This enough? I hope so... (1 Viewer)

[Zeppelin]

I've been making notes on Lear, and I've divided up the sections into the readings: Aristolean tragedy, feminist, family drama, and neoclassical. I've got notes on productions, too. Here's a very brief analysi of the things I hope to talk about in the HSC question:

Aristolean
- hubris
- blindness/lack of insight
- progression of order to disorder
- moral commentary, and how this shapes insight
- recognition of appalling stae of affairs

I have about 4 or so quotes that go well with each part of this section. Is it a little excessive, though? Written up, this body paragraph meaes up about a page (250 words, or so). Shoul I perhaps concentrate on a couple of areas in more detail?

Feminist
- gender inequality
- women empowerment leads to chaos

Here I also have a large list of quotes, but for the most part the essay seems to focus on the ways in which women are treated with little respect and the ways in which they are presented. I'm hoping that's adaquete.

Family Drama
- sibling rivalry
- love between a parent and child

Sufficient? Please let me know.

Neoclassical
- art must confirm to a just and ordered universe
- natural justice

Basically here I'll be referring to Nahum Tate's interpretation.

If anyone can give me some guidance as to how I'm going, I would be eternally indebted to them.

 

[frazzle]

are you using diff productions for diff readings? and are you planning to talk about all four readings? or deciding that when you get the question?

my advice would be to stick to three, that way you can concentrate on detail. afterall, it's quality, not quantity, an dthat's what my teachers have always told me.

 

[Zeppelin]

Only three of them. I'm leaning towards the first three, but I've done neoclassical and comedy of the grotesque just in case.

 

[malkin86]

I thought the Eyre production, which is touted as the family drama, was somewhat incesty also - the quote "Why have my sisters husbands if they say they love you all?" and also just the way that it's played out.. that kiss between Regan and Lear after she declares her love. Ewies.

 

[frazzle]

Hey that's good, there's no harm in having back ups! and you can throw in a line or two about extra readings, I'm sure that won't hurt you either!

I liked Eyre's version, was very different, modernised etc. in my essay i had so much to babble on about that *sigh*

how are you structuring different productions in relations to your readings?

 

[Zeppelin]

I'm going to drop in a few comments in the body paragraph about productions using those readings have used techniques to shape meaning and stuff. I don't want to just recount productions: I'm planning on explaining how Lear can be read in different ways and then using parallels between the readings and the play to back it up, with reference to prodcutions to help strengthen the argument.

 

[becky_baby]

a really great production to talk about if doing a feminist reading is CUT Theatre 'Queen Lere'.. its basically role reversed and if u type it in Google u should get enough information on the production. In my HSC trial the question we got really focused on the female characters so theres no saying that this wont be done in the HSC.. its possible..

 

[frazzle]

so they can ask questions about a SPECIFIC reading? ...or a specific area? that's not good!

 

[Trigger189]

No, no, we did a class essay where the question said to talk about the women characters and we took this from an existentialist perspective. It would never ask about a specific reading.

 

[frazzle]

ahh ok *phew* but still, this means whatever readings you choose to do, you have to take into account ALL the characters, scenes etc, in case they ask something a bit more specific than just the value of the text?

 

[Trigger189]

Its a tricky section. Just know your theories well and you should do fine.

 

[frazzle]

and then there's the form *sigh* and i thought english was straightfoward...

what can they ask us in terms of form? there's the essay, dialogue, transcript, article... what else can they ask us? and is there an official list of forms?

 

[Trigger189]

We had to do a speech for the trials, then yes theres the dialogue or panel discussion, article, letter (unlikely for lear), hm, yes i dont think there much more than that. My teacher, who marks ever year, said the board stated they were "moving away" from creative responses to these sections because it doesnt allow students to express as much knowledge as they could in the standard essay format. That doesnt mean you should assume they wont give you something like a panel discussion, but dont stress about it too much, because they wont hit us with something we can't do. Just chill, know your theories, practice a bunch of questions and you can't do wrong.

 

[silvermoon]

dont stress so much dude - they cant actually get all that specific. under the old HSC they could ask you specific questions about a particular character or theme etc. but not any more. now they have to ask fairly general things to allow for cross-moderation in the module - ie. the question for Lear has to be basically the same as the question for the other prescribed texts in the module. also, it can tbe a question on anything to do with critical study of shakespearian text (ie. specific conventions of shakespearian tragedy) because Lear is the only shakespeare in the module.
just learn all your readings and productions. if you're a fast writer, covering 4 productions/readings rather than 3 can be an advantage.