OCR A2 English Literature 2013

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Hey

me and "dougturnsy" are talking about having a skype session to discuss PL and TWD - obviously chat only, no webcams, so if you're comfortable with that let me know, it could be useful :smile:

yeah man i'm up for that i think discussing it is good for making it stick in our heads aswell!

Reply 81

Emmester

Original post by JackS94

Hey

me and "dougturnsy" are talking about having a skype session to discuss PL and TWD - obviously chat only, no webcams, so if you're comfortable with that let me know, it could be useful :smile:

Hello,
Sounds good I think on Skype you can have a group conversation (without webcams) so we could try and set a time and do it together??

Reply 82

WilliamG

Original post by simstaaar

i've done volpone :-)

Wife of Bath and Volpone?

Original post by lottielugosi

Is anyone else studying Volpone? We're comparing Volpone and The Wife of Bath's Tale, which is proving reaaally quite difficult.

yep I'm doing both of those texts, starting revision for them this half-term if you want to discuss them or something?

Reply 83

itunesfestival95

Hi! I'm comparing Paradise Lost Book IX and 'Tis Pity for section B. But I'm really struggling with how to structure the essay as a whole! Does anyone have a specimen plan or some sort of way they have in order to structure the comparison essay? Thanks!

Reply 84

HighwayUnicorn

We should give each other two questions a day and do them for "fun" :mmm:

Reply 85

ohmygosh

Does anybody have any critical opinions for the white devil which they would be willing to share? it is so difficult to find any.

Reply 86

sara :D

Anyone doing the Tempest? If so, what do ya think will come up? Probably Prospero or Caliban as the character one as there aren't really many others you can explore in depth!

Reply 87

butchh

Original post by sara :D

Anyone doing the Tempest? If so, what do ya think will come up? Probably Prospero or Caliban as the character one as there aren't really many others you can explore in depth!

You can explore Miranda's journey/or lack of as a woman and other themes in general. Also, consider Gonzalo as the voice of reason etc.

Reply 88

J.Star

Original post by abismall

Yep! Look up Larry S Champion, Susannah B Mintz, A.P Hogan- I think Iat have a couple more. I'll post a couple of quotes later

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Original post by garyheehee

For WoB, I've got a bunch:

Kemp Malone, Winny, Paul Strohm, Kittredge, Tony Slade though I've only got about one or two quotes for each

Would it be possible to post some of the quotes that you found please? :tongue:

Reply 89

Sannn

Hey everyone, I'm doing The Tempest for section A and 'Tis Pity and The Wife of Bath for section B...feeling somewhat unprepared :P My teacher said a question based solely on Prospero is unlikely...but then again she warned us not to play the prediction game as OCR are very unreliable!

The Tempest is alright, but I'm really struggling with The Wife of Bath :/ Learning quotes is just a nightmare! Thankfully I only need a C (80 UMS) to get an A overall but tbh I don't even think I'll get that haha

Reply 90

sara :D

Original post by butchh

You can explore Miranda's journey/or lack of as a woman and other themes in general. Also, consider Gonzalo as the voice of reason etc.

I would not be able to do a whole essay on Miranda (unless the essay is about her relationship with another character eg Caliban). I also considered Gonzalo, but again I don't think its possible to do one solely on him? You can talk about his utopian dreams, his aiding Prospero, his reason, but unless the essay is literally 'Explore Gonzalo' I haven't got too much to say on him.

Reply 91

etownsy

Original post by abismall

Anyone doing Blake with Tis Pity? It's a nightmare to say the least.

Yes doing it and currently dying! Finding it really difficult to coherently link them

Reply 92

butchh

Original post by sara :D

No no I HIGHLY doubt there will be an essay solely on Gonzalo. With Miranda, they may ask how women are presented in The Tempest. Here you would consider Miranda, Ariel (his/her sexuality is undefined), Alonso's daughter Claribel (I think that's her name) and Sycorax. I think they're more likely to ask something about power struggles or corruption.

