Traditional pastoral characters are usually presented as unsophisticated and innocent. Discuss in relation to Brideshead Revisited, She Stoops to Conquer and Blake

“Traditional pastoral characters are usually presented as unsophisticated and innocent.” Discuss characters in the light of this comment. (40) Traditionally the pastoral genre celebrates the virtues of simple, unsophisticated life far from the city or court, in which the population is stereotyped as unintelligent and fatuitous. In Blake’s poetry, Brideshead Revisited (1945) and She Stoops to Conquer (1773), the pastoral is represented positively and simply through the characterisation of certain characters. However, in each text certain contradictions to this traditional view of the pastoral arise. In Blake’s The Echoing Green, Blake uses the rhyme and repetition of the poem as an evocation of the innocent bliss of youth and the pastoral. Blake uses an AABB rhyme scheme to structure the piece, the regular rhyme scheme is symbolic for the simplistic life lead by the characters such as ‘old John’ on the ‘echoing green.’ Moreover, the language used by Blake in this eponymous poem is simple and unpretentious and underpins this sense of childlike virtue, as Blake describes the ‘happy skies’. The personification of the ‘skies’ also highlights Blake’s celebration of innocence in this poem as the ‘skies’ being described as happy is a slightly ridiculous scenario, mimetic of a children’s story. The juxtaposition of ‘youth-time’ and ‘echoing

  • Word count: 1968
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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They f*** you up, your mum and dad Philip Larkin. To what extent is this true in Charles Dickens Hard Times and Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare? Consider the methods used to present these views.

“They fuck you up, your mum and dad” Philip Larkin. To what extent is this true in Charles Dickens’ Hard Times and Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare? Consider the methods used to present these views. In both Hard Times by Dickens and Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare tragedy in one form or another strikes the young characters. Most of the causes for this misfortune can be traced back to their infancy and parental figures. ‘Fuck’ is a mostly colloquial adjective which I interpret to mean having a negative effect, such an effect which permeates these two texts and their characters. It is quite possible to identify that the parental figures within both the play and novel, have ‘fuck(ed)’ up their children. The existence of parents, whether distant or oppressive has obvious consequences in both texts. In Hard Times Louisa, who has been “nurtured” by her father, Gradgrind, through education and the undertaking of ‘ologies’, is presented by Dickens to be rather unfulfilled. Dickens explains that Louisa’s brother Tom’s ‘imagination had been strangled in his cradle’, much like Louisa’s has been. Dickens’ use of the word ‘cradle’ has both maternal and paternal connotations. However, using the violent word ‘strangled’ in the same paragraph suggests that The Gradgrinds are stifling of their children. In contrast, in Romeo and Juliet the lack of

  • Word count: 2107
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Explore the corruption of morality and its consequences within the texts of Othello, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Enduring Love

“Explore the corruption of morality and its consequences within the texts of ‘Othello’ by Shakespeare, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde and ‘Enduring Love’ by Ian McEwan.” Throughout the literary ages, the perception of morality and life are constantly evolving to change people’s views on morality. Moral and ethical ideas were once chivalric traditions of honour, but have been changed from humanity’s freedom as individual beings to reject social principles and customs. Oscar Wilde once said ‘I am quite incapable of understanding how any work of art can be criticised from a moral standpoint’1, yet staged as the Machiavellian antagonist within Shakespeare’s masterpiece ‘Othello’, Iago acts on his emotions and feelings of jealously and personal competition, which leads Iago to corrupt Othello because of his evil nature – leading an issue to a moral standpoint. When Othello had the occasion to appoint a lieutenant with “Three great ones of the city in personal suit", it appealed to Iago but only to find that Othello had already chosen Cassio. It appeared to be a matter of personal preference only, for he could give no reason for the choice of choosing Cassio. This capricious choice lago at once took as a very great slight upon him, A.C Bradley commented on the “the usual lunacies” in Shakespeare’s tragedy plays that "It has

  • Word count: 2987
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Analysis of Chopin's use of linguistic features in her literary works.

