BH+1

Identify some of the similarities and differences between masks in Indian genres of performance and those used in ancient Greece and Rome.

(THE FOLLOWING IS A GOOD START AND MAKES SOME GOOD POINTS. WITH SOME SLIGHT MODIFICATIONS IT WOULD BE QUITE APPROPRIATE) In the ancient western civilization of Greece and Rome masks served to provide important character information to the audience and, though there are no surviving masks, seem to have all been full face masks, however in the various Indian genres of performance, actors wear both full and partial face masks as well as striking, stylized make-up, which serves not only to inform the audience as to the nature of the character but also to transform the actor. (HOW DO THE MASKS TRANSFORM THE ACTOR? YOU MIGHT HAVE PROVIDED EXAMPLES)

Although western plays were performed in honor of Dionysus or Bacchus, the plays centered on the lives of mortals, with only occasional interference from the gods or other divine powers. (THIS IS A GOOD ARGUMENT BUT ONE THAT NEEDS SOME SUPPORT THROUGH CITATION.) Because of this, the masks used in the play did not have any particular religious or holy aspect. (THIS IS A BROAD GENERALIZATION THAT NEEDS SOME REFERENCE TO SUPPORT IT) Rather, because of the nature of western theatre in which the audience has never seen the play before, the masks allowed the audience to immediately identify what type of character the actor was portraying.

In contrast, the majority of Indian performance genres are explicitly religious in nature, often depicting the life and deeds of the gods themselves. The plays and the stories are well-known to the audience members. Due to the religious nature of these performances, the masks themselves might be considered sacred. The mask used for Narasimha in the Bhagavad Mela tradition is the most notable example of this sacred property, requiring the wearer to purify himself beforehand and supposedly causing him to become entranced. ("ENTER A TRANCELIKE STATE"?)

In conclusion, although both the Indian and ancient western traditions masks are used to change the appearance of the actor, the differing natures of the performances themselves require different things of the masks.

WORD COUNT 274

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