Oh What a Lovely War: sub-text

Oh What a Lovely War: sub-text

Sub-text in “Oh What a Lovely War”

  • Irony serves as a crucial element of sub-text in the play, unearthing the absurdity and futility of war through juxtapositions, such as the cheery songs set against the appalling reality of war.

Sub-text in Songs

  • Many songs in the play, despite being cheerful on the surface, convey underlying messages of loss, fear, and cynicism towards the war. The jaunty tunes and upbeat tempos hide grim realities, echoing the sub-textual idea that the true horrors of war are often concealed under propaganda and false optimism.

Pierrot Show

  • The use of the Pierrot show as a framing device helps to expose the sub-text of ‘war as entertainment’. The ‘show’ continues the theme of misleading appearances, with the colourful, entertaining façade hiding the brutal reality of war.

Commentary on Class

  • Class differences are a significant sub-text in the play, represented through the contrast between the generals and the enlisted soldiers. The generals, typically from the upper class, are depicted as disconnected from the realities of war, contrasting sharply with the working-class soldiers who must face the consequences on the battlefield.

Comicality and Tragedy

  • The play’s sub-text often surfaces through the use of dark comedy and satire, allowing for a critical examination of the harsh realities of war. The sense of humour in the play helps to underscore the tragedy and absurdity of the soldiers’ situation.

Direct Address

  • The use of direct address consistently in the play implicates the audience in the action, making them complicit in the horrors of war. This underlines the sub-text of everyone’s responsibility in the machinery of war.

Mise-en-scène

  • The stage design, particularly the use of the scoreboard, reveals a significant sub-text: the dehumanisation of soldiers. The scoreboard, by representing soldiers’ deaths as mere statistics, highlights the abstract and bureaucratic ways in which the reality of human loss is processed during war times.

Lighting and Sound

  • Harsh, unsettling lighting and disorienting sound effects create an atmosphere of chaos and confusion that mirrors the soldiers’ experiences on the front lines, enriching the play’s sub-text of disorientation and chaos brought about by war.