Characters will always have some sort of internal conflict. In 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Blanche's character has been used to show self-conflict. This is because she is described as wanting a relationship, but she knows she is too old by now and that she is not good enough.
Stella wants to try and move on from her past in the Southern Belle and settle into a new life with her husband, Stanley. However, Blanche is an obstacle for Stella. This is because she is always reminiscing on their past because she is not ready or willing to move on because she doesn't have anything without it. Blanche is also always flirting with Stella's husband Stanley, and due to the fact Blanche has no money/not enough to live by on her own, she is always getting in the way of the marriage and stopping them spending time together.
Thursday, 12 November 2015
Thursday, 15 October 2015
Goblin Market Summary
Goblin Market summary;
- The poem ‘Goblin Market’ starts with the goblin men. They are trying to sell their fruits by advertising them to anyone within ear shot.
- Rossetti then introduces the two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, and Lizzie was trying to stay out of ear shot whereas Laura wants to listen to them. Lizzie then starts trying to convince Laura not to buy any of their fruit and tells her she ‘should not peep at the goblin men’.
- Now the goblin men are nearing Lizzie and Laura, and Lizzie decides to run but Laura stays still and ‘stretched her gleaming neck’.
- The goblin men have reached Laura, and she tells them that she ‘has no coin’ and so instead of money they offer her the fruit for some of ‘gold upon her head’.
- When Laura had finished her fruit, Lizzie met her at the gate and reminded her of ‘Jeanie’, another woman who ate the goblin’s fruit but then she ‘pined and pined away’.
- Lizzie and Laura both started doing chores the next morning, although Laura was ‘longing for the night’ so she could find the goblin men.
- Lizzie then hears the goblin men and tells Laura to come with her so they can get some fruit. However, Laura turns ‘cold as stone’ because she cannot hear the cry of the goblins.
- Laura no longer awaits the goblin men’s cry, and instead she ‘dwindles as the fair full moon doth turn’. Although, when the moon comes out her hair grows grey and thin. Laura is also not able to do any more work as she ‘no more swept the house’ and she ‘would not eat’.
- Lizzie has now set out to find the goblin men so she can buy some of their fruits to try and save her sister. This can be interpreted as a god-like action as she is risking her life by getting closer to the temptations in order to keep her sister happy.
- The goblin men are trying to make Lizzie eat the fruit, and they have ‘Clawed her with their nails’ and ‘Tore her gown and soiled her stocking’ Lizzie however, did not open her mouth to the goblin men.
- Lizzie has now come back from being vigorously attacked by the goblin men, and she has the fruit juice all over her face and Laura kisses her, this caused ‘her lips to begin to scorch’.
- Laura and Lizzie are both now wives and parents as Laura ‘awoke as from a dream’. This can be interpreted as Lizzie saved Laura by risking her life by finding the goblin men, and so it gives Laura the sense of guilt as someone else could have ruined their life to save her. This symbolises the fact that Jesus Christ out himself in danger for his people, and although he died it still symbolises the fact he risked his life to save us.
- The poem ‘Goblin Market’ starts with the goblin men. They are trying to sell their fruits by advertising them to anyone within ear shot.
- Rossetti then introduces the two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, and Lizzie was trying to stay out of ear shot whereas Laura wants to listen to them. Lizzie then starts trying to convince Laura not to buy any of their fruit and tells her she ‘should not peep at the goblin men’.
- Now the goblin men are nearing Lizzie and Laura, and Lizzie decides to run but Laura stays still and ‘stretched her gleaming neck’.
- The goblin men have reached Laura, and she tells them that she ‘has no coin’ and so instead of money they offer her the fruit for some of ‘gold upon her head’.
- When Laura had finished her fruit, Lizzie met her at the gate and reminded her of ‘Jeanie’, another woman who ate the goblin’s fruit but then she ‘pined and pined away’.
- Lizzie and Laura both started doing chores the next morning, although Laura was ‘longing for the night’ so she could find the goblin men.
- Lizzie then hears the goblin men and tells Laura to come with her so they can get some fruit. However, Laura turns ‘cold as stone’ because she cannot hear the cry of the goblins.
- Laura no longer awaits the goblin men’s cry, and instead she ‘dwindles as the fair full moon doth turn’. Although, when the moon comes out her hair grows grey and thin. Laura is also not able to do any more work as she ‘no more swept the house’ and she ‘would not eat’.
- Lizzie has now set out to find the goblin men so she can buy some of their fruits to try and save her sister. This can be interpreted as a god-like action as she is risking her life by getting closer to the temptations in order to keep her sister happy.
