WORKSHOP: What Is a Dialogue?
By Don Finkel
Part I (45 minutes)
1. (10 mins.) Writing individually, formulate a position on the following question: Was Clytemnestra justified in murdering her husband, King Agamemnon? State your reasons.
For the rest of Part I, pair up with someone who held the opposite position.
2. (10 mins.) Try to convince the other person of the rightness of the position you took in answer to question 1. Refer to your notes in trying to persuade the other person. Take turns: five minutes for each person. Do this formally, as in a debate, rather than arguing freely back and forth. If time permits, each person can rebut for a minute or two.
3. (10 mins.) Now question the other person out of a genuine interest in seeing how a person could hold such a position. Remember you are curious and you are trying to learn something from the other person. Again, take turns: five minutes for each pe rson.
4. (10 mins.) If you originally thought Clytemnestra was justified, you are now to pretend that you are going to have to act the part of Orestes in a play. If you thought she wasn't, pretend that you are going to have to act the part of Clytemnestra in a play. You are thus desperately in need of an understanding of the character you have to play. Interview the other person as a means of fully understanding the motivation and point of view of your character, so that you will be able to act the part in a convincing manner. Again, take turns: five minutes for each person.
Part II (50 mins.)
Form groups of four for Parts II and III by combining two pairs from Part I.
Each of you will be performing a short set of speeches from the plays. If you originally thought Clytemnestra was justified, you will be playing Orestes; if you thought she wasn't justified, you will be playing Clytemnestra. The scripts will be handed o ut at this point.
5. (15 mins.)
(a) One person in the group read aloud Clytemnestra's speeches.
(b) Discuss the speech in order to get clear on what she is saying.
(c) The people who will be performing this speech read it aloud in unison.
Now repeat steps (a) through (c) above for the Orestes speech(es).
6. (15 mins.) Each person find a solitary place and rehearse the speeches you will be performing. You will have your script; you don't need to memorize anything. The scripts also contain instructions for getting yourself into character, and tips on re hearsing. Follow them. Keep a careful eye on the time and rejoin your group after fifteen minutes.
7. (10 mins.) Four Performances: Each person performs his speech, having one other member of his group read the chorus lines. The remaining two members are the audience. Make sure each person has a turn as chorus, and two turns as audie nce. Start each performance formally, having an audience member say: "Curtain--when you're ready." End each performance formally with applause.
8. (10 mins.) As a mini-seminar group of four, now discuss the original question: Was or was not Clytemnestra justified in murdering her husband, King Agamemnon?
9. Don't do question 9. now; do it as an exercise in your notebook this evening. Write about 10-15 minutes worth of dialogue between Clytemnestra and Agamemnon which takes place when they meet as shades in Hades.
Part III (10 mins.)
10. In playing your role, and listening to the other performances, how did your sympathies emerge in relation to each character?
11. What was the difference between Clytemnestra's response to her action as a mother, and Orestes' response to his action as a son?
12. In this workshop you have experienced various modes of dialogue: we could label them "argument," "intellectual inquiry," "empathetic research" and "scripted dialogue in a play." You have also experienced dialogue from different positions: inside a character, in the audience, and (this evening when you write) the position of the author.
Discuss the various modes and positions which you experienced in this workshop. How are they similar? How different? Which was the most effective in altering your thinking on the question? Which did you learn the most from?
Part IV: To Be Pursued in Seminar This Afternoon
13. Plato has presented us with a "Socratic dialogue" in The Meno. Use the language of the various modes and positions above, and the experiences you had with them, to try to characterize what a "Socratic dialogue" is.
14. (a). What are, in your opinion, the essential features of dialogue?
(b) What are the necessary preconditions of dialogue?
(c) What is the purpose of dialogue?
(d) Did you prefer one mode of dialogue over another? Which and why?
(e) Did you prefer one positionin a dialogue over the other? Which and why? (Consider this question again after you have written some dialogue tonight.)