analysis drama "The intruder" by Maurice Maeterlinck

“The Intruder”

Maurice Maeterlinck

I.                   Introduction

“The Intruder” drama by Maurice Maeterlinck took place all in one night in a single room. Six characters felt enormous tension one Saturday evening between shortly after nine o’clock and midnight. The grandfather, the father, the uncle, and three daughters hopefully awaited the visit of the father’s and the uncle’s eldest sister and the doctor to check on their sickly mother and baby in the room. Their discussion concerned the mother’s health, the Father thought she was improving, but the Grandfather disagreed. The Uncle tried to smooth things over and created a more relaxed atmosphere. The mood changed when the grandfather announced that he no longer heard the nightingales. Ursula believed that someone had entered the garden, although she saw no one. The father and the uncle disbelieved her, but she persisted since the nightingales suddenly fell silent and the swans became frightened. As it grew darker inside and silent outside, the infant cried offstage and the sister of mercy came in to tell them she had died. They all rushed off to her room, leaving the grandfather alone.

II.                Analysis

“The Intruder” by Maurice Maeterlinck is a drama that explores the theme of death. Death that will be experienced by every human and one of them is the character of this drama. The death of a mother who shows a tense atmosphere, full of worry and anxiety. The fear being left behind is experienced by the family, especially the grandfather on the day of his daughter’s death. Death is something that frightens both those who leave or are left behind. However “The Intruder” is the death itself. In the middle of the night, grandpa hears the voice of someone sharpening a sickle, which means related to death. The grandpa believed it could happen because she married his cousin. It shows the insularity of the family which is contrasted with the exclusion of the grandpa’s opinions regarding the unseen intruder. There is also the concept of duality, namely the existence of twos who are all together in life. In this drama there are several dualities of duality such as light, dark the father says “lighter than here” and the grandfather says “I should like to pierce this darkness” noise can be seen in the dialog of the grandfather says “I can hear a noise on the stairs already” and silence when the father says “there is a silence of the grave, men and women” life while the uncle says “it is now several weeks since he was born” and death that can be seen from the last page as follow “bows as she makes the sign of the cross, to announce the death of his wife” as in the last scene where the baby cries loudly and the mother who dies.

In this drama play there are eight characters appear on stage in “The Intruder”: the grandfather, the father Paul, the Uncle Oliver, three daughters: Ursula, Geneviève, and Gertrude, sister of mercy and the servant. In the offstage, there are also the Mother and the newborn infant. There is actually a physical intruder in the garden or around the house, the character may be a metaphor for illness or death. The Grandfather is the main character because he plays in a whole conversation. He is blind but sees the truth more clearly than the younger people around him. He says exactly what he discerns. His persistent questions about who is in the garden and the sitting room or why the lamp burns less brightly. He assumes that his family is keeping important information from him. Other characters think that his mental capabilities have declined, perhaps along with the blindness. The Father, a supporting character who is called Paul by The Grandfather. He feels anxious and worried about his sickly wife and wishes that his eldest sister who never arrives, would appear and end his anxious waiting. He is worn out from his wife’s childbirth and subsequent illness. He becomes irritated by his father-in-law’s questions and anxieties.

The Uncle, who is called Oliver appears to be an urban man, he is a supporting character that a bit uneasy in the rural environment and the stressful circumstances because of a very ill sister-in-law and her newborn baby, who never cries. He also stirs up trouble in criticizing the grandfather. While the three daughters act in silent, Ursula stands out for having more action, such as opening windows, and more dialogue, in speaking with the grandfather. Overall, they seem submissive to the male characters. The Sister of Mercy, who appears on stage only at the end, takes care of the mother in her room. She enters to inform the family of the mother’s death. The servant accused of making the noises heard or leaving the door open, staunchly defends herself. She has a strong character and stands up to the others’ accusations. The death is a constant presence but never seen or even confirmed as actually existing and it creates an atmosphere of mystery that gradually escalates into full of terror.

