If presented in an effective manner, thought is a very effective devise for an audience to understand. An idea can impact an audience through writing by making them strongly reflect on what that idea really means in a real world context. The idea can takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us reflect on a certain issue that we may have never considered, or even show a prevalent social context from a different perspective. This is all over modern day media/entertainment as we as a society are finding it more relevant to talk about issues. During Elizabethan times, talking about society’s faults wouldn’t have been common so seeing a play where themes hit you so hard and are so relevant would have been really impactful.

Shakespeare’s take on human nature is that there is no one who can surpass flaw, not even royalty. Lear is a king and with that, we wouldn’t be stupid to think that he is rather exemplary, however the further we get into the play, the more his flaws are revealed. He see how prideful and wrathful he is with his actions and how human he really is. An Elizabethan audience would traditionally believe royalty to be perfect humans, incapable of flaw. Shakespeare is able to reveal the flaw that every human is capable of.

Justice is another theme discussed in King Lear, the character that experiences the greatest level of injustice would be Cordelia. She is honest, faithful and is although, expresses it the least, actually loves her father the most. Her honesty is what gets her banished and as a flow on from that, killed. This is an interesting thought to provoke in an audience as we can think critically as to how this theme applies in our real world. In our world there are countless of examples of people get wrongly accused for things they didn’t do, or a just treated wrongly through vice of the society we’ve created. I personally believe injustice to one of the most cathartic thought device in literature. When I think of times where a text has made me upset, it can comeback to the theme of injustice. For example, The Green Mile is a movie that is very well known for its sad ending. What makes it so sad is how we see how gentle and kind that John is, however he is predetermined to be killed because its his word as a negro, against a white persons word. This is injustice at its purist and as an audience, it can feel like a dagger through the chest seeing this. King Lear is absolutely the same. As Lear walks out with Cordelia, dead in his arms, it is harrowing, we know she didn’t deserve this fate. She was and only had good intentions and we as an audience feel the pain of the injustice that has occurred. Feeling that pain makes it easier to reflect on our real world.

“Nothing shall come of nothing” is a quote that bears a heavy theme that is constantly visited and revisited in King Lear. The quote is ironic in a way, because as the play progresses we learn that everything comes of nothing. What this means is that there can be dire consequences for doing nothing in a situation.

An important example of when diction is used in King Lear is when characters switch from verse to prose. Since diction is the choice of words and phrases in speech and writing, so when characters are switching between the two types of speech it feels fairly obvious and this has a strong purpose within the play, lemme explain. When speech is done in verse, it shows nobility, that’s why we see it most often in Shakespeare as most of the characters are of high power and are considered superior to the average citizen of the time. So prose was very infrequent in the play, however we do see it and that’s during when characters begin their downfall. The most obvious example is with Lear himself, during the exposition and rising action we see him talk exclusively in verse, however it’s when he exits to the storm, we begin to see his mental deterioration, as he continues to ‘fall from grace,’ the more he begins to enter prose speaking.

King Lear is the most obvious character who switches between verse and prose. Here is an interaction between Lear and Gloucester, where Lear is originally talking in prose however later changes his speech to be more verse.

What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes
with no eyes. Look with thine ears: see how yond
justice rails upon yond simple thief. Hark, in
thine ear: change places; and, handy-dandy, which
is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen
a farmer’s dog bark at a beggar?

GLOUCESTER

Ay, sir.

KING LEAR

And the creature run from the cur? There thou
mightst behold the great image of authority: a
dog’s obeyed in office.
Thou rascal beadle, hold thy bloody hand!
Why dost thou lash that whore? Strip thine own back;
Thou hotly lust’st to use her in that kind
For which thou whipp’st her. The usurer hangs the cozener.

I chose this extract because it occurs after Lear has re-entered civilization. Before this moment, Lear had been in the wilderness and was loosing his sanity and it was as if he had forgotten who he was or how he was supposed to act. So once he begins to interact with Gloucester he is able to quickly snap back into sanity. Lear battles with his sanity and Shakespeare uses diction to display this. For an Elizabethan Audience, this improper speaking would be very noticeable, particularity when for so long, all the characters have spoken in verse.

Examples where Melody and Spectacle are used in King Lear include the storm. The storm is a sound in the play that is used to foreshadow unearthly events to come. We first hear of the storm as King Lear is exiting his castle after he feel betrayed by his daughters. This is used to literally portray the weather but there are also other implications such as Lear’s mental state and to signify danger to come. Every time we enter a scene with Lear the play reminds us that the storm is continuing to rage, just like how Lear’s mental is continuing to deteriorate.

