Banquo's Banquet

In contrast to the dagger scene, when Macbeth holds the banquet for Banquo we, as an audience, actually see the ghost of Banquo. Macbeth describes the ghost as: “Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold; thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with!” Shakespeare emphasises all the points which make Banquo dead rather than alive (marrowless, cold and no speculation.) This aspect of the supernatural could be quite terrifying on stage and would shock the audience. It is important that we see this as an audience because… The effect of the supernatural is quite distinctive. After seeing the ghost Macbeth says: “It will have blood; they say, blood will have blood.” Macbeth realises, through the repetition of blood, that he will… This foreshadows what happens later in the play.

Spoken Language Study

Educating Essex - by Sammy Taylor I am going to be investigating spoken language and how it is used in a community. The community I’ll be looking at is a school, the Passmores Academy, which was used in the documentary programme Educating Essex. First broadcast in 2011the documentary shows us the inside of a modern school from both the pupil and teacher perspective. It was praised for being insightful and won a number of awards. The way that we address one another is dependent on who we’re speaking to. This depends on their place in society (respect, position etc) or how we relate to that person (friends, acquaintances etc.) In this essay I am going to examine how the teachers, students and the language of the voiceover is used in different ways to communicate. Mr Drew is Deputy Head in the school and he often is the focus of the documentary episodes. Mr Drew’s relationship with the students is based on control and winning. He openly states in an interview with the camera that ‘I am the brickwall,’ this metaphor emphasises that no one is going to get out of line and the students will not get their goal of messing around. He has a number of techniques which he uses when speaking to students in the corridor.  The first is repetition and how he addresses the students: ‘Excuse me young person (.) just in case for some reason you have been unable to understand the very very clear rule...’ His pace is fast and the repetition makes us aware of the important parts in his speech. He chooses to address the boy as ‘young person,’ this gives an odd effect which is not even  gender specific.  In the montage of clips he also uses sarcasm as a way to intimidate students. ‘There is no need for you to wear that dead animal,’ he says to a girl with a spotted coat. He clearly tries to control the situation instead of shouting, sarcasm is humorous and entertains us as an audience but the girl probably feels a little low.  As well as using humour, Mr Drew also enjoys the sound of words. He uses alliteration, ‘constant conflict,’ which he says emphasising the C sound at the beginning of the word. I think he relishes using a variety of language techniques to make sure he doesn’t get bored saying the same thing over and over.  Sometimes he is flustered and he uses fillers to keep control of the situation. In his office he says: ‘I (.) I (.) y’know (.) I,’ when dealing with a student. This keeps the conversation with him, but allows him thinking time to deal with the child’s misbehaviour.  In rare cases he uses volume ad repetition in conjunction to emphsise his points. He repeats ‘Excuse me’ at greater and greater volume. Again this is to control the situation and the effect is to totally drown out the other person.  In the episode there is a really geeky kid who describes Mr Drew as ‘He’s an evil overlord who will completely incinerate you.’ As he’s talking to the camera this gives him the confidence to say something that he would never say to Mr Drew face to face. This metaphor, like the ‘brickwall’ earlier, reinforces our opinion of him as being a strict stickler for the rules. When we meet Charlotte she seems to be equally intense. She wants to get her own way. The voice over tells us ‘she’s become a regular visitor to the deputy head’s office.’ This tells us all we need to know to about the context of this relationship in the wider community. While Mr Drew uses repetition and a rhetorical question to try to wear her down: ‘Do you think I’ll be amused?’ Charlotte tries the same approach: ‘I don’t know (.) Are you?’ This seems confrontational and it is not clear who will win. Even by the end of the transcript we are not clear. By copying Mr Drew’s techniques, Charlotte is playing Mr Drew at his own game. It could be said that both are playing up for the camera and because both are observed, they are not backing down. In other sections of the transcript students seem to be caught saying stupid things for the audience’s entertainment: ‘What is pi? Where did it come from?’ I think that the documentary is more biased towards the teachers. As it’s a programme for adults it seems natural that this is biased towards them as it’s aimed at them. Mr Drew gets more air time than any of the other people. I think it’s a fairly good representation of school language. However, as it was broadcast two years ago there has been a massive change in slang which isn’t represented.

Dagger and Witches as a force for good?

In contrast, the witches could be seen as a force for good. The supernatural is not always a negative theme. “All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor.” “Al hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” The witches are giving Macbeth compliments. Things that haven’t happened to him yet, a prophecy. Just like their chanting, Shakespeare also uses repetition of ‘hail’ and ‘Macbeth’ to give the central character this news. When he hears he is thane of Cawdor at the end of the scene, this makes Macbeth think… When Macbeth goes to kill Duncan he sees a dagger in the air, a hallucination. This could be seen as a supernatural element because… “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand?” The rhetorical question tells the audience what Macbeth as an actor is reacting to because, as an audience, we can’t see it. It’s important that Macbeth sees a dagger because…

Supernatural and Macbeth

Macbeth opens with the witches who are supernatural beings. If we were back in the 16th century, we might feel scared by these women as people back then were more superstitious than we are now. They are described as ugly people: ‘you should be women, and yet your beards forbid me.’ This tells us that the actors should be wearing beards, but act like women. As only men were allowed on the stage this allows the actors to be dressed up like witches but to keep their beards. As well as their appearance, they seem evil because they are involved in black magic. ‘Thrice to thine and thrice to mine and thrice again, to make up nine.’ The witches are chanting, using repetition and rhyme to create a rhythm. The number nine is significant in black magic rites as well, so this presents the theme of the supernatural as something dark and scary.

Futility and Falling Leaves Paragraph

P. In Futility, Owen uses a metaphor to compare clay with the Earth: Q. ‘Woke once the clays of a cold star.’ E. The clay could also represent people as in The Bible, Adam is created out of clay by God. By comparing both evolution and religious imagery he juxtaposes the two belief systems. However, ultimately, Owen argues that to evolve to the state where all we do is fight, it pointless, or futile just as the title. P. Postgate Cole also uses a natural image in her work, Falling Leaves. Q. ‘Like snowflakes wiping out the noon.’ E. Unlike the clay of Futility, she uses a simile to compare people to snowflakes. This seems like a gentler image as – just like the snowflakes – the soldiers are all unique. However, the sheer number of snowflakes to obliterate the noon, when the sun is at its hottest, brings home the amount of soldiers who die. Winter is a season associated with death, and so it seems appropriate that she sets this poem at this time of year – regardless of the Armistice connotation of November. Both these poems use imagery to create a melancholic effect on the reader.