Mr smith work

The road
The cellar
- reflects society's decay
- bodies stored
- horror, tension, fear
- nothing else is memorable

The bunker
- food stored
- built to save from apocalypse
- safe, secure, civilised, stay here!
- back garden of a house


Gatsby
The garage
- people pass but never stay
- low in society/class
- on a wasteland
- trapped in own home
- not American dream

The mansion
- American dream (land, house, not family)
- always people there at parties
- upper class/society
- trapped? Not trapped?


Browning
Porphyria's lover
- secluded, hidden away, secretive
- cabin, middle of forest
- raining, storm

The patriot
-in front of everyone
- wants attention
- not secluded, in the middle of the street


The Rime of The Ancient Mariner
Land
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Coursework - TIOBE

How far do you agree that The Important of Being Earnest can only be referred to as a satire?

 

The Importance of Being Earnest can not only be viewed as a Satire as there are many different comedic genres within the play. Wilde’s play can also be seen to contain elements of a Farce, the Comedy of Manners, Commedia Dell’Arte and it could also be interpreted as a Classic comedy. Throughout all the play within the setting, language and characters presented clearly match a wide variety of comedic genres.

The Importance of Being Earnest can be seen as a satire because there are many different conventions of a satire that are within the play. The characters are extremely satirical, with their language and attitude. Chasuble is a good example of this, he is a minister, yet he mocks the church. ‘My sermon on the meaning of the manna in the wilderness can be adapted to almost any occasion, joyful, or, as in the present case, distressing’ This mocks the church as he doesn’t change his sermons for his occasions, he just performs the same sermon each time, which shows he may not care about his religion as much as he should. This is satirical because the audience expects a Priest to be of the highest class and be extremely calm whereas Chasuble seems to be quite out going and expressible. He is the complete opposite of what he should be, which is satirical because it is not what the audience expects. The setting of the play can be seen as having conventions of a satire with in it with the town vs. country theme. The town vs. country binary opposition is purposely put into the book to show two different kinds of people, people like Miss Prism who have no understanding of the outside world, outside of the country and Jack, who is the complete opposite, being able to live in the town and the country, to get a better view of the world to have more experience. The language used within The Importance of Being Earnest makes the play very satirical. The use of puns, witticisms, epigrams and bathos shows this. All throughout the play, Lady Bracknell uses wit and comical tone, the way that she cuts into people’s sentences shows this very well. 

As well as being a Satire, The Importance of Being Earnest can also be seen as a Comedy of Manners in many different ways. The most obvious way it fits into the generic conventions of a Comedy of Manners is the characters within the play. In a Comedy of Manners characters are described to be ‘smart, socially insulated people’[1], which is obviously quite true. This is proven by Miss Prism, she is socially insulated because the things she has been teaching Cecily are very much set just in the house, she isn’t teaching her about the world outside the country as Jack does that, he is the exception within the characters that does not fit into the Comedy Of Manners genre because he has experienced the town and the country and travels in-between them then shares his experiences with Cecily, he is the opposite of insulated.

Within this play, there are features of it being a farce. A Farce has typically exaggerated characters; Lady Bracknell’s character is an example of this because she is extreme is every way. An example of this is when she finds out Cecily has money and she is suddenly very interested in her “A moment Mr Worthing. A hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardrew seems to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her”. She is extreme when it comes to decisions; she is either one or another. Wilde has done this to mock the upper class to make upper class people only thinking about money and staying within the upper class because at this time in England being in the upper class was the most important thing. This can be because Oscar Wilde has been seen to be a Marxist, which would come through in his writing, to mock the upper class. The Importance of Being Earnest can also be seen as a Farce by the improbably situations the characters are put in, the situations the characters have to overcome are extremely exaggerated for the comedy within the play. These situations are sorted out in the denouement very quickly in the last scene, which shows the comedy within the play because the audience will find it funny that the characters are shown to be upset about the most silliest things all throughout the play, but then all the problems are solved or sorted within the space of a few minutes. This is funny because this shows that none of the problems were very serious to start with and the characters have been bothered about nothing throughout the entire play. The use of wit in the play can be seen as features of a Farce as well, the first time we see wit is in the first scene of the play when Jack and Algernon are talking about Jack/Ernest’s cigar case ‘Please don’t touch the cucumber sandwiches. They are ordered especially for Aunt Augusta. [Takes one and eats it], this shows the wit of the conversation that they have between them because Algernon is stressed about Aunt Augusta coming to his house and Jack is mocking him by doing the opposite of what he says. This is returned later in the play when Jack is stressing about the girls and Algernon is eating muffins. These are both places within the play that the audience is expected to laugh at the characters as comic relief, which is used within the genre of Farce. 