The fool uses song / melody throughout the play as a tool to convey his message. It almost acts as a disguise to the heavy truth that he bares. The fool’s role in the play is to be telling Lear the hidden truth occurring in his actions and how others may be deceiving him. Because fools are supposed to be comedians for the king to laugh at, no one takes his message at face value. When he sings certain lines it is very easy to dismiss it but it’s only when we see the events unfold we understand the wisdom that he is sharing.

Another example of sound used in King Lear is when trumpets or horns. These are a symbol of power. Examples of when these sounds occur are when the king enters a room or one of the princesses. This shows off their status and that their entrance is notable.

Spectacle is most commonly used as costume as characters are constantly creating disguises to be in the same room as another character without that character knowing. This changes the play as it allows for many plot points to occur. For example, almost all of the cast believes that Kent has been exiled and that they’ll never see him again, however he is present in many of the scenes. This allows him to still know what is going on and characters reveal plot points to him because they think it’s a totally different person. It shows off Lear’s mental demise as Edgar disguises himself as ‘Poor Tom’ who is a homeless naked person.
Who gives any thing to poor Tom? whom the foul
fiend hath led through fire and through flame, and
through ford and whirlipool e’er bog and quagmire; Poor Tom entering Lear’s hovel shows how far he has fallen. It shows how he now perceives himself to that of equal or lesser worth as this worthless peasant.

What does Aristotle mean by “imitation of action?” Explain

Acting

Aristotle lists six traits that determine the quality of a tragedy, what are they?

Plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song

Is there anything else you think might be important to creating a quality tragedy?

Na

To Aristotle, which trait is the most important: plot or character?

He thinks plot

Why does he think that?

“But most important of all is the structure of incidents. For tragedy an imitation

Do you agree or disagree?

What does Aristotle suggest here about causation and plot structure?

That it must have a beginning, middle and end

What does Aristotle say about unity of action?

That events will happen no matter who the characters are

Subplots?

No they don’t. “The imitation os one when the object imitated is one, so the plot being imitation of an action, must imitate one action and that a whole”

How does Aristotle define peripeteia and anagnorisis?

“Recognition, then. Being between persons, it may happen that one persdon omis is recognised by th other- when the latter is alreadt knwon-or it mayy be neccessary that the recogmition should be on borth sides.

What is the connection between them?

They are in sequence

What kind of reversal is best for evokling pity or fear?

Agaon we may recognise or discover whether a operson has done a thing or not, But the recognition which is most intimately connected with the plot and action isl, as  we hjave saif t, te recognition

1:  ???

2: Characters revealing plot points

3: When they remember something by looking at a certain object

4: When the sequence of events all adds up and everything clicks

The startling discovery that is made from natural means.

Paraphrase aristotle’s explanation of catharsis

What circumstances provoke fear or pity

1. Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,Why hath it given me earnest of success,Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:

   If good, why do I yield to that suggestion

   Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair

   And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,

   Against the use of nature? Present fears

   Are less than horrible imaginings:

   My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,

   Shakes so my single state of man that function

   Is smother’d in surmise, and nothing is

   But what is not.

   ——————————————————————————————–

1. false face must hide what the false heart doth know

---

3.To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”

 

“Look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under it.

 

“What’s done cannot be undone.”

 

Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires

 

When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors

 

 

Title: Fern Hill

Text Type – Poem

Author – Dylan Thomas

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace,

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea

The overall theme of this poem is comparing ones life of now and their childhood. What I think Thomas is trying to express in this poem is how the world seemed like a different place when he was a child and that he had such an innocent view on the world. As a child the narrator felt like he was in control of the Fern Hill “And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns” this quote shows that he didn’t need others to make him feel powerful, he was respected by his surroundings and he was dominant in his own world. The author uses imagery, similes and metaphors to describe how he viewed the landscape around him as a child; “All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air and playing, lovely and watery And fire green as grass.” Thomas clearly shows the desire to relive his past as he misses the feeling of not having to worry about anything. He clearly has fond memories of this place he is revisiting and as a reader it feels sad because it reminds us of how limited our time is on this earth and how fast it can go.

I feel like this is a very easy poem to relate to as everyone who has reached a mature enough age knows how it feels to look back on their youth and recall memories and think about how different times have gotten. Even though I am still considered to be young I still often find myself reflecting on the past and how much of a different person I am. When I look back on myself when I was really young my flaws then really stand out, as a young child I was ignorant, selfish and stupid. I still have many flaws to this day but I know that no single human being will ever be perfect. I think when reading this poem that it’s nice to look back on when times were easier but I think that it’s important to understand that I am a different person know and in my opinion a better one. I know that in ten years time I will look back on today and judge myself harshly because my opinions and outlook on life will be very different. Recalling on your life should be a fun activity and there’s no point of moaning about when times were better. I still have a big future ahead of me and I want to use that to change the world as opposed to reliving the easier times because it’s impossible to go back.

