The Girl of the Golden West

The Girl of the Golden West

When I looked into David Belasco's "The Girl of the Golden West", I saw that it had been regarded as a melodrama. So, when seeing this, I decided to look a little bit more into this.
Melodrama's were introduced and were a typical form of theatre in the ninteenth century. Melodrama is a term that comes from "music drama" where music was used to create and increase already existing emotions for people. Music was also used to signify characters throughout the play. Good and evil are two themes that are expressed throughout the plot and also typical of melodramas.
Other typical characteristics of a melodrama were that the story line possessed a villian, a hero, who had to overcome overwhelming and seemingly impossible odds, and a damsel in distress. There does, however, always seem to be a happy ending. Because this play "The Girl of the Golden West" takes place during the Gold Rush era, these character personalities go along perfectly. During this time, there were bandits, the good guy, the girl everyone's after, saloons, chases, gambling and drinking. All of these things added up, can heighten our interest because of the pure drama behind it all. It is said that melodrama is one of the most popular forms of playwrite to heighten our emotions. Can you think of any ways examples throughout the story that your emotions were peaked?