From the Victorian era, Chopin startled critics with her paradigmatic tale of a woman’s abortive struggle towards independence in an oppressive society. By using women as her protagonist, Chopin highlights their sexist roles in literature whilst restricting them from the expansion necessary to deal with their realisation. It thus seemed conducive to transform the novel into a series of letters in the form of English Sonnets, establishing the undeveloped characterisation of Edna with Robert, whilst they are separated from each other. The transformation aims to elucidate Edna’s role in society, by satirizing the narrow and stereotypical way in which woman are commonly portrayed in literature. The novel as a form does not offer the opportunity for character development in the same way a series of letters/sonnets do. For example, Edna openly declares her love for Robert, at the time of her death: “I’m the person who deserves your love.” The continuous sense of the author’s evaluation of the moral choices that her characters make is lost; they seem more autonomous throughout the sonnets because they speak for themselves without Chopin’s explicit authorial presence. The sonnet form successfully mimics letter writing as both forms are addressed to someone, whilst informing and shedding light on their own thoughts. Moreover, when the two characters reveal their

  • Word count: 509
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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You would never expect to find the same kinds of characters in Flare Path (1942) as in Charlotte Gray (1996). The public at the time wanted very different things. Discuss

“Although the texts are set at the same time and share some thematic similarities, you would never expect to find the same kinds of characters in Flare Path (1942) as in Charlotte Gray (1996). The public at the time wanted very different things.” With reference to two characters (one from each text) discuss the extent to which you agree with this view. “Charlotte Gray” and “Flare Path” share the same context of WWII however, “Flare Path” was written for the war time audience whilst “Charlotte Gray” was written 50 years after the war for an audience who were greatly relaxed towards the war. Charlotte and Patricia are two characters with similar contexts however as the public was different there are contrasts between them and what they stood for as well as conforming to gender inequality differently. Despite the different public there are similarities such as the fact that they both have selfish motives and the main purpose is love. Moreover, the public has means different ideas are portrayed through the different texts in order to fulfil the desire of the audience and make sure that they witness what they want. “Flare Path” was a play written for an audience during WWII which meant that they were experiencing the war first hand and the morale was very low. However, “Charlotte Gray” was for an audience who were far from times of the war and

  • Word count: 812
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Review of Julie Taymor's film version of 'The Tempest' Film (2010)

Julie Taymor releases what she must think, is a ‘hopeful’ adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. That’s all it is... hopeful. Nothing more. The glimpses of creativity are outweighed by what seems at times, a laughable execution. Irrelevant of Prospero undergoing a sex change, Helen Mirren undeniably prospers as the female Prospera. Taymor’s change comes as an interesting twist, placing the character on a parallel with the evil witch Sycorax – something that, arguably, Shakespeare’s version fails to do. Moreover, it is arousing to see the conveying of the mother-daughter relationship between Prospera and Miranda unfold, in contrast to the original father-daughter relationship. However, for the larger part of the film it simply doesn’t do justice; ‘A noble stab at the Bard but ultimately an unsatisfactory film’ (A.HUNTER, Daily Express, March 4, 2011). Throughout the course of the film, I tried to remain optimistic. For every time Ben Whishaw pranced around butt-naked on my screen to my discomfort as Ariel, for every time the revolting, out-dated and overused CGI complemented by the irksome 70’s rock-like non diagetic score braced my senses, and for every time I sought to just wish a tempest upon Taymor, for tarnishing Djimon Honsou‘s dignity by casting him as an abominable Caliban – which dare I say John Gorrie’s 1980’s Caliban portrays

  • Word count: 584
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Idea of Carelessness in "The Great Gatsby", Rosetti's poems and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".

How do the three texts present the idea of carelessness? In the Great Gatsby, carelessness and the idea of not caring about one’s consequences is strongly presented by the two characters of Tom and Daisy. Fitzgerald presents them as two characters from wealth, old money (unlike Gatsby’s character) and living in East Egg, which Nick’s narration describes to be the better of the two ‘perfectly shaped ovals’. The readers first meet the two characters in Chapter One, and through Nick’s first person modified narrator, we see Tom’s character as one that we shouldn’t like. Fitzgerald encourages us to look down upon him by mocking his wealth ‘he’d brought down a string of polo ponies from lake forest’. Polo ponies are horses used for playing polo, a classic game often played by the wealthy. Later in the novella, Gatsby introduces Tom’s character as the ‘polo player’ which is very much a condescending way of relating to someone, as if that was their only asset. Their wealth is also shown by ‘they had spent a year in france for no particular reason’, and this kind of carelessness is highlighted as their decisions are shown to be made just because they can. The carelessness shown by both characters when they cheat on each other, eg. with Tom showing his mistress off ‘I want you to meet my girl’ or ‘he turned up to popular cafes with her” shows how

  • Word count: 1163
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Identifying a hero in "The Great Gatsby" The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Small Island".

