8/12/2019 THEME Color Co

1/4

THEME: CHAPTER 4 OUTLINE

- 3. SON BANISHING THE FATHER- generational changes, to surmountthe past one must first understand it

3. You cannot be an artist until you are civilized. You cannot be civilized until

you learn. To be civilized is to know where you belong in the continuum of your

art and your world. To surmount the past, you must know the past.

Ken (at end of play) moves forward to create art of his own/ points out Rothkos

hypocrisy and follies through Rothko;s own words; just new application (learning

from the past and surmounting it)

ASSESS THEME THROUGH LOOKING AT : TITLE-

o (Generational differences, son banishing father)ROTHKO: Thats like saying red. Dont be enigmatic;

youre too young to be enigmatic.

o (Inability to ever capture something beyond himself tragedy) We seek to capture the ephemeral, the

miraculous, and put it onto canvas, stopping time but, like

an entomologist pinning a butterfly, it dies when we try

.... Were foolish that way, we human beings ... We try to

make the red black.

8/12/2019 THEME Color Co

2/4

o (son banishing father, Rothko becoming insignificant,giving up, like Pollock)

o ROTHKO (re: the central painting): What do yousee?Ken looks at the painting.But then he looks atRothko.Beat. KEN: Red.Beat.Ken goes to thephonograph and puts on a record. Classical musicplays.Ken goes.Rothko seems a little lost.He movesto the central painting and stares at it.

ALLUSIONS- references to other workds of literature/art,events/history, anything outside the play

CLASSICAL LITERATURE: ( ALSO PARALLEL)

o You cannot be an artist until you are civilized. You cannotbe civilized until you learn. To be civilized is to know

where you belong in the continuum of your art and your

world. To surmount the past, you must know the past.

SYMBOL- something that stands for something elseo Ken standing in front of central painting end of scene

4 (reminiscent of Rothko in scene 1)

o Rothko standing in front of central painting at end ofplay

PARALLELISM- when action repeats, or when text isrepeated

o You would have loved Jackson. He was a downtown guy, areal Bohemian. No bankers hours for him, believe you me.

Every night the drinking and the talking and the fighting

and the dancing and the staying up late; like everyone

romantic idea of what an artist ought to be: the anti-

Rothko. ... At his worst you still loved him though; you

loved him because he loved art so much ... He thought it

mattered. He thought painting mattered ... Does not the

8/12/2019 THEME Color Co

3/4

poignancy stop your heart? ... How could this story not end

in tragedy? (27).

o PARALLEL BETWEEN WHAT ROTHKO ESPOUSES ANDDOES: In this scene, Rothko identifies the futility of

attempting to create something immortal, beyond me, beyond

now, yet fails to see the parallels of his own words to his artand his super-objective. He references the inevitability of

popular art becoming overmantles in the homes of the

wealthy and affluent, again unable to identify the purpose his

own murals will serve in the Four Seasons restaurant.

ASSESS THEME THROUGH LOOKING AT CHARACTER :

o How do the characters shed light on the action of the play? Do specificcharacters embody conventional roles of:

RAISSONEUR- the voice of reason CONFIDANTE- who the protagonist confides in!

o Ken plays both for Rothko, he is the captive listener/counselorfor his employer

o CONFIDANTE (from chapter on character): For Ken,complexity comes only in the form of not knowing truly

what is that he values, while knowing that Rothkos values

are not included in his own. However, this complexity is

somewhat immaterial to the play thematically and with

respect to contrast as the mere fact that Ken challenges

Rothkos views at all provides conflict enough to sketch

out the plays central themes.

o Relationship provides a symbol as Rothko represents theolder generation, Ken the younger ( ESP with

FATHER/SON relationship.. son must banish father

ASSESS THEME THROUGH LOOKING AT THEATRICAL CONTEXT:o How does it relate to or support the plays main idea?

- The basic conflict of the play is not generation, time periodspecific, it is universal and bigger than this time period, this

artist, this play. The context is important in establishing this

specifc example and manifestation of these thematic ideasbut not fundamental to the themes expressed

8/12/2019 THEME Color Co

4/4

- WHAT makes this play still accessible and moving 30years form now?

CONCLUSIONFinal statement of your main idea; this will be related to your preliminarystatement and discuss how your analysis deepened or developed from your initial

ideas and statement