Act 2

Question 1

McCann’s habit

Answer 1

“tearing a sheet of newspaper into equal strips”

Question 2

1st confrontation betw. MC & S

Answer 2

"Staying here long? 
Not long. What's your name? 
… 
Were you going out? 
Yes. 
On your birthday? 
Yes. Why not?"

Question 3

MC & S power play through whistling

Answer 3

“STANLEY joins MCCANN in whistling “The Mountains of Morne”. During the next five lines the whistling is continuous, one whistling while the other speaks, and both whistling together.”

Question 4

MC restricting S from leaving

Answer 4

“I want to go out.

Why don’t you stay here?”

Question 5

S repetition of how he has lived/lives

Answer 5

“I used to live very quietly … I lived so quietly … I bet you wouldn’t think I’d led such a quiet life.”

Question 6

S emphasising he hasn’t changed

Answer 6

“I suppose I have, but I’m still the same man that I always was.”

Question 7

S pleading with MC grabbing his arm

Answer 7

"Don't touch me. 
Look. Listen a minute. 
Let go my arm. 
Look. Sit down a minute. 
(savagely, hitting his arm) Don't do that!"

Question 8

G reminicising about the purity of his wife saying he never overstepped boundaries - ironic

Answer 8

“What days … A nightingale, my word of honor. Good? Pure? She wasn’t a Sunday school teacher for nothing …I never took liberties – we weren’t like the young men these days in those days”

Question 9

1st Simey vs. Nat conflict

Answer 9

"”Simey!” My old mum used to shout
I thought your name was Nat.
She called me Simey.”

Question 10

deaf vs. peak senses quote

Answer 10

“Perhaps you’re deaf.

… every single one of my senses is at its peak”

Question 11

G describing S’s state when he waked up

Answer 11

“Some people don’t like the idea of getting up in the morning … what are you but a corpse waiting to be washed?”

Question 12

S feels insecure and attempts to insult G

Answer 12

“You don’t bother me. To me you’re nothing but a dirty joke.”

Question 13

Sitting down power play

Answer 13

"Do you mind sitting down? 
Yes, I do mind. 
Yes now, but – it'd be better if you did. 
Why don't you sit down? 
No, not me – you. 
No thanks."

Question 14

S forced to sit but cont. feeble rebellion

Answer 14

“Webber (Quietly) SIT DOWN.
(Silence. STANLEY begins to whistle “The Mountains of Morne”. He strolls casually to the chair at the table. They watch him. He stops whistling. Silence. He sits.)”

Question 15

Interrogation begins reference to organisation

Answer 15

“Why did you leave the organisation?
…
Why did you betray us?”

Question 16

G & MC referencing S taunting M with status

Answer 16

“Who does he think he is?

Who do you think you are?”

Question 17

G asking S why he came to the boarding house + S’s absurdist responses

Answer 17

“Why did you come here?
My feet hurt!
Why did you stay?
I had a headache!”

Question 18

G orders to remove his glasses

Answer 18

“What can you see without your glasses?
Anything.
Take off his glasses.”

Question 19

G asking about S’s wife

Answer 19

"Where was your wife? 
In- 
Answer. 
(turning, crouched). What wife? 
What have you done with your wife? 
He killed his wife!
Why did you kill your wife?"

Question 20

G on S changing his name

Answer 20

"Webber! Why did you change your name?
I forgot the other one. 
What's your name now? 
Joe Soap. 
You stink of sin"

Question 21

parody of religion - external force

Answer 21

"Do you recognize an external force? 
What? 
Do you recognize an external force? 
That's the question! 
Do you recognize an external force, responsible for you, suffering for you?"

Question 22

number 846 - possible vs. necessary

Answer 22

“Is the number 846 possible or necessary?
…
Wrong! It’s only necessarily necessary! We admit possibility only after we grant necessity. It is possible because necessary but by no means necessary through possibility. The possibility can only be assumed after the proof of necessity.”

Question 23

on who’s right and who’s wrong

Answer 23

“We’re right and you’re wrong, Webber”

Question 24

on society rejecting S

Answer 24

“No society would touch you. Not even a building society.”

