know how much I mind losing soldiers. They are the flower
of youth--there are dreamers among them...
CURTAIN

(www.one-act-plays.com/dramas/game.html n.d.)

Source: (Shay 1916). New York: Frank Shay, 1916.

PROBE WORD MEANING

Unlocking of Vocabulary words used in the text: Answer with yes

or no, then explain.
a)
b)

When a man is rattle-pated, does it mean he talks a lot more

than achieves anything?

c)

Does complacency imply being satisfied with how things are

and not wanting to try to make them better?

d)

When something happens or appears in many places and is not

unusual, do we say it is commonplace?

e)

If one is bright and light-hearted about life, does he have a

sombre attitude about living?

f)

If they had lived an austere life in the country, does it

mean they had lived plainly and simply?

LITERARY POINT : Understand how the play is symbolic of, rather

than representative of life
Analyse Analyze literature as a means of connecting to
world. Draw similarities and differences of the featured
selection in relation to the theme.
The characters of Death and Life vie with a toss of the dice
for the lives of the nameless The Youth, a male poet, and The
Girl, a dancer. Life, as the heroine of the play, wins as she
helps them both realize the meaning of life and its worth.

Literature Activity 1
1. What makes this play The Game symbolic of, rather than
representative of life?
2. Why are some of the characters given conjectural names? (as a
notion existing only as a suggestion or idea)
3. Why did Life give the Youth only Desire, and not Love?
4. What three things had Life given the Girl? Why isnt she
satisfied with them?
5. What is lifes reason for caring so little for soldiers,
choosing the two dreamers over them?
6. Why was life careless about kings

Literature Activity 2
Grab Pick out some significant lines from the play, and give
what you think is the

explanation of them.

Example; : I must never let him know how much I mind losing
soldiers.

They are the flower of youththere are dreamers among

them.
Women do not have to understand. They must be fragrant and
beautiful--like flowers.(example of an inferred answer:
Speakers opinion of women)
1.Laws are always in your favor, Death!
a) The ultimate punishment for sins committed is death

b) We all fear Death because it always wins in the end.

c) The end of life is inevitable death.
2. I must never let him know how much I mind losing soldiers.
They are the flower of youth--there are dreamers among them...
a) Not all soldiers enjoy fighting.
b) Some soldiers fight for a better world.
C) Soldiers act as they are told to; but we do not know whether
they like their orders.
3.

What if it is himself he loves in you? That, too, is Love.

a) Sometimes we love those on whom

we see a reflection of

ourselves
b) We love those who share the same views and opinions as ours.
c) We love those who can make us feel better.
4. But remember that the sun, the blessed healing sun still
rises every morning.
a) With the beginning of each day comes new hope.
b) The sun is the symbol of light that will show us the
right way
c) All our problems fade into the night and the sun shows us
how life can be made to begin again.
5.Such is Life, my dear young lady, Love is the destroyer
always.
a) Love can make life miserable

b) Loves illusion makes us happy for a while, then it lets us

down.
c)If we dont have love, life is not worth living.

Literature Activity 3

POINT OUT CONNECTIONS

Lets review through this website some of

the prosodic features of speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzh3Owutf5Y
How intonation ,stress, pause, pitch, stress, volume, tempo,
voice typing, and rhythm as well as on the correct pronunciation
of sounds help us communicate.

PERFORM EXPRESSIONS
Present a radio play of this morality play The Gameand

use the prosodic features of speech when delivering lines

1. Group yourselves in five. There are only four characters and
then, you as a group, should choose your director, who will
then do the casting. He will also be in charge of choosing
which part of the play is to be made into a radio play.
2. You and your members will decide on a location where you can
deliver your lines clearly without anyone disturbing you.

a) How will you present a radio play? What equipment do you think
you may need? Are you
b)

What kind of background music may you use?

d)

What sound effects can you add?

e)

What props may you need?(Since it is a radio play, probably

hand props are not as necessary as sound effects and music.

f) How do you intend to successfully communicate what you need to

say ?
Brainstorm on how intonation,stress, pause, pitch, stress,
volume, tempo,,voice typing, and rhythm as well as on the correct
pronunciation of sounds

PONDER REFLECTIONS

For everything there is a season, and a time for every

purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a
time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a
time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a
time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to
mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a
time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to
refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a
time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time
to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to
love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ASV)