There are hints of Commedia Dell’Arte within The Importance of Being Earnest, although we cannot say that it can be fully in this genre because there are many conventions within this genre that The Importance of Being Earnest does not conform with.  The use of the style of characters personalities can show elements of Commedia Dell’Arte because a convention in a Commedia Dell’Arte is there are a pair of ‘young lovers’, within The Importance of Being Earnest, there are two sets. This can be split up so that Jack and Gwendolen are the primary younger lovers and Cecily and Algernon are the parallel lovers, they are still young lovers but not as important within the play. These are called the inamorata and are in most Commedia Dell’Arte plays. There is also an ‘Il Capitano’ within the play, in the form of the character Algernon, Il Capitano is ‘a cowardly, braggart, pompous solider, whose boasting exceeds his deeds’, this explains the character of Algernon very well because Algernon is extremely cowardly towards his love for Cecily, ‘I have dared to love you wildly’.

A Classic comedy is another genre that The Importance of Being Earnest conforms to. To be a classic comedy, the play needs to include ‘the rising action; that is, the sorts of strategies the agent of action generates in order to win’[2]. This can be interpreted so that the agent of action is Jack and what he needs to win is the consent to marry Gwendolen. To do this, there are four things that need to be done so that the denouement can happen. A romance needs to be pursued, which in The Importance of Being Earnest, three relationships are pursued, Jack and Gwendolen, Algernon and Cecily and finally, Miss Prism and Chasuble. The second strategy that needs to be in the play is a trick is played, this can be that Gwendolen and Cecily are tricked by Algernon and Jack that both their names are Earnest. The ‘Green world’ needs to be visited for the play to be a classic comedy, and in The Importance of Being Earnest, it is visited. The ‘green world’ in the play is the Country. The play starts off in the town and then changes to the country in the second act of the play; this is where everything happens in the play, the climax, the resolution and the denouement. After everything is resolved, the characters go back to the town. This is used as a binary opposition and contrast within the play with the town and the country. 

In conclusion, The Importance of Being Earnest cannot only be seen as a satire. There are conventions within other genres of comedy that are within the play. Although there are hints of satire within the play, there are also features of classic comedy, a comedy of manners, a Commedia Dell’arte and mostly a Farce. I do not agree with the statement made because there are just too many places within the play where it is not only satirical it is another genre of comedy as well.

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[1] From: ‘A student guide to play analysis’ by David Rush, southern Illinois university press (2005)

[2] From: ‘A student guide to play analysis’ by David Rush, southern Illinois university press (2005)

Coursework - Much Ado

Although Much Ado about Nothing does fit into the conventions of A Comedy Of Manners, it is not only this genre as it has many features of other genres within it. This play can also be seen as a New Comedy.

The characters and language used within Much Ado about Nothing conforms to the Comedy of Manners style, with the use of witticisms, puns, epigrams and malapropisms used by the characters. The first character to use wit in the play is Beatrice  

Dogberry is the main character to use malapropisms, “This is your charge: you shall comprehend all vagrom men.” This is to show the stupidity within Dogberry. This also fits in within the character conventions of a Comedy of Manners, Dogberry is the ‘bumpkin’

