Exploring the genre and style of the Political Interview - Paxman and Galloway interview
Exploring the genre and style of the Political Interview Introduction Politics is an area in society which is accepted as an important aspect of our lives. It governs our country and, as a result, affects how we conduct our everyday affairs. Since the commercial availability of television, politicians have had the opportunity to express party views, promote their manifesto and justify controversial actions. Live interviews have allowed the nation to put forward questions they want answered, significantly progressing the basis on who we decide to vote for to govern our country. These interviews are perhaps most notable on Newsnight, hosted by Jeremy Paxman. Paxman became a presenter of Newsnight in 1989 and has since been a pioneer in the interrogative style used to unnerve his interviewees. This topic is of particular interest due to the nature of the interaction between a representative of the audience (the interviewer) and the politician. In many cases, it is evident that politicians adopt a tactful stance when answering questions in order to prevent perceptions and retain popularity. Interviews often gain entertainment value when questions are put forward that place the interviewee in a difficult stance, and more so when an attempt is made to divert the topic to suit the interviewees position. This is a typical method used in order to gain control of conversation, and
How does Williams use dramatic devices in A Streetcar Named Desire to heighten the tragic aspects of the play?
How does Williams use dramatic devices in A Streetcar Named Desire to heighten the tragic aspects of the play? Williams uses many dramatic devices to develop the play as a tragedy including: symbolism, stage directions and sounds. A Streetcar Named Desire can be seen as a modern domestic tragedy as the characters are not of noble birth and the play has specific focus on a female protagonist and anti-heroine, in this case Blanche. Blanche is often difficult to have an affinity with as she can come across as snobbish and over dramatising however, her fragility leads her to be a truly tragic figure much like that of Ophelia in Hamlet. Both characters are destroyed by the death of their loved ones and both suffer deaths themselves; albeit, in different ways. Williams uses symbolism to great effect within the play. In scene 1 the stage directions describe Blanche as “a moth”. William’s uses stage directions as a crucial dramatic device, making them highly detailed so when performed on stage it could be exactly as described; they became a signature of his. Instantly, a scene of tragedy is set as a moth is fragile however essentially a creature of self destruction, in its quest towards light it often ends up destroying itself. This sense of foreshadowing intensifies the tragedy from the very beginning, suggesting no matter what Blanche does, or how hopeful things are the
How does Shakespeare present ideas of disorder, corruption and decay in Act 1 of Hamlet?
How does Shakespeare present ideas of disorder, corruption and decay in Act 1 of Hamlet? Hamlet was believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601 by William Shakespeare, and is considered one of Shakespeare's most prestigious and renowned plays. It is a tragedy and therefore traditionally ends with a death. The numerous accounts of disorder, corruption and decay throughout the play link with the theme of a tragedy and this may be why Shakespeare made many suggestions of this throughout. The play's opening scene is at night in Denmark, where it is very cold. This immediately gives a sense of anxiousness. There are two sentinels (guards) to stop intruders. This means that the people they are protecting are possibly at war and have enemies. Immediately, Shakespeare is suggesting an unpleasant start to the play, it being at night, very cold, and guards protecting people from enemies. The first line of the scene, 'who's there?' immediately gives a sense of urgency and panic. Barnardo is challenging everyone who approaches. Francisco's words, 'tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart' gives a sense of death and illness. Then he Barnardo repeats himself when Horatio and Marcellus enter, saying 'Stand! Who's there?' This makes the reader or viewers of the play question why he is so anxious and alert. Not too long after, you find out that Barnardo is on alert because he is
Within the three texts, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, Look back in Anger by John Osborne and The Whitsun Weddings by Phillip Larkin, each writer explores the concept of a changing world.
