Rossetti broadcast

I found the podcast analytically interesting as it delved into detail when talking about Rossetti's poems. Particularly Goblin Market and the Covent Threshold, as I feel the podcast really helped me understand these poems by analysing them in depth. Although I found that some aspects of the podcast were vocally challenging to listen too.

English!-A Royal Princess

Today we analysed 'A Royal Princess' by Christina Rossetti. It revolves around a princess who is trapped by her father and overprotected, when all she really is a family, rather than the material goods she is surrounded with. The poem begins in a rich environment and describes countless expensive things, however it soon changes to focus on the reality of the poverty which is subjected to poorer people. The poem shows how this royal princess gives up her wealthy lifestyle to increase the quality of life of the poor people. It can be seen she compensates for her lack of family by acting as a mother figure for them!

English blog !

In this week we had a tutorial with Mr Francis, this was good as it allowed us to see how we were doing on our essays! We also began studying 'A Royal Princess' which focussed only lonely life a woman who desperately wanted company, despite her luxurious lifestyle. The poem also was inspired by the life a Marie Antoinette, who also had a tragic life.

Marie Antoinette e la sua vita!!!!

Marie Antoinette è uno del della Queens più famoso e maggior parte più discutibile di tutto il tempo. È accreditata spesso dire la frase famosa “se non hanno pane, quindi lascili mangiano la torta!„ Abbastanza stranamente, non ci è prova che Marie Antoinette ha emesso mai quelle parole. Marie Antoinette era il 2 novembre 1755 nato come Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von il Habsbourg-Lothringen. Era un'arciduchessa austriaca, derivato dell'imperatore romano santo Francis I ed imperatrice Maria Theresa dell'Austria. Alla giovane età di quattordici è stata sposata a Louis XVI, il nipote del re Louis XV della Francia. Sulla morte del re Louis XV, Marie Antoinette ed il suo marito Louis XVI hanno stato bene al nuovi re e regina della Francia. Marie Antoinette aveva soltanto diciannove anni in cui è diventato regina. Durante il suo regno come regina è stato conosciuta come una donna esagerata che ha speso le eccessive somme di denaro su vestiti, su mobilia, sul gioco e sui diamanti. Le voci delle abitudini di spese della regina e quelle della corte reale, hanno cominciato a circolare fra il francese. Con il governo francese nel debito tremendo e la gente della Francia necessitante pane, la gente della Francia ha cominciato a sviluppare un'immagine meno favorevole della regina e della monarchia. Il 14 luglio 1789 una calca dei cittadini parigini ha preso il controllo della prigione del Bastille a Parigi. Ciò ha contrassegnato l'inizio della Rivoluzione Francese. In seguenti mesi i cittadini arrabbiati di Parigi mobbed il palazzo di Versailles (vedi la foto) ed hanno forzato la famiglia reale a Parigi. Durante questo periodo del giro la regina è diventato il membro odiato della famiglia reale e spesso è stata osservata come “la donna austriaca.„ Dopo una fuga tentata dalla Francia che ha girato male, la famiglia reale è stata giudicata prigioniera per parecchi anni fino a metterli sulla prova per il tradimento. Dopo il bicchierino di Marie Antoinette e la prova ingiusta è stata condannata alla morte. Marie Antoinette è stato decapitato il 16 ottobre 1793 al posto de la Concorde a Parigi. Come con la maggior parte delle figure storiche popolari, il carattere di Marie Antoinette era comparso in molti film. Sofia Coppola recentemente ha diretto una pellicola nominata Marie Antoinette con una data di pubblicazione prevista nell'autunno di 2006. La pellicola del Coppola, Kirsten starring Dunst come Marie Antoinette, sarebbe un adattamento della biografia di Antonia Fraser nominata il viaggio.

Caricature!

In Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses methods of caricature to simplify characters and not delve to much into their characters, e.g. Mrs Bennet comes a cross as a woman obsessed by marriage and nothing else, but there is no depth into why  she is like this. However there are exceptions to the theme of caricature, who are Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, as their characters develop throughout the book.

