Anyone else doing WJEC English Literature LT4 this Friday 6 June 2014?

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Super easy one to remember is Charles Lamb regarding Lear: "We want to take him in and shelter him". I suppose you could remember this one because it is "Lamb" speaking, and who the hell wouldn't want to take a cute lamb in and shelter it.

Granville-Barker describes "two Lears" - the "old man" and the "titan".

Shlegel describes the trajectory of King Lear as "a fall from the highest elevation to the deepest abyss of misery"

Bradley states that "Lear dies in an ecstasy", and that he undergoes a "spiritual development through suffering"

Jan Kott claims that, in Lear, "the grotesque is more cruel than the tragedy"

Dollimore states that King Lear is a play about "power, property and inheritance"

Those are probably the easiest to remember, and you have most bases covered there.

I'm doing Blake too! Any good critics?

YOU ARE THE BEST I think you have genuinely saved my life thank you thank you!

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Reply 41

PippaKate

Original post by white-tea-shirt

POINT 1 - Totalitarian state
Hamlet is being watched by everyone -

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Gertrude and Claudius who think he's mad

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Polonius who gets stabbed

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Ophelia who Hamlet knows is spying on her

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And his friends who he has killed

Here's where context comes in.

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This reflects Elizabethan england.

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It was a totalitarian state / a spy state.

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It could have been a criticism of this fact - having the play set in Denmark keeps Shakespeare safe - he can't get done for treason

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Sir Francis Walsingham was secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster".

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Walsingham is principally remembered for his part in the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. - Perhaps this is similar to Claudius having another king killed (regicide).

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Sir Francis Walsingham could also be equated to the role of Polonius

POINT 2 - The Divine Right of Kings

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Another important fact is the "Divine right of Kings"

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This is the idea that King's were ordained by God and specially elected to be in that position

Why is this important ?

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It had a great part to play in Hamlet killing Claudius - if he was ordained by God, Hamlet would be damned if he killed him. It's a significant part of his delay ****(What makes hamlet such a famous tragedy and THE ONLY SHAKESPEARE PLAY TO BE CONSTANTLY PERFORMED SINCE IT WAS MADE [THIS IS FURTHER CONTEXT])***

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The fact that Kings and Queens ruled by divine right is also criticsed by Shakespeare - The audience would be provoked into thinking if this was true if Claudius is such an "Incestuous, murderous, damned dane".

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Once again, having the play set in Denmark keeps Shakespeare safe - he can't get done for treason

POINT 3+4 - GHOSTS + Classical tragedies

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The ghost -Should hamlet trust it or not

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In elizabethan England people did believe in ghosts - but like Hamlet it was believed they could be evil

Interlude

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It could also show the perpetual cycle of violence at the heart of revenge tragedies in Greek revenge tragedies - the desire for vengeance corrupts the revenger and he or she has to die too ! Each death is answered for by another death!

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Critic - According to Francis Bacon [a Renaissance man] this is because "wild revenge" consists of "private" reasons which never has a good outcome !

Back to the ghost -

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It can be seen as a symbol for the perpetual cycle of revenge

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Critic; Nicholas Royle, and English Novelist said ghosts are the "very embodiment of strange repetition or re-occurrence, it's a revenant, it comes back"

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So the ghost can be seen as a symbol for something very significant in revenge tragedies - it raises questions about re-occurance, the perpetual cycle of revenge and death, the fact that the revenger will die, and that evil can triumph over good !

Point 5 - Random family stuff

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Like Henry VIII who married Catherine of aragon, Claudius also married his dead brothers wife - this was frowned upon etc etc

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Ophelia was lectured by Laertes her brother and she told him to behave in the same way BUT - when Polonius, her father gives her orders she merely says "I will obey"

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Gertrude married the King - it was a "o'er hasty marriage" - was this because she loved him or becomes of survival and self preservation ? Some critics argue if she was no longer married to the king she would kind of be pushed aside

Point 6 - Hamlet's Delay
As I said before - "What makes hamlet such a famous tragedy and THE ONLY SHAKESPEARE PLAY TO BE CONSTANTLY PERFORMED SINCE IT WAS MADE" is his delay.
In the original Hamlet by Saxo Grammaticus, Prince Hamlet only delays before killing the king because he's too young and weak

HOWEVER

This isn't the case for Shakespeare's prince hamlet.