Michael LasseyA2 English Literature ‘Many post-World War II writers were concerned with making sense of a rapidly changing world’. Compare and contrast ways in which your chosen writers present a changing world. Within the three texts, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, Look back in Anger by John Osborne and The Whitsun Weddings by Phillip Larkin, each writer explores the concept of a ‘changing world’. However, this presentation of post-war Britain is dramatically different in each work. With Waugh, almost exclusively focusing on the effect of the aristocracy and upper classes, he differs from Osbourne and Larkin in this respect, as their texts largely concern the affect on the ‘ordinary’ and the working classes. All three main narrative voices in each of the three texts, however, all share the same sense of disillusionment, albeit for different reasons, that was part of the zeitgeist of Britain at the time still in the grips of economic and cultural austerity from the war . This disillusionment with the new world is also met in the texts with a longing for the past and a sense of nostalgia, particularly seen with the characters of Jimmy in Look back in Anger and Charles Brideshead Revisited. The three texts, although different in form and genre, all explore through varying literary methods, how the social changes in post-war Britain created a new generation
Death and how it makes life worth living
Death and how it makes life worth living Death; it's something that is feared and hardly spoken of by others. It is used to threaten and harm; or even to protect. All of us know that it's coming but no one seems to agree with it. As mysterious as it may be it's quite simple: Death is the meaning of life. If you had asked me 5 years ago what my thoughts on dying were I would probably start shivering and tell you that I really didn't want to talk about it. I used to think that death was this horrible thing that got in the way; that it was this awful journey into eternal darkness that no one could even think about once they were there because there mind would already be long gone. Now when I look back I know I was wrong. If you really think about it Death makes life living. If all of us were here on this earth for eternity what would we be doing; what would our thought be like if we knew that we had infinity amount of time to accomplish our most precious goals. I have a pretty good feeling that no one would be doing anything! The world would be saturated with people that walk aimlessly trying to figure out how what on earth there is to do. The fact that everyone alive today knows that there time is running out that makes them work so damn hard to get what they can while they're still here! The way I think of it a life without death is no life at all and that the man that is
Critical Analysis- Praise Song for my Mother by Grace Nichols
This poem is a lyrical ballad written with a simple rhyme scheme of a-b-c. ab-c. The poem, as the name suggests is a song where the poet is rejoicing her relationship with her mother by making use of simple but powerful imagery. It is important to note that unlike the commemorative poems that are usually written by Western writers, "Praise for My Mother" does not have a requiem like elegiac mood. The overall tone of the poem is pleasant. "Praise Song" is a panegyric on the writer's mother. in which she celebrates a woman who gave her both roots to grow from and wings to fly with. Writing about her own mother, Nichols once commented that she was a '... warm, intelligent, loving woman who was full of stories, anecdotes and songs from her own childhood. People loved being around her and I can't remember a single day when our home wasn't visited by some friend, neighbour or relative who had dropped in "just fuh [sic] minute" but ended up staying hours.' Starting with the vocabulary, it is vivid but hard-hitting. The writer uses the images of water, moon and sun- all powerful symbols of nature, to describe her mother's character which shows her strength of personality and the extent of her love and affection towards her. The red colour of the fish's gills is reminiscent of the maternal love; a break from the clichéd usage of the colour red in "standard" English literature
'The American Dream not only fails to fulfil its promise but also contributes to the decay of social values' (Tyson 1999). How far does The Great Gatsby demonstrate this view of the American Dream?