Setting in this drama there are in the old country-house and in the room. In the old country-house that can be seen from page one as follows "A dimly lighted room in an old country-house. A door on the right, a door on the left, and a small concealed door in a corner. At the back, stained-glass windows, in which the color green predominates, and a glass door opening on to a terrace. A Dutch clock in one corner. A lamp lighted." that is when their family didn't know about condition of the mother and the grandfather really feels anxious about the condition of his daughter because he blind. And the next place is in the room, the room that is the place who the mother live because the mother was sick and she cannot be seen by anyone. That can be seen from page two as follows the grandfather says "why could I not see my poor daughter to-day?  And the uncle says "you know quite well--the doctor forbade it." Anyone cannot see the mother because of the doctor's command.  Setting time in this drama is one night because this drama only happened in one night and this drama describe the suspence atmosphere that occurs in an old house about the death of the mother.

The plot of “The Intruder” is chronological with the elements of “The Intruder” are exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, resolution, and ending. Exposition is the beginning of the play the drama opens when The family enters the sitting room, disagreeing with their father, uncle, and grandfather, three young women hopefully await the visit of the father’s and the uncle’s eldest sister, a nun who is the mother superior of her convent, and of the doctor who is to check on their sickly mother in the room on the left and the silent baby in the room on the right.  Rising action is what happens in story leading up to the most important exciting part of the drama when the grandfather announce that he no longer hears the nightingales, they believe that someone has entered the garden, although Ursula who check into the window did not see anyone. She reports that the avenue is moonlit and the weather fine, and that the trees stir a little in the wind. Conflict when Grandfather felt a bad feeling would happen to his sick daughter. Grandfather also heard the sound and footsteps under the ground, he felt someone was entering the house, but the other characters did not feel it. Climax when one of the terror and foreboding, door open by themselves and the rays of the moonlight pierced through the corner of the stained glass, and threw strange rays here and there in the room.  The clock struck midnight; at the last blow there is a very faint sound, when someone goes up in a hurry but they don't know who it is. Falling action when the when problem of the drama resolves. The Uncle, Father, Three Daughter went to the child's room to see what was happening. Resolution when they saw Sister of Mercy on the doorway with her black clothes bent over to make the sign of the cross to tell that the mother had died or the condition of the sick mother had died.

Point of view in this drama to be third person limited because in drama the narrator is not omniscient and does not know what the characters are feeling or thinking or their intent or good or evil nature. Such things are only revealed by action or dialogue. This drama use pronoun “He” for indicating the Grandfather, the Father, Uncle. Seen from “He is asleep?” the Grandfather says “I suppose so” the father answered. And use “She” for indicating Three Daughters, the Servant and Mother it can be seen from “She is certain to come. This will be the first time she has been here?” the uncle says “She has never been into the house” the father answered. It proves that the drama uses a third-person point of view.

The style used in “The Intruder” is binary opposition. Binary opposition such as male by the Grandfather, the Father, Uncle and female by the Three Daughters, the Servant and Mother. Sensitive by the Grandfather and ignorant by the Uncle. Healthy by the all characters accept the Mother because the Mother unhealthy she could only lie weakly on the bed. Wife by the Mother and husband by the Father.

III.             Conclusion

“The Intruder” drama has a main character namely grandfather who made this drama have the theme of death. A bed feeling that grandfather experienced became the main conflict of this drama.  Supported by other characters who do not feel like grandfather touching internal conflict. The setting at night is also very supportive in the theme of death in drama. Until finally answered about the death of the theme and make other characters believe that the oddities in the grandfather they almost ignored occurred.

Terimakasih untuk teman-teman semua yang telah membaca essay ini, semoga bermanfaat dan dapat membantu kalian yang sedang mencari referensi essay "the intruder" mohon untuk tidak di copy paste yaa, kalian pasti bisa modifikasi dan bikin yang lebih baik lagi! :)