My Story About Dogberry and Verges

[Enter Dogberry and Lady]
(Dogberry walks into a bar and sees an extremely attractive lady and sits next to her. Lady spots dogberry and moves a little further away)
Dogberry: 'Allo
Lady: ...
Dogberry: Pardon thou, kind Lady. A kind lady shalt have the indecency to answer a handsome Sir, like I
Lady: That be so?
Dogberry: Forsooth. Thoust have the honour of talking to the greatest.. Dogberry.
Lady: Where be he?
Dogberry: Infant of you m'Lady.
Lady: Alas.
Dogberry: May I ask the beautiful Lady what be the name you call yourself
Lady: Lady, Sir
Dogberry: Lady, lady?
Lady: Indeed
Dogberry: Excuse thee to interrupt, there is some important news I am imblidged to tell thee. I have has the honour of taking these two scandals into my wreath this morrow, for what crime I cannot remember. They were incredibly forceful in their miscapture that they completed the crime towards the young lady
Lady: That little story is quite absurd
Dogberry: Absurd or issued?
Lady: Absurd.
Dogberry: What is issued is that the Lady has yet to ask out this honourable batches for a date yet
Lady: Thou will not be doing that in the slightest
Dogberry: Alas, Dogberry has luck with nothing once again.

Act 3 scene 3
Why does Dogbery utter so many 'Malaprops'? Identify three such misusages of the word..
Desertless-deserving
Senseless-sensible
Vagrom-vagrant
Shakespeare represented Dogberry to be idiotic because he is of a lower class and part of the police force. This is a secret dig at the police force.



Identify two sexual jokes.
"A maid and stuffed! There's goodly catching of cold!"
"Twill be heavier soon by the weight of a man"



Are we decieved by margarets humour?
Margarets homour is a ploy by shakespeare to distract the audience from the impending tradgedy. The female characters foreshadow the tradgedy by discussing their feelings of unease when they say "God give me joy to wear it, for my heart is exeeding heavy".



What does Dogberry's want above all to communicate to Leonato in this scene? Why? How does this impede the discovery on the crime against Hero?
He tells them about the arrest he has made to look like a better police officer, which impedes the discovery of the crime against Hero because when Dogberry is talking about his arrest he is distracting Verges from telling leonato about the impending tradgedy.






Act 4 scene 1

Why do Claudio and Don Pedro decide upon public humiliation of Hero at the wedding?
They find that this is the best way, she has publically humiliated him because she 'made sure that people heard' although it wasn't her. So he wants to make sure that he does it publically aswell, as the ultimate way of shaming her.

How does Leonato react to Claudio's accusation at the wedding? Why?
Leonato believes Claudio's accusation against his daughter, he thinks that she did cheat on him, even though Hero is denying it, Claudio says 'Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes'. I think that it is because Leonato knew how much Claudio loved Hero and he would only swear not to be married to her if she had done something wrong. It could also be because as a man, Leonato had more respect towards Claudio than Hero because men were seen as more truthful.

How has Benedick's allegiance shifted in this scene from what it had been before? Why? 
Benedick was friends with Claudio before this scene but then Beatrice orders him to challenge him his allegiance shifts so he then has to despise Claudio to win Beatrice's love. Benedick does try and not have to challenge Claudio but beatrice makes sure that she is clear that she will never be in love with him if he does not challenge Claudio for humiliating Hero at the alter and accusing her of things she didn't do.

How does Leonato interpret Hero's facial expression? How does Friar Francis? 


Who is the first to name Don John as the villain behind the plot?
Beatrice

What is the purpose of Friar Francis' deception about Hero's supposed death? 


What is the backup plan if Hero's repuation cannot be salvaged? 
She will be sent to a nunnery if her plan to expose Don John's lies to everyone doesn't work.

How does the language change once Benedick and Beatrice are alone? Why?
Beatrice's

Who declares love first for the other, Benedick or Beatrice? Why? What is the complicating factor in this romantic climax between Beatrice and Benedick? 
Benedick declares his love for Beatrice first as a way to cheer her up as she is upset that her cousin has been humiliated infront of the entire church because she doesn't believe them and believes that Hero has been wronged. She quickly uses his love for bad as the complicating factor between Beatrice and Benedick is she wants him to challenge Claudio for dishonoring Hero.

How does the lecture explain the ferocity of Beatrice's rage at line 300-325?


How does Benedick's decision to challenge Claudio represent a majoy change for his character? 
Benedick has always been seen as a subtle quiet character to me, whereas when he says he will challenge Claudio, he has a completely switch in what his character is like. He becomes more of a man because before this is was all about him being uncertain about his love towards Beatrice which wasn't very manly.
           