'The American Dream not only fails to fulfil its promise but also contributes to the decay of social values' (Tyson 1999). How far does The Great Gatsby demonstrate this view of the American Dream? The American Dream is often portrayed in literature as the pursuit of ultimate happiness with regard to life and employment. The stereotypical protagonist of an early-twentieth century American novel is self-reliant and a hard worker, seeking to make a successful living through motivation and perseverance. Jay Gatsby himself has pursued this dream and is a success story in terms of wealth, though the novel may be viewed as an exploration of the corrupted ideal that the American Dream became in the 1920's when people with newly acquired wealth sought to flaunt what they owned. It is largely the owned wealth in the novel that is presented as an ideal; social values and morality are shown as corrupt and indeed unimportant alongside material prosperity. Nick narrates in Chapter One, "I decided to go east and learn the bond business," and presents a stark contrast between his small new house and those on either side that 'rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season'. This affirms the importance of wealth from Nick's perception and equally from that of the other inhabitants of West Egg. They are the newly rich, who have worked hard and earned their money in a relatively short period
To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist
To what extent is Dracula a conventional Gothic protagonist? Within the Gothic genre, features of the Gothic protagonist include sharply contrasting character traits, some degree of tragic stature, a striking physical presence, an element of the sexual, and an association with the bestial. Stoker presents Dracula with greatly contrasting traits, from the impeccably polite and courteous host who greets Harker at the door, to a raging psychopathic monster. The aristocratic and noble nature of Dracula's heritage gives him charisma and credibility, on first encounter he seems strange but eccentric, however this lulls Harker, and obviously his female victims, into a false sense of security: "The light and warmth of the Count's courteous welcome seemed to have dissipated all my doubts and fears." Stoker reveals Dracula's true self slowly and subtly, so as to build tension, such as when Dracula touches Harker and he feels: "a horrible feeling of nausea." This imagery hints at the horror of Dracula's true character, which is finally revealed when he encounters the Brides: "But the count! Never did I imagine such wraths of fury, even in the demons of the pit!" Stoker presents the count as being: "lapped in a storm of fury," foreshadowing the terrible storm at Whitby when Dracula arrives on English soil. Stoker's uses the imagery of hell to describe Dracula's rage, writing: "his eyes
Absolute Power Simply Seems To Corrupt Faustus. Once He Can Do Everything, He No Longer Wants To Do Anything; Discuss.
Absolute Power Simply Seems To Corrupt Faustus. Once He Can Do Everything, He No Longer Wants To Do Anything; Discuss. Marlowe's representation of Doctor Faustus changes direction through the play. We follow the change in ambition and greed of a human being who seeks pleasure so much that he sells his soul to the devil for a number of years. Does the power that Faustus obtains corrupt him or is he merely dissatisfied with the power he has and is greedy for more. At the start of the play, Marlowe uses powerful language when referring to Faustus' search for knowledge. "O, What a world of profit and delight, of power, of honour, of omnipotence, is promis'd to the studious artisan". This is what Faustus wishes to obtain, the forbidden knowledge that he feels he can achieve, however it seems strange that Faustus should want to learn more and to be taught and able to understand this forbidden knowledge as he previously bids a farewell to thinking "Divinity, adieu!". Faustus is striving for a great power and his intentions are on a grand scale. "I'll have them read me strange philosophy and tell the secrets of all foreign kings; I'll have them wall all Germany with brass and make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg". This is what Faustus thinks he will have the ability to do, but later in his same speech we see signs of his arrogance and the way in which he is governed by greed
Critical appreciation of the poem "Old Ladies' Home" by Sylvia Plath with reference to the presentation of old age
Dealing with old age and loneliness can be both complicated and perplexing. Sylvia Plath shows us this through her poem "Old Ladies' Home, where she shares her views on the harsh reality of growing into old age and awaiting death alone. In this poem, the omniscient speaker employs a detached tone to describe the old ladies in the home as fragile, lifeless and neglected. The poem takes place in a home for aged women, as can be inferred from the title of the poem and contains several images and metaphors that bring out the poem's main theme of death. Several symbols are used to represent death in this poem. A few such examples would be "black fabric", "ghosts" and "coffins". These symbols present death as dull and eerie, rather than as the celebration of a life well lived, hence building a sombre and gloomy atmosphere in the poem. This in turn reflects the old ladies' melancholic state as they await their death in the home. Death, for these old women, is also presented as being unpredictable and as an issue that lingers in their mind every night. For example, the last stanza of the poem says, "And Death, that bald-head buzzard, / Stalls in halls where the lamp wick/ Shortens with each breath drawn." Metaphor is used here to compare death to the buzzard which is a scavenging bird, similar to the vulture. Death is described as something that lurks within the home, waiting for
