Writer's Methods

Question 1

what is blank verse?

Answer 1

lines of verse that do not rhyme but have a regular metre and can have rhetorical grandeur

the form usually used for upper class characters

Question 2

what is prose?

Answer 2

normal speech

usually used for lower class characters

Question 3

Fredric Jameson (theory of genre)

Answer 3

semantic comedy = has the tone and mood of a typical comedy

syntactic comedy = has the structure of a comedy and includes key comedic features rather than a comedic tone and mood

Question 4

lexical v semantic field

Answer 4

lexical field = a ‘family’ of words, all related to the same topic and often have the same meaning or connotations, the same grammatical class

semantic field = a group of words with related meanings and themes (e.g. all relating to religion)

Question 5

deus ex machina

Answer 5

the Duke can be seen as a ‘deus ex machina’ figure, a god-like figure who returns at the end of the play to fix everything and restore peace

Question 6

the Duke: Christ v Machiavellian

Answer 6

the Duke can be seen as a Christ-like figure, all seeing as he’s in disguise and returns at the end to restore peace and happiness

OR

a Machiavellian schemer, an underhand scheming political figure with hidden motives and intentions, who manipulates the other characters like some sort of puppeteer

Question 7

the Duke’s rhymes

Answer 7

end rhyming brings finality to a character’s speech, emphasises the point they’re making and is often employed to suggest proverbial wisdom

the Duke’s rhymes often appear as incantations and it has been pointed out that his rhyming couplets echo the rhythms of the witches’ spells in Macbeth

links to his character representing some sort of higher power and divine being

Question 8

Escalus’ quote about virtue and sin

Answer 8

“Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall”

the nouns “sin” and “virtue” are in opposition, as are the verbs “rise” and “fall” while the conjunction “and” acts as the pivot between the two contrasting ideas, therefore the statement is balanced

emphasising the central theme of balance in the play and how Escalus is the balanced character, contrasting to Angelo’s severity and the Duke’s leniency

Question 9

alexandrine

Answer 9

statements may be given extra emphasis by being an alexandrine (a verse line of 12 syllables)

Question 10

chiasmus

Answer 10

an inversion of the word order which creates a counterbalancing effect

for example, when the Duke proposes marriage to Isabella he says “What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine”

Question 11

homophone

Answer 11

words that are spelt differently but sound the same

humour is often drawn from a pun on two meanings of a word which are spelt differently but the sound the same

Question 12

homograph

Answer 12

different meanings of the same word

for example, Isabella tells Angelo “I come to know your pleasure”, meaning she has come to see what he wants to discuss with her but “pleasure” also has a sexual undertone that is ironic considering that Angelo was just thinking about his sexual desire for her

a homograph was used in the 2004 Globe production when Escalus referred to Angelo as “Just ice” – “just” meaning either ‘fair’ or ‘simply’

Question 13

blank verse

Answer 13

higher class characters tend to speak in blank verse

5 iambic feet to a line and no rhyme at the end

regular blank verse moves at a steady walking pace and seems to mirror a heartbeat but it is quite versatile; it can sound formal and carefully prepared or spontaneous and colloquial

Question 14

prose

Answer 14

prose is when language is not organised according to formal patterns, it may have rhythm and devices such as repetition and balance but they are not governed by a regular arrangement

gives the effect of casual, informal discussion

prose is typically used for characters of lower social status and for informal discussions

Question 15

reversed iambic foot

Answer 15

reversed iambic foot may appear at the beginning of a line when the character wishes to make a point by starting with a stressed syllable

example = “Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love”

Question 16

character differentiation: Isabella

Answer 16

the characters have distinctive ways of speaking that help actors create his or her personality

Isabella is a novice nun about to take holy orders, so Shakespeare gives her a semantic field of Christianity; grace, mercy, soul, profanation, heaven, hell, damned, prayers, fasting, charity, chastity, sin, redemption, etc

Kate Nelligan as Isabella had an all-white costume of nun robes that emphasised her religious calling and purity

Question 17

character differentiation: Angelo

Answer 17

as a Puritan, he is also given a semantic field of religion; grace, heavens, tempted, pilgrimage, evil, saint, temptation, pray, sanctuary, charity, sin, my penitent heart

he also uses words associated with law; jury, justice, judgement, condemn, fault, fine, recorded law, testimony, arrest

the most distinctive feature of his speech is his absolutism, he frequently uses the modal auxiliary verb (verbs that express the degrees of possibility or probability) “must” which allow no possibility of deviation

he also uses superlatives (the most extreme form of an adjective) such as “most just law”

other words and phrases reveal his lack of compassion such as “Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all” and “Dispose of her [Juliet]”

Question 18

character differentiation: Elbow

Answer 18

uses a lot of malapropisms (the comically inaccurate use of a long, sophisticated word) and most of the humour in the scenes he features in stems from his ambitious attempts to use sophisticated vocabulary but failing and using words that sound vaguely similar but have a completely different meaning

for example, he incorrectly uses “benefactors” instead of malefactors, “cardinally” instead of carnally and “honourable” instead of dishonourable

he also makes a pun on his name by saying “I do lean upon justice” but given that he is portrayed as not having a lot of understanding about the meaning of words, he seems to make this pun unintentionally

Question 19

the ending

Answer 19

it could be argued that the play ends happily in the tradition of Shakespearean comedy

3, possibly 4, marriages have been arranged, the villain has been exposed and forced to repent, the loyal Provost is rewarded with “a worthier place” and nobody has been killed