Reply 93

abismall

Original post by J.Star

Would it be possible to post some of the quotes that you found please? :tongue:

Sure, here are a few that work for a lot of essays-

Larry S Champion-
'the lovers speak with a passion not without appeal in its intensity and its ostensible sincerity'
'(Ford) emphasises both the flaw of the protagonist and of those in society who have manipulated him for selfish interests'
'Through the rival wooers, multiple revenge plots, the Cardinal and the servant characters, he sketches a society teeming with corruption'
'The stage world then, effectively captures the spiritual uncertainties of an increasingly analytical age'
'The spectators are constantly required to weigh that immorality against the lust, avarice, treachery, vindictiveness and hypocrisy of the society whose morality the lovers have rejected'
'Vasques is the most vicious character in this macabre society, his barbarity masked behind a fanatic loyalty to Soranzo'

A.P Hogan-
'(Giovanni's) ardent championship of individualism and pleasure against the Friar's crabbed and frozen orthodoxy are seductive qualities'
'Giovanni has bound nature, reason and religion to an idealisation of incest'
'The laws that govern Giovanni [...] are rooted in nature, reason and religion. They operate according to a logic of passion, jealousy and fantasy of power.'

Susannah B Mintz
'Readers of "Tis Pity..." have long agreed that the social mileu of John Ford's tale of sibling incest is one of profound hypocrisy and deceit'
'both the ineffectual friar and oppotunist Cardinal manage to exacerbate Parma's difficulties'
'(giovanni and Annabella) are each others only possible choices for spiritual and intellectual connection in a culture dominated by a host of dubious figures'
'A woman's self expression can be acknowledged, but only briefly and only because ultimately, it does not disrupt the male economy.'
'By shirking the incest taboo, Annabella resists the pressure to conform to her culture's rules about sexuality'

Reply 94

abismall

Original post by etownsy

Yes doing it and currently dying! Finding it really difficult to coherently link them

I'm just going to try and manipulate the question so it works :/ I've done a lot on hypocrisy, corruption and repression, which lets you talk about women and Catholicism in Tis Pity, and supression of sexuality, poverty and organised religion in Blake. It's easy to link the opening scene of Tis Pity with Blake- just talk about Giovanni as a Renaissance character in his questioning of the social norms, and then talk about the way in which Blake questions social order, religion, etc in poems such as 'The Schoolboy' 'The Little Vagabond' 'The Garden of Love' etc. If it's an essay on love/passion or something, it's also quite easy to draw links across. Talk about Romantic idyll for Blake, free love etc, and poems like 'Little Girl Lost', 'Ah, Sunflower' and 'The Angel' which show the effects of unrequited love. In Tis Pity, mention that it was a Patriarchal society dominated by men. Annabella is made to believe that she is allowed to choose a suitor but Florio has already 'engaged his word' to Soranzo. In both Blake and Ford's society Women were treated as second class citizens and were expected to pander to the needs of their husbands. Talk about the importance of chastity in both societies, and the hypocrisy that came with this (Men were allowed to see mistresses, but women were expected to be chaste and condemned as whores when this was not the case) Talk about how love was very much ultilitarian and superficial in both societies- based on status and wealth rather than emotion, and how women were objects of sexual desire (Blake- London). Vasques manipulates the vulnerability of women- Hippolita and Putana. Conclude that although Giovanni and Annabella's love defied social norms and led to their destruction, it was true love, pure etc. You can also easily link revolution/rebellion. In Blake, talk about context,(French Revolution 1789, Rousseau) and in Ford talk about how times were changing (The Renaissance). Talk about Blake's opposition of organised religion (Garden of Love, Little Vagabond, Holy Thursday) and how Giovanni questions the nature of religion. Then go on to talk about Blake's society (use London) and here you can also talk about Marxist theories- how the rich controlled everything and used institutions such as the church as a form of social control. Then go on to Ford and talk about the hypocrisy that existed in Parmesan society- revenge plots etc, and how G and A were each others only choice. You can then go on to talk about both the fulfilling and destructive effects of sexual freedom, and conclude in their respective works, both Blake and Ford were imploring their readers/audience to view the world with and open mind and question estalished truths etc...Hope this helps!