Essay Question - Pride and Prejudice

Write about characterisation in Chapter 11 of Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 11 of Pride and Prejudice focuses on alternative methods of delving into the characters of Mr Darcy, Elizabeth and Miss Bingley in particular. Austen uses methods of describing their personality and the way they act and interact with others. Austen combines the narrator opinion with Elizabeth's view of people so she is powerful in being linked with the narrator's judgement.

The chapter focuses on showing how Mr Darcy acts and how people act towards him and around him. Miss Bingley is a prime example of a woman who is obsessed with securing Darcy as a husband and pays him a lot of attention which he finds off-putting, which also shows Darcy is not attention seeking. 'Miss Bingley's eyes were instantly turned towards Darcy,' this shows Miss Bingley knows what she wants and tries her best to get it. There is also the idea that Miss Bingley will copy Darcy in order to obtain his affections, 'Darcy took up a book; Miss Bingley did the same,' this also shows how Austen has tried to show how Darcy is the leader and Miss Bingley the follower, or copier. Miss Bingley can also be seen to be quite a shallow, fake character. 'Exhausted by the attempt to be amused,' this shows she tries to be the same as Darcy and fake her personality, however it can be argued that as the narrator is infused with Elizabeth's personality the portrayal of Miss Bingley may be biased and inaccurate. Miss Bingley is also ignored by the other characters in the book, 'No one made any reply,' this shows the other characters perhaps did not enjoy her presence and found her irritating, Darcy in particular.

The contrast between Darcy's view of Elizabeth and Miss Bingley is interesting as Darcy appears to have no concern for Miss Bingley, 'but Darcy, at whom it was aimed, was still inflexibly studious,' this shows that Darcy felt nothing for Miss Bingley and did not care she was leaving. However when Elizabeth leaves, 'Darcy looked up,' this shows he has feelings for her and obviously cared about her presence. There is also a theme of how he has no control of his feelings, 'unconciously closed his book,' this shows he did not even have to acknowledge his own emotions for Elizabeth, they forced him to act.

During the conversation between Elizabeth and Darcy there is in depth conversation as Austen feels there no need to write the name of the speaker as there is a sense of unity and flirtation as the conversation flows. During their conversation, Elizabeth shows she is in control of Darcy in a sense as she unconsciously allows him to changes his mind when on the subject of 'vanity and pride.' 'But pride -,' this shows he pauses, as if he was going to say something else but re-evaluates his opinion. During their conversation Miss Bingley's jealousy is shown, 'Your examination of Mr Darcy is over, I presume,' this shows she feels uncomfortable with Mr Darcy and Elizabeth's conversation as she shows a bitter attitude. It can be seen that there is a mild flirtation between Elizabeth and Darcy as they repeat and perhaps mock each other in a teasing way. They both repeat 'and yours' which also gives the idea of marriage as their is the idea of 'yours.' Finally there is a sense of self-awareness from Darcy as he realises he may be focusing on Elizabeth a little too much, 'He began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention.'

Overall Austen uses a variety of techniques to form characterisation. The idea of characterisation is centered around Darcy in this chapter as the way characters act, particularly Miss Bingley, depend majorly on Darcy's actions.

Maude Clare

Maude Clare is a poem by Christina Rossetti which focuses on characterisation. There is a contrast between the two leading women, Maude Clare a Nell. Nell is described as looking like a 'village maid' compared to Maude who the narrator describes as a 'queen.' Rossetti gives Maude more attention in the poem however portrays her as a bitter character who is perhaps arrogant in her role. Yet again Rossetti shows the male as being weak and gives him little voice, the only words he says are 'lady' and 'Maude Clare' showing the focus stays on the women, particularly Maude.

Lesson11

In this lesson we discussed how settings can be significant in Pride and Prejudice. We then went on to practice A01, A02 and A03 when writing a Part B essay. This was interesting as it gave us an insight into what our exam will consist of and also the time limits we will face. I found that the essay was difficult to an extent as we were pushed for time however I did feel that I was capable of constructing an essay which covered everything in this time limit.

