English Literature: Act 1 Othello Questions.

Act 1

1.	How does Shakespeare present the world of Venice in the first act, and how does he construct the interactions of his central characters (Iago, Othello, and Desdemona) with that Venetian world and with each other. How are these interactions complicated by the fact that Othello is a Moor and that Desdemona is a young women? Venice is shown to be a bastion of civilization, and is relatively a quiet place. Iago is very cunning and wants to destroy Othello. However, surrounded by his men Othello is very well protected and of high authority, his presence is strong and Iago is jealous of that, because a 'Moor' is higher status to him. Othello and Desdemona's love is very strong and the passion is shown in the first act as they are newly together. But even when Desdemona's father questions and disapproves of Othello she has his back but of their society's attitudes, his love even called him a 'Moor' which is offensive. So that shows how respected and how it complicates them later on in the acts. She is a young woman, and he is older therefore and from the previous lack of being offensive, it could mean that gullible Othello is easier to persuade.
2.	What sort of person is Iago, as he appears in act 1? Are you satisfied by the reasons he gives for hating Othello? What is Iago's relationship with Roderigo?I believe that Iago is a jealous, malicious psychopath. from the values and attitudes made by society against culturally different people, Iago cannot bare the fact that a 'Moor' is of higher status to him. Iago, clearly has psychological issues, as no one else in the play has issues with Othello being in authority. Iago is very psychological manipulative and persuading, as just by his  words he can very quickly influence Roderigo. Roderigo is very foolish and jealous of Othello and Desdemona's marriage so he is very easily persuaded into ruining their relationship in order to be with Desdemona, but that isn't Iago's plan.
3.	What sort of language does Iago use? What sort of language does Othello use? What might be the significance of this difference? Iago uses rhetoric language, as he is very persuasive in order top exploit Roderigo, and in the end get he wants, but by manipulation no evidence will be upon him after it, because he has got Roderigo, the exploited participant to do his work. However, Othello uses restricted code, because he is not as well elaborative. This results in it being inconsistent, throughout the play his language continues to change and vary the more Iago get into his head. Iago is intelligent than Othello, and he puts his trust in Iago by calling him 'honest Iago', this is what allows Iago to have more significance in manipulating Othello to his wife's infidelity. the opposites in their language suggest that Othello will be the weaker character, as he does not have the power with words, where as Iago having rhetoric means that it is very easy to persuade people to do or think  what he wants.

English Literature: Othello Questions.

Why do Iago and Roderigo wake Brabantio?
Iago and Roderigo wake Brabantio as they need to tell him that his daughter has married a man, without him knowing, and that he is black.


How does Brabantio believe Othello ‘won’ his daughter, Desdemona?
Brabantio believed that Othello enchanted her with his 'chains of magic'.


How does Othello believe he ‘won’ Desdemona?
Othello on the other hand believes that he just wooed her .


What two reasons are there for Othello appearing before the senate?
Othello appears before the senate to explain of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Then Brabantio accuses Othello of spells so he has to explain his relationship and speak for himself before the Duke.
What do we learn about Othello’s past?
We learn that Othello was a slave in the past and he managed to escape but his marks show the memories.


What terms are used to describe Othello whilst in front of the senate?
A term used is a ' black ram' and is used to say when he is having intercourse with Desdemona.
Also, the 'moor' which is even used by his wife, which is a racist term.




What is significant about Brabantio’s rhyming couplet “Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to
see. She has deceived her father, and may thee.”?
The rhyming couplet shows that if she can deceive once, she will do it again. And when Iago makes a rumour, it is easier for Othello to believe it as she has done it once to his father. This foreshadows the future events.


Can you find an example of dramatic irony in Othello’s retort?
Iago calls himself honest to Othello, when it will be him who deceives him as he makes a rumour up. Also, the audience know this so it creates dramatic irony.


What does Iago persuade Roderigo to do?
Iago contradicts him “Put but money in thy purse,” Iago tells this to Roderigo repeatedly, and urging him to Cyprus. Iago promises to work everything out from there.


What do we learn from Iago’s soliloquy?
Iago is jealous and psychotic as he is jealous of the others in the army and Othello, therefore he goes out to only serve himself and ruin Othello's relationship, as he doesn't care about Roderigo either.

English Literature: Marxist Lens Analysis questions.

• Is there an outright rejection of socialism in the work?

I don’t believe that there is an outright rejection of socialism in The Lady house of love or The Erl-king, but there is subtilizes in both stories where the aristocracy should be overthrown or overcome. To show the communism and socialism, in both stories, they died from a pure character whom is a virgin and they are the results of the deaths.

