Writing Essays - a Guide for Literary Studies Students Contents Introduction The essay checklist 1. Interpretation of and response to the essay question Different types of essay question you might encounter Analysing the essay question Writing about more than one text in a single essay 2. Structure of the essay Following the structure of the texts Paragraphs 3. Persuasiveness/validity of the interpretation Arguing a case Developing your ideas 4. Originality/quality of personal interpretation Deciding which aspects of the text(s) to write about Selecting texts to write about 5. Understanding and use of appropriate critical terms and concepts Substantiating your interpretations through use of critical terms and concepts 6. Use of secondary critical sources Using secondary sources to support your interpretations 7. Understanding and use of relevant contexts Substantiating your argument through reference to contextual information 8. Use of appropriate close/detailed textual reference Using evidence from the primary text to support your interpretations 9. Technical accuracy Referencing/bibliography Spelling and grammar 10 Prose style Introductions and conclusions 11. Presentation Redrafting, checking your work and avoiding basic errors in analysis Presentation Student essays Introduction New undergraduates often experience difficulties in adjusting to the demands of university study, and particularly in doing assessed work. We have written this guide to help you understand what it is that tutors expect in literary studies essays and to provide practical guidance on how to approach the essay. The key features are: * Checklist of things to think about when writing an essay * Examples from student essays showing effective and not so effective ways of putting into practice the things listed in the essay checklist * Examples of complete student essays How should I use the guide? If you have already completed a self assessment of an essay we suggest you look closely at the feedback the tutor gave you and then refer to the relevant categories of the checklist to see how you might improve these aspects of your essay writing. Each section includes questions to help you to do this. The main body of the guide makes extensive reference to three essays written by first year undergraduate students in order to illustrate good and not so good ways of going about putting into practice the things listed in the essay checklist. These essays are reproduced in full (with tutor's comments) at the end of the guide. All of the examples of student work in the guide are taken from first year undergraduate units on poetry (1550-1750), drama (1550-1750) and prose fiction (1690-1830). The three complete essays were all written in the students' first term at university. If you are just about to write your first essay for the degree programme we suggest you read the complete essays first. Annotated excerpts from these student essays appear in each section. On-line Guide There is an online version of the guide which provides further examples of more and less effective student writing, drawn from a large number of first year undergraduate literary studies essays (these essays are not reproduced in full). You can access this guide at any stage in your degree at: http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/english/enter.htm We suggest you do so after you have written your first essay and completed your first self assessment. Please Note This guide is not offering a blueprint or template for the literary studies essay. A literary essay should always be a personal response to the task in hand. What the guide offers is a set of principles and practical methods for improving essay writing skills. The essays which are presented in this guide are not being offered as models of excellent critical performance, as is clear from the tutor's critical comments. Each has certain strengths and also shortcomings. They have been selected for inclusion in this guide on the grounds that they usefully illustrate more and less effective approaches to the process of writing the essay. Essay Checklist This checklist indicates the main things which tutors consider when they are marking your work. It provides you with a set of questions to ask yourself when writing and re-drafting your work, and before handing work in for marking. The categories match those on the self assessment form. 1 = fail 2 = below average 3 = average 4 = good 5= excellent Interpretation of and response to the essay question Q: Have you analysed the essay title or the question? Q: Are you confident that you have identified the main critical issues in the text(s) which the question/title infers? Q: Do the points you make about the text(s) relate to these main critical issues? Q: Have you selected the most appropriate aspects of the text(s) to write about (i.e. those which enable you to engage with the main critical issues foregrounded in the question)? 1 2 3 4 5 Structure of the Essay Q: Are the points you are making in the essay grouped together in paragraphs? Q: Do paragraphs follow on from one another in a logical way? Is the reason as to why each paragraph follows the previous one readily apparent to the reader? Q: How easy would it be for someone who was reading your work to follow the argument that you are putting forward? (This will have a bearing on how persuasive the argument that you make in the essay is seen to be.) 1 2 3 4 5 Persuasiveness/validity of the interpretation Q: Is every assertion that you have made about the text(s) you are writing about sufficiently argued/explained/substantiated (e.g. through reference to specific parts of the text(s) and/or from your secondary reading/class notes)? Q: If there were any parts of the text(s) that you were unsure of the meaning or significance of, have you consulted a secondary source (e.g. a dictionary, footnotes, a critical text) so as to make sure that you have not made any major misinterpretations? Q: Have you attempted to critically analyse specific aspects of the text(s) in keeping with the question being asked, or is your essay more a narrative summary of the text(s)? 1 2 3 4 5 Originality/quality of personal interpretation Q: Does the essay show that you are attentive to the details of the text(s), and have your own ideas and perceptions about the text(s) which you are developing? Q: Although the points you are making in the essay may well be informed by material from lectures/secondary reading, do they originate primarily from your own reading and critical response to the text(s) being studied? Q: Have you tried to avoid the uncritical reproduction of lecture/seminar notes and secondary source material? NB: You should not feel overwhelmed by the concept of 'originality': it does not mean that you have to say something about the text(s) that no one else has said before. 1 2 3 4 5 Understanding and use of appropriate critical terms and concepts Q: Have you used critical terms and concepts when discussing features of the text(s)? If so, have you used them accurately? Is it evident that you understand what is meant by them? Do you think your use of critical concepts helps you towards a better critical understanding of the text(s) and issues discussed in the essay? Q: If you have not used critical terms and concepts, do you think the quality of analysis in your essay suffers? 1 2 3 4 5 Use of Secondary Critical Sources Q: If you have used secondary critical sources in the essay, how productive has this been (i.e. has it lead to a better critical understanding of the text(s))? Q: If you have not shown any evidence of secondary reading or an awareness of other critical perspectives on the text(s), is this having a negative effect on the quality of the essay? Q: Whenever you quote from or refer to a critic, can you say why you have done so? Q: Have you attempted to engage with and discuss quotations from critics you include in your essay, or would you say they replace your own thinking about the text(s)? 1 2 3 4 5 Understanding and use of relevant contexts (e.g. Literary, Historic) Q: If you refer to contextual information, how productive is this? How well do you think this material supports and advances the critical content of your essay? Q: If there is a lack of reference to contexts in your essay, does this have a negative impact on the quality of the essay's analysis? Q: How relevant is the contextual information you have used to the essay question being asked? Is it included to support/substantiate a specific critical point that you are making? Q: Do you feel that contextual information is used in an appropriate way in the essay? (For example, it is not usually advisable to rely on biographical information as a means of interpreting the text, or to view the relationship between a text and the historical context of its production as being necessarily straightforward). 1 2 3 4 5 Use of Appropriate Close/Detailed Textual Reference Q: Does your essay pay sufficient detail to specific features of the text(s)? Q: Where there is close reference to the text(s), is it relevant to the essay question? Q: Are the critical points which you are making in the essay supported by direct reference to specific parts or features of the text(s) you are writing about (rather than being generalisations which are not backed up by textual evidence)? Q: When you quote from primary text(s) have you made sure that the material chosen relates to the critical point you are making? Q: Have you tried to engage with material quoted from primary text(s) (i.e. provided some kind of commentary on it)? 1 2 3 4 5 Technical Accuracy Q: Have you checked the spelling and grammar (e.g. using the appropriate functions on a word processor)? Q: Are you confident that you have been accurate in your choice of vocabulary throughout the essay? (i.e. does it all make sense?) Q: Are all quotations and references to primary and secondary texts you have cited referenced in a consistent way, using a bibliographic system that is approved of on your course? Q: Have you provided a bibliography which includes all of the texts that you have made use of in researching and writing the essay? Is it set out in an academically accepted way? 1 2 3 4 5 Prose Style Q: How well written is the essay? (E.g. how well are ideas expressed? How straightforward is it to read? Is language used effectively?) Q: Have you read through the work thoroughly before handing it in? Q: Who is your essay written for? Q: Have you attempted to make your essay engaging to the reader (e.g. through variety in vocabulary and sentence structure), without striving too hard to impress them (e.g. through use of pretentious language)? 1 2 3 4 5 Presentation Q: Is your essay well presented? How legible and neat is it? Q: If your essay is word processed, does the style and size of the text font that you have used make the work easily readable? Q: If your essay is hand written, is your writing always legible? Have you avoided the excessive crossing out of words on the page? Q: Have you numbered the pages? 1: Interpretation of and Response to the Essay Question Different types of essay question you might encounter Essay questions are worded in a variety of different ways. It is important for you to realise that each question requires analysis and interpretation, in order to determine an appropriate way of responding to it. Here are some of the different kinds of essay question which you might encounter: A direct question: Is Dr. Faustus a morality play without a moral? To what extent does Richardson manage to preserve in his novel Pamela the guilty pleasures of reading someone else's letters? Do you consider the love poetry of this period to be misogynistic? A critical proposition and an invitation to discuss it: 'Satire, in order to succeed, must give offence.' Do you agree? 'Morality structure provides a dramatic form for the exposition of a moral argument.' Discuss with reference to Everyman and/or Dr. Faustus. A direct instruction to examine a particular subject/issue (inviting you to think about the place of something specific within the larger text): Discuss the importance of the device of soliloquy in one or two of the Renaissance tragedies you have studied. Compare the ways which two of these novelists use out of doors scenes: Fielding, Shelley, Austen, Charlotte or Emily Bronte. Discuss the representation of women in the poetry of this period (1550-1750). A general question which specifies a text, author or genre for you to write about but which does not indicate any particular issue to look at such as: Write an essay on Milton's Paradise Lost. As you can see, these different types of essay question vary in terms of how specifically they define what it is that you are required to look at in your essay. The first two types of question listed above suggest specific issues which your essay will need to discuss and also introduce a particular critical point of view on those issues which you are expected to respond to in some way. Essay questions which are like the third and fourth types listed above are much more open ended, and require you to do more initial thinking to work out the exact subject and scope of your essay. Regardless of the way in the essay question is worded, each one requires you to analyse and interpret it before you can commence writing the essay: do not just assume you know what it means and rush into giving an answer. Analysing the essay question It is very important that you are thorough in analysing the essay question. If you spend time at the outset of writing the essay in working out what the essay question means, identifying the subjects and key issues and ideas which you are being invited to discuss, then it is likely that your essay will be more sharply focused on what is most relevant for that question. If you are given a list of essay questions to select from, it is worth looking at all of them and thinking through what each one seems to be about, even if they relate to subjects or texts that you do not want to write about. By doing this you will get a feeling for the way in which essay questions are phrased, and will develop your ability to interpret and 'decipher' them. It is also very good practice for exams, where you will have to analyse and interpret questions in a very short space of time (and you may have a more restricted choice of questions to answer). It is very useful to rewrite the essay question in your own words - as you understand it. This is the first stage in breaking down the question into a series of smaller questions or tasks so that you can begin to come up with a structured answer. The process of doing this should also reveal any gaps in your understanding of what the question means - it will show up terms or ideas that you are not quite sure about, which you can then clarify (e.g. through talking to your tutor or other students, reading your notes, consulting critical texts). Rewriting the question should also help you to make sure that your essay addresses all of the main issues foregrounded by the essay question, rather than just some of them. Before you begin writing the essay, make sure you are confident that you understand all the terms of the question. It is likely (although not certain) that the subjects and issues which the essay question seems to be about will have been covered or at least mentioned in your classes and/or your background reading - so it can be advantageous to go through your notes to clarify your understanding before getting underway. Writing about more than one primary text in a single essay The essay question you are answering may specify the number of texts you are to write about or may be unspecific on this matter. It is also possible that your course guidelines state that you must write about a certain number of texts in your coursework and exams. Where the number of texts to be discussed in an essay is not indicated, students frequently ask how many it is appropriate to choose. This question is one to which it is difficult to give a straightforward answer, other than 'it depends'. What counts as a suitable number of texts to examine in an essay depends largely on the question that you are answering, the length and complexity of the texts in question, and the particular approach that you want to take in the essay. The key issue is the depth of critical analysis which your essay offers. If too many texts are attempted there is a danger of critical superficiality. If the essay jumps from text to text too rapidly and does not consider any at great length, your ideas will not have the required space in which to develop and it is probable that you will not be able to say anything but the most obvious things about the texts in question; it is unlikely that the main issues highlighted in the essay question will be fully explored. For essays where you are writing about more than one text, you will probably need to be highly selective in what you look at, and focus only on a few specific characteristics or thematic concerns which they appear to share (in line with the question being answered). It is also possible to cover an insufficient number of texts; this can occur if you are answering a question which relates to a literary genre or historical period. With this kind of essay tutors are looking for evidence of your having some awareness of the genre or period in question. A 2000 word essay on the subject of the Renaissance sonnet (for instance) which only looked at one poem would probably be marked down for not having considered the topic broadly enough. If you are unsure as to the number of texts to use in your essay, it is likely that your tutors will give you advice if asked. As you gain more experience of writing essays you will develop a sense of how many texts it is appropriate and realistic to try to cover in the space available. An issue for you to decide is how far you are going to compare and contrast the texts directly within the essay. The fact that you are writing about certain texts together strongly implies that they are comparable to each other in some way: to ignore this completely and write about each one completely separately, as if you were writing a number of unconnected 'mini essays', would probably affect the final mark received. However, the extent to which you analyse each one in the light of the other(s) is for you to decide - although obviously if the essay question instructs you to 'compare and contrast', you will have to devote a significant part of the essay to this task. Your choice on this matter may determine how you structure your essay - you might organise your discussion of the texts around a number of common features or themes, examining how each text deals with these; or you might discuss the texts consecutively rather than 'simultaneously', but with some comparison between them. However, it is always important - even in a 'compare and contrast' question - that you do, to some extent, read each text as a self-contained piece of writing, and that you consider how it works and what it achieves in its own right. Do not just focus on how it is the same as and different from the other text - pay some attention to its individual features and meaning. ACTIVITY 1. Identify an essay question you are thinking of responding to. 2. Reword the question in your own words. 