That means Hamlet's reasons for delaying show what's important to Shakespeare - this includes:
---Divine judgement / heaven and hell
---Are humans fit to carry out justice?
---Was the ghost a demon? Was it even telling the truth?
---If Hamlet killed claudius when he was killing he thought he would go to heaven, it would not truly be revenege
---If Hamlet kills the king, could that lead to him also being killed when he becomes king ?

In the end it's almost about a tragedy about a man who doesn't want to engage with life so he doesn't get anything wrong - he doesnt want to be involved in life at all, hence why he said "To be, or not to be"

POINT 7 - Harmatia
Hamartia is usually translated as a mistake or error in judgment. In modern discussions of tragedy, hamartia has often been described as a hero's "tragic flaw.
Hamlet's error of judgement as a revenger is his delay.
As I said before "he doesnt want to be involved in life at all, hence why he said "To be, or not to be""
Because when he does, he really get's his hands dirty.

I mean when he kills polonius he comes both and avenger and a villain - he has a dual role.
He has the same role in this subplot as Claudius in the main plot - here's what i mean.
King Hamlet (victim) killed by Claudius (Murderer) and Hamlet is the Revenger
Polonius (victim and father) killed by Hamlet (Murderer) and Laertes is the revenger

Hamlet becomes what he hates !
He doesn't want to be taken over by revenge - this is his harmatia.

This was good revision for me so I'll write more if i remember more. I'm going to do Blake for now. Excuse any spelling mistakes v

You are a life saver, thank you so much!

Reply 42

placeinthisworld

Extremely panicking now. Feel I know enough but nowhere near enough at the same time. Good luck everyone!

Reply 43

white-tea-shirt

Original post by PippaKate

You are a life saver, thank you so much!

swag pressure

Reply 44

Amé

Original post by aliyah08

Thank you so much. I really appreciate that!
Me too, do you think if we got a question on corruption you could talk about political/sexual corruption and so on etcetc because I already have quotes on some relevant themes

Yes of course, absolutely. Corruption of the government is ideal as you can link it to the Jacobean government at the time being corrupt for AO4, and further link it to Duchess of Malfi as the Malfi government was also extremely corrupt.
Sexual corruption is also a good topic as it's a theme that runs thoroughly through most characters, Lucio and his use of brothels, mistress overdone supplying those brothels, Angelo and his lust for Isabella when he is suppose to be a Puritan and a man of "firm stricture" .. And obviously you can link it to Ferdinand's incestous interest in his sister, and the Cardinal's relationship with Julia. A good point to make for AO4 is that in Jacobean England they were actually trying to abolish the brothels, as fornification was seen as a sin, and they thought it would reduce spreading of diseases e.g. the plague!
Good luck for tomorrow.

Reply 45

aamyy

If anyone needs any last minute Hamlet revision watch these!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My14mZa-eq8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDCohlKUufs
Who dosn't want John Green giving you a crash course :wink:

Reply 46

aliyah08

Original post by Amé

Ahh, and yourself! Thanks for your help, and for replying! I've been thinking into it way too deep that I'm beginning to miss these obvious points

Reply 47

9henderrson

How did everyone find that? I did the question on religion and supernatural for blake and then used the Sassoon poem alongside it. Then did ambition for the tempest

Reply 48

aliyah08

Original post by 9henderrson

How did everyone find that? I did the question on religion and supernatural for blake and then used the Sassoon poem alongside it. Then did ambition for the tempest

I did exactly the same poem and question for Blake!
What did you write about?
I did
1. organised religion stifled growth.
2 organised religion condemed sex, which Blake believed was natural.
3. Although Blake rejected organised religion he was spiritual.
4. Power of creation (this was very brief, and somewhat irrelavant because I was running out of time).