- The goblin men are trying to make Lizzie eat the fruit, and they have ‘Clawed her with their nails’ and ‘Tore her gown and soiled her stocking’ Lizzie however, did not open her mouth to the goblin men.
- Lizzie has now come back from being vigorously attacked by the goblin men, and she has the fruit juice all over her face and Laura kisses her, this caused ‘her lips to begin to scorch’.
- Laura and Lizzie are both now wives and parents as Laura ‘awoke as from a dream’. This can be interpreted as Lizzie saved Laura by risking her life by finding the goblin men, and so it gives Laura the sense of guilt as someone else could have ruined their life to save her. This symbolises the fact that Jesus Christ out himself in danger for his people, and although he died it still symbolises the fact he risked his life to save us.
Goblin Market Critic
Feminist critics have argued that Rossetti has created a world and deliberately excluded men from it. For these critics, the word ‘sisterhood’ has reconfirmed the potential that they had for women’s independence and productivity. However, Goblin Market has also been interpreted as reducing the concept of ‘sisterhood’ as a single and unhesitant level of meaning. Feminist critics, are disregarding that the sound/voice of the poem is the ‘hallmark’. Also, the term ‘sisterhood’ is not exclusive in Goblin Market and can imply several meanings, like how it can include the experiences of both genders.
Another way Goblin Market has been interpreted is as a poem that Rossetti uses to symbolise her opinions on society and the fact that she wants to be independent. Rossetti uses the character of Lizzie to represent society, and she uses Laura to symbolise herself. As Lizzie tells Laura “You should not peep at the goblin men” this could represent society telling Rossetti how to act as she was a Victorian woman, and women were owned and controlled by men. However, when Laura ‘sucked and sucked and sucked the more’ this could represent Rossetti not wanting to live a life where she is limited to only doing what she’s told.
Another way Goblin Market has been interpreted is as a poem that Rossetti uses to symbolise her opinions on society and the fact that she wants to be independent. Rossetti uses the character of Lizzie to represent society, and she uses Laura to symbolise herself. As Lizzie tells Laura “You should not peep at the goblin men” this could represent society telling Rossetti how to act as she was a Victorian woman, and women were owned and controlled by men. However, when Laura ‘sucked and sucked and sucked the more’ this could represent Rossetti not wanting to live a life where she is limited to only doing what she’s told.
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
General notes
Song (When I am dead, my dearest)
The poem 'Song' expresses the fact that Rossetti is indecisive on whether or not she wants to forget about her life, however she doesn't want anyone's sympathy or sadness being dwelled upon her grave. The line 'Be the green grass about me' symbolizes the fact that she wants people to move on from her death and carry on growing. The word 'be' has a positive emphasis on it and this shows that she wants people to be happy when she's dead and not upset. Although, the lines 'Haply I may remember, And haply I may forget.' suggest she isn't sure if she wants to remember her own life or not. The word 'forget.' is the end of the stanza and it symbolizes the fact that one day nothingness will rule over people and there will be nothing left, and Rossetti uses this in her poems to state that if nothingness will rule anyway, she believes there's nothing to life. Also, Rossetti uses a comma in the middle of the line and she has an equal amount of syllables on each side of the comma. This shows how she is nonchalant to whether she's alive or not as in her own mind she's already started dying.
In the poem 'From the Antique' Rossetti is reminiscent of the Victorian times and how Victorian women had no control and were controlled by men. She has done this when she states 'Doubly blank in a woman's lot:' as this shows her being assigned her 'woman's lot' to life. This is similar to the poem 'Remember', as Rossetti says 'You tell me of our future that you plann'd' This shows how the male dominated the woman as he had planned their life together without her consultant. There is an angry emphasis on the word 'you' as it comes across as Rossetti is using some force. This could be because she was angered at the fact women weren't able to control their own lives, and Victorian women were dominated by men.
The poem 'Song' expresses the fact that Rossetti is indecisive on whether or not she wants to forget about her life, however she doesn't want anyone's sympathy or sadness being dwelled upon her grave. The line 'Be the green grass about me' symbolizes the fact that she wants people to move on from her death and carry on growing. The word 'be' has a positive emphasis on it and this shows that she wants people to be happy when she's dead and not upset. Although, the lines 'Haply I may remember, And haply I may forget.' suggest she isn't sure if she wants to remember her own life or not. The word 'forget.' is the end of the stanza and it symbolizes the fact that one day nothingness will rule over people and there will be nothing left, and Rossetti uses this in her poems to state that if nothingness will rule anyway, she believes there's nothing to life. Also, Rossetti uses a comma in the middle of the line and she has an equal amount of syllables on each side of the comma. This shows how she is nonchalant to whether she's alive or not as in her own mind she's already started dying.