Question 25

chicken and the egg

Answer 25

“Why did the chicken cross the road?
He wanted to – he wanted to – he wanted to…
He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know which came first!
Which came first? Which came first? Which came first?”

Question 26

on existing and being dead

Answer 26

“What makes you think you exist?
You’re dead.
You’re dead. You can’t live, you can’t think, you can’t love. You’re dead.”

Question 27

chair stand off stage direction

Answer 27

“MCCANN seizes a chair and lifts it above his head. STANLEY seizes a chair and covers his head with it. MCCANN and STANLEY circle.”

Question 28

M comes in = tonal change (stage direction)

Answer 28

“Enter MEG, in evening dress, holding sticks and drum.”

Question 29

M asking G about her dress

Answer 29

“Do you like my dress, Mr. Goldberg?
It’s out on its own. Turn yourself round a minute. I used to be in the business. Go on, walk up there.
Oh no.
Don’t be shy. (He slaps her bottom)”

Question 30

introduction of the torch

Answer 30

“(MCCANN shines the torch in STANLEY’S face)
Isn’t the light in his eyes?
No, no. Go on”

Question 31

G echoing the description of S’s old town

Answer 31

“That’s the sort of man I am. Not size but quality. A little Austin, tea in Fullers, a library book from Boots”

Question 32

interpolated dialogue

Answer 32

"Lights! 
Right! (He switches on the lights) 
Clink my glass, Stan. 
Mr. Goldberg --  
Call me Nat. 
(to MCCANN) You clink my glass. 
(to GOLDBERG) You're empty. Let me fill you up."

Question 33

G infantalising L

Answer 33

“you’re a big bouncy girl. Come and sit on my lap.”

Question 34

M commanding S

Answer 34

“Stanley. Dance.”

Question 35

G sinister description of passing the children

Answer 35

“I’d say hullo to the little boys, the little girls – I never made distinctions – and then I’d go, back to my bungalow with the flat roof. “Simey,” my wife used to shout, “quick before it gets cold”

Question 36

Lulu accepting the role of liitle girl

Answer 36

“Do you think you knew me when I was a little girl?”
Where you a nice little girl?
I was.”

Question 37

M describing her childhood

Answer 37

“My room was pink. I had a pink carpet and a pink curtains, and I had musical boxes all over the room…And my father was a very big doctor. That’s why I never had any complaints. I was cared for, and I had little sisters and brothers in other rooms, all different colors.”

Question 38

MC asked to sing

Answer 38

“Give us a song McCann.
A love song!
The night that poor Paddy was stretched, the boys they all paid him a visit.”

Question 39

M proposes a game

Answer 39

“I want to play a game!
A game?
What game?
Any game.”

Question 40

M and L participating in S’s toture

Answer 40

“Stanley. Up.
…
Oh, come on, don’t be sulky Stan.
Come on.”

Question 41

G touches L

Answer 41

“GOLDBERG fondles LULU at arm’s length.”

Question 42

MC takes S’s glasses

Answer 42

“he breaks STANLEY’S glasses, snapping the frames”

Question 43

S moves to strangle M

Answer 43

“STANLEY walks into the drum and falls over with his foot caught in it… He begins to move towards MEG, dragging the drum on his foot. He reaches her and stops. His hands move towards her and they reach her throat. He begins to strangle her.”

Question 44

audience and characters are robbed of sight

Answer 44

“BLACKOUT”

Question 45

exclamations in the dark

Answer 45

“Someone’s touching me!
Where is he?
Why has the light gone out?”

Question 46

MC with torch in darkness

Answer 46

“(MCCANN shines the torch in GOLDBERG’S face)”

Question 47

S’s drum roll in the darkness + aimalistic sounds of others

Answer 47

“Silence. Grunts from MCCANN and GOLDBERG on their knees. Suddenly there is a sharp, sustained rat-a-tat with a stick on the side of the drum from the back of the room. Silence. Whimpers from LULU.”

Question 48

light shone on S and L

Answer 48

MCCANN finds the torch on the floor, shines it on the table and STANLEY. LULU is lying spread-eagled on the table, STANLEY bent over her. STANLEY, as soon as the torchlight hits him, begins to giggle”

Question 49

MC and G walk towards S

Answer 49

“Their figures converge upon him.”