• Does the text raise fundamental criticism about the emptiness of life in bourgeoisie society?

In The Lady house of love, the countess is isolated from herself, she is the only vampire left and she keeps herself hidden away, as her family before then surfed out the peasants. The only company she has is her servants that work for her. She has no real meaning to her life as she hates the ways she lives by the many ‘shadows’ that are present within the story. In The Erl-king the only companionship that he had was nature and he lures women in by playing the pipe, and then cages them up so they can’t leave. He objectifies the free souls of the women or proletariats as he is lonely and that is all he knows in his emptiness of life.

• In portraying society, what approximation of totality does the author achieve? What is emphasized, what is ignored? Why?

The author manages to take some aspects of the approximation of totality in society, as she explores the inequalities that were faced in the late 1970’s. Class inequalities were only the increase as the proletariats were penurious and the bourgeoisie were just getting more and more wealthy. Carter tries to emphasis on the binary opposites, as she wants to challenge to stereotypes and assumptions, but still keep it as classic fairy tale qualities as she always has the heroine, or the insubstantial character beat and overcome the villain. The Lady house of love and The Erl-king both support this idea, as in the end they both die as the Lady dies by a solider and the Erl, by a strong female.

• How well is the fate of the individual linked organically to the nature of societal forces?

The fate of the characters aren’t decided by the nature of the society, as in these circumstances the two weaker characters should have died as they are the symbols of the proletariats, whereas in the end of the story, both of the ‘stronger’ characters die as the proletariats manage a way to kill them, as they triumph over the bourgeoisie.

• At what points are actions or solutions to problems forced or unreal?

As Angela Carter’s stories are fairy tales, many elements of the story are unreal and hard to achieve, as vampires in The Lady House of Love aren’t real, and she dies as a result of exposing herself to the light because of a solider. Then in The Erl-king he dies as a result of the girl killing him with his own hair, which is unreal.

• Are the characters from all social levels equally well sketched?

In Angela Carter’s stories she well represents the social class of each character, even though the bourgeoisie have the economic power and cultural capital, she creates binary opposites for the characters and makes the weaker characters come out on top and have the power.

• What are the values of each class in the work?

The social class of the characters are important as they show how powerful that character is whether they like it or not.

• What is valued most? Sacrifice? Assent? Resistance? Individuality?

In The Lady House of Love the most powerful value is sacrifice as she kills herself over the purity and innocence of the solider. Whereas in The Erl-King the value is individuality as he is distinct from the rest of them as he is the nature.

• How clearly do narratives of disillusionment and defeat indicate that bourgeoisie values—competition, acquisitiveness, chauvinism—are incompatible with human happiness?

In The Lady House of Love the narrative shows that she is a countess and she isn’t happy with her position whether that is because she is a vampire or if she is a bourgeoisie. This then results in her unhappiness as she doesn’t like what she is and wishes she didn’t have to do what she does. The narrator in The Erl-King suggests that she was seduced by him, and she was happy until she found out what the king was planning to do to her then it all changed.

• Does the protagonist defend or defect from the dominant values of society? Are those values in ascendancy or decay?
In The Erl-King the protagonist defeats the dominant values as she kills him with his own resources. Killing the king empowers the girl making her ascendancy. And in The Lady House of Love she defeats herself as she kills herself in order to be free and away from the dominance, which is decay.

English Literature: Research and Planning

 From H. Bertens' Literary theory:The basics he mentions 'capitalism alienates them[bourgeoisie] from themselves'
using ideas from the critical anthology to inform your argument, to what extent do you agree with this view?

The Lady house of love and The Erl-king.

War had broken out in Europe and she was evacuated as a child to Yorkshire to live with her maternal grandmother, a working-class, matriarchal, domineering, feminist bread granny of the north of England. Carter's first years were later to have so much of an influence on her writing. Her mother was a great literary influence on her, as she devoured book after book and author after author. Her upbringing was very much based on the works of Shakespeare and great names of English literature. There are references to Chaucer, Shakespeare, Lawrence, Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge, Mansfield, Woolf, Dickens, Keats, Stoker, Carroll and on and on the list will go on...she was not just confined to English literature either. She spoke French and German and was interested in the philosophy of De Sade and Bataille regarding sexuality, Irigaray and De Beauvoir for feminist theory, and Genette and Barthes for ideas concerning intertextuality and analysis of texts. She was also greatly influenced by her short two-year stay in Japan, after having won the Somerset Maugham prize for Literature - she always said that Maugham would have been pleased to know that she used the five hundred pounds - which apparently went further back then - to run away from her husband and British culture.
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/harris/StudentProjects/Student_FairyTales/WebProject/Bios/Angela%20Carter.htm



