no subject

[taimatsu]

I think I have just written my Henry V essay. Unfortunately, it is 79 words long. I have got into that mode where I know the answer and I have written it down and what more do you want, eh? Eh? Four whole sentences! It's all there! What do you mean, it's not long enough?

Comments

[mrkgnao.livejournal.com]

How does it go? This is be the best game ever! Write an essay in four lines! Are you allowed to use semi-colons or are they cheating?

[taimatsu]

semicolons are okay. We might have to have a word limit - 100 words? Mine is 79 not counting the question. :)

Here it is!

It seems highly likely that when the King's Men first performed Henry V they omitted, among other features, the Chorus. What is the function and effect of the Chorus in the Folio text (1623) we have used in this module?


The role of the Chorus has been hotly debated by critics.

It is clear that there is significant tension between the undiluted glorification of the militaristic enterprise that the Chorus undertakes, and the actual action of the play, which is more ambiguous.

What effect this actually has depends on the production. It can be played totally jingoistic, or it can be designed so that the overblown rhetoric of the Chorus undercuts the impression it is apparently trying to create.

[taimatsu]

Actually I should add one more sentence explaining for non-literature students that BECAUSE it is down to the production to interpret the play it is pointless to try looking for a 'true meaning'.

I could even use the word 'intentionality'. I'm just not sure I can be arsed.

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

Um, couldn't you give that reply to almost any question about a play?

[taimatsu]

Yes and no. Not for some modern plays. It is a relevant point for this play, though, for reasons I haven't time to go into while my essay is unfinished :)

[mrkgnao.livejournal.com]

Hee hee! I think, let's say, 5 line essays could become a major critical deal :)

[taimatsu]

They wouldn't work on Ferretbrain, would they? I guess it would depend on the question ;)

Okay, slightly more serious...

[j4.livejournal.com]

The role of the Chorus has been hotly debated by critics.

Who? Give a couple of examples/quotes.

It is clear

How is it made clear? Where in the text is it made clear? Give examples/quotes.

the actual action of the play, which is more ambiguous

How is it ambiguous? Give examples/quotes.

What effect this actually has depends on the production.

But you're analysing the text. Yes, there's room for directorial interpretation, and it's worth mentioning that (particularly if you have examples of how real productions have forced the interpretation one way or the other where there are textual ambiguities!), but the text is the thing you're writing the essay about, & if you're making claims about what's in the play (e.g. ambiguities, "overblown rhetoric"), you need to be able to back them up with examples from the text.

(At least, this is the way I was taught. It doesn't make for any terribly exciting critical-theoretical writing, but solid textual analysis was the backbone of pretty much everything I wrote for my English degree, & it worked for me.)

Sorry, I don't mean to scrawl all over your LJ with red pen, & if I'm being unhelpful, please tell me to go away. :-}

Re: Okay, slightly more serious...

[taimatsu]

This is helpful, thank you - I do mostly know it but in my current befuddled state a reminder is very handy. I would write more in thanks if I were not writing the essay instead. :) One clarification, though - the module is "Revisioning Shakespeare" and technically I am allowed to write about the Branagh and Olivier films as well as the play itself. I would, if I'd actually watched them yet! So productions could be in the scope if I wanted. I may mention a little as one or two of my critics are v. good on the subject.

[robert-jones.livejournal.com]

I don't like to seem petty, but you do realise the words "actual" and "actually" are redundant, don't you?

[taimatsu]

On that amount of sleep such questions of style assume a negligible importance.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Heh. Okay, so that's the conclusion... Put it in a different order, you've got the introduction. Add some examples, you've got the bit in the middle. Bingo! Instant essay! :-)

[taimatsu]

*giggle* That's a great way to approach it - thank you :) I have typed up 600 words of critical quotes, so I should be able to string something around that quite easily.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Ah! In which case my other comment is probably entirely surplus to wassname. Sorry. :-}

[angeoverhere.livejournal.com]

I think I was about to say something similar - what you have is a Plan, which you can then build on to make an essay. You just have to expand those bare bones - outline the content of the critics' hot debate; illustrate that tension between the Chorus and the play; talk about some examples of productions and how they change the tone of the thing; and then draw it al together in a conclusion. Bingo, you have an essay!

*waves some pompoms, cheerleader style, in support of the mammoth work effort*

[taimatsu]

Woo, pompoms! *leers*

*grin* Thank you :)

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

My DOS told me that one of her students once submitted a half-side-of-A4 essay and got a really high first for it.

[taimatsu]

Heh! Sadly, I don't think mine is quite that good.

I am going to stop in about fifteen minutes no matter how long it is as I have another to do before 5pm...