Dramatic Suspense

While this play does not contain much dramatic suspense, I found some in the scene with Laura and Jim O'Connor. I thought suspense was created when Laura is finally speaking to Jim and beginning to open up to him. Finally, when Jim leans in to kiss Laura, the suspense reaches its peak. As a reader, I was believing that Laura had finally found someone who accepts her and will eventually marry her. If this was a fairytale, this probably would have happened. Instead, the suspense is built even more when the audience is informed that Jim is engaged and will never be speaking to Laura again. In some ways, this leads to a tragedy for Laura, but as a reader, I believe that this encounter with Jim has helped Laura to come out of her shell. Jim taught Laura to open up and to accept herself for who she is. Whether she took this lesson and applied it is unknown, but I like to think that she did.