Reply 95

tommoxham

Original post by butchh

In our final class of the year pre-exam, we went through all the major themes e.g. colonialism, relationships, sexuality, desire and deception. You can draw comparisons between all the characters in one or more of these sub-topics, however, the exam is AO2 (quotations) and AO3 (critics) weighted. So, as long as you can support your argument with some quotations that solidify your point, and then show a critic who agrees with you, everything should be alright.

Reply 96

garyheehee

Original post by J.Star

Would it be possible to post some of the quotes that you found please? :tongue:

Ah, mine aren't as broad as abismall's but here goes:

Malone - 'modern men of learning with extraordinary naivete have read into the Canterbury tales' (In regards to the viewing the Wife as a protofeminist / challenging society)

'To...all the other pilgrims these views are merely amusing and need no refutation' (Wife's arguments on marriage)

Slade - 'those places which the friars are 'blessing with their presence' because women will be found in them' (Sexual immorality of friars in the tale)

'In the Wife's eyes, it is the domination of the man over the woman which is the knight's real offence'

Townsend - the Wife's tale is an 'expression of her hopes and dreams'

Speirs - 'the ancient nature religion of Britain as been desecrated, uprooted and supplanted by the new ecclesiastical order' (Destructive presence of the church in the Wife's tale)

Gerould - 'grotesque absurdity of beginning a tale of 'gentilesse' with rape' (The levity of the Wife's Tale, would not be taken seriously by contemporaries)

Strohm - 'The pilgrims gathered at the Tabard Inn seem intended to represent neither a complete census of fourteenth century English society nor an enumeration of its most influential ranks'

Kittredge - She has handled a hard subject that properly belongs to scholars. She has quoted authorities, too, like a clerk. Such things, he [The Friar] says, are best left to ecclesiastics' (Wife adopting the role of a clerk)

'The words of the Wife were of a kind to provoke comment'

Winnie - connotations of 'personal grandeur' (Wife's use of French to describe her 'bele chose')

I've got some for 'Tis Pity too:

AP Hogan - 'Death is Giovanni's love because that love is lust'

'all three characters are moved...by fantasies of power and possession'

Ornstein - 'his [Giovanni] atheism is lacking in conviction'

Stavig 'in their worship of each other [Giovanni and Annabella]...both have forgotten the basis of moral order'

McCabe '[Giovanni and Annabella] insulate themselves in an alternative form of marriage sanctified by its own ceremonies'

Larry S Champion 'Friar's chief function in the play is to give voice to...traditional religious and social values'

Massai 'sexual obsession and intellectual audacity' (Giovanni's incestual relationship)

'[Annabella] no interest in what religion or society may or may notallow her to do'

Hoy - Giovanni is 'driven by an indomitable will to personal power'

Hope that helps, some of them are a tad specific

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 97

garyheehee

Does anyone know if we need to know critics quotes for section A? Or is it enough to get those AO3 marks through 'a Marxist interpretation would suggest' / 'A feminist such as Mary Daly would argue'?

If anyone has advice please tell me! :P

Reply 98

username823573

Original post by garyheehee

I assume section A is the single text as opposed to the comparative essay? If that's the case, then yes, a critical reading would suffice. Although, depending on what the question asks and how appropriate your reading is, it may be difficult to write that much to gain enough AO3 marks. Regardless, for my text (King Lear), I will have an interpretation ready and just a quote or two from critics if I need them.

What texts are you doing for sections A and B?

Reply 99

abismall

Original post by garyheehee

I would get a couple of generic critic quotes if I were you, just to make sure that you get the marks! They don't have to be long ones.

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