Act 2 Scene 1 & 2

Act Two, Scene One

Leonato has noticed that Don John did not attend the dinner. Beatrice says that a combination between Don John and Benedick would create the perfect man. Leonato tells Beatrice she will never get a husband if she continues to make such "shrewd" remarks. Beatrice says that she is happy without a husband and plans to die unmarried.

All the others arrive at the ball wearing masks. Don Pedro straight away goes over to Hero and asks her to dance a with him. She says yes, but tells him she hopes the face underneath the mask is better looking than the mask itself.

Benedick meets up with Beatrice and tells her he won't reveal who he is. She starts to talk about Benedick, calling him, "the Prince's jester, a very dull fool". Benedick assures her he will tell Benedick what she has said about him.

Don John and Borachio figure out who Claudio is by the way he is moving. Don John goes up to him and asks him if he is Benedick, and Claudio plays along, saying that he is. Don John tells Claudio that he should break up Don Pedro and Hero because she is not equal to his brother's birth. Borachio joins in as well, telling Claudio that he heard Don Pedro swear his affection for Hero and plan to marry her that evening.

When Claudio is alone he comments that it must be true because friendship is constant in all things except for love. He says, "Farewell, therefore, Hero". Benedick arrives and invites Claudio to go with him, telling him the Prince "that got your Hero". Claudio, saddened by the thought that Don Pedro has stolen Hero from him leaves the ball. Don Pedro arrives and Benedick accuses him of betraying his friendship to Claudio by stealing Hero. He denies it and says that he was merely doing what he could for the couple.

Benedick has been hurt by what Beatrice said about him while they danced, and the he tries to tell Don Pedro what she said that hurt him. He is mostly upset because she called him the "Prince's jester". Beatrice arrives with Hero, Claudio and Leonato. Benedick leaves as soon as he sees her, not able to put up with her comments.


Beatrice says that everyone is getting married and leaving home except from herself. Don Pedro nicely offers to marry her but she refuses, telling him he is "too costly to wear every day". She leaves after Leonato reminds her of some work she needs to take care of. Claudio and Leonato agree to have the wedding in a week, and in the meantime Don Pedro tells them they will carry on trying to get Benedick and Beatrice to fall in love. Claudio and Hero join in.

Act Two, Scene Two

Don John is angry over the fact that Claudio is marrying Hero. Borachio offers to prevent the marriage. He tells Don John that he is a good friend of Margaret and that he can get her to look out at Hero's chamber window. Borachio says that Don John should get Don Pedro and Claudio to watch the chamber window and he will then meet Margaret in the room, this making them think that Hero has another lover. Don John promises Borachio a thousand ducats if the plan works.




My quotes
" CLAUDIO
How know you he loves her?
DON JOHN
I heard him swear his affection.
BORACHIO
So did I too, and he swore he would marry her tonight.
DON JOHN
Come, let us to the banquet "
This is when Claudio is being gulled into thinking that Don Pedro loves Hero and that they are going to be wed that evening. Claudio pretends to be Benedick for a reason which is unknown to the reader.
Also, the fact that it happened at a 'masked' banquet is a comedy technique because although all of the people that have attended the ball are masked, there is no way that they would not be able to recognise each other, so the way that Claudio is shown to think that they don't recognise him is ridiculous.



LEONATO
" There's little of the melancholy element in her, my lord. She
is never sad but when she sleeps, and not ever sad then; for I
have heard my daughter say she hath often dreamt of unhappiness and wak'd herself with laughing "

This shows that Beatrice might be practicing her own self-deception. She knows there’s a lot to be sad about in the world, but it’s easier to laugh than to cry at things you have no control over. This sleeping self-deception casts shows Beatrice’s ability to be happy, even though she might be sad that she’s alone.


DON PEDRO
" I will teach you how to humour
your cousin, that she shall fall in love with Benedick; and I,
with your two helps, will so practise on
Benedick that, in despite of his quick wit and his queasy
stomach, he shall fall in love with Beatrice. If we can do this,
Cupid is no longer an archer; his glory shall be ours, for we are
the only love-gods. Go in with me, and I will tell you my drift. "
This is the planning of the decieving of Beatrice, so that she will fall in love with Benedick. This is a great quote of deception because they are planning it before they are doing it, to make sure everything will go right. This is comical aswell because they think they are so good at decieving people that the world does not need 'Cupid' because they can make anyone fall in love.