This poem is very deep and has many layers attached to it. I think that portrays how quickly time flies and how looking back, everything is so different. It accurately portrayed what the past feels like.

Title: Divergent

Text Type – Novel

Author – Veronica Roth

Divergent follows the character Beatrice in a dystopian future where society has been split into five different factions which revolve around one specific personality trait. The factions consist of; Dauntless (who value bravery), Abnegation (who value selflessness), Amity (who value peace), Candor (who value honesty) and erudite (who value intelligence). In this society you are born into a faction but when you turn sixteen you may choose to stick with your faction, which is what the majority of people do or you can change factions. Beatrice is born into the faction of Abnegation but when she is of an age to choose she transfers over to Dauntless which is extreme because Abnegation children are generally considered ‘goody two shoes’ but then she goes to Dauntless who are extreme and live life on the edge. During this time Beatrice finds out that she is ‘Divergent’ which means that she fits the traits of multiple factions and this is considered to be extremely dangerous. When she joins Dauntless she must endue many trials to test her bravery like combat training, survival training and facing your worst fears. One of the first trials she withstands is free-falling into a pit, she is the first of the group to jump and gets her name changed to Tris as she begins her new life. Through out her trials she makes many friends and foe but one of the instructors known as ‘Four’ becomes her love interest. Four helps Tris through her training but then she finds out that Four is also divergent. Everyone is the Dauntless house gets given a mysterious serum and one night Tris wakes up to see all of her peers mind controlled walking single file like perfect soldiers. She joins the line trying to act the same but is very confused. Along the way she meets Four and he is unaffected by the serum. It is revealed that due to them being divergent. Tris and Four have to work together to destroy the leaders of this new-found uprising.

For me reading Divergent I could easily relate it to the world because of how in the book the society forces everyone into this black and white world where you can only be one thing and it’s considered bad to think differently to everyone else. This is displayed throughout the entire book because Tris is told that being divergent is dangerous and unacceptable. The only reason why the government doesn’t want anyone to be divergent is so they can control everyone. Living a closed-minded life style is encouraged in order to enforce control. Tris even gets told by other divergents to hide her true self because other people shouldn’t know. Tris was a very strong Female protagonist, “Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear, and how to be free from it.” This is a quote in the book that really represented her character well. She over comes so many challenges just by believing in her self and her ability to get anywhere. She is able to control and manage her biggest fears by the end of the book.

The concept of making everyone follow a ‘social norm’ really relates to me and how I feel about the school system. At school it feel really frustrated to be forced into this system where everyone is compared but in a way where everyone has to be the same. The biggest culprit is the school uniform, every day at school we are forced to dress the same and it just feels like they’re trying to stop us from truly expressing ourselves. We have to wear these uncomfortable stale clothes and after a while it feels like it seems to influence the behavior of the students. I defiantly feel more sluggish and bored when wearing the uniform because that’s the effect the clothes have. During mufti ways I feel more energetic and comfortable cause I feel like I can be me. Another example of when I see this happen is NCEA itself, we are constantly being compared on how well we can do what the system wants. Someone can be really talented but just because they don’t do what the school system wants they get classified as dumb or unworthy. This reminds me of an Albert Einstein quote: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” This is a problem that the school system has and Divergent is able to show this very well because Tris is easily the most capable of passing the simulation she is held back by the expectation of society.

Title: Baby Driver

Text Type – Film

Director – Edgar Wright

Baby Driver is a movie about a young criminal who goes by the name of Baby. Baby is a good willed person who drives getaway vehicles during crimes and heists in order to pay of his debt. Once his debt is payed he starts seeing a girl called Deborah and starts living a normal life. This is short lived because as soon as he ends his life as a criminal the leader of the criminal organisation who goes by the name of Doc calls him in for another heist due to his incredible driving skills but Baby refuses until Docs threatens him with the life of this girl Deborah. When ever Baby is driving he listens to music on full blast and drives to the rhythm of the song. In almost every scene of the movie Baby will be wearing ear buds or listening to a radio because of his hearing problem which he got in a car accident, he claims that listening to music helps with the noise in his ears. During his heist he is partnered with three other criminals; Bats, Buddy and Darling. These people are real criminals who have an intention to harm for their own benefit. During the final heist in the movie we see the crew putting pressure on Baby because he has such a good will that it could be detrimental to the plan. As the heist plays out we see the crew perish one after another until it’s just baby left. Baby tries to escape by moving across the country until the police catch up with him and arrest him. His sentence get reduced due to his good character.