Jessie Cameron - lesson 10

In this lesson we began an essay plan for Jessie Cameron, this was interesting as it is good practice to evaluate and learn about the poem and to practice methods of essay writing. During the lesson we also discussed our previous essay with Mr Francis to get to know our strengths of the essay and how we can strengthen future essays.

Lesson 9

In this lesson we devised a drama script to increase our understanding of the story of Jesse Cameron. This was interesting as it helped us to understand the concept of different narrative methods and way in which Rossetti tells the story. Also it helped to show how the story can be told through other viewpoints other than the narrator e.g the sea, which although is personified still gives an opinion which we would not get if Rossetti didn't feel the need to incorporate this. We also discussed essay writing techniques for AO2 such as form, language and structure.

Jesse Cameron

Jesse Cameron is poem which focuses on entrapment and uses descriptions and pathetic fallacy to increase the reader's understanding of the emotions conveyed by Jesse and the man who is proposing to her. The poem foreshadows the death of Jesse throughout and uses the mood and defiance of poem to show the end will be tragic. The sea is representative of the emotions which eventually drown them as it shows the intensity of their feelings and how stubborn Jesse was. Christina Rossetti yet again uses the theme of feminisn as she focuses on Jesse as the victim and the man essentially kills her by not giving in continuing the 'men are evil' theme.

My View on Elizabeth of Pride and Prejudice

I feel Elizabeth is naive when it comes to judging people as she shouldn't read a book by it's cover as this is prejudiced. It could be seen that Elizabeth's sudden change of heart is influenced by Charlotte's success is securing a rich man. Perhaps Elizabeth's prejudiced view towards men and seemed hatred for them suggests sexual confusion. Elizabeth may be seduced by Darcy's money and status which overides her actual opinion of him. However Elizabeth shows she is intelligent and witty throughout the novel and puts forward ideas which could be seen as outragous in her time. This shows her feminist views as she believes men and women should have equal rights.

Her close relationship with her father suggests she is still attached in a childish way which prevents her from maturing socially and she doesn't want to leave him as she feels he is the most important person in her life. The way Elizabeth ridicules others suggest she has low self confidence and tries to put down others down to make herself feel better about herself as she is not seen as the prettiest. She tries to contradict other peoples opinion which shows she domineering and self centered and doesn't ever think there may even be slight chance she is wrong. Overall Elizabeth is intelligent but naive.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born on 16 December, 1775, at the rectory in the village of Steventon, near Basingstoke, in Hampshire. The seventh of eight children of the Reverend George Austen and his wife, Cassandra, she was educated mainly at home and never lived apart from her family. She had a happy childhood amongst all her brothers and the other boys who lodged with the family and whom Mr Austen tutored. From her older sister, Cassandra, she was inseparable. To amuse themselves, the children wrote and performed plays and charades, and even as a little girl Jane was encouraged to write. The reading that she did of the books in her father's extensive library provided material for the short satirical sketches she wrote as a girl.

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We discussed the different viewpoints in Pride and Prejudice, and in Rossetti's poems. Rossetti has a very negative view of men and thinks they are worthless, whereas Jane Austen gives men a purpose, to marry, be it for love or for security. There are different viewpoints from each character in Pride and Prejudice. For example Catherine believes you should marry for security and comfort, however Jane and Mr Bennet think marriage should be based around love and affection. Elizabeth and Mr Darcy are undecided and are not even sure love exsists until they fall for each other and their opinion changes.

Pride and Prejudice timeline

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/pride-and-prejudice--2

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In the previous two lessons we began studying the Covent Threshold. This poem by Christina Rossetti is based on the idea of someone who is trying to repent and go to heaven but is trying to convince their lover to join her. However they are unsure of the decision as they believe Earth is like a heaven to them. There is a theme of desperation from the narrator as they are persisting in trying to make someone who is unlikely to join them, which makes the reader feel sympathy for the speaker. Aswell as this there is a sin that has been comitted by the pair, which is suggested to be something like murder, which the speaker is constantly trying to repent for.