3. List three further, smaller questions which you think it would be productive to deal with in the course of answering the overall essay question. Examples of effective analysis of the essay question Essay 1: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. This is the introduction to the essay: 'In forming an answer to this question there are two aspects which must be considered. Firstly we must decide whether Dr. Faustus is a morality play; I will do this by discussing the play's form, content and subject matter in an attempt to categorise the play. I will also offer an alternative argument by saying that the play is in fact a tragedy. Secondly we must decide whether or not it has a moral; to do this I will consider the tone of certain parts of the play, in particular the Chorus' speeches as well as the speech of other characters.' Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY Firstly, this introduction gives a clear picture of how the student has interpreted the essay question. Secondly, it appears to have been reworded as 'In what ways does Dr. Faustus conform to the conventions of the morality play, and how far does it break with them?'. Thirdly, the essay question appears to have been broken down as follows: * What is a morality play? * Which features of the morality play does Dr. Faustus appear to share/not share? * Does Dr. Faustus have a moral in the same way that a conventional morality play might do? * In the light of the above discussion, how valid is the statement that Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral? Essay 2: 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? This is from the opening section of the essay: 'The idea of metaphysical conceit is prevalent amongst the poetry, a metaphor which strikes the reader at first as being highly inappropriate and un-obvious, which then needs to be established intellectually by proving the comparison. So successful reading of metaphysical poetry necessitates a temporary separation of feeling from intelligence. This has led to criticism of the metaphysical style, for being inventive purely for its own sake, merely to flatter the intellect of the author, rather than to produce an effective poem. Similarly, the genre seems to have its faults in that it is needlessly obscure, restrained by the intellectual imagery therefore failing to communicate the spontaneous emotion of the poet. However, the use of intellect does give a certain refinement or respectability, intensifying the meaning of the poem, thereby producing and making possible an even greater sense of emotion through highly complex and intellectual theories. Intellect and emotion are nearly always viewed as separate entities, one concerned with strong instinctive or spontaneous feeling, sensation or passion, the other being the faculty of reasoning, knowing and thinking, quite opposite and distinct from feeling. In this essay, I plan to show that these two factors can, and do work in tandem to produce the effect of metaphysical poetry, and such distinctions are a rather simplistic generalisation of the genre.' Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY Firstly, the essay question has been analysed in a thorough and appropriate fashion, as this introductory section of the essay demonstrates. Secondly, the question appears to have been rephrased as 'Does the 'intellectual' nature of metaphysical poetry mean that it cannot express emotions?'. Thirdly, the question seems to have been broken down in the following way: * In what way(s) can metaphysical poetry be seen to value 'intellect' rather than 'emotion'? What are the characteristics of poetry in this genre? Are there any reasons as to why intellect might be placed above emotion (e.g. the subject matter of the poetry)? * What effect does the 'intellectual' content of the poetry have on the reader? * Can the 'intellectual' approach of metaphysical poetry be seen to heighten the 'emotional' effect of that poetry, rather than negating it? If so, how does this occur? Is the statement quoted in the essay question a valid one? An example of less effective analysis of the essay question Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. This is the introduction to the essay: 'Conflicting value systems are always around, especially where death is involved. So in the tragedies of Everyman, Doctor Faustus and Hamlet there are many conflicts to face. These include personal moral conflicts with individual characters of the plays and also opposing values between the different characters in the play.. Conflicting value systems may even stretch to how the audience interprets the play and the beliefs and culture at the time.' These are excerpts from the main body of the essay: 'In Everyman, we can see that the character 'Everyman' faces a moral dilemma as God summons Everyman by offering Death to take him as his own. This creates conflicting value systems. [...] Even the characters have conflicting value systems.' Q: How could this be improved? TUTOR'S REPLY Firstly, in answering this essay question, the student does not really get to grips with what is meant by 'conflicting value systems', or at least does not show that they understand what is meant by the phrase, either in the introduction or the main body of the essay. (The fact that they repeatedly use the phrase 'conflicting value systems' implies that it is not really understood.) It is important to 'unpack' the question more at the outset, and to define the main terms, in this case 'value systems', so that you can be really focused in what you write about, rather than being general and vague. A possible re-wording of the question might be: 'How far are tragedies the result of conflicting value systems being at work in the society depicted?'. The question could then be broken down as follows: * What 'value systems' can be seen to be in 'conflict' in particular tragedies? * How are these value systems, or systems of belief - moral, political, religious - represented in the play(s)? For example, are they represented through or embodied in particular characters? * How does the conflict of these value systems relate to the tragic events which take place? Does it appear to cause them? * In what other ways might the tragic events of the play(s) be accounted for? Is there any way in which the conflicts of belief systems depicted within tragic dramas relate to the societies in which they were written? * How valid is the point of view quoted in the essay question? 2: Structure of the essay Following the structure of the texts There are different ways in which you can structure your essay, in relation to the text(s) that you are studying and writing about. You might choose to organise your essay in such a way that its structure follows the structure of the text(s) you are studying. Alternatively, you could choose to organise your analysis of the text(s) according to the different themes that you are looking at, rather than going through it scene by scene, line by line or chapter by chapter. The advantage of organising it thematically is that this can help you to be more focused in the way you discuss the text. As a result you will be less likely to describe the text and more likely to offer critical analysis. Ordering your work according to key issues or themes also helps to show that you have a good knowledge of the source material. The approach you choose to take might be determined by what it is that you are doing in the essay. For example, if you were offering a detailed close reading of a short poem or a particular scene from a play, it would be entirely appropriate to go through it section by section. In this case the essay's structure would mirror that of the primary text. An essay looking at particular thematic concerns of the text would be best organised thematically. Paragraphs The order in which you make your points is very significant. A useful way of thinking about the structure of your essay is to see it as a set of directions to the reader. Imagine that you are giving instructions to someone on how to get from their house to yours. If you give them the right instructions ('turn left at the chip shop, carry on past the supermarket then turn right after the pub') but in the wrong order ('turn right after the pub, left at the chip shop then past the supermarket') the person would not arrive at the right destination. It is like that with the essay. You might be making very perceptive observations about the text(s), but if they are not organised in a meaningful way, the reader is less able to follow your train of thought and the overall persuasiveness of what you are saying in the essay is reduced. The reader must be able to follow your ideas and see how they develop as the essay progresses. There must be some logical structure to the way in which it proceeds, if it is to be effective. Organise your work into paragraphs. A paragraph should deal with one main idea, or focus on one particular theme. Individual observations and points which you think are related to one another should be grouped together within paragraphs. A good way of checking that your essay is effectively structured is to try to summarise the main ideas contained in each paragraph and then to see how logical the overall shape or 'scheme' of the essay appears to be. Does the essay 'flow' or is it disjointed? Look at the examples below to see how other students have structured their work, and which ones are more and less effective. Use 'signposting' words and phrases, such as 'Similarly...', 'However...', 'In contrast to...', to indicate how a particular paragraph relates to the previous one. (For example, it might develop an idea further, or present an alternative point of view on the subject, or move on to a different subject.) ACTIVITY Q: Are the points you are making in the essay grouped together in paragraphs? Q: Do paragraphs follow on from one another in a logical way? Is the reason as to why each paragraph follows the previous one readily apparent to the reader? Q: How easy would it be for someone who was reading your work to follow the argument that you are putting forward? (This will have a bearing on how persuasive the argument that you make in the essay is seen to be.) An example of ideas being organised more effectively Essay 1: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. The main critical points which are made in each paragraph of this essay are summarised below. Summary of introduction: two issues are to be considered in answering the question, whether or not Dr. Faustus is a morality play and also whether or not the play has a moral. In order to categorise Dr. Faustus, the characteristics of a morality play must be defined. Morality plays are essentially dramatised sermons, usually on repentance; typically an 'Everyman' figure begins in innocence, is tempted by others and finally redeemed. Main body of essay: In some respects Dr. Faustus conforms to the morality play tradition (e.g. there are characters who tempt Faustus into sin, many characters in the play are representations of type rather than individuals), but in other important ways it breaks with morality tradition. For example, Mephistopheles has depth as a character rather than only representing sin and temptation. Faustus is led into damnation, but it is ambiguous as to whether he is an innocent victim led into temptation by others or responsible for his own fate through refusing to accept human limitations. An alternative point of view can be argued, that Dr. Faustus is in fact a tragedy. Evidence for this includes the central protagonist being depicted as an individual rather than an 'Everyman' figure, with strong personal characteristics and whose character develops through the play. It can be argued that Faustus is a tragic hero, as he has a tragic flaw (his pride) which leads to his downfall from an initial elevated position. Faustus cannot repent due to his pride and is not saved and redeemed by God, again breaking with morality tradition. The tragic aspects of the play seem to outweigh the morality aspects. The play does appear to have a moral, not to aspire to what humans cannot achieve, and to believe in the reality of damnation. This is foregrounded through the opening and closing speeches of the Chorus. The Old Man conveys a moral concerning God and repentance, that it is never too late to beg forgiveness. By damning Faustus Marlowe makes it clear that his moral failure is being unable to repent and having a lack of faith in God. However, the tragic elements of the play appear to outweigh the moralistic elements. It is concerned with the fate of a very particular individual, which would make it difficult for an audience to relate to Faustus and his tragedy. I believe that the play is primarily the discussion of a tragic character, with lessons and morals inevitably included. Conclusion: Dr. Faustus is a tragedy which uses aspects of the morality play, possibly because it provided Marlowe with a suitable form for what he wanted to say. The play does contain a moral but seems primarily about the tragedy of an individual. Q: What makes this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY The points of interpretation which the student makes about the text are organised in a logical fashion. It is clear from the above that each section focuses on a particular idea, and that the various sections relate to each other and together develop a line of argument. An example of ideas being organised less effectively Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. The main critical points which are made in each paragraph of this essay are summarised below. Introduction: conflicting value systems always exist. In the tragedies of Everyman, Dr. Faustus and Hamlet there are different kinds of conflict faced, including personal moral conflicts with individual characters of the plays, and also opposing values of different characters. Main body of essay: The central character in Everyman faces moral dilemmas, such as whether or not to go with Death. Everyman consists of dramatic conflict and abstract argument (called psychomachia). This means that because of all the conflicting value systems, the central character has to remain strong in his mind in order to make the right decisions. There are also conflicting religious values in the play. Everyman is a Christian play in which God is seen as manipulative and vengeful, though heaven is seen as a good place. Also, members of the audience with other religious beliefs might see God in different ways and not believe in heaven and hell; Catholics would have certain views on repentance. This means that the audience could see the whole play as having conflicting value systems. The play shows two conflicting value systems in the moral argument - we see what happens when someone is tempted, and also when they make the right choices. The other characters also have conflicting value systems: the character of Vice is not a typical representation of evil and so is experiencing conflicting personality traits. The central character in Dr. Faustus also experiences temptation and moral conflict; the Good and Bad Angels both advise him. Mephistopheles also creates conflict by doing Faustus' bidding. The society in which Faustus lives is split into people telling him different things (such as the Old Man); it is hard for him to make the right decisions. As with Everyman, there are also conflicts in audience interpretations of Dr. Faustus. There was a lot of religious change during the period; Catholics and Protestants would have different views on Faustus' damnation. Hamlet also has many conflicting values. Hamlet faces moral dilemmas and conflict in his own mind. He has two parts to his character which are conflicting: he is torn between doing what he thinks is right and taking revenge on his father's killer. He pretends to be mad to try and escape his conscience - he hopes that it will make others forgive him for Claudius' murder. Hamlet finally kills himself to escape the conflicting value systems around him. Conclusion: tragedies have conflicts for many reasons - more often than not these are personal rather than in society. However, societies influence the actions which those persons take. Also, the characters who are faced with moral dilemmas find it hard to sort out the conflicting opinions from the society around them. However, the tragedy does not always mean that evil wins out: sometimes good triumphs. Q: How could this be improved? TUTOR'S REPLY There are some interesting ideas and interpretations offered in this essay, but they are not ordered in a structured way; they seem to appear somewhat randomly. It is difficult to follow a clear train of thought or argument in this essay - the statement contained in the essay question does not seem to be addressed. The ideas and interpretations need to be placed within a more evident framework, so that a clear line of thought emerges. For example, it could be productive to identify common themes (e.g. the conflicting pressures which the central protagonist experiences from those around him) and structure the essay around these, rather than discussing each text consecutively and without direct comparison to the others. An initial explanation of what is understood by 'conflicting value systems' might also help structure the essay more effectively. 3. Persuasiveness/validity of the interpretation Arguing a Case The nature of the essay question will affect the kind of essay that you write. In general, there are two types of essay. The first type of essay tends to be written in response to an essay question that introduces a particular point of view on a topic and then asks you to evaluate the validity, accuracy or usefulness of that point of view. Here are some examples of this: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' How far do you believe this to be true? 