Reply 49

Pro Crastination

Original post by 9henderrson

How did everyone find that? I did the question on religion and supernatural for blake and then used the Sassoon poem alongside it. Then did ambition for the tempest

I did exactly this, 'religion' and Sassoon. Felt as if I dominated the Blake question - I had a bunch to talk about, lots of critics/alternative interpretations, really useful context, to-the-point analysis of devices etc. I've annoyed myself with The Tempest, however. In terms of knowledge in my head, it was just about as good as the Blake one; I had useful context (great chain of being, Renaissance conceptions of the great chain of being, Montaigne etc) as well as a good number of useful critics points... I got them in, but it didn't read anywhere near as good.

I reckon... 36-37 for first essay and 30-32 for second... I've worked out I probably need 67-69 overall to be sure of the A*, so if I've reached it, I've only just reached it. If not, I will be sure to tell my firm that I was one UMS off or whatever.

It really comes down to how on point they think my analysis was in terms of arguing what I set out in my introduction. Blake was completely on point, the Tempest sort of spun out of my control with the clock ticking down.

Still, I can put that to one side now.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 50

9henderrson

Original post by aliyah08

I took a slightly different approach but that sounds pretty good
1. Chimney Sweeper focused
Wrote about how the child is exploited by religious institutions into believing its his 'duty' to sweep
2. Holy Thursday focused
Wrote about how this poem shows who to blame for this exploitation
3. Little Boy Lost and Found, The Shepherd
Wrote about Blake's solution and what he believes to be a more ideal religion

Reply 51

aliyah08

Original post by 9henderrson

Sounds like a really well structured essay. I really wish I would've took a focused approach. I never do, and often find mid-way through I start rambling! The poems I used...Chimney Sweeper, The Divine Image, The Garden of Love, The Tyger.
I was supposed to write about Little Boy Lost, you just reminded me! Darn hahaha

Reply 52

elbury1

I thought the exam went very well! I did the Blake question on pain and discomfort and then the ambition question for Tempest, which thankfully is a theme I revised in detail the night before. Really hoping for the A*. . :biggrin:

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Reply 53

MakeContact

For anyone doing Hamlet and/or the Wife of Bath, what did you do?

For Hamlet, I did the theme on conflict, and wrote about it through analysing the characters of Hamlet, Claudius and Old Hamlet, and their comparing characters of Vindice, the Duke and Antonio in The Revenger's Tragedy.

For the wife of bath, I did the other conflict question as well.

Reply 54

beau-malheur

Original post by MakeContact

I did the conflict question for the wife of bath and then the sympathy question for hamlet. I feel like it went ok but tbh I have no idea xD I think I should've made more links to revengers in the hamlet essay but I struggled to think of much, so we shall seeeeee

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Reply 55

katrina1

I'm doing John Donne, and Measure for Measure/The Duchess of Malfi. For John Donne, I did the religion/supernatural question (weirdly enough, I had just done a mindmap about that before I went into the exam!) and corruption for section B, the theme I'd revised the most :smile:

Reply 56

Order 66

That was a nice paper. I left that feeling confident about my answer. :smile:

Kind of sad that English is over now though :frown:

Reply 57

Tomocalypse

Original post by 9henderrson

How did everyone find that? I did the question on religion and supernatural for blake and then used the Sassoon poem alongside it. Then did ambition for the tempest

I did the question about human nature as I'm doing Wife of Bath with the Thomas Hardy poem. Then I did the ambition question for Tempest/Faustus :smile:

Felt it went pretty well.

Reply 58

MakeContact

Original post by beau-malheur

A lot of my friends did the Sympathy/Conflict combo. I didn't know though, I thought that conflict/conflict made more sense personally, but each to their own ;P

I thought that I certainly made enough points in both, but I'm concerned I didn't have a very good structure: for the Wife, I think the themes I used were quite vague, and for Hamlet I only wrote about three characters, but tried to analyse them quite heavily.