The Bloody Chamber was written in 1979, which was a very unequal society and in 1979, a large proportion of the nation’s income and wealth went the top ruling class (the Bourgeoisie) and in particular the very wealthy top social group, than in the time before 1979. As a result of this there was the highest levels of poverty because the rich were getting richer and the working class were working and working and earning the bare minimum. The sharpest rises in inequality and poverty occurred from 1979 to 1990.
http://www.poverty.ac.uk/editorial/more-unequal-country


The text was written for the society in the time to address issues in a fantasy way. Angela didn't expect the reaction she got for her book as it had twisted elements that the society di not approve of.


Angela Carter's books were described as gynotexts and feministic as well as having some elements to inequality in social classes, as she liked to make binary opposites to clear  the stereotypes, which she wanted to remove in order to create a different side to the story.

The Bloody Chamber is a modernist text which has a blurring of genres in which it is the blurring of gothic and fairy tales. It changes the traditional roles and represents them differently, which Carter does as she uses binary opposites in many of her short stories.

Fairy tales are often viewed as harmless stories that people read to their children at bedtime every night. Gothic novels in the context of the many timeless fairy tales in literary history, that gothic novels are the grown up version of the fairy tale? Gothic novels are not exactly bedtime reading material.  But if one looks closely at fairy tales throughout the centuries, one can find that the two genres are really quite like one another in a number of ways. The fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers are ironic fairy tales in that they are actually quite grim and violent.  Although they include the obvious fairy tale elements of vengeance for the wronged, true love, and of course, the underlying lesson always reminiscent of Aesop, they are gory, dark and just plain scary at times.  They read like horror stories with happy endings.  And a horror story is exactly what many gothic novels are – grim and violent.

http://www.sarahghoshal.com/writing-pubs/academicpapers/thegothicandthefairytale

English Literature: Exam Questions.

Prose: The Lady House of Love



*1) From H. Bertens' Literary theory: The basics he says 'capitalism alienates them from themselves'

Using ideas from the critical anthology to inform your argument, to what extent do you agree with this view?

2) 'we tend to assume that our thinking is free, unaffected by material circumstances. In our minds we can always be free. Wrong, says Marxism, minds aren't free at all, they only think they are.'

Using the ideas from critical anthology and wider knowledge, to what extent do you agree with this statement?

3) 'It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness'.

Applying your knowledge and using ideas from the critical anthology, to what extent do you agree with this view?

* Preferred question 

English Literature: 4 Larkin poem analysis from The Whitsun Weddings.

Larkin's poetry cynically portrays a society in which the proletariat "are deluding themselves" rather than presenting a hopeful picture of a society where "they [go] beyond the limits which society sets for them" To what extent do you agree with this statement?

 

Philip Larkin wrote the collection Whitsun Weddings in 196, it includes two train poems, which are ‘Here’ and ‘The Whitsun Weddings’, following on from the Second World War Larkin describes the beautiful country landscape, but in ‘Here’ he makes the landscape more unpleasant. The persona’s that Larkin adopts in his poems use cognitive reappraisal and he always focuses on what is happening in the background instead of the obvious plot of the poem. In the 1960’s society there was class divide between the bourgeoisie and proletariats. The bourgeoisie exploit the proletariats by the means of production because the bourgeoisie get all the money and wealth as the proletariats exerted themselves and gain no capital.

Larkin cynically portrays the proletariats as ‘deluding themselves’ in the one of the poems ‘Here’; this isn’t as well-known as his other poems from his collection. But the title suggests immediacy, excitement and mystery for the audience to be interested and wonder what the poem is about, as Larkin’s poems he does this to exert mystery to the reader.  ‘Here’ is about one of his train journeys , this is shown when he describes what he can see, the landscape is constantly in motion which shows he is moving, he says ‘thin and thistle to be called meadows’ Larkin uses alliteration in order to create the sound of ‘thi’ which represents the harshness and speed that the train is going. He them mentions the ‘workmen at dawn’ this is the proletariats and how they are also working, just like Larkin’s other poem ‘The Large Cool Store’ the workers are gone by dawn, earning a living. The proletariats are constantly being exploited by the bourgeoisie as they just gain more capital and hegemony domination over the proletariats as they work more to survive from the increase of wealth that the bourgeoisie have, as in the 1960’s the poverty levels were very high and there was no minimum wage so the proletariats were working for nothing. Also, like in the cool store poem the proletariats have desires of the basic that they class as luxuries but the bourgeoisie have these as necessities. More similarities between this poem and the cool store is the ‘cut-price’ and ‘simple’ just like the ‘cheap’ and ‘plain’ items within the landscape or store that the proletariats can only afford and want. The structure of the poem like the ‘Large Cool Store’ is a large sentence that uses lots of caesuras and some enjambments, and when he is describing the landscape he uses lexis and syntax to show that so much is going on.