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. Is Dr. Faustus a morality play without a moral? In all of the above examples, a particular critical point of view is being presented for you to respond to and evaluate the worth of, in this case that Dr. Faustus is a morality play with no moral. This kind of essay question is asking you to evaluate a point of view by considering the evidence for and against it, accepting or rejecting it and, as appropriate, developing your own explanation. The second kind of essay tends to be written in response to an essay question that introduces a particular topic for you to discuss, but which does not present you with a critical perspective to respond to and evaluate. Here are some examples of this type of question: Discuss the role of the travelling players and the theatre scenes within Hamlet. What is the role of the travelling players and the theatre scenes within Hamlet? As you can see, the question introduces a topic but does not do anything beyond that. It is up to you to decide how to respond to it. The task that you have with this kind of essay is to explore an idea or theme in relation to a particular text or texts, and to develop your own point of view or thesis on it (however tentative this may be). With the first kind of essay you are expected to 'argue a case', in the legal sense of the phrase. In other words, you prove or disprove the point of view foregrounded in the essay question by considering the evidence for and against it and coming to some kind of informed conclusion. With the second kind of essay, you do not have a ready-made point of view to prove or disprove, so your essay might not 'argue a case' in quite the same way as the first kind of essay. However, you will be putting forward a particular understanding of the topic and coming to some kind of conclusion about it. For example, with the question on Hamlet mentioned above, your essay would specify the role that you think the travelling players and theatre scenes play within Hamlet. Many essay questions give a critical point of view about a text, author, literary period or genre, and invite you to respond to it. This is often done through the use of a statement or proposition, as here: 'Metaphysical poetry offers a distinctive vision of the world and of the individual within it.' Discuss. The statements which appear in this type of question may have been taken directly from the work of a particular literary critics, or made up by the tutor. In either case, the proposition is used by the tutor setting the question to highlight a specific subject and also to introduce a particular critical opinion on it for you to respond to. Sometimes the critical perspective which the essay question foregrounds is a deliberately controversial or contentious one - the 'devil's advocate' position, intended to provoke debate. You should always remember that the critical point of view highlighted by the question is not meant to be taken as authoritative, something which you have to revere or agree with. On the contrary, you are entitled in your essay to challenge that point of view, disagree with it, even to try and prove it is an untenable critical position to hold. In any essay question there are certain broad issues or topics which the tutor is expecting you to write about. These may be obvious or more implied, requiring you to think through the question, take it apart and interpret it in order to identify what those issues are. If your essay does not address these key issues you will be seen as not having answered the question and probably will not be able to get above a certain mark. However, it should be emphasised that when setting essay questions, the tutor does not have a model answer. The reason why essays are used in literary studies courses is to get you to think through certain issues in relation to the texts you are reading, and to present and argue your own point of view, backed up with appropriate evidence. The essay question does not present you with a critical 'problem' to which there is a single 'correct' answer or solution. There are no 'right' and 'wrong' answers or points of view in literary studies. With most essay questions, there is a range of different yet still valid ways in which the question could be interpreted, in exactly the same way that literary texts are open to different readings. Indeed, part of the essay's 'creativity' or 'originality' can be about the way in which the question is understood, and the way in which issues and ideas are explored. There are limits as to what counts as a valid answer, however. If you twist an essay question too far in order to suit what you want to write about, your essay might not adequately address the central issues of the question and your final mark will be brought down. So with both types of essay, you will be asserting a particular interpretation or point of view on the subject that you are writing about. The point of view which is put forward in the essay and the process through which it is put forward together constitute the essay's 'argument'. Effective essays are seen to be those which 'develop an argument'. Here, through the discussion of relevant subjects and issues, some overall point of view is arrived at. Such essays also contain a clear line of thought which is evident to the reader. All of the points which are made contribute in some way to the final point of view or overall interpretation which is being developed through the essay. By contrast, essays which 'fail to develop an argument' are those in which the points and observations being made do not contribute to the making of an overall point of view on the issue which is being discussed in the essay. There are two factors which will determine the quality of the essay's overall 'argument' (i.e. how persuasive the point of view being put across is). The first is how well the individual observations that you make are backed up by evidence from the primary text, secondary reading and so on. (This is what tutors mean when they tell you to 'argue your points' in the essay. You need to discuss your interpretations in appropriate depth, and support them through reference to the text itself, information from critical sources, etc.). The second is the overall scheme into which your points are organised. Both of these aspects of essay writing will be dealt with in the sections which follow. Developing your ideas Once you have decided that you know what the question means and (if applicable) have chosen which texts you are going to write about, you can begin to construct your answer. The process of developing your ideas is likely to involve at least some of the following: * reading and re-reading the texts, and making notes. * going over your lecture and seminar notes. * consulting literary criticism. * discussing issues with your tutor. * talking to other students (but be aware of the dangers of collusion - the work that you hand in has to be your own, not anyone else's). When you are in the process of thinking about issues in relation to the text(s) you are going to write about, you should always keep in mind how you can use the text to support what it is that you are saying, and also how the various parts of the text(s) you are looking at relate to those texts as a whole. Have confidence in your own interests and response to the text(s). There is no substitute for your own attentive reading and re-reading of the text. While there are useful techniques or methods for developing ideas and planning your essay you might want to draw on (e.g. brainstorming ideas, note-taking, developing notes into short sections, etc.), there are not 'right' and 'wrong' ways of going about this. It is all about what works for you. ACTIVITY Q: Is every assertion that you have made about the text(s) you are writing about sufficiently argued/explained/substantiated (e.g. through reference to specific parts of the text(s) and/or from your secondary reading/class notes)? Q: If there were any parts of the text(s) that you were unsure of the meaning or significance of, have you consulted a secondary source (e.g. a dictionary, footnotes, a critical text) so as to make sure that you have not made any major misinterpretations? Q: Have you attempted to critically analyse specific aspects of the text(s) in keeping with the question being asked, or is your essay more a narrative summary of the text(s)? 4. Originality and Quality of Interpretation Deciding which aspects of the text(s) to write about At this point in the process of planning the essay, you need to decide which dimensions of the text(s) it would be most appropriate to focus on in order to answer the question. You are expected to think about literature in broader terms at this academic level than you might have done previously (e.g. at A-level). As the course progresses it is likely that you will start to think more about the following issues in relation to the texts you are studying: * the form/structure of the text and how it produces meaning. * the apparent purpose or function of certain features of the text within the overall design, and how parts appear to relate to the whole. For example, this could be how the depiction of character, or patterns of imagery, or the occurrence of particular events within the narrative contribute to what seems to be the overall meaning(s) of the text. * how the text relates to other texts. These could be texts written by the same author, or during the same historical period, or in the same literary genre, or dealing with similar themes. * how the text relates to the social, cultural and historical conditions in which it was produced, and those in which it has been read and interpreted. * the 'political' or ideological dimension of the text, and the kinds of values that it appears to be supporting or criticising. For example, this might be the way that the text represents women, working-class experience, etc. The way in which the essay question is worded will give you some indication of which aspects of the text you need to look at and write about. Selecting texts to write about (if the essay question permits choice) Make sure that you choose texts which enable you to address the central issues that you have identified in the essay question. Do not try to twist the question too far in order to fit a particular text that you want to write about, as you will not focus on the main issues which the question highlights. If you are writing about two or more texts in one essay, you should be able to explain and justify why those texts are being studied alongside one another - for example, they deal with similar themes, or are in the same genre, or are from the same historical period. The basis for your choice of texts should be clear within your essay. It should be evident to the person reading the essay that the texts have been selected for a reason, not just at random. Try to think creatively about your choice of texts. It is likely that you are permitted to write about texts other than the ones which you've covered in lectures and seminars. Although it is not the case that choosing obscure texts to write about will get you a higher mark for your work, looking beyond those dealt with in class does demonstrate the use of initiative. Reading widely develops your skills in analysing and writing about literature. It is also possible that you might find you have more 'freedom' when writing about something that you have not studied extensively in class. It can be easier to develop your own critical understanding, rather than worrying about how your point view compares to that of the lecturer. The essay question might not instruct you to write about a specific text but instead asks you to consider some issue in relation to a particular historical period, literary genre or author. For example: Do you consider the love poetry of the period (1550-1750) to be misogynistic? This type of question can be very daunting as you might imagine that you need to have read everything by that author, or in that genre or historical period in order to be able to answer the question properly. Don't worry - this is not the case! It is perfectly acceptable to focus on a limited number of texts and to discuss them in relation to the issues which the essay question foregrounds. At this level of study no one expects you to have read all of the love sonnets of the Renaissance, for example. You're not being asked to make some authoritative critical statement about all the works of a particular author or in an entire genre or historical period: rather, you are required to show your ability to think about critical issues in relation to what you have read. It goes without saying, however, that your essay will be improved if you have read more than a few isolated examples of a particular kind of text. Make sure that you know the course requirements and regulations. If your course is assessed through both essays and exams, it might well be the case that you cannot write about the same texts in both coursework and exams. You might be required to write about a certain number of texts. If the unit, module or course relates to a particular literary period and/or genre (e.g. British poetry 1750-1850; tragedy), check that the text(s) you select are suitable. Do not try to cover too much within a single essay. It is difficult to give hard and fast rules about how many texts it is appropriate to write about in a single essay, but remember that anything you say about a text in your essay has to contribute to the development of the essay's argument. This means that you probably would not be able to write comprehensively about numerous aspects of, say, four moderately lengthy texts in a 2000 word essay. Your discussion of the text would probably be superficial and would not serve to prove adequately the critical points you would be trying to make. However, you could successfully analyse certain shared features or aspects of those four texts within the word limit, for instance examining how each one of chosen texts depicts relations between the sexes, makes use of soliloquy, etc. In other words, concentrate your discussion on specific issues. ACTIVITY Q: Does the essay show that you are attentive to the details of the text(s), and have your own ideas and perceptions about the text(s) which you are developing? Q: Although the points you are making in the essay may well be informed by material from lectures/secondary reading, do they originate primarily from your own reading and critical response to the text(s) being studied? Q: Have you tried to avoid the uncritical reproduction of lecture/seminar notes and secondary source material? An example of an effective choice of aspects of the text(s) to write about Essay 1: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. In determining whether or not Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral, the essayist looks at both the events of the play and also some of its formal characteristics, including the structure of the narrative, how the characters are presented (e.g. are they individuals or representations of type?), the comic scenes. Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY The first part of essay focuses on the form of the play as well as its content, and examines how it utilises some of the formal features associated with the morality play but to produce a different effect. An example of a more effective selection of texts to discuss in the essay Essay 2: 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? In this essay, the student discusses a number of poems by John Donne ('A Valediction Forbidding Mourning', 'The Flea', Holy Sonnet 14) and Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'. Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY The poems selected can all be seen as examples of the metaphysical genre. The choice of a number of Donne poems allows the student to discuss the ways in which the author uses particular techniques in different poems to achieve certain effects. The poem by Marvell provides a useful point of comparison with Donne, in that it operates in a similar fashion (e.g. use of unconventional conceits) to achieve a comparable end (i.e. seduction). Extending the discussion to the work of more than one author permits a broader evaluation of the statement contained in the essay question. An example of a less effective selection of texts to discuss in the essay Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. In answering the question, the essayist selects Everyman, Dr. Faustus and Hamlet. Q: How could this be improved? TUTOR'S REPLY Although Dr. Faustus and Hamlet are appropriate texts to write about in answering this question, the choice of Everyman is problematic as this particular play is not generally classed as a tragedy, but rather as a morality play. Choosing to write about this text alongside the others means that the essay offers a less focused answer to the question. If you are writing on a particular literary genre, you need to make sure that the text(s) you select are associated with that genre. If you are unsure, either read some criticism or ask your tutor. 5: Understanding and use of appropriate critical terms and concepts Substantiating your interpretations through use of critical terms and concepts As you progress through the course, you will become a more sophisticated reader and critic. The language which you use in your written analysis of texts will develop, as will the sophistication of your interpretations, and it is likely that you will make more use of terms and concepts associated with literary criticism. As is the case with other academic disciplines, literary criticism has its own terminology, which critics use in describing particular technical features of texts (e.g. 'enjambment', 'caesura', 'blazon'), or in critically interpreting what a text is doing, how it is operating, the kinds of effects which it has (e.g. 