ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a problematic question related to the manifestation of violence: does the use (or presence) of violence provide any meanings? At first this question is examined by considering a special case related to violence: the act of killing. From a dramaturgical standpoint, the death of a character in a play is a major event that usually marks a turning point in the story. As we saw in the previous chapter with Romeo and Juliet, the deaths of the two lovers create a change in their families. When faced with the extreme act of taking another person’s life, the spectator is urged to wonder: why is someone being killed? Is the death of a person something meaningful or is it a senseless act? What does the act of killing, or self-killing, reveal about human nature? This, of course, is linked to the larger question: what is the meaning of violence?
