All the King’s Men: a Play 1. All the King’s Men central conflict can be characterized as a fight between Past and Present. It presents both in characters’ fates and interactions with each other. Jack Burden is forced to threaten and blackmail Judge Irwin, who cared about a man in his childhood and turned out to be his biological father. The conflict between Past and Present is also a central point in the fate of Willie Stark. It looked like the man really cared about voters’ fates at the beginning of his career. But his development as a politician changed Stark’s attitude and turned him to a canonical high official, who is ready to use any measures to achieve his goals. 2. Costumes were one of the major aspects that helped to create characters. But actresses needed all their “virtuosity” to use this tool. They fully used body language and face expressions to focus viewers’ attention on characters’ actions and emotions. Brittney McHugh’s cap is a …show more content…
The play makes audience to doubt the accuracy of a black-and-white perception of life. This message clearly appears from the prologue. “He was, let us admit, a controversial figure. But let us not dwell on that. What matters is that the hospital exists” (Warren 8). Professor’s words highlight one of the main messages of the play: a person should usually be judged by a sum of actions, not by one event. Judge Irwin took a bribe. It looked like he was a good man and judge in general, but this one event threatened to destroy his career and put an end to his life. Stark claimed he cares about voters: he built a hospital and proposed several bills to help the society. But a closer analysis shows his projects use unlawful methods, and the hospital was an attempt to avoid an impeachment. The final also crates a controversial impression: some viewers will see the sign of a higher justice, as Stark’s career started to destroy, and he was killed; others will mention a type of happy ending, as Burden reunited with Anne