'catharsis'). Having these terms as a part of your own critical vocabulary can enhance the quality of your analysis in written work. It can help to sharpen your textual analysis and make your essays more persuasive, original and insightful. It can also enable you to say things about the texts which you might otherwise find difficult to articulate. As well as developing your means of expression, understanding these terms and the concepts to which they refer can change the way in which you read, enabling you to see things in texts that you might not have been conscious of otherwise. It is likely that you will encounter critical terms and concepts in your classes and secondary reading. Before you try to use these in your own critical writing, you should ensure that you fully understand the meaning of the critical term or concept, and the appropriate circumstances in which it is applied. You might find it useful to consult a dictionary of literary terms. As with the use of contextual information in your essay, the important point in using critical terms and concepts is appropriateness. You will get credit for using critical terms and concepts in your essay if they serve to advance the argument you are making. If the critical terms are not relevant or are used in a superficial way, you will not benefit through their use. ACTIVITY Q: Have you used critical terms and concepts when discussing aspects/features of the text(s)? If so, have you used them accurately? Is it evident that you understand what is meant by them? Do you think your use of critical concepts helps you towards a better critical understanding of the text(s) and issues being discussed in the essay)? Q: If you have not used critical terms and concepts, do you think the quality of analysis in your essay suffers? An example of more effective use of literary terms and concepts Essay 2: 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? This is an extract from the essay: 'This poem [Andrew Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress'] values intellect highly, as there are a number of witty comments throughout that lend themselves much more to use of ingenious and risqué images than romantic ones, for example Thine eyes, and on the forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest (l.14-16) This clever manipulation of the blazon then turns with a sexual innuendo to the woman's sexual organs.' Q: Why is this effective ? TUTOR'S REPLY The essayist is making appropriate use of a particular critical term ('blazon', which refers to the listing of the physical attributes of the beloved) to describe a feature of the poem. An example of less effective use of literary terms and concepts Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. This is an extract from the essay: 'The whole of Everyman consists of dramatic conflict and abstract argument as Everyman struggles for his soul. This is called Psycho Machia. This means that because of all the conflicting value systems, Everyman has to remain strong in the mind in order to make the right decisions.' Q: How could this be improved? TUTOR'S REPLY 'Psychomachia' is in fact one word rather than two. The essayist is using the term in an appropriate context, but needs to explain it with greater clarity. In particular, the relationship between the concepts referred to in the three sentences quoted above (dramatic conflict, abstract argument and the struggle for the character's soul) needs to be made clear. 6: Using secondary sources to support your interpretations Using secondary sources to support your interpretations The need to use secondary sources in your essays is one of the most obvious ways in which degree level study differs from that at lower academic levels. Why is it important to do background reading? It is a requirement because the nature of literary study at degree level is much broader than at A-level or on access courses. You are encouraged to be aware of and to engage with the range and diversity of critical opinions and interpretations which exist in relation to particular texts, authors and genres. Although the basis of your essay will be your own ideas about the text(s) you are studying, these will be enhanced if they are informed by an awareness of what others have thought and written about those texts. Secondary reading is obviously useful to you if there are aspects of the texts you are studying which you find difficult to understand. Beyond this, reading literary criticism is one of the principal ways in which you can develop your own critical skills and interpretative abilities. As you progress through the course your competencies as a reader and critic will be expanded by your looking at how others analyse and understand literature, and you will be better able to enter into literary discussion and debate. When you are selecting secondary texts to consult in writing your essay, it can be helpful to know or find out where the authors are 'coming from'. For example, what is their particular critical stance (e.g. feminist? Marxist?) and how does it compare to other schools of critical thought? This can help you in evaluating the usefulness of that criticism in relation to the subject you're writing about. Be aware of relying too much on any single critical source in your essay. In deciding what you think about a text or issue, it always helps to look at a number of critical viewpoints rather than just one. Background reading should inform your own interpretation and critical analysis of texts. It can usefully shape your ideas and influence your thinking, but it must not appear replace your own views. You need to demonstrate that you are giving something of a personal response (which is nonetheless influenced by your reading). Secondary sources are more than just a resource which you can plunder to support what it is you are saying about the text(s). It will help you in developing your understanding (and writing style) if you try to read whole critical articles, rather than just skim reading them for suitable quotes. You do not have to accept what you read in secondary texts uncritically. You are entitled to use or reject secondary material as you wish. You can introduce material from a secondary text in order to support a particular interpretation which you are making (i.e. you agree with what the critic has said). Alternatively, you could quote from a secondary text and then take issue with the opinion it represents/contains, disagreeing with it and giving your preferred point of view or interpretation. Your bibliography must include all critical sources which you have consulted in writing the essay. If you have made use of a specific idea from a secondary critical source, you must cite that author within the essay itself. Plagiarism, which is the unacknowledged use of someone else's work, is taken very seriously by tutors. If you are accused of plagiarism and found guilty, there may be repercussions beyond your merely failing the assignment. Refer to any advice that you have been given about referencing, bibliography, use of footnotes and plagiarism. ACTIVITY Q: If you have used secondary critical sources in the essay, how productive has this been (i.e. has it lead to a better critical understanding of the text(s))? Q: If you have not shown any evidence of secondary reading or an awareness of other critical perspectives on the text(s), is this having a negative effect on the quality of the essay? Q: On each occasion that you quote from or refer to a critic, can you say why you have done so? Q: Have you attempted to engage with and discuss the points made by critics which you have quoted in your essay, or would you say they replace your own thinking about the text(s)? Examples of more effective use of material from secondary sources to support interpretations Essay 1: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. This is an extract from this essay: 'Although there are many aspects of the morality play to be found in Dr Faustus I believe that the tragic nature of the play, a man damned to hell due to his own characteristics, unable to repent and find salvation and the seriousness of much of the content of the play outweighs the morality aspects. It would seem that, to quote from Steane in Marlowe again, The Morality Play simply offered the form in which Marlowe could externalise the struggle he saw and found interesting in the Faust story. (Steane, 1965, p.167) Essay 2: 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? This is an extract from the essay: It is though, testament to Donne's command over intellectual thought, and metaphysical wit that this at first incongruous idea [of the lovers as a pair of compasses] can in my opinion translate into one of the most stunning and sincere assertions of love and sentiment in literature. Matthew Arnold though has a different outlook on the abilities of the metaphysical poets: their poetry is conceived and composed in their wits, genuine poetry is conceived and composed in the soul. The difference between the two kinds of poetry is immense. (quoted in Williamson, 1968, p.9) I would take issue with this statement, as when the reader has engaged the mind and worked to understand the initial complexity of the comparison, the imagery in metaphysical poetry, particularly [Donne's compass], is as soulful and poignant as any. In fact it may be that I feel this because it is not at all obvious initially, as one has to search behind the wit. It is my belief that the wit and the soul, (or the intellect and emotion), juxtapose to create the effect- the two kinds of poetry have joined together in Donne's piece successfully and engulfed the gap which Arnold suggests. Q: Why are both these examples effective? TUTOR'S REPLY Material from a secondary critical source is used appropriately in our first example to support the critical point which is being made. The quotation is adequately integrated into the body of the essay. The essayist in our second example uses secondary material in order to introduce a particular critical perspective on the subject being discussed (i.e. the nature and status of metaphysical poetry) - but subsequently disagrees with what the quoted critic is saying and argues in favour of an opposing point of view. In doing this, the essayist demonstrates that they are aware of at least some of the different critical positions which exist with regard to metaphysical verse, and also shows that they have the confidence to take issue with the views of others. This illustrates how secondary source material can be introduced in the essay to provide you with something to react against and 'bounce' your own ideas off. Secondary source material does not always have to be used to support directly the argument of the essay. 7: Understanding and use of relevant contexts Substantiating your argument through reference to contextual information The starting point for writing an essay is your own reading of the text(s) you have been studying. However, at degree level you are encouraged to think about how a particular text might relate to other texts within the same historical period or literary genre, and also to think about how a text is shaped by and carries the traces of the particular social/historical conditions in which it was produced (and in which it has been interpreted). The importance of using appropriate contextual information in your essay's analysis is something which many students find daunting. They think it means that they have got to be an expert on the history of a particular period in order to be able to comment knowledgeably on the text. While an understanding of the social/cultural conditions of a particular point in history can be very important and useful when it comes to analysing a text, this is not the only meaning of 'contextual information'. Material about literary form (e.g. genre) is as significant. For example, if you were writing about the sonnet, your discussion of the text(s) might make mention of some of the characteristic features of the sonnet (it has 14 lines, is divided into octet and sestet, etc.). By doing this you would be drawing on contextual information. So do not be intimidated by this requirement. It is possibly something that you do anyway, without realising it. While it can be very useful and productive to make reference to historical contextual information when writing about a text, you need to be careful as to how far you try to 'explain' features of texts through reference to history, since cause and effect are not straightforward. (This is particularly true when you are considering biographical information about the author. The known 'facts' of an author's life do not necessarily serve to explain why they wrote what they did). Your level of knowledge about the particular historical period in question is also very important in determining how successful your use of historical contextual information is. How extensively contextual information is used within your essay will depend on the particular question you're answering. For example, if you are being asked to think about a particular literary genre, it is probably quite important to include at least some reference to that genre's associated characteristics. It may also depend to some extent on the tutor setting the questions and/or marking the work. Certain tutors will encourage their students to engage with historical contextual material, while others prefer the student to concentrate first and foremostly on the primary text, referring to the historical context as and when appropriate. The nature of the text will also be of importance. For example, if it appears to be offering some kind of commentary on events or aspects of society at the time of its writing, it would be advisable to show that you have some awareness of that context. The most important thing to remember when drawing on contextual information in your essay is to use it appropriately. In other words, it should be relevant to the issue being discussed and contribute to the development of your essay's argument (rather than just showing that you have done some background reading). ACTIVITY Q: If you refer to contextual information, how productive is this? How well do you think this material supports and advances the critical content of your essay? Q: If there is a lack of reference to contexts in your essay, does this have a negative impact on the quality of the essay's analysis? Q: How relevant is the contextual information you have used to the essay question being asked? Is it included in order to support/substantiate a specific critical point you are making? Q: Do you feel that contextual information is used in an appropriate way in the essay? (For example, it is not usually advisable to rely on biographical information as a means of interpreting the text, or to view the relationship between a text and the historical context of its production as being necessarily straightforward.) An example of socio-historical contextual information being used in a more effective way Essay 1: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. This is an extract from the essay: 'Religious debate also comes into the play in the comic scenes concerning the Pope. There is a great deal of anti-clericalism in these scenes (an idea brought forward with the development of Protestantism), with the Pope portrayed as being gluttonous, foolish and generally un-Christian, False prelates, for this hateful treachery Cursed be your souls to hellish misery. (III.ii.53-54) However, as stated by Wilson in Marlowe and the Early Shakespeare, in regard to Faustus' fate and religion there is no talk of predestination or whether Faustus was a member of the elect or reprobate, which again was an idea brought forward in the development of Protestantism, Calvinism in particular (Wilson, 1953). It is clear that Faustus' damnation is due to his own faults and persuasions of other characters.' Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY The essayist uses information (drawn from secondary reading) about the religious context in which Dr. Faustus was written to make an interpretative point about the play which furthers the argument that it is a tragedy rather than a morality play. An example of socio-historical contextual information being used in a less effective way Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. This is an extract from the essay: 'There are also conflicts between audience interpretations. For instance, the audience at the time of Dr. Faustus was continually changing their religion as the king kept swapping the country's beliefs from Catholic to Protestant and back again and again. Because of this, it often depended on whether the audience were Catholic or not as to whether Dr. Faustus was damned. If the audience was Catholic, then they believe that Dr. Faustus would not have been damned, but if the audience was Protestant, they believed Dr. Faustus wouldn't have constant chances to repent and would most certainly be damned. Therefore there could be conflict between the audiences as they believe that two different things would have happened to Faustus.' Q: How could this be improved? TUTOR'S REPLY The essay is asserting that audience reactions to Faustus' damnation would differ depending on whether they were Catholics or Protestants - a possibly valid and interesting comment. However, the account given of religious change during the period is confused. It is not clear who exactly 'the king' is, or over what length of time these changes were occurring. The explanation of different attitudes towards repentance and damnation is also unclear. The student obviously has some awareness of the religious turmoil which existed in England at certain points in the sixteenth century, but their attempt to summarise this contextual information has led to inaccuracy. The work would be improved if the point being made was explained more clearly and in greater detail, and the historical facts double checked. An example of literary contextual information being used in a more effective way Essay 2: 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? This is an extract from the essay: 'The intellectual style of metaphysical poetry removes it to a certain extent from the vicissitudes of life. Donne makes use of language and discourse which are obviously not 'poetical'. Things which are completely unlike are brought together, so a certain sense of artificiality remains. This is the very nature of the metaphysical conceit, where far fetched comparisons are made through convoluted or unlikely metaphors, where 'heterogeneous ideas are yoked together' (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678), such as the idea of love and a flea. This rather violent technique makes the reader see things in a different way, as is certainly true of Donne's No.14 from the Holy Sonnets, in which there is a violent juxtaposition of the religious and sexual, two things completely dissimilar. [...] Experiences which have normally been kept apart in the mind are now yoked together, in an unsettling manner, the revered God is now addressed in desperate, aggressive terms; 'Batter my heart, three-personned God' such are the violent, shocking and colloquial terms employed in the initial conceit as the poet calls for salvation.' Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY The essayist identifies and defines one of the principal characteristics of this poetic genre, the 'metaphysical conceit', and then discusses how this device is employed in certain poems by Donne including 'The Flea' and Holy Sonnet 14. The use of information about the literary genre being written about is productive here, illuminating what the author is doing in these poems. 8: Use of Appropriate Close/Detailed Textual Reference Using evidence from the primary text to support your interpretations Evidence is required from the primary text to support your interpretative claims. Your critical points must be rooted in the text itself, and not based on conjecture or speculation. The essay is testing how well you know and understand the actual text, so this is more significant than the amount of background reading you have done. Although this is very important, there is no substitute for studying the primary text. You cannot get away with only reading critical studies of the texts you are writing about! To support the interpretations/critical points that you are making, you must refer to specific parts of the text(s) you are writing about. It is not enough to base your discussion of the text on what you remember from having read it two months ago! Generalised evidence is not effective in supporting your interpretations, and it will reduce the persuasiveness of your essay. Precise reference to particular parts of the text is important. The reader needs to be able to check the textual evidence that you're providing for themselves. There are different ways in which you can direct the reader to specific parts of the text which support what you are saying. You can quote material directly from the text, or describe it in your own words, giving line, scene or chapter numbers. Alternatively, you can specify the exact part of the text which you are identifying as significant (e.g. 'the first occasion on which Faustus encounters Mephistopheles...').You need to ensure that quotations from the text and allusions to it are properly referenced. Consult any advice that you have been given on how to go about referencing. One of the most challenging aspects of writing a literary studies essay is striking the right balance between 'breadth' and 'depth'. You need to make sure that you are dealing with an appropriate range of issues in relation to the essay question being answered, but at the same time paying sufficient close attention to the details of the text(s) being studied. There is no hard and fast rule about this. It will depend very much on the nature and number of texts you are writing about and the particular essay question you are answering. Although the points you make in the essay must be rooted primarily in the text itself and supported by textual evidence, the amount of space you devote to looking at particular features should be considered carefully. It can be easy to get side tracked into discussing the details and neglecting the overall picture. Ask yourself 'do I need to describe/analyse the text in this amount of detail? What is the I am trying to make through this description/analysis? How does it contribute to the overall aim of my essay?' Generally, the more significant the point you're making, the more necessary it is to quote directly from the text in order to explain and support your interpretation/observation. If you do not feel that what you are saying is important enough to warrant actual quotation from the text, it is perfectly acceptable to provide an indirect reference, summarising or paraphrasing what the text says or does. However, in doing this it is a good idea to tell the reader the exact point in the text that you are referring to (e.g. by specifying the chapter in the novel, the line number in the poem, the act and scene in the play). When you are quoting from the primary text, you need to make it clear as to why you have reproduced a particular extract. It is sometimes a good idea to offer some explanation of the quotation when you have given it, to show how it is significant and substantiates the point you are making. The extracts cannot be left to do the analysis for you. ACTIVITY Q: Does your essay pay sufficient detail to specific features of the text(s) in discussing them? Q: Where there is close reference to the text(s), is it relevant to the essay question being asked? Q: Are the critical points which you are making in the essay supported by direct reference to specific parts or features of the text(s) you're writing about (rather than being generalisations which are not backed up by textual evidence)? Q: Where you quote from the primary text(s) have you made sure that the material chosen relates to the critical point you are making? Q: Have you tried to engage with material quoted from the text(s) (i.e. provided some kind of commentary on it)? Examples of evidence from the primary text being used more effectively to support interpretations Essay 1: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. This is an extract from the essay: '[Faustus] is different to a typical Everyman because his character is seen to develop throughout the play. For example, we see a somewhat naive and immature Faustus in the comic scenes; the pranks played on the Pope and the minor characters. However, after these childish pranks we receive a sense of Faustus having matured and aged somewhat. For example when Faustus is telling the scholars of his fate, and they offer their help Faustus says, 'Talk not of me but save yourselves and depart.' (V.ii.75) This selfless comment is of great contrast to the Faustus of before who is greatly concerned with himself only. It also implies that he is more resigned to his fate than before and realises no one can help him. This is reinforced a little later in the same scene when Faustus says, 'Ay, Faustus now thou hast no hope of heaven. Therefore despair!' (V.ii.86). Nevertheless it is this maturity in thought, the acceptance of his fate, which leads to his definite downfall as he despairs and cannot repent and look to God for salvation. Essay 2: 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? This is an extract from the essay: Marvell [in 'To His Coy Mistress'] uses the simple description of 'like amorous birds of prey' to deliberately change the intellectual tone of the poem from love as a delicate thing, to one of sexual desire, with the image of the two devouring each other. It is in developing this idea that Marvell embarks upon one of the true images of metaphysical poetry. He uses the image of a ball to signify the two people coming together; Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball (l.41-2) The image of two separate people coming together and joining as one is what Marvell uses, the 'strength' being his and the 'sweetness' hers. This then will form a ball, which is the conventional image of perfection, the potent sphere. It is also an image of a pomander, a ball of spices and herbs normally kept in the pocket or in a drawer to ward off disease. So the poet is saying, let us join in this manner and we will be a therapeutic, all powerful element. Q: Why are both these examples effective? TUTOR'S REPLY A combination of direct quotation from the primary text and indirect reference to specific sections of it is used in our first example to support a general point about the development of Faustus' character throughout the play (a feature of Dr. Faustus which distinguishes it from traditional morality plays). In our second example the essayist reproduces a section of the poem and then offers some short commentary on it. It is clear why this section of the text has been quoted. An example of evidence from the primary text being used less effectively to support interpretations Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. This is an extract from the essay: 'Everyman is a Christian play in which God is seen as manipulative and vengeful, though heaven is seen as a good place. Now shalt thou into the heavenly sphere, Unto which all ye shall come That liveth well before the day of doom. (l.899-901) This alone shows a conflicting value within the play.' Q: How could this be improved? TUTOR'S REPLY It is claimed that in Everyman, God is portrayed as manipulative and vengeful, but no direct evidence from the text is provided to support this statement. The quote which is given does not alone serve to illustrate the point which is being made, that there is a conflict in the play between the apparently negative depiction of God and entry to heaven being the reward for moral virtue. 9. Technical Accuracy Referencing/bibliography It is essential for you to reference your essay properly. Accurate referencing provides a concise record of your evidence. It enables whoever reads your essay to trace the information you have provided and it protects you against the charge of plagiarism. It is probable that you will have been given some information on how to reference the texts that you have referred to in your essay, and also how to present a bibliography (listing all of the texts you have consulted during the process of researching and writing your essay). This information is in your course guide and is also available from your tutor and within the study skills unit. Make sure that you read carefully through the guidance you have been given, and that you are confident you understand it. It is very helpful to have the information to hand when you are writing your essay, so that you can refer back to it. Spelling and grammar It is very helpful to have a dictionary to hand when you are writing, to ensure that your spelling is accurate and also that you are using words, such as precise technical terms, in appropriate contexts. You may also find it worthwhile to have a glossary of literary terms to hand when writing your essay, as well as when you are reading texts and criticism. If you are word processing your essay, make use of the spellcheck facility. More advanced word processing packages also have built-in grammar checkers which you might find useful. If you know you have a problem with spelling and grammar, make sure that you set aside some time to check this aspect of your work. ACTIVITY Q: Have you checked the spelling and grammar (e.g. using the appropriate functions on a word processor)? Q: Are you confident that you have been accurate in your choice of vocabulary throughout the essay? (i.e. does it all make sense?) Q: Are all quotations and references to primary and secondary texts you have cited referenced in a consistent way, using a bibliographic system that is approved of on your course? Q: Have you provided a bibliography which includes all of the texts that you have made use of in researching and writing the essay? Is it set out in an academically accepted way? 10: Prose Style Introductions and conclusions The introduction The introduction (along with the conclusion) may well be the last part of the essay that you write. While there are no definitively right and wrong ways to go about producing this section of the essay, there are certain basic functions which it can very usefully fulfil. The introduction to your essay: * should show that you have analysed and interpreted the essay question, and identified key critical issues for discussion. * should indicate the main topics which the essay is going to address. How much detail you provide here is largely up to you. You could choose to outline how you are going to structure your essay's analysis and what the various sections will cover, and/or you might suggest the conclusion that the essay is going to reach on the topic you are writing about. * could identify which texts are going to be considered in the essay. Conclusions It is harder to give advice on how to write a conclusion since its function in the essay is less clear cut than that of the introduction. The purpose of the conclusion is to 'round off' the essay, so what counts as 'appropriate' in any situation will depend very much on exactly what has preceded it. The concluding section of the essay might or might not involve a summary of the essay's main points. This can be a very useful thing to do if the essay's argument is a relatively complicated one and you feel the reader would benefit from the reiteration of the key ideas you have put forward on the issue being discussed. However, the difficulty with providing a summary of this kind is that it can make the essay seem repetitive. The conclusion probably will involve you stating the overall conclusion or interpretation which you have arrived at on the subject that you are writing about. For example, if you are being asked in the essay question to evaluate and agree or disagree with a certain critical point of view, the final section of your essay should indicate where you stand in relation to that particular point of view. However, the opinion that you state here must be rooted firmly in the analysis which has preceded it, in the main body of the essay. It must be evident to the person reading the essay how you have arrived at that particular conclusion An example of a more effective introduction to the essay Essay 1: 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. This is the introduction to the essay: 'In forming an answer to this question there are two aspects which must be considered. Firstly we must decide whether Dr. Faustus is a morality play; I will do this by discussing the play's form, content and subject matter in an attempt to categorise the play. I will also offer an alternative argument by saying that the play is in fact a tragedy. Secondly we must decide whether or not it has a moral; to do this I will consider the tone of certain parts of the play, in particular the Chorus' speeches as well as the speech of other characters.' Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY This serves as an effective introduction to the essay in that it demonstrates that the essay question has been analysed and interpreted (i.e. whether or not Dr. Faustus is a morality play, and whether or not it has a moral), and also outlines what the essay is going to do (i.e. to argue that the play is a tragedy). NB: It should be stressed that this example only illustrates one possible way of going about writing an introduction. Other essay introductions might be of a different length to this or not indicate from the outset the particular point of view which is going to be argued - but they are still effective. ACTIVITY Q: How well written is the essay? (E.g. how well are ideas expressed? How straightforward is it to read? Is language used effectively?) Q: Have you read through the work thoroughly before handing it in? Q: Who is your essay written for? Q: Have you attempted to make your essay engaging to the reader (e.g. through variety in vocabulary and sentence structure), without striving too hard to impress them (e.g. through use of pretentious language)? An example of a less effective introduction to the essay Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. This is the introduction to the essay: 'Conflicting value systems are always around, especially where death is involved. So in the tragedies of Everyman, Doctor Faustus and Hamlet there are many conflicts to face. These include personal moral conflicts with individual characters of the plays and also opposing values between the different characters in the play. Conflicting value systems may even stretch to how the audience interprets the play and the beliefs and culture at the time.' Q: How could this be improved ? TUTOR'S REPLY This introduction indicates which texts are going to be discussed within the essay, but does not show that the essay question has been analysed and a coherent interpretation arrived at. The essayist does not explain in sufficient detail what is meant by 'value systems' within the context of the plays being looked at, although the examples given (personal moral conflicts, different characters holding opposing value systems) do indicate that they are thinking along the right lines. The essay as a whole suffers from this lack of focus in relation to 'conflicting value systems' - it is not just the introduction that is unclear about this central issue. To be more effective, this introduction (and indeed the essay) could attempt to define 'conflicting value systems' more rigorously. It could also usefully outline in greater detail the topics to be covered in the essay, and demonstrate that the issues foregrounded by the statement in the question had been thought about in some depth (i.e. how might the conflict of value systems be seen to contribute to the tragic events of the play?) An example of a more effective conclusion to the essay Essay 2: 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? This is the conclusion to the essay: 'I do believe that the primary concern of the metaphysical poets was to 'employ something unexpected and surprising' in terms of comparison, and to achieve a certain emotion through this. It would be impossible to write purely intellectual poetry about love for example. The additional factor though which makes me believe that intellect is not valued exclusively above emotion is that much of the poetry has a self conscious wit to it - the poets are aware of the ironies of their work in that they use highly complex analogies with lofty images of science and mechanics and even the Universe, to (for example) persuade a woman into bed. A certain incongruity does add to the richness of the form, in which through juxtaposing obscure images and emotional situations, the Metaphysical poets achieved 'their wish to say what they hoped had never been said before' (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678).' Q: Why is this effective? TUTOR'S REPLY In this conclusion, the essayist refers back to the essay question and gives their final response. The reader is made aware of what the essayist's own position is on whether or not metaphysical poetry does 'value intellect above emotion'. However, this opinion has not appeared 'out of the blue' - what is being said here is completely in keeping with what has been argued throughout the essay. In this sense the conclusion rounds off the essay by briefly reiterating the central argument, that emotion is expressed through intellect. 