In the poem 'From the Antique' Rossetti is reminiscent of the Victorian times and how Victorian women had no control and were controlled by men. She has done this when she states 'Doubly blank in a woman's lot:' as this shows her being assigned her 'woman's lot' to life. This is similar to the poem 'Remember', as Rossetti says 'You tell me of our future that you plann'd' This shows how the male dominated the woman as he had planned their life together without her consultant. There is an angry emphasis on the word 'you' as it comes across as Rossetti is using some force. This could be because she was angered at the fact women weren't able to control their own lives, and Victorian women were dominated by men.
Feminist critics have argued that Rossetti has created a
world and deliberately excluded men from it. For these critics, the word ‘sisterhood’
has reconfirmed the potential that they had for women’s independence and
productivity. However, Goblin Market has also been interpreted as reducing the
concept of ‘sisterhood’ as a single and unhesitant level of meaning. Feminist
critics, are disregarding that the sound/voice of the poem is the ‘hallmark’.
Also, the term ‘sisterhood’ is not exclusive in Goblin Market and can imply
several meanings, like how it can include the experiences of both genders.
Thursday, 17 September 2015
Maude Clare
‘Maude Clare’
Lord Thomas and Lady Nell are married because his parents wanted them to be, but Thomas isn’t in love with Lady Nell. He is in love with a woman called Maude Clare, but he cannot be with her. This is because Lady Nell has come from a wealthy family whereas Maude Clare has not, and so he has to keep tradition by marrying a woman of the same/similar status to his family.
Thomas – Although he doesn’t speak much, when he does he shows emotions such as lust and misery, due to the fact that he cannot be with his true love.
Thomas’ Lady Mother feels sorry for him. When the narrator describes her ‘with smiles, almost with tears’ I have interpreted this as his mother knows exactly how he feels as she has been through something similar with his dad. She is trying to hide her tears behind a smile. We know this because his mother states ‘Had just the tale to tell’. However, she also states that ‘But he was not so pale as you, Nor I so pale as Nell’ and this is suggesting that Thomas’ parents accepted the fact that they had to be together because of status instead of fighting it for the person who his father wanted to be with. Also, when his mother says Thomas’ dad had the same ‘tale to tell’ and then ‘was not as pale as you’, the rhyme pattern has become inconsistent. This could symbolize the fact that they might not want to conform to the expectations of society. The character of Thomas’ dad might have wanted to be with the woman he was in love with, but because of rules and expectations that society has come up with he couldn’t.
What point do you think Rossetti is making about the Victorian class system in this poem?
I believe the point Rossetti is trying to make is that upper/higher class people will always be better than lower/working class. This is because although Rossetti has shown Lord Thomas’ character as in love with Maude Clare, he cannot be with her due to the fact that his family is rich and wealthy and her family is not. When Rossetti uses the character of his Lady Mother to say ‘Your father thirty years ago, Had just the tale to tell’, this shows that even though there was no sparks to the relationship, they had to stay together and gradually they learned to somewhat love each other. This symbolizes wealth, and if you were wealthy/had status then you had to marry someone of the same class. Also, at the end when Rossetti uses Lady Nell’s character to say ‘I’ll love him till he loves me, me best of all Maude Clare’, this shows that Nell’s character has power and is more powerful than Maude Clare could ever be because she gets the final word. This could symbolize her and Thomas, as Lady Nell gets the last word in the argument, and also is the last person to get Thomas.
‘she followed them’ ‘Maude Clare was like a queen’ – Even though Maude Clare’s character is being described as queen like, she is still downgraded from the beginning as she’s following them out of the church.
‘golden chain’ Gold is valuable and so Maude Clare is saying that she doesn’t care about money or wealth she only cares for Lord Thomas. Also, the word ‘chain’ has been used to symbolize Maude Clare’s freedom, as chains tie people down but she’s giving back her half of the golden chain.
“Lady” When Thomas says ‘Lady’ he could be referring to Lady Nell because he is only with her because of status and business, however he calls Maude Clare by her full name which shows he cares more for Maude Clare.
However, he could also be referring to his Lady Mother because he could be trying to tell her that he does not want to be with Lady Nell, and instead he longs to be with Maude Clare.
Maude Clare’s character speaks for nearly half of the poem, and this shows she could have power because she has dominated the poem. Although, it could also show that she is not powerful and will never be because she is lower class and no one really listens to her other than Lady Nell who gets the last word.
When the narrator says ‘My lord was pale with inward strife’ this could show the character of Maude Clare having some power over him as the word ‘my’ means possessive and so it could suggest that she has some control/power over Lord Thomas.