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This lesson was interesting as we discussed to what extent women are portrayed as heroic in Cousin Kate. Overall they are made to look vulnerable and at mercy of men. Both cousin Kate and the narrator fell into a trap, however the speaker got out of the trap and now has something over the man, which makes her heroic.

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We continued to discuss the way in which the narrator is portrayed and how Rossetti makes the reader feel sympathy towards her. The poem is chronological which shows how she was innocent and pure before she was lured by the man and became an 'unclean thing.' Rossetti also uses repetition of the word 'he' to suggest that all the problems were caused by the man by describing all the things he did. The reader is led to believe that the narrator truly felt she was in love which increases sympathy for her as she was used and then cast aside for a newer, purer woman. By only letting the reader know at the end she has a child from the lord it allows the reader to build up sympathy, before they know she has more power than first thought.

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In this lesson we began studying our 2cnd Christina Rossetti poem called Cousin Kate. This poem was interesting as it was about the gender inequalities in the time she was living in and how women were unfairly judged. The poem was about a woman who met a rich man a believed she was in love with him and had sex with him despite not being married. At the time this was considered sinful. The man she loves uses her and leaves her for her more virtuous cousin Kate, who is a virgin and is considered more beautiful and pure. However the poet leads you to believe that Kate cannot have children, the one thing which the narrator does possess of his. There is a sense of pride yet shame from the narrator, who is seen as unpure to the other people in the poem. Rossetti wants the reader to feel as though the narrator has been victimised and interestingly gives a negative image of her cousin Kate, by showing her as shallow, but continues her theme of men being evil and corrupting women.

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I found it interesting to discuss different themes of the poem. The five themes of the poem are; Erotic, Feminist, Marxist, Redemptive and Moral. These all had a different impact on the poem and gave a different interpretation of the poem. For example the theme of eroticism is undeniable as the poem expresses the idea of innocence and virginity throughout and the way it is taken from Laura. There is also a strong feminist theme as the poem portrays women as being virtuous and good whereas men are seen a no more than violent creatures which are evil and are there to try and corrupt women. As well as this Rossetti describes the pure bond between women and how there is nothing stronger. I found marxist difficult to relate to the poem as it does not seem as if the goblins want money, however it could be argued that innocence is simply and different form of payment and by selling that it is more valuable to them. There is recurring theme of Christianity in the poem and I feel the themes of redemptive and moral are combined as the both relate to the stories from the bible. For example when Lizzie sacrifices herself for Laura it is similar to Christ's sacrifice.

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I found discussing the concept of morality interesting as we could pull apart the poem and see how the Rossetti had incorporated the ideas of morality throughout the poem. By analysing the poem we came to the conclusion that Rossetti had used ideas from religion in Goblin Market. She used themes from the story of Adam and Eve aswell as other ideas from the bible such as sacrifice and temptation.

Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti is considered to be one of the most famous poets in 19th century England. She was the sister to painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She was very religious and this had a big impact in her work as she often interpreted this into her poetry. She had Italien parents, one of which was Gabriele Rossetti who was also a poet. It was obvious she shared her parents interest in poetry and followed their footsteps in becoming a poet.

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I found this lesson interesting because of the way we analysed 'Goblin Market.' By reading the poem it was interesting to understand and deconstruct the Rossetti's technique and the way she used different methods to insinuate the story. I also found the themes of the poem interesting as it helped me understand the way she has interpreted these things into her poem subtly whilst still leaving the reader knowing what has happened but without making it too obvious.

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I found the concept of a writer beginning the story by giving an idea of the destination of the story interesting as it lets the reader decide whether or not the book would be something they are interested in, for example the way Pride and Prejudice is started you can instantly tell it is going to be about marriage. Another interesting point in the lesson was that sometimes things like describing characters become irrevilant compared to the more important topics of the novel.