11: Presentation Finishing off your essay Redrafting, checking your work and avoiding basic errors in your analysis Essay writing is not a linear process. It is highly unlikely that you start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. It is more probable that you will have new ideas as you are re-reading and writing about the text, and will have to go back and revise your essay plan, structure or argument accordingly. The process of redrafting you work will improve its quality, so you will need to leave yourself enough time to do this. When reading through your work, both during the writing process and after the essay has been finished (but before it is handed in), you should check that you are not making any basic errors in your analysis of the texts which will weaken your essay and reduce your final mark. These are some questions to ask yourself when going over your essay: * Have I remembered the details of the text(s) correctly? * Have I been consistent in my interpretation of the text, not contradicting myself? * Are the points that I am making in the essay relevant to the question that I am answering? Presentation Check the guidelines that you have been given on the presentation of assessed coursework. You may be required to submit all assignments in typed/word processed format. If you are word processing your work, choose a style of font that is easily readable, and make sure that it is of an adequate size. Eleven point is widely recommended as the minimum font size for essays and reports. If you are writing your essay by hand, make sure that your handwriting is legible. Although a having a small number of words crossed out on the page is acceptable, try to minimise the extent to which this occurs. It makes your work look messy and will influence the reader's initial impression of what you have written. ACTIVITY Q: Is your essay well presented? How legible and neat is it? Q: If your essay is word processed, does the style and size of the text font that you have used make the work easily readable? Q: If your essay is hand written, is your writing always legible? Have you avoided the excessive crossing out of words on the page? Q: Have you numbered the pages? An example of a basic error in analysis Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. This is an extract from the essay: 'Hamlet finally kills himself to flee from the conflicting value systems that are around him. For example, the ghost of his father is telling him what to do and so is his mother. He also feels guilty about killing Polonius.' Q: How could this be improved? TUTOR'S REPLY Hamlet does not kill himself in the play. You need to make sure that you are sufficiently familiar with the text(s) you are writing about to avoid making this kind of error. (It is possible that the student writing this essay is saying that at this point in the story Hamlet no longer seems to care about his life, which would be a valid observation - but if that is what they meant they needed to express this in a much clearer fashion.) The student essays Essay 1 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. This first year undergraduate essay was classified as being on the borderline between lower-second class (2ii) and upper-second class (2i). First class 70% and above Upper-second class 60-69% Lower second class 50-59% Third class 40-49% Fail Less than 40% 'Dr. Faustus is a morality play without a moral.' Discuss. In forming an answer to this question there are two aspects which must be considered. Firstly we must decide whether Dr Faustus is a morality play; I will do this by discussing the play's form, content and subject matter in an attempt to categorise the play. I will also offer an alternative argument by saying that the play is in fact a tragedy. Secondly we must decide whether or not it has a moral; to do this I will consider the tone of certain parts of the play, in particular the Chorus' speeches as well as the speech of other characters. Let us first deal with the categorisation of the play. To determine if Dr Faustus is a morality play or not we must first know what a morality play is. Morality plays are essentially dramatised sermons usually based on the subject of repentance; typically an Everyman figure will begin in innocence, be led into temptation by others, to be finally redeemed. In Dr Faustus Marlowe uses the structure of the morality play intensively, most noticeably in the characters he uses as many of them are representations of type rather than being individuals. For example, the characters of Valdes and Cornelius are known as 'the tempters', thus fitting the morality definition as the characters who tempt the main character into sin (although they are not alone in this ). The Good and Bad Angels can also be seen as morality play characters, although this depends on whether or not we see them as real characters from another world or as externalisations of Faustus' own thoughts and conscience. There is nothing in the text which precisely determines which view is correct. However Faustus' speech in Act II scene i, implies they are externalisations of his conscience; Why waver'st thou? O something soundeth in mine ear, 'Abjure this magic, turn to God again.' Ay, and Faustus will turn to God again. To God? He loves thee not. (II.ii.7-10) The struggle that Faustus is voicing here is identical to the arguments typical of the Good and Bad Angels. It is significant that immediately after this struggle of conscience the Good and Bad angels enter, as they do when Faustus seems in most trouble or is doubting his decision. This indicates that they are in fact externalisations of Faustus' conscience and therefore not really part of the morality play structure. There is also ambiguity concerning Mephistopheles and the other Devils. Although the lesser devils who appear, such as Banio and Belcher and to a certain extent Lucifer, can be seen as representational, Mephistopheles certainly seems to be more of an individual. We see more of him in comparison with the other Devils because he is Faustus' companion; by consequence we learn something of his character. His speech about the joys of heaven is highly passionate and makes Mephistopheles appear somehow more real, Think'st thou that I who saw the face of God And tasted the eternal joys of heaven Am not tormented with ten thousand hells In being deprived of everlasting bliss? (I.iii.74-77) However, as this is the only time Mephistopheles speaks so rapturously about heaven, it would seem these were his true thoughts, yet he manages to control them throughout the rest of the play in order to obtain Faustus' soul. Despite this though even Mephistopheles can be seen as an aspect of the morality play as he tempts the protagonist into sin and subsequent damnation. As he himself admits, Twas I, that when thou wert I' the way heaven Damned up thy passage. (V.ii.92-93) This speech from Mephistopheles can be used as further evidence of the morality aspects in Dr Faustus as it shows that Faustus was a man led into damnation, in fitting with the tradition of the morality plot. Again, though, there is ambiguity as Faustus is not merely an innocent victim, for example his view that 'necromantic books are heavenly' (I.i.46) and his obvious refusal to accept human limitations, both serve to contribute to his damnation. The comic scenes in the play are another example of Marlowe's use of the morality structure. Bawdy comic scenes were a common aspect of morality plays, and the scenes in Dr Faustus which feature characters such as the Horse-Courser and the Hostess are typical of this low humour. For example, there is farcical humour when Faustus cons the Horse-Courser into riding the horse into the water, 'O what a cozening doctor was this! I riding my horse into the water, thinking some hidden mystery had been in the horse, I had nothing under me but a little straw and had much ado to escape drowning.' (IV.v.28-31) The characters in these comic scenes are also an aspect of the morality play as, like the 'tempters', they are representations of a type. For example, we see the Hostess, a Servant and the Horse-Courser; these are obviously not individuals. The Seven Deadly Sins also provide some light entertainment for the audience, Faustus himself finds great pleasure in the display, 'O how this sight doth delight my soul!' (II.ii.164). The Seven Deadly Sins are typical of the Vice characters in morality plays. However, although it is clear that there are several aspects of the morality play in Dr Faustus there is also much evidence to support the argument that it should be seen as a tragedy rather than a morality play. It is worth noting that the full title of the play actually contains a reference to tragedy, implying that Marlowe himself saw the play as such. Faustus himself is not a character typical of a morality play and as he is the protagonist this should hold much weight. He is not a typical Everyman, but an aspiring renaissance man. He is very much an individual with extremely strong characteristics of his own, for example his arrogance, his pride and aspiring nature which all culrninate to play a part in the man's downfall. He is different to a typical Everyman because his character is seen to develop throughout the play. For example, we see a somewhat naive and immature Faustus in the comic scenes; the pranks played on the Pope and the minor characters. However, after these childish pranks we receive a sense of Faustus having matured and aged somewhat. For example when Faustus is telling the scholars of his fate, and they offer their help Faustus says, 'Talk not of me but save yourselves and depart.' (V.ii.75) This selfless comment is of great contrast to the Faustus of before who is greatly concerned with himself only. It also implies that he is more resigned to his fate than before and realises no-one can help him. This is reinforced a little later in the same scene when Faustus says, 'Ay, Faustus now thou hast no hope of heaven. Therefore despair!' (V.ii.86) Nevertheless it is this maturity in thought, the acceptance of his fate, which leads to his definite downfall as he despairs and cannot repent and look to God for salvation. Throughout the play the audience learns a great deal about Faustus as his character is discussed and developed, which would not be the case if Faustus were an Everyman character. It can be argued then that Faustus is a tragic hero, as he has a tragic flaw which leads to his downfall; his pride. The idea of Faustus as tragic hero is also developed in the fact that he falls from an elevated position. We know from Faustus' first speech that he is a man of great intelligence who has been highly successful. For example he has clearly been a successful doctor, The end of physic is our body's health. Why Faustus hast thou not attained that end? Are not thy bills hung up as monuments Whereby whole cities have escaped the plague. (I.i.16-19) It is in this speech however that we also see the over-reaching nature of Faustus' character, Could'st thou make men to live eternally Or being dead raise them to life again, Then this profession were to be esteemed. (I.i.22-24) This shows the huge scope of Faustus' ambition, and the end of the speech shows the true super-human, almost God-like, nature of Faustus' aspirations, All things that move between the quiet poles Shall be at my command. (I.i.52-53) Again this is also further evidence of the fact that Faustus is an individual character. If Faustus is a tragic hero then his tale must be a tragic one. Dr Faustus certainly fits into the definition of a tragedy as cited in The Oxford English Dictionary, A play or other literary work of a serious or sorrowful character with a fatal or disastrous conclusion. It is this 'disastrous conclusion' which sets Faustus apart from a traditional morality play, in that he cannot repent and therefore is not ultimately saved and redeemed by God - as Steane states in his book Marlowe, 'Mankind and Everyman crawl up to their God; Faustus even in his last hour still aspires to leap, and it can't be done.' (Steane, 1965, p.157). This quote shows Faustus' inability to repent and proves that his pride is in control. It also emphasises the fact that Faustus is not an Everyman character as their actions are exactly opposite. However, although not a typical morality play ending, there were some which ended in the protagonist being damned to Hell and they were normally Protestant plays. Although there are many aspects of the morality play to be found in Dr Faustus I believe that the tragic nature of the play, a man damned to hell due to his own characteristics, unable to repent and find salvation and the seriousness of much of the content of the play outweighs the morality aspects. It would seem that, to quote from Steane in Marlowe again, The Morality Play simply offered the form in which Marlowe could externalise the struggle he saw and found interesting in the Faust story. (Steane, 1965, p.167) The moral of Dr Faustus would initially seem to be very simple; do not aspire to what humans cannot achieve and believe in the power of God over evil and the Devil. Mephistopheles himself gives a warning to Faustus about over-reaching when he tells of Lucifer's fall from heaven, Faustus: How comes it then that he is prince of devils? Mephistopheles: O, by aspiring pride and influence, For which God threw him from the face of heaven. (I.iii.63-65) Faustus' pride and arrogance, though, ensure that he ignores this warning. The tone of both the opening and closing Choruses is moralising, as they both offer a warning about overreaching. The prologue initially appears not to be offering any judgement: Only this gentles - we must now perform The form of Faustus' fortunes, good or bad And now to patient judgements we appeal (Prologue, 7-9) However, the language used later in the prologue is clearly condemning of Faustus, Till swoll'n with cunning, of a self-conceit, His waxen wings did mount above his reach.... ...For falling to a devilish exercise And glutted now with learning's golden gifts (Prologue, 19-23) Words like 'swoll'n' ,'glutted' ,and later, 'surfeits' and 'cursed' are clearly criticising Faustus' actions. The epilogue offers the audience a moral more clearly, Faustus is gone: regard his hellish fall, Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise Only to wonder at unlawful things. (Prologue, 23-25) In regards to a moral concerning God and repentance, it is the Old Man who is used to give the message. He appears late in the play, indicating at once that it is never too late to ask for God's forgiveness, obviously a moral in itself. Even as late in the play as Act V Scene i, when Faustus' damnation seems inevitable, the Old Man believes there is hope for Faustus, I see an angel hover o'er thy head, And with a vial full of precious grace Offers to pour the same into thy soul: Then call for mercy and avoid despair. (V.i.55-58) This is directed towards Faustus but the audience may see the message as well; nevertheless, Faustus cannot adhere to the Old Man's advice, as the moral is lost on him once more. By damning Faustus Marlowe makes it clear his moral failure is being unable to repent and having a lack of faith in God. In this way the play can be seen as a religious discussion commenting on what a lack of faith in God can do. This is reinforced by the strength of the Old Man and the devil's inability to harm him in the way Faustus has been harmed, 'His faith is great. I cannot touch his soul.' (V.i.81). Religious debate also comes into the play in the comic scenes concerning the Pope. There is a great deal of anti-clericalism in these scenes (an idea brought forward with the development of Protestantism), with the Pope portrayed as being gluttonous, foolish and generally un-Christian, False prelates, for this hateful treacher Cursed be your souls to hellish misery. (III.ii.53-54) However, as stated by Wilson in Marlowe and the Early Shakespeare, in regards to Faustus' fate and religion there is no talk of predestination or whether Faustus was a member of the elect or reprobate, which again was an idea brought forward with the development of Protestantism, Calvinism in particular (Wilson, 1953). It is clear that Faustus' damnation is due to his own faults and the persuasions of other characters. Although there are warnings and morals given throughout the play, it is questionable as to whether or not the audience would adhere to them as the play is very much concerned with Faustus' own fate and as he is so much an individual it would be difficult for an audience to really relate to him and his fate. It seems to me that the play is more the discussion of a tragic character and his tragic fate with lessons and morals being inevitably included. Faustus' final soliloquy makes it clear that the play is more concerned with one man's tragedy than offering a moral to the masses, O Faustus Now hast thou but one bare hour to live And then thou must be damned perpetually. Stand still, you ever moving spheres of heaven.. That Faustus may repent and save his soul. (V.ii.133-140) The repetition of 'thou' and 'Faustus' in this extract make that clear. In this soliloquy we are taken through, what seems like minute by minute, the intimate thoughts in Faustus' mind as he faces his damnation. There are no morals to be found in this speech, other than to see the distress of Faustus' soul and learn from that. The subject matter of the play, a man signing a pact with the devil, is so obscure that it is difficult to find a suitable moral, although an Elizabethan audience would hold more belief and fear in the devil, as well as being much more concerned with the ideas of salvation and damnation, than an audience of today. It is an individual tragedy so there is no need for a moral and as Wilson again says, 'No moral can represent the experience which is given, but convention demanded a moral, and one was supplied.' (1953, p.48) In conclusion then I think that Dr Faustus is a tragedy which uses aspects of the morality play, perhaps merely because of the style of the time or because it had the right form for what Marlowe wanted to say. Concerning the moral within the play, there is certainly one (at least) which is offered by several characters. However I do not believe the play was written with the sole intention of offering a moral and would be equally as strong without one. Despite the moral given and the aspects of the morality play structure the play remains, primarily, the tragedy of an individual. Bibliography Marlowe, Christopher