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OCR A2 English Literature 2013

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Reply 120
Original post by Cest la vie
Structural points in terms of the play


Basically, just how the first half of the play oscillates between Rome
And Egypt scene by scene, mirroring the division in Anthony- the scenes are pretty lengthy. Act 3 scene 4 when Anthony and Octavia are in Athens is the turning point of the play. It's the midpoint of the action, and Athens is also midway between Rome and Egypt- it's significance is summed up by Octavia 'no midway twixt these extremes at all'. From here, the scenes become more condensed, mirroring Caesar's advancement, and the tension builds up as Anthony and Cleo's deaths approach- that's pretty much all I have!


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Reply 121
Hey there guys.I'm also doing this exam.I'm doing 'The Tempest' as an isolated text and 'The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale' and 'The Rivals' as the comparison text.
For the Tempest,everything is pretty much straight forward and your argument could always sway in the way you interpret the play.The themes are also pretty evident: Isolation,colonialism,microcosm,revenge/forgiveness,
illusion,magic,power,confinement,love.I'm not entirely sure if I've missed anything out and I hope that considering the changes made to the board,the question will be in our favour. So hopefully they will have a question to do with power,revenge or the dramatic presentation of a character :Prospero,Caliban,Ariel,Miranda etc.
But I'm struggling with the comparison points for the two comparison texts considering they are different in so many ways (well to me anyway).Plus I'm also a little weak on 'The Rivals' especially in terms of Julia/Faulklands relationship and also some other bits.I was also wondering how others doing these texts have been revising so far.
It would be awesome if we could just come together and help each other out.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 122
Original post by ImaNeek
Hey there guys.I'm also doing this exam.I'm doing 'The Tempest' as an isolated text and 'The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale' and 'The Rivals' as the comparison text.
For the Tempest,everything is pretty much straight forward and your argument could always sway in the way you interpret the play.The themes are also pretty evident: Isolation,colonialism,microcosm,revenge/forgiveness,
illusion,magic,power,confinement,love.I'm not entirely sure if I've missed anything out and I hope that considering the changes made to the board,the question will be in our favour. So hopefully they will have a question to do with power,revenge or the dramatic presentation of a character :Prospero,Caliban,Ariel,Miranda etc.
But I'm struggling with the comparison points for the two comparison texts considering they are different in so many ways (well to me anyway).Plus I'm also a little weak on 'The Rivals' especially in terms of Julia/Faulklands relationship and also some other bits.I was also wondering how others doing these texts have been revising so far.
It would be awesome if we could just come together and help each other out.


Hey, I'm also doing The Rivals and WOB as the comparision essay, I'm really strugglinig to find a lot of common ground between the two texts, how are you finding it? any advice? I really need to do well in this exam but cant work out how to revise these two texts.

I'm also doing King Lear if anyone else is doing that text? It would be good to share ideas and revision plans! :smile:
Reply 123
I just cannot write an essay on King Lear! I understand the overarching themes and their place in the text. What I can't seem to include and weave into my answer is any context or critical viewpoints. if anybody could help I would really appreciate it :smile:
Reply 124
Original post by ImaNeek
Hey there guys.I'm also doing this exam.I'm doing 'The Tempest' as an isolated text and 'The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale' and 'The Rivals' as the comparison text.
For the Tempest,everything is pretty much straight forward and your argument could always sway in the way you interpret the play.The themes are also pretty evident: Isolation,colonialism,microcosm,revenge/forgiveness,
illusion,magic,power,confinement,love.I'm not entirely sure if I've missed anything out and I hope that considering the changes made to the board,the question will be in our favour. So hopefully they will have a question to do with power,revenge or the dramatic presentation of a character :Prospero,Caliban,Ariel,Miranda etc.
But I'm struggling with the comparison points for the two comparison texts considering they are different in so many ways (well to me anyway).Plus I'm also a little weak on 'The Rivals' especially in terms of Julia/Faulklands relationship and also some other bits.I was also wondering how others doing these texts have been revising so far.
It would be awesome if we could just come together and help each other out.


I do the exact same texts! For The Rivals/WOB we've done toooons of essays which basically helped us familiarise ourselves with the texts, as after doing so many we would repeat information/quotes that we could use for the exam. In my own revision time, I've made notes on each theme (deceit, conventions, sexuality, comedy etc) with quotes and have just been going over them (I did the same for the Tempest, although I've done only a few essays due to a different teacher so I'm far less familiar with it)
Reply 125
Original post by sara :D
I do the exact same texts! For The Rivals/WOB we've done toooons of essays which basically helped us familiarise ourselves with the texts, as after doing so many we would repeat information/quotes that we could use for the exam. In my own revision time, I've made notes on each theme (deceit, conventions, sexuality, comedy etc) with quotes and have just been going over them (I did the same for the Tempest, although I've done only a few essays due to a different teacher so I'm far less familiar with it)


Oh wow,really? Would you mind sending a couple of notes that you have which might be of use.My teachers at college hardly gave us any notes to go off by.But I do have tons on The Tempest,if you'd like to go over that with me?
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 126
Original post by RosieU
Hey, I'm also doing The Rivals and WOB as the comparision essay, I'm really strugglinig to find a lot of common ground between the two texts, how are you finding it? any advice? I really need to do well in this exam but cant work out how to revise these two texts.

