AQA LITB4 - Comparative task - how to evaluate critical readings?? :s

Okay so as you can see from the title, I'm currently working on the compare and contrast task of LITB4, and I've placed some ideas from critics concerning the novels within my essay. My teacher says that it's good that I've done that, but in order to push for the higher grades, she wants me to evaluate them. Only problem is that I'm not quite sure how to go about it.

Please help! :confused:

Reply 1

crashMATHS

16

Original post by sleepyspider

Okay so as you can see from the title, I'm currently working on the compare and contrast task of LITB4, and I've placed some ideas from critics concerning the novels within my essay. My teacher says that it's good that I've done that, but in order to push for the higher grades, she wants me to evaluate them. Only problem is that I'm not quite sure how to go about it.

Please help! :confused:

First of all, definitely do not try to use critics 'for the sake of it', as they need to be embedded into your essay in a seamless way in order to impress. With the critical readings, you want to use them to support - or contradict - your point, but not make your points.

This is one of my paragraphs from my coursework last year, I've put the critical bit in bold - it got full marks.

However, it could be argued that the misogynistic actions that Petruchio's character takes to 'tame' Katherine transforms his character into one that does not confer to the characteristics of the comedy genre - and this is acredited even further from the perspective of a modern audience. Petruchio’s soliloquy in Act 4, Scene 1, outlines his almost torturous plan to ‘tame’ Katherine. Within it, Shakespeare deliberately repeats the negative modal verb “shall not” in quick succession with references to the necessities “sleep”, “food” and “meat” to represent the inhumane nature of Petruchio’s plan. The dramatic irony in his reference to “killing [Katherine] with kindness” juxtaposes the painful connotations of “killing” and loving connotations of “kindness”, which suggests that his plan is to deceive Katherine into thinking that he is sheltering her with kindness, when we really know that he is plotting to make her an obedient wife. Rather than to evoke a traditional comedic character, his role in The Taming of the Shrew could be hence suggested to represent the weak and vulnerable nature of women in the 16th century and how easily they can be controlled by powerful and calculating men, just like Petruchio. Similarly, in George Bernard Shaw’s romantic comedy Pygmalion, there is also a transformation of the female character, Eliza, as a result of “male tyranny”. Lise Pederson clearly argues that the only difference is that Petruchio is a “bully [by]…starving her [Katherine] into submission”1. Though she highlights that both are problem plays, she lambasts Shakespeare’s misogynistic characterisation of Petruchio as being too disturbing to fit traditionally within a comedy, whereas Shaw’s characterisation of Henry in Pygmalion is an example of how a character can ‘tame’ another character, but remain traditionally comedic. As a result, if we were to view the text through the lens of a feminist, it is erroneous to suggest that Petruchio's character would be perceived as comedic; his character challenges the notion of gender equality and embodies a masculine brutality that, indeed, is too misogynistic to be funny.

Reply 2

sleepyspider

OP

8

Original post by kingaaran

First of all, definitely do not try to use critics 'for the sake of it', as they need to be embedded into your essay in a seamless way in order to impress. With the critical readings, you want to use them to support - or contradict - your point, but not make your points.

This is one of my paragraphs from my coursework last year, I've put the critical bit in bold - it got full marks.

Thank you so much! You are a lifesaver.

AQA LITB4 - Comparative task - how to evaluate critical readings?? :s

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