One message that was apparent to me while watching Baby Driver was how money influences so many of the choices we make but it’s not the key to happiness. In the film we see these despicable criminals risk the lives and work of innocent civilians just so they can make a profit. But Baby is the one exception, in the movie he doesn’t want the money and he especially doesn’t want to hurt anyone. We can see this through his actions. An example of when this happens is during one of the get away scenes we see Baby hijacking a car, which is justified as he is trying to escape. He removes the women from the car and before he drives away he throws her handbag to her. This strongly shows Baby’s good intentions as he’s trying his best to do the right thing for the good of others. The scene that I think shows this concept the best is when Baby is escaping, instead of trying to flee the city he drops back into his apartment to rescue his deaf foster father, he tries to give his foster father, ‘Joseph’ all of the money that he has collected through his crimes but Joseph responds in sign language by saying “I don’t want your dirty money.” This shows that Joseph understands that money isn’t the key to happiness. So Baby drives him down to a nursing home and leaves and audio messages for the staff to ensure that Joseph gets what he needs. This scene shows how empathetic Baby is to his family and that he never joined the crime syndicate for money but to protect the ones he loves. He picks up his Deborah and they drive off without caring about money or anything, they find happiness in each other.

After watching Baby Driver, I felt like Baby was a very strong relatable character due to his empathetic, selfless personality. Just like me Baby is young, impressionable but strong. I like to think that if I was in a lot of the situations that Baby was in I would do the same things he did. Also Baby is very aware that money is not the key to happiness as opposed to his partners in crime who base their lives trying to make money. I can relate to this idea because I live in Wanaka which is a town with a fairly high average household income and I see people around me constantly trying to have a new piece of technology or clothing because they think that will make them happy or popular. For my school it seemed like everyone had a smart phone except me but this never bothered me as I knew that my real friends wouldn’t care about what piece of technology I had. Only recently this year I actually bought my own smart phone just to move with how mainstream culture is heading.

Overall I think that Baby driver did an exception job at portraying a situation where a person with a good heart and good talent, what they would do in a dangerous crime syndicate. One of the strongest aspects of this movie was the sound track and they fitted songs perfectly into every scene. It could show the intensity of the scene or set the mood well. It also helped me connect with Baby as it could portray his emotions a lot of the time. Although I don’t think that the overall theme of the movie was to show how money can’t buy happiness I think it was very prominent and added a whole new dimension to the movie.

Achieved – More than one example, at least one effect

Merit – Depth: HOW that language effects adds to the idea

Excellence – Integration: How the effects work together to create deeper meaning

---

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert… near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

---

TASK:

1. Name on language effect used in this poem
2. Quote an example using this effect
3. How does Shelley use this effect to communicate the idea of hubris in his sonnet

---

One language effect used in this poem is

 

 

Respect. What does that world mean to you? Every year across the globe, hundreds of thousands of women are discriminated. This is a dilemma that is happening all around us and is only getting worse. Women play a huge role in the world around us and have such big impacts, it blows my mind that they would have so much hate and abuse in their lives just for being born with two X chromosomes. That’s why I’ve come up here this fine morning, to convince you that women are special and deserve to be respected just like anyone else.

In the past 5 years, crimes directed at women have risen by 12.2%. That’s an insane increase an it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. A lot of us think that it’s okay to treat women like inferiors but I’ll tell you that it’s not. Imagine a world without them, a world where men are the only gender. This world would be full of war, violence and chaos. This is a world you don’t want to live in. Now this world may seem like a fantasy but I’ll tell you if we don’t do anything the women won’t want to live in this planet with us.

In fact there is a very possible dystopia in where Women control the world and they lock all men down in basement only using us to farm sperm. Do you want this to be your future? Is this how you want to live your life? No, it isn’t. We can prevent this, we need to start treating women as equals. No gender shall be dominant to the other.

The gender wage gap is at a 7.1% difference. If you don’t understand what this means it basically stating that women who do the same jobs as men earn 7% less money. This is ridicules, why are they earning less for doing the exact same thing as everyone else?! The careers in which this occurs are jobs in the finance, science and production industries.

Now I’ve told you what will happen if we disrespect women, but I think you should know what steps you can take to make sure you are respecting our fellow friendly females. The best way to make someone feel equal is to treat them the way you want to be treated, I know that sounds cheesy and it’s the kind of thing your primary teacher tells you but it’s true, praise the for their achievements, show interest, be appreciative.

Also as a society we need to get rid of gender specific nouns like mankind, craftsmanship gameboy, in fact our school system enforces these disgusting words, not too long ago we were taught about the ‘straw man fallacy,’ why can’t it be straw woman fallacy? Because we live in a sexist society where women are put down.

Now, it’s all well and good for me to talk about why I think you should respect women but why does it mean anything coming from me, I’m a man. Why would it be in my interest to want to treat girls as equal, because from a moral viewpoint it should be common sense to believe in equality. People have told me that I have very good morals soooo they’re good. The human race has been fighting for equal rights for the last few centuries, we conquered slavery, we have gay rights, we can destroy this gender inequality.