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Christina Rossetti
Life;
Christina Rossetti was born in London on December 5th 1830. She was the youngest of four children, and her parents were Italian. Both Rossetti’s father (Gabriele Rossetti) and her brother (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) were also poets, and they founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Rossetti first started writing when she was 12 years old in 1842, and these poems were printed by her grandfather into a private book. When Rossetti was 19, she started contributing some of her poems to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s journal, The Germs.
Education;
Rossetti was home schooled by her mother, and she was made to study religious education, classics, fairy tales and novels. The influences of the work by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch and other Italian writers filled the home and had a great impact on her writing later on.
Roles of women;
The roles of women in the 19th century were that they had to stay at home and be the ‘excessive carer’. This is because the men were seen as the ‘bread winners’ and so the women would have to stay at home and do the housework whilst looking after the children and meeting the family’s emotional needs.
Publicatoin;
In 1870, Rossetti wrote a letter to her brother, Dante. In this letter she compared herself to Elizabeth Browning, a great female predecessor. Part of what she wrote said ‘It is not in me, and therefore, it will never come out of me, to turn to politics or philanthropy with Mrs. Browning: such many-sidedness I leave to a greater than I’. This shows that she thought of her own work as not good enough to be listened to when there are people much better. She also created a pseudonym (fake name) called Ellen Alleyn. She did this to get away from the criticism she thought she would receive because of her writing. Her writing about her views on the roles of women was controversial and so she felt like she needed to hide away from them and so she created the fake name.
Religious views;
Rossetti was an Anglican Christian. Her religious beliefs had a major impact and influence on her writing. Christina, along with her sister Maria and their mother Frances, maintained a strong commitment to High Anglicanism whilst her brother Dante instead became more free-thinking and withdrew from his beliefs. She also worked for the Anglican sisterhood at the St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary, Highgate, to help prostitutes escape their lives on the streets by retraining them for domestic service.
Rossetti's views on the roles of women;
Christina Rossetti had complicated views on female suffrage and equality. She sometimes used the ideas of the Bible that women were less important than men because they had to stay home, and because men were seen as the stronger sex they would go to work. Men were expected to control their wives and their property. At other times she would argue for female representation in Parliament and spoke out against the sexual exploitation of women in prostitution.
Annabelle Hunt
Christina Rossetti was born in London on December 5th 1830. She was the youngest of four children, and her parents were Italian. Both Rossetti’s father (Gabriele Rossetti) and her brother (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) were also poets, and they founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Rossetti first started writing when she was 12 years old in 1842, and these poems were printed by her grandfather into a private book. When Rossetti was 19, she started contributing some of her poems to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’s journal, The Germs.
Education;
Rossetti was home schooled by her mother, and she was made to study religious education, classics, fairy tales and novels. The influences of the work by Dante Alighieri, Petrarch and other Italian writers filled the home and had a great impact on her writing later on.
Roles of women;
The roles of women in the 19th century were that they had to stay at home and be the ‘excessive carer’. This is because the men were seen as the ‘bread winners’ and so the women would have to stay at home and do the housework whilst looking after the children and meeting the family’s emotional needs.
Publicatoin;
In 1870, Rossetti wrote a letter to her brother, Dante. In this letter she compared herself to Elizabeth Browning, a great female predecessor. Part of what she wrote said ‘It is not in me, and therefore, it will never come out of me, to turn to politics or philanthropy with Mrs. Browning: such many-sidedness I leave to a greater than I’. This shows that she thought of her own work as not good enough to be listened to when there are people much better. She also created a pseudonym (fake name) called Ellen Alleyn. She did this to get away from the criticism she thought she would receive because of her writing. Her writing about her views on the roles of women was controversial and so she felt like she needed to hide away from them and so she created the fake name.
Religious views;
Rossetti was an Anglican Christian. Her religious beliefs had a major impact and influence on her writing. Christina, along with her sister Maria and their mother Frances, maintained a strong commitment to High Anglicanism whilst her brother Dante instead became more free-thinking and withdrew from his beliefs. She also worked for the Anglican sisterhood at the St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary, Highgate, to help prostitutes escape their lives on the streets by retraining them for domestic service.
Rossetti's views on the roles of women;
Christina Rossetti had complicated views on female suffrage and equality. She sometimes used the ideas of the Bible that women were less important than men because they had to stay home, and because men were seen as the stronger sex they would go to work. Men were expected to control their wives and their property. At other times she would argue for female representation in Parliament and spoke out against the sexual exploitation of women in prostitution.
Annabelle Hunt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)