Date of Award

5-1935

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Speech Pathology and Audiology

First Advisor

William M. Lamers

Abstract

The stage is majestic in its triumph and gruesome in its failure. Lives are often patterned for success. in ambitions, or disappointments in attempts behind i ts glowing footlights. The stage can be the path to fame and fortune; the stage can be the trek to obscurity and poverty. Those, who choose the stage for their life's work, come in contact with a force so changing, that those, who seem most certain of success, result in almost ignoble failures. On the other hand, the stage might carry an unknown, unassuming actor or actress to heights that neither had ever hoped to attain.

The subject of this thesis, Helena Modjeska, obviously chose the difficult but pleasant path to fame and fortune. Born of a family of artists, her tastes soon declared themselves strongly in favor of a dramatic need. To her the stage was not to be a god, but rather a lowly servant, which would respond to her every whim or wish. The stage did not make Helena Modjeska, but rather, Helena Modjeska made the stage or helped to improve it. Her ability in characterization enabled her to succeed in parts that ranged from a frivolous Beatrice to an oppressive Ophelia. Hardships, it is true, were numerous, but in a survey or her life, they seem to enhance her achievements rather than to detract from them. She is as an imperishable monument for that l and, which neither passing misfortunes nor the relentless hand of time can ever obliterate - Poland.

Comments

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the School of Speech of Marquette University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in Speech

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