“In a narrative, there is usually a hero or heroine, a protagonist on whose fate the readers’ interest in the story principally rests” A protagonist is a leading character. In the texts I have studied, there are often a characters which the reader are encourages to be drawn towards. We are endeared to them and the story is often focused around them. In The Great Gatsby, even the title encourages the reader to feel that the story is about his character, especially as Nick’s accounts are designed to be in order to recover the truth about Gatsby. It is important to note that even though Nick is the one telling the story, his character is presented as a first person modified narrator. It is often the case when the voice of the text is also the main focus/hero of the text, however in this case Nick is merely an onlooker. As readers, Fitzgerald presents Nick as being in awe of Gatsby “he had an extraordinary sense of hope” and appears to look favourably upon him. Due to this fact, Gatsby is seen as somewhat of a hero and is the main interest and focus of the story. The whole text is mainly based around Gatsby and the period in which Nick’s character knew him. Even before meeting him as a person, the readers are given clues upon him, mostly rumours “we heard it from three people, so it must be true”, which play a key part in the story. These rumours “he once

  • Word count: 1046
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Compare the ways in which Larkin and Duffy present the reality of love.

Compare the ways in which Larkin and Duffy present the reality of love. Both Larkin and Duffy explore the reality of love in their poetry, examining in detail the unrealistic expectations of romance (such as the oft-held belief that love endures through time and hardship) present in a relationship in ‘Love Songs in Age’ and ‘Valentine’. This eventually leads to the realisation that love does not match such idealistic expectations, as seen in ‘Love Songs in Age’ and ‘Disgrace’. However, while Larkin attributes the loss of love to the erosive nature of time in ‘Talking in Bed’, Duffy highlights the complicity of the couple in the breakdown of their relationship in ‘Disgrace’. Nonetheless, both poets ultimately reach the same conclusion- that of the realisation that love is transient. Larkin presents ‘Love Songs in Age’ in a mixed manner, as seen in the low frequency lexis (‘incipience’, ‘submissive’, ‘unchangeably’) to reflect the idealised, abstract nature of what love represents, as opposed to the bitter reality of love, as shown in the high frequency lexis(‘case’, ‘cry’, ‘love’). The juxtaposition of the progression from high frequency lexis to low frequency lexis and back again (‘She kept her songs, they kept so little space…Its bright incipience sailing above…To pile them back to cry…’) follows the changing

  • Word count: 3319
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Shirley Valentine " movie critique.

Shirley Valentine - movie critique. Shirley Valentine, the 1989 film adaptation of the play by Willy Russell shows the story of a middle-aged Liverpool housewife, who finally breaks out of her shell and decides she prefers living in Greece to being stock in monotony of her house in England. After her children have left home, her only purpose in life is preparing dinner ready in time for her grumbling husband. Shirley (Pauline Collins) feels so lonely, dissatisfied, and unfulfilled that she addresses kitchen walls as she confesses her troubles. Her husband Joe (Bernard Hill) has long ceased to love her and is extremely irritated when she fails to serve Thursday's stake (gives eggs 'n' chips instead). She "got lost in this unused life", but she overcomes a phenomenal rebirth while on a two weeks holiday in Greece. Shirley, the timid housewife and mother emerges as the woman of her youth - daring, exciting, and cherishing the life itself. Shirley is the protagonist, the central character of the film; she constantly draws attention of viewers as well as of all other characters. There is so much known about her that it is easy to believe she is authentic and true to life. Shirley, as a round character, is characterized by individuality and unpredictability. She resolutely protests when a group of tourists complains and jokes about Greeks. She makes a brilliant ironic remark when

  • Word count: 1025
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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