Dr Faustus in ed. WB Worthen (1996) The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, 2nd edn., Texas: Harcourt Brace Steane, J.B (1965) Marlowe Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Wilson, F.P (1953) Marlowe and the Early Shakespeare Oxford: Clarendon Press The Oxford English Dictionary (1989), Second edition, Volume xviii. Oxford: Clarendon Press 'Renaissance to Restoration' seminar and lecture notes A-level class notes Tutor comments on this essay This is a promising first essay. You begin well by setting out your plan clearly and in a way that shows that you have thought carefully about the title. You organise your essay methodically and support your points of interpretation with reference to the text. In particular, you comment well on the opening and closing speeches of the Chorus. There remains scope to describe morality structure more carefully, to show how Marlowe manipulates it and to describe the features of the play that lead you to interpret it as a tragedy. You might discuss why Faustus decides to act the way he does and why he persists in that particular course of action despite his doubts. You could explain what features of his characterisation ( for example his imagination, his doubts, his suffering) might make him appear tragic rather than simply wicked. Essay 2 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? This first year undergraduate essay was classified as being at the lower end of the upper-second class (2i). First class 70% and above Upper-second class 60-69% Lower second class 50-59% Third class 40-49% Fail Less than 40% 'Metaphysical poetry values intellect above emotion'. To what extent have you found this to be the case? Metaphysical is the label for the poetic tradition of the seventeenth century, the work of poets writing under the influence of John Donne. These poets were educated men with intellectual experiences, their interest in new discoveries, philosophies, concepts and the increase in foreign travel prompted this highly imaginative style, a product of the historical and cultural situation of the 1590's. Characteristic of their poetry is the use of intricate mental concepts of wit and learning, and a style rather than a universal subject matter is employed to justify a perceived likeness between different things. Most of the poems contain arresting imagery, which forces the mind to work, rather than those 'that appeal to the senses or evoke an emotional response through memory' (Bennett, 1964, p.5). The idea of metaphysical conceit is prevalent amongst the poetry, a metaphor which strikes the reader at first as being highly inappropriate and un-obvious, which then needs to be established intellectually by proving the comparison. So successful reading of metaphysical poetry necessitates a temporary separation of feeling from intelligence. This has led to criticism of be metaphysical style, for being inventive purely for its own sake, merely to flatter the intellect of the author, rather than to produce an effective poem. Similarly, the genre seems to have its faults in that it is needlessly obscure, restrained by the intellectual imagery therefore failing to communicate the spontaneous emotion of the poet. However, the use of intellect does give a certain refinement or respectability, intensifying the meaning of the poem, thereby producing and making possible an even greater sense of emotion through highly complex and intellectual theories. Intellect and emotion are nearly always viewed as separate entities, one concerned with strong instinctive or spontaneous feeling, sensation or passion, the other being the faculty of reasoning, knowing and thinking, quite opposite and distinct from feeling. In this essay, I plan to show that these two factors can, and do work in tandem to produce the effect of metaphysical poetry, and such distinctions are a rather simplistic generalisation of the genre. I shall begin with John Donne's 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning', in which the wit of the metaphysical conceit is used in relation to an intense emotional subject. The effect this has is not to undermine the emotion of the lovers parting but, in my opinion, says more about love in a thought provoking and covert way, giving a special quality that was not possible through conventional Petrarchan love sonnets that went before them. Donne begins the poem by indicating a preference for their departure to be unobtrusive, to be as restrained as possible in their parting, by using an analogy between the couple and 'virtuous men'. He describes; As virtuous men pass mildly away, And whisper to their souls to go, Whilst some of their sad friends do say The breath goes now, and some say, no; (l.1-4) Is Donne valuing intellect and reserve above emotion in this particular situation? Through descriptions of 'mildly' and 'whisper' he reveals his wish for their separation to be as temperate as this man's death, so tranquil that people standing around the deathbed differed in opinion as to the moment he died physically. Donne calls for a similar restraint in their passing, for no fuss, tears or sighs, referring to the conventional hyperbolic lovers and using them as a vision of how not to act; So let us melt and make no noise, No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move (l.5-6) Is this a realistic command by the poet or an idealised wish? Perhaps here the intellectual begins to take over the sentimentality, or spontaneity of the scene, as Dryden once fittingly described, Donne perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts and entertain them with the softness of love (quoted in Bennett, 1964, p.1) It is exactly this which defines the style of metaphysical poetry, as images of truthfulness or those to delight the senses are not included, he takes the more intellectual viewpoint, suppressing the emotion of the scene. This has the effect of surprising the reader, as it is so unexpected in what is a quite conventional love scene. It is here that Donne begins to explore a 'logical subtlety capable of expressing complex emotion' (Bennett, 1964, p.23). Intellectual theories are perhaps more clear as Donne develops the theme of departure. In the third stanza, comparisons are made between heavenly and earthly things, 'Moving of the earth' and 'the spheres'. Earthquakes bring concern - 'harms and fears', as to their spiritual meaning, but the 'trepidation', of the spheres, though far greater, is free from such worry. Therefore, Donne asserts, in their departure, they should be unobtrusive and calm like the spheres. This type of inflated analogy between the two worlds is somewhat typical of the logical complexity of metaphysical style, this stanza absorbed from the world of science rather than poetry. He chooses to relate in a manner which is more 'logical than sensuous or emotional. The abstract is connected with concrete, remote with near, sublime with commonplace' (Bennett, 1964, p.3). One of the greatest images in metaphysical poetry comes in the seventh stanza, as Donne compares their love to a pair of compasses. He states; If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two (l.25-26) By stating this arresting form of imagery the poet now has to make the reader believe it. At first, this comparison seems highly unromantic, not one that would be used to comfort a love on a period of separation. It is though, testament to Donne's command over intellectual thought, and metaphysical wit that this at first incongruous idea can in my opinion translate into one of the most stunning and sincere assertions of love and sentiment in literature. Matthew Arnold though has a different outlook on the abilities of the metaphysical poets; their poetry is conceived and composed in their wits, genuine poetry is conceived and composed in the soul. The difference between the two kinds of poetry is immense. (quoted in Williamson, 1968, p.9) I would take issue with this statement, as when the reader has engaged the mind and worked to understand the initial complexity of the comparison, the imagery in metaphysical poetry, particularly (Donne's compass), is as soulful and poignant as any. In fact it may be that I feel this because it is not at all obvious initially, as one has to search behind the wit. It is my belief that the wit and the soul, (or the intellect and emotion), juxtapose to create the effect - the two kinds of poetry have joined together in Donne's piece successfully and engulfed the gap which Arnold suggests. Donne's intellect works as he uses the opening and shutting image of compasses to reassure his love that they are never really separated, himself being one leg, his love the other, constantly joined; Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show To move, but doth, if th' other do (l.27-28) The two lovers are not really separated because they come together and apart at the same time as compasses. and though it in the center sit, Yet when the other far doth roam, It leans and hearkens after it, And grows erect, as that comes home. (l.29-32) Thus the compass figure enacts her role in the separation, leaning and inquiring after the wandering foot, but growing erect as that comes back to her. So in a highly ingenious manner, Donne has managed to talk about love through intellectual ideas such as science and mechanics. He doesn't talk of her beauty in the emotionally conventional manner but draws on unconventional imagery and ideas. In one sense it would be quite easy for the reader to adopt the point of view therefore that Donne in this poem values intellect above emotion as he addresses a love on separation in a rather inappropriately blunt manner, however on an intellectual level such images are ingenious. However, I think Donne's metaphysical style enhances the emotion, firstly through its maturity; it does not feel the need to 'expect tunefulness or images that delight the senses' (Bennett, 1964, p.v). The author expects the reader of metaphysical poetry to have an active mind, so therefore intentionally uses images and words make poems deliberately complex. In my opinion Donne's use of intellect actually enhances emotion, as the image of the compass acts as a satisfying comfort to the couple. This is achieved through what Joan Bennett describes as 'imagery enhanced meaning' (1964, p.v). Whereby using grand images the subject matter is also inflated and the stunning imagery can only add expression to simple thought, 'provide an analysis as well as a correlation of emotions' (Bennett, 1964, p.3). Included in Donne's use of the compass metaphor is the conflict over gender, which again adds to the idea of the metaphorical conceit, as it seems highly inappropriate at first, which is in turn proved intellectually by the poet. There seems to be a strange inversion of sexual roles, as the woman is described in terms of 'grows erect' and 'thy firmness' which normally relate to the male, and the use of 'and though it in the center sit' and 'my circle' is referring to the male, not the woman who to as a phallic symbol it applies. This has clearly been intended by Donne, either to show that the female has been given control of the situation if she remains constant. Donne is simply trying to be clever by swapping roles, or is emphasising how this love is different. Whatever the intention, the intellectual demands Donne pours on the imagination only increase the emotion. As Joan Bennett perfectly describes, 'The purpose of an image in his poetry is to define the emotional experience by an intellectual parallel. [...] He identifies his intellectual analogy with his emotion' (Bennett, 1964, p.7) 'The Flea' is an ingenious and entertaining poem, in which Donne uses an intricate series of peculiar events to lure a woman to bed. The difference between this poem and 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning' is that here, it could be argued that Donne produces and values intellect over emotion. This is because 'The Flea' has unconventional and unpleasant images, a complex theory. The obscure thought involved, is at times repugnant; It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be (l.3-4) Indeed this seems a highly complex method of persuasion, but once analysed, is quite logical. Donne asserts that both their bloods have already joined together and mixed in the body of the flea, 'And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be'. Donne is decreasing the importance of the sexual act by saying this happens in the body of the flea, so why shouldn't we do it - 'this, alas, is more then we would do'. The poet then expands on the intellectual tone of persuasion by using the image of them inside the flea, coming together at an altar; Where we almost, yea more than married are, This flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is (l.11-13) The poet develops a religious tone to the poem as the woman attempts to kill the flea, asserting that to do so would be blasphemous, described as 'sacrilege, three sins in killing three'. The religious tone, which adds drama, continues with images portrayed in the death of Christ; 'purpled', 'nail', 'blood of innocence', as the flea is killed. This intellectual argument is ended with an assertion that there will be no more loss to the woman in going to bed with him than there was when she killed the flea; 'Just so much honor, when thou yield'st to me, Will waste'. Clearly such psychology is disturbing, although clever and witty in context, the emotion of the sexual act is forgotten by the poet. It is quite easy to form a similar opinion to Samuel Johnson in reaction to this particular metaphysical poem; Their thoughts are often new, but seldom natural; they are not obvious and the reader, far from wondering that he missed them, wonders more frequently by what perverseness of industry they were ever found. (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.677-8) The intellectual style of metaphysical poetry removes it to a certain extent from the vicissitudes of life. Donne makes use of language and discourse which are obviously not 'poetical'. Things which are completely unlike are- brought together, so a certain sense of artificiality remains. This is the very nature of the metaphysical conceit, where far fetched comparisons are made through convoluted or unlikely metaphors, where 'heterogeneous ideas are yoked together' (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678), such as the idea of love and a flea. This rather violent technique makes the reader see things in a different way, as is certainly true of Donne's No.14 from the Holy Sonnets, in which there is a violent juxtaposition of the religious and sexual, two things completely dissimilar. This method has been criticised for containing 'a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike' (Johson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678). In attempting to be ingenious and creative, the greater power of the intellect takes over, the intricate train of thought then becomes too advanced and complex, the reader sometimes misreading the intentions of the poet. In such as the Holy Sonnets No. 14, the reader cannot attain any sense of emotion through the intellect, but through the language and linguistic quality. It seems like ingenuity for its own purpose, or the creative impulse of the poet taking over, producing an obscure and unpleasant poem. Experiences which have normally been kept apart in the mind are now yoked together, in an unsettling manner, the revered God is now addressed in desperate, aggressive terms; 'Batter my heart, three-personned God' such are the violent, shocking and colloquial terms employed in the initial conceit as the poet calls for salvation. This modulates through the poem to the disconcerting final paradox where Donne calls to be redeemed and purified, only possible if, as the poet deliberately puts it, God 'ravishes' him. So God is addressed in terms of sexual desire; 'never shall be free, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me'. A conflict is established between religious chastity and 'ravishing'. The violent and awkward juxtaposition is strange; did Donne include this purely to shock and challenge the reader to new ways of thinking that challenged past beliefs in which views on public duty and private relationships, and sex and religion were confused, to evoke fear and excitement, or true to metaphysical aims to work the intellect of the reader, and achieve an emotional response through doing this? It would be hard to say that Donne valued intellect above the expense of emotion in this particular poem or he would never have written about such shocking subject manner, or chosen such a violent juxtaposition of themes- the very fact he chose to do this intellectually is because he knew it would evoke an emotional response. I think this is typical of much of Donne's poetry, in that intellect and emotion go hand in hand, each supporting the other. Through this I feel Donne attains a very real sense of human experience. He writes about love in terms of religion, (the flea for example, with its references to the 'temple' 'sacrilege' 'purpled' 'nail' 'blood of innocence') and in his religious poetry he discusses religious purity in terms of sexual desire. This confusion gives a rich portrayal of human experience as everything is seen as a whole, intermingled, without categories for sexuality, faith and so on, a sense of coherence and unification is achieved. 'To His Coy Mistress', written by Andrew Marvell, is an example of emotion through reasoning. He aims to triumph over the female's reluctance by exploiting the 'male vigour of his intellect' (Legouis, 1965, p.34). Marvell uses wit and rhetorical skill by expanding in a rather fanciful way a relatively simple argument. He uses the metaphysical style in that he presents intellectual ideas and references to which he then has to prove the comparison and connection. Firstly, for example, he refers to time and space in reference to his enduring love; I would love you ten years before the flood, And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews (l.8-10) By referring to the Great Flood, and the future events associated with the Jews Marvell is able to show the validity of his love through time's passing. An analogy is used to describe his love later as 'vegetable love' an intellectual idea of the fruit growing, thereby humanising love as something physical which grows, and in this context seemingly the poet would want us to believe, without conscious nurturing. This poem values intellect highly, as there are a number of witty comments throughout that lend themselves much more to use of ingenious and risqué images than romantic ones, for example Thine eyes, and on the forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest (l.14-16) This clever manipulation of the blazon then turns with a sexual innuendo to the woman's sexual organs. The fact that this is intended to be ambiguous reveals Marvell's skill in intellectual poetry, and the fact that although witty, this particular poem (or poet?) 