I'm also doing King Lear if anyone else is doing that text? It would be good to share ideas and revision plans! :smile:


Hahah,I'm pretty much on the same boat.Maybe you could email me your email adress and we can just have conversation and try to fill in the blanks using our combined knowledge?
Reply 127
Original post by RosieU
Hey, I'm also doing The Rivals and WOB as the comparision essay, I'm really strugglinig to find a lot of common ground between the two texts, how are you finding it? any advice? I really need to do well in this exam but cant work out how to revise these two texts.

I'm also doing King Lear if anyone else is doing that text? It would be good to share ideas and revision plans! :smile:


I'm in exactly the same position with WoB and The Rivals regarding the comparision of the two texts. There also seems to be a lot more to say about the WoB, have you found this? Any ideas on the comparision?
Volpone and Paradise Lost Book 9
Themes: Sin
Morality
Punishment
Women
Sex
God/Religion


Anyone doing the above texts/ And/Or Antony and Cleopatra?!
Reply 129
If anyone could post feminist/Marxist/any kind of critic's comments on Tis Pity, that'd be much appreciated! Tried googling, couldn't find anything...
Original post by simstaaar
is anyone doing antony and cleopatra as their stand alone text?


Yup I am! and Volpone :frown: How are you revising for Shakespeare?
Anyone got any good ways of analysing language in general? Like 'metaphor, animal imagery, simile' etc. all that, like a list? I always have a problem with this when writing essays on Lear and need to sort this out!
Reply 132
Original post by ohmygosh
I just cannot write an essay on King Lear! I understand the overarching themes and their place in the text. What I can't seem to include and weave into my answer is any context or critical viewpoints. if anybody could help I would really appreciate it :smile:


Have a look at the Nihilistic view of the play against the Christian view of the play. A guy called Jan Kott is good to look at he compares King Lear to the book of Job!

Also critical viewpoints are easy to find in King Lear: essential guide to criticism - it's a really good book full of critics views

Context is quite religious because obviously Lear commits blasphemy in abdicating the throne which was ordained to him by God. There are alos characters that challenge social and moral conventions in the play....and the division of the kingdom acted as a warning to actual monarchs..because it failed!

Has that helped at all?
Reply 133
Original post by Sannn
If anyone could post feminist/Marxist/any kind of critic's comments on Tis Pity, that'd be much appreciated! Tried googling, couldn't find anything...


google Alison Findley and Julie Sanders on Tis Pity, they put forward some pretty cool views! If not there are feminist views and cultural materialism views in the back of the York Notes on Tis Pity which is really good!
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 134
Quick questions for those who are doing 'The Wife of Bath' & 'The Rivals' comparison : Are you guys going to draw upon the differences between the two texts,with one being a drama text and the other a poem? Have you guys studied the poetry aspect of The Canterbury Tales? Or do you believe they won't be looking to much into that? Considering that the 'The Wife of Bath is pretty lengthy and dense.
does anyone have any notes on king lear being a tragic hero?
Reply 136
Original post by pallari5
Have a look at the Nihilistic view of the play against the Christian view of the play. A guy called Jan Kott is good to look at he compares King Lear to the book of Job!

Also critical viewpoints are easy to find in King Lear: essential guide to criticism - it's a really good book full of critics views

Context is quite religious because obviously Lear commits blasphemy in abdicating the throne which was ordained to him by God. There are alos characters that challenge social and moral conventions in the play....and the division of the kingdom acted as a warning to actual monarchs..because it failed!

Has that helped at all?


It has indeed, thank you very much for being specific and I'll take a look at the critics you mentioned too :biggrin:
Original post by liabhimani
Volpone and Paradise Lost Book 9
Themes: Sin
Morality
Punishment
Women
Sex
God/Religion


Anyone doing the above texts/ And/Or Antony and Cleopatra?!


im doing PL book 9 and antony and cleopatra :smile:
Original post by lukeniknak
im doing PL book 9 and antony and cleopatra :smile:



ah finally!! around how many quotations are you thinking of learning ? (around) including a03? I'm just really struggling to remember all these quotations ARGH!
what quotations have people learnt for Antony and Cleopatra ? how many do you think is needed for an essay?
Im also struggling on how to compare Wife of Bath with Tis a pity shes a whore....any tips? any possible essay questions people have tried to do and what could come up? also any good websites people have used? Am finding it hard on how to revise for this a level as it so different structure on revision compared to my psychology and sociology :/

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