The second poem ‘The Whitsun Weddings’ is the other poem from the collection that focuses on a train journey. Larkin takes on the persona of someone who is unaware of the religious implications. In the first line Larkin says ‘I was late getting away’ the pace slows of the poem which represents the late departure of the train. Larkin s persona had never heard the sound of wedding bells, so he creates an augmented feel of excitement when he heard them. As the poem goes through Larkin describes the journey as ‘A slow and stopping curve southwards we kept.’ Larkin uses this to create the ‘sh’ sound as this is the sound of the train in motion; this is sibilance as the alliteration was there to create a sound. When Larkin says ‘free at last’ this is ambiguous as it could represent the proletariats and how they are in hierarchy as they will never be free from the vicious cycle of the superstructure and the base. The proletariats are in a false consciousness as they don’t question their lack of freedom or do anything to change their place, in a strike for communism which Karl Marx longed for as he believed in time it would eventually happen.  Just like the cool store poem Larkin describes all the colours such as ‘lemons, mauves, and olive-ochers’ this was to describe the fabrics nylon which is man made by the proletariats. This shows the working class working in factories and the clothes they produce which is then just sold back to them for a large economic profit from the bourgeoisie and the gaining in their cultural capital as a result.

The final poem is ‘Mr Bleaney’ and Larkin gives the impression that he is dead   He died in his room, I can infer this by the description of the ‘tussocky’ which is overgrown grass  and it hasn’t been taken care of as he hasn’t be there to do it. Mr Bleaney seemed to not have control of his life and moved from different box rooms which he lived in as he was utilitarian, this could have been a result of him not working and becoming poor as a result. Larkin dropped clues that inferred that Mr Bleaney had a gambling habit as he says ‘I know his habits… plugging at the four aways’ he could have once been a Bourgeoisie, but this shows that now it was so easy to lose everything  as a result of gambling. Larkin also uses a lot of colloquial language such as ‘stub my fags’ and ‘jabbering’ this could indicate the social status of what Mr Bleaney was. Larkin shows evidence that he looks down on the working class, but at the end he reflects on his own life and realises that his life is similar. This is similar to the cool store poem as it explores the marginalisation and alienation of the proletariats as they are constantly exploited through the means of production.

English Literature: Marxist Questions.

How did Marx and Engels view literature?

Art and literature were something that Karl Marx was very much in to, as he was a cultured German that enjoyed the classic tradition of his society. This meant that Marxists criticised the founders of Marxism as it they enjoyed literature.


What is the sociology of literature?

The ‘sociology of literature’ is the means of literature production, distribution and exchange in a particular society. Also, the social composition of the author and audiences, finally the levels of literacy that was in the text.


What did Matisse believe about all art?

Henri Matisse remarked art as that all art bears the imprint of its historical epoch, but that great art is that in which this imprint is most deeply marked.


What is 'original' about Marxist literary criticism?

It does not focus on the historical approach to literature but its own revolutionary understanding of history itself.


Why is art part of the superstructure?

Art is classed as the superstructure as it is a part of society’s ideology, which is a complex structure of social perception which ensures that the situation in which social class has power over others which is seen as ‘natural’ or not at all.  


What, according to interpretations of Conrad's work was the crisis facing the Western bourgeois class?

‘’A sense of  history as futile and cyclical, of individuals as impenetrable and solitary, of human values as relativistic and irrational, which marks a drastic crisis in the ideology of the Western bourgeois class to which Conrad allied himself. But Conrad’s personal standing as an ‘aristocratic’ polish exile deeply committed to English conservatism, intensified for him the crisis of English bourgeois ideology’’


Which four elements make up the levels of 'unity' which Marxist criticism focuses on?
‘ideology’, ‘social relations’ to ‘produce forces’ and ‘levels’ of society

In his letter to Joseph Bloc, what did Engels want to deny about the base and superstructure?

‘’Engels wants to deny that there is any mechanical, one-to-one correspondence between base and superstructure; elements of the superstructure constantly react back upon and influence the economic base.’’ But Engels himself was a bourgeoisie.


Why does Marx believe we enjoy classical Greek literature?

The Greeks, who produced major art in an economically undeveloped society, clearly evidences. Certain major artistic forms like the epic are only possible in an undeveloped society.