'was not successful in representing or moving the affections' (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678). The intellectual tone is continued with the clever personification of death; But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near (l.21-22) This is an inventive method of persuasion, the use of 'time's' and 'hurrying' give a sense of urgency, along with 'chariot' which seems to give the image of something speeding out of control. Marvell then embarks on descriptions of death, nothingness, a void, the danger for them if they do not progress; 'all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity' and 'in thy marble vault', 'My echoing song'. Then worms are used as a phallic symbol for the penis, as they will penetrate her virginity when she is inside the earth instead; then worms shall try That long-preserved virginity (l.27-28) So a tone of intellectual crudity is substituting that of romance, as seriousness is mixed with levity in daring puns; The grave's a fine and private place (l.31) Marvell uses the simple description of 'like amorous birds of prey' to deliberately change the intellectual tone of the poem from love as a delicate thing, to one of sexual desire, with the image of the two devouring each other. It is in developing this idea that Marvell embarks upon one of the true images of metaphysical poetry. He uses the image of a ball to signify the two people coming together; Let us roll all our strength and all Our sweetness up into one ball (l.41-42) The image of two separate people coming together and joining as one is what Marvell uses, the 'strength' being his and the 'sweetness' hers. This then will form a ball, which is the conventional image of perfection, the potent sphere. It is also an image of a pomander, a ball of spices and herbs normally kept in the pocket or in a drawer to ward off disease. So the poet is saying, let us join in this manner and we will be a therapeutic, all powerful element. Although a highly intellectual concept, the 'passion is not trivialised' (Bellamy, 1981, p.39). The obscure image of 'iron gates' are then used to enhance the potency, they will be able to burst through as a cannon ball, fired by their sexual energy, as again references to the rough passion are alluded through 'tear our pleasures with rough strife'. The poet has the wonderful skill of being able to employ 'brutal simplicities' to resolve 'sophisticated arguments' (Bellamy, 1981, p.39). So in a very controlled and thoughtful manner, Marvell makes intellectual comparisons by using scientific imagery. This could have an emotional impact, or not- depending on the poet's skill and the intellectual abilities of the reader. Samuel Johnson's viewpoint on this matter is though interesting; the metaphysical poets use the natural language of men when they are soberly engaged in commerce or in scientific speculation, so that the words themselves cut themselves off from one of the common means of poetry and thus became entirely dependant on a successful fusion between thought and feeling. (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.679) It is this fusion between thought and feeling which makes the metaphysical poetry I have studied so successful, where at first the initial obscurity of the inflated sense of intellectuality is seen as a restraint to the emotion. However, I believe as one reads closely, it is easy to see how 'their learning instructs, and their subtlety surprises' (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678), as emotion forms through the intensity and richness of intellectual meaning. I do believe that the primary concern of the metaphysical poets was to 'employ something unexpected and surprising' (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678) in terms of comparison, and to achieve a certain emotion through this. It would be impossible to write purely intellectual poetry about love for example. The additional factor though which makes me believe that intellect is not valued exclusively above emotion is that much of the poetry has a self conscious wit to it- the poets are aware of the ironies of their work in that they use highly complex analogies with lofty images of science and mechanics and even the Universe, to (for example) persuade a woman into bed. A certain incongruity does add to the richness of the form, in which through juxtaposing obscure images and emotional situations, the Metaphysical poets achieved 'their wish to say what they hoped had never been said before' (Johnson in ed. Greene, 1984, p.678). Bibliography Bellamy J, Havely CP, Hill C, Purkis J (1981) Seventeenth Century England: A Changing Culture, 1618-1689, Milton and Marvell Buckingham: Open University Press Bennett, Joan (1964) Five Metaphysical Poets Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Donne, J. 'A Valediction Forbidding Mourning', 'The Flea', 'Holy Sonnets' in ed. Ferguson, M, Salter, M and Stallworthy, J (1996) The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 4th edn., New York: Norton Johnson, Samuel 'Cowley' from Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets, in ed. Greene, D (1984) The Oxford Authors: Samuel Johnson, Oxford: Oxford University Press Legouis Pierre, Andrew Marvell - Poet, Puritan, Patriot. Oxford University Press, 1965 Marvell A, 'To His Coy Mistress' in ed. Ferguson, M, Salter, M and Stallworthy, J (1996) The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 4th edn., New York: Norton Williamson George (1968) A Reader's Guide to The Metaphysical Poets, London: Thames and Hudson Tutor comments on this essay This is a good first essay. Its strength lies chiefly in the way you get to grips with the particular details of a good range of poems and thus show yourself closely engaged in the process of reading and making sense of them. This method gives substance to the general comments you make about metaphysical poetry. Whilst your generalisations are largely derived from your secondary reading, particularly of Joan Bennett, you also show independence by challenging Matthew Arnold and by apparently turning Dr Johnson's criticisms against himself. Essay 3: 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. This essay was classified as being at the upper end of the third class (3). First class 70% and above Upper-second class 60-69% Lower second class 50-59% Third class 40-49% Fail Less than 40% 'Tragedies portray societies which are caught between conflicting value systems.' Discuss with reference to one or more plays. Conflicting value systems are always around, especially where death is involved. So in the tragedies of Everyman, Doctor Faustus and Hamlet there are many conflicts to face. These include personal moral conflicts with individual characters of the plays and also opposing values between the different characters in the play.. Conflicting value systems may even stretch to how the audience interprets the play and the beliefs and culture at the time. In Everyman, we can see that the character 'Everyman' faces a moral dilemma as God summons Everyman by offering Death to take him as his own. This creates to conflicting value systems. One is whether Everyman should go with Death. O wretched caitiff, whither shall I flee that I might escape this endless sorrow? (l.171-2) Here Everyman is questioning whether or not he should go with Death. He is finding it very difficult to come to a decision in his mind. The play, Everyman is about whether he will make the right decisions. The other question is with Everymans' friends. Should they go with Everyman? That is matter indeed. Promise is duty; But and I should take such a voyage on me, I know it well, it should be to my pain; Also it maketh me afeared certain. (l.248-9) Here Fellowship declines from taking part in Everymans' journey, though he feels ashamed and weak to do so. Kindred, Goods, Knowledge, Confession, Beauty, Strength, Discretion and Five-wits also decline to go with Everyman, after facing a personal moral conflict. The whole of Everyman consists of dramatic conflict and abstract argument as Everyman struggles for his soul. This is called Psycho Machia. This means that because of all of the conflicting value systems, Everyman has to remain strong in the mind in order to make the right decisions. There are inner moral dilemmas for all of the characters involved, as each of them have to fight with their conscience in order to make the right decisions. We can also find conflicting values in the religion of the play. Everyman is a Christian play in which God is seen as manipulative and vengeful, though heaven is seen as a good place. Now shalt thou into the heavenly sphere, Unto which all ye shall come That liveth well before the day of doom. (l.899-901) This alone shows a conflicting value within the play. Also, people of other religions would like to see God as a different figure and they may not believe in Heaven and a Hell. A Catholic would be able to do many bad deeds, yet would still be allowed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he had repented of his sins, and so because of this the audience could see the whole play as having conflicting value systems. In fact the whole audience could be in conflict. The play shows two different value systems within the moral argument. Everyman doesn't always make the right choices, after facing conflicting dilemmas with his mind. Towards the end of the play he feels weak and is ready to give up, he even talks about sinning. Alas I am so faint I may not stand; My limbs under me doth fold. Friends let us not turn again to this land, Not for all the worlds gold; For into this cave I must creep And turn to earth, and there to sleep. (l.788-793) The play also shows the bad results of when someone is tempted. Here (above) Everyman loses one of his qualities, 'beauty', whom he was addressing. However, Everyman, the play, also shows another side for when someone makes the right choices and is not tempted by the devil. For instance Everyman finally goes to heaven and is saved. And save me from the fiends boast, That I may appear with that blessed host That shall be saved at the day of doom. (l.883-5) Even the characters have conflicting value systems. For instance ,Vice is a very complex theatrical character. He tells the audience that he is wicked and that he is a harmful influence in the play. Yet he is always honest. So even his character is not a typical representation of evil and therefore is experiencing conflicting personality traits. The good and bad characters in the play are also facing conflicts against each other. e.g. Good Deeds. Though Everyman is a good character, as he nears the grave, his qualities disappear from him. (Gillie, 1977, p.41) Dr Faustus, another moral tragedy faced many of the same conflicting value systems as Everyman, however, with much more temptation from the seven deadly sins, Faustus finds it much more difficult to be moral. Faustus gets into a moral conflict with his mind, and the good and bad angels are symbols of this. O Faustus, lay that damned book aside. (I.i.68) The Good angel encourages Faustus to remain good. If thou repent, devils will tear thee in pieces. (II.ii.82) The bad angel tries to persuade Faustus not to do the right thing. The society around Dr Faustus is putting him in the middle of a moral conflict by telling him what to do. Mephistopheles also creates conflict by doing whatever Faustus asks (Jump, 1962). This means that Dr Faustus is able to commit any sin that he wants. The people in the society around him give him knowledge of what will happen to him if he does not repent, yet he won't repent through fear of punishment. So even though Dr Faustus turns to worldly delights to put off confrontation of the real problem, the problem is always there. This means that the conflict in Dr Faustus mind hasn't gone away, he is just trying to forget that he has a dilemma. The society in which Dr Faustus lives is split into two with people telling him different things. The figure of the old man shows that there is still a chance for Dr Faustus to repent and to be saved. Here is a quote showing that there are two sides of an argument in Dr Faustus: It is also thoroughly Renaissance in its treatment: the conflict of choice is made convincing as it would not have been in a medieval play (Wynne-Davis, 1989, p.463) This quote again shows that there were two sides in Dr Faustus and this made it hard for him to make the right decisions. For example, Beelzebub, the seven deadly sins, Mephistopheles and Helen of Troy all lead to Dr Faustus being damned. Again, as in Everyman, the conflict of all of the individual characters and the moral conflict between them is not the only conflict that goes on in this morality play. There are also conflicts between audience interpretation. For instance, the audience at the time of Dr Faustus was continually changing their religion as the king kept swapping the countries beliefs from Catholic to Protestant and back again and again. Because of this it often depended on whether the audience were Catholic or not as to whether Dr Faustus was damned. If the audience was Catholic, then they believe that Dr Faustus would not have been damned, but if the audience was Protestant, they believed that Dr Faustus wouldn't have constant chances to repent and would most certainly be damned. Therefore there could be conflict between the audiences as they believe that two different things would have happened to Faustus. Catholics would believe that Faustus could not be damned, therefore, the rightful ending to the play relies on Christian ideology as Faustus was eventually sentenced to eternal damnation. Hamlet, another tragedy has many conflicting values. Hamlet is often forced to think about his actions because of the society around him. In the play, Hamlet is placed in an impossible situation. He faces moral conflicts and dilemmas in his own mind. In his life, Hamlet plays many roles. We can think of him as an author, director and protagonist. Hamlet has two parts to his character and they are conflicting. One is that one aspect of his character is responsible for his destruction and this is why Hamlet faces a dilemma. Hamlet's dilemma is that on one part he loves his mother and doesn't want to offend her, and if she loves Claudius he doesn't want to hurt her, but on the other part he knows that Claudius killed his father. Hamlet even has conflicts trying to persuade his mother that Claudius is the murderer, but she does not want to believe him, she thinks that Hamlet is just jealous and angry because she married so soon after his fathers death. Hamlet again faces conflict in that he did not want to kill Claudius as he didn't want to commit a sin, he is also afraid of going to hell instead of heaven, yet he also wants justice to be done. Hamlet is torn between doing what he thinks is right and revenging his fathers killer. To be or not to be, that is the question, Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer (III.i.66-7) This soliloquy shows that Hamlet faces a moral dilemma and is very worried about doing the right thing. This is made even harder for Hamlet, because the ghost of his father is asking him to kill Claudius, Hamlet himself is afraid of death and so doesn't want to kill himself to escape because he is scared. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder. (I.v.31) Hamlet even goes to the point of pretending that he is mad to try and escape his conscience. He is hoping that when he kills Claudius, everyone would think that he was mad and wouldn't think of him as badly. He is also hoping that he can be forgiven. Hamlet finally kills himself to flee from the conflicting value systems that are around him. For example, the ghost of his father is telling him what to do and so is his mother. He also feels guilty about killing Polonius. Finally he decides to rid himself of the moral conflict that is going on in his head. Heaven make me free of it. (V.ii.273) So as you can see, Tragedies have conflicts for many reasons. This does not necessarily mean that the conflict is in society, as more often than not it is a persons own personal conflict, often between right and wrong, as shown in these morality plays. However, societies make humans take actions that they might not have taken otherwise. There are many other dilemmas going on as well, the moral dilemmas in all three plays lead the characters to sort out their conflicting opinions, they never really know what to do for the best, this is when society often causes conflict by taking different sides of the argument. The tragedy , however, does not mean that evil always wins out. Sometimes good does win over evil. Bibliography Anonymous Everyman in ed. Worthen, WB (1996) The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, 2nd edn, Texas: Harcourt Brace Gillie, C (1977) Longman Companion to English Literature, London: Longman Jump, J (1962) Introduction to Marlowe, Christopher Doctor Faustus, Kent: Methuen Marlowe, Christopher Doctor Faustus in ed. Worthen, WB (1996) The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, 2nd edn, Texas: Harcourt Brace Shakespeare, William Hamlet in ed. Worthen, WB (1996) The Harcourt Brace Anthology of Drama, 2nd edn, Texas: Harcourt Brace Wynne-Davis, Marion (1989) The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature, London: Bloomsbury Tutor comments on this essay You try to keep to the topic throughout the essay and you make plenty of references to features of three plays. However, your comments mostly take the form of brief, general assertions as you pass rapidly from one point to the next. It would be useful to re-think the opening of your essay to show that you have considered carefully the implications of the title and to set out a clear plan. You can also re-examine the generalisations you make in the course of the essay and consider how you might explain these points more fully. You also need to proof read your essay carefully to make sure that you express yourself clearly.