2. BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:
1. Identify the subject matter (events, personalities and
situations) represented in your prescribed text, Julius Caesar:
• an event is Caesar’s assassination; Brutus’s funeral
speech; Antony’s funeral speech
• a personality is Caesar; or Brutus; or Mark Antony – or
the personality type of a leader.
• a situation is basically a “theme” or “idea”; ie. in Julius
Caesar it is politics and democracy; power and
manipulation.
2. Identify the conflicting perspectives about each of the above.
3. Analyse how these conflicting perspectives have been
represented by the composer.
3. HOW DO THE FOLLOWING
INFLUENCE MEANING:
The words from the syllabus are that you need to: “evaluate how
medium of production, textual form, perspective and choice of
language influence meaning”.
Medium of production (text type): for example, is it a play or film?
Textual form (choices in structure): is it a drama or comedy? How
does Julius Caesar being a tragedy influence the meaning conveyed
to the audience?
Perspective: what perspective does the composer/audience take
and how is this shaped by their context?
Choice of language: techniques.
5. soliloquy
juxtaposition of scenes expressing contrary positions
the varied and contrasting rhetorical devices or oratory
(e.g. logos/pathos, second/third person)
dramatic irony
references to the supernatural
symbolism
binaries
imagery
6. So what can you say about
“conflicting perspectives”?
What do we write about besides the obvious, which is
that “conflicting perspectives always exist”?
In Blade Runner/Frankenstein, you can focus on ideas
about the nature of humanity, the responsibility of the
creator, mankind’s need for the natural world …there’s so
much to talk about!
But what can you say about “conflicting perspectives”?
7. Developing your thesis:
What does “perspective” mean?
Why do conflicting perspectives always exist?
How do they arise? In other words, how is it that two people
viewing the same event can have such different views?
How do composers represent a particular perspective (or different
perspectives) to achieve a certain purpose?
How can perspectives be manipulated so that one prevails?
Is your perspective shaped by the perspectives of others?
Your answers to these questions can form the basis or beginning of
your ideas and line of argument about “conflicting perspectives”.
8. Answering the question:
Your question:
How is the representation of conflicting perspectives
an integral part of the texts you have studied?
A working thesis would start by asking WHY and then
rephrasing the question:
The representation of conflicting perspectives is integral to the
texts studied because .....
9. Avoid only the WHAT
AVOID: describing WHAT the conflicting perspectives are in
your texts.
Your essay shouldn’t be about WHAT the different perspectives on a
personality, event or situation are. For example, you shouldn’t write: “In
___ text, the composer is opposed to the assassination of Caesar,
because _____. This perspective is illustrated by the use of ______.
However, there is another conflicting perspective to the issue of his
assassination in _____.”
So, the essay should NOT be about picking an event (eg. Caesar’s
assassination) and discussing the different perspectives on it
(for/against).
11. Focus on WHY and HOW
INSTEAD focus on:
WHY the composer has used conflicting perspectives (how it is
integral to achieving their purpose) = topic sentence
HOW composers have represented those perspectives (use of form
and techniques to position audiences and privilege a certain
perspective) = the majority of your analysis
The essay should be about discussing WHY conflicting perspectives are intrinsic
to achieving the purpose of these texts’ composers and HOW those composers
represent their perspectives. For example, “Conflicting perspectives are integral
to the texts studied due to the inevitable subjectivity of composers. In _____,
the composer’s subjective opinion on Caesar’s assassination is clearly illustrated
through _____. The composer manipulates the audience to adopt his
perspective by________”.
13. Topic Sentences
Your topic sentences/body paragraph ideas should be about
the NATURE of conflicting perspectives – why do they arise?
How are perspectives constructed and manipulated?
Conflicting perspectives arise when people view the same
event from differing viewpoints, showing the inherent
biased in all perspective in life.
Perspectives on an event, situation or personality are always
constructed by a composer and the result of their own
viewpoint.
Composers use conflicting perspectives to privilege their
own values.
14. Conflicting perspectives exist due to the inevitable
subjectivity of composers.
Conflicting perspectives show us that personalities are often
constructed and give us a multifaceted, complex portrait of
the person.
Conflicting perspectives show us that there are always
alternative views to any event, situation or person.
Representations of events, situations, personalities and are
often constructed via conflicting perspectives through the
composer’s deliberate selection and emphasis in a text.
15. Related texts
Must deepen or add to your ideas on why
and how the composer uses conflicting
perspectives to represent a personality,
situation or event
May or may not be related to JC
Must use CP in insightful way
16. Essay Structure
Introduction: thesis; insights into why conflicting perspectives (CP)
integral to texts studied; identify texts by title, composer, type
Body sections:
- topic sentence about CP idea1 / why integral to texts studied?
- how CP idea is demonstrated in core text
- how CP idea is demonstrated in related text (draw links to core text)
- concluding topic sentence about CP idea.
- topic sentence about CP idea2 / why integral to texts studied?
- how CP idea is demonstrated in core text
- how CP idea is demonstrated in related text (draw links to core text)
- concluding topic sentence about CP idea.
Conclusion:- restate your main points - drive home your line of
argument about why CP are integral to the texts you have studied.
17. In Summary:
1. identify the conflicting perspectives
2. explain why they exist
3. explore how they are created/communicated
