Shakespeare has used figurative language and verbs to show Cassius and Brutus intentions

‘To CUT the head off and then HACK the limbs’

This quote shows Brutus as a brutal and aggressive character. however from this I can infer that the character might not want to kill Caesar after all. This is because during he’s speech he is trying to convince the conspiracy to not kill Anthony and if Caesar was to be killed, ‘kill him boldly’ and ‘carve him as a dish fit for the gods’. These two quotes could supports my interpretation or even suggest that Brutus is a smart and logical character who is trying to suppress the conspiracy.

However this second interpretation could be false and Brutus says ‘let us be sacrificers, but not butchers’. The connotations of butchers suggests a bloody thirsty, savage character while the connotation of sacrificers suggests this act is being done for the greater good  of Rome and should be done respectfully

Cassius is shown to be blood thirsty and arguably a selfish character who doesn’t want the best for Rome.

‘Mark Antony, so we’ll beloved of Caesar…if he improves them(public), may well stretch so far as to annoy us all.’

From this source we can see that Cassius has cause for concern as mark Antony could cause an uproar from the public which could slow down their progress. But it leaves me with this question. If Cassius is not doing it for the people, who is he doing it for? The people themselves are Rome and without them it would not be great.

‘O the unrivalled stench of branded skin’

The use of O suggests that the event is dramatised or retrospectively. Looking back maybe in pain.

1st person

This might mean the the poem is a little more personal and meaningful. Feeling the extreme of emotion ( love and pain )

the last stanza ( my butterfingered way )

Might be showing how silly and funny the writer was before. Looking retrospectively at the good times. How love and nerves had past and now he is left with just remorse and regret. He is not apologetic but feels that things could lead have been better if an alternative had happened (asking he/she/it to marry him) I get this from the use of ‘Don’t believe me,please…’ and ‘…my buttered fingered way…’

Miss Maudie believes that Maycomb society is the ‘safest’ place in the world. I get this from the quote ‘We’re the safest folks in the world’. I put the word ‘safe’ in bunny ears as I believe that she is not truthful and on honest in what she says. I believe that she thinks that Maycomb is an unfair society where only one group of individuals benefit, however there are members of the society that do the dirty work to even out the difference, people like Atticus. I get this from the quote ‘I SIMPLY want to say there are SOME MEN in this world who were born to do our unpleasant jobs for us. Your father’s one of them’

Exploring this sentence further the use of the word ‘simply’ suggest that there is no argument and that this might be miss Maudie true opinion. As well of this, because of my contextual knowledge, I can imply that the use of ‘some men’ can only refer to Atticus and men like Hate Tate and Judge Taylor. This is because miss Maudie has great respect for these men as they are ‘good Christians’ (Christians not in the religious sense but doing the right thing no matter what)

Blert right word (1st) from Joel North on Vimeo.

Task one:

The poem has a very dark tone due to the topic it talks about. The poem talks about a war that is happening in Palestine and inexplictly implies that a bomb had hit the city and it’s dreadful impacts

Task Two:

The use of repetition in the pronoun ‘I’ and adverb ‘as’ creates  a rhetorical feel and a feeling of instancity. This helps understand the theme of conflict and the dark tone of the poem.

In chapter 24 reveals a new character by the name Mrs Merriweather. She is a prime example of hyprocrisy in this chapter

‘The poverty…the immorality…the darkness (towards the Mrunars)/ Oh child, those poor Mrunars’

‘That DARKY’S wife. Tom’s wife, Tom-‘

These two quotes where taken from different points of the chapter, they show the two sides of Mrs Merriweather and her hypocritical behaviour. The first quote suggests that Mrs Merriweather is very concerned and shows great sympathy towards the Mrunars (an African tribe) however the second quote Mrs Merriweather doesn’t remember Tom Robinson’s and refers to him as DARKY. This suggests that Mrs Merriweather doesn’t care for the black people in Maycomb and is very disrespectful towards them. This is hypocritical behaviour because how can a person feel sympathy towards a group of Black people thousands of miles away and not the black people (in very similar circumstances) just outside their front door.

Jem starts to realise how racist and unfair the Maycomb society is. He begins to see the ugly truths come out as the place he thought was home begin to torment and abuse his father mentally and physically. There are many signals to the change in the childrens characters

‘ I used to think that the Maycomb folks were the best folks, or that’s what they seemed like’ (Jem)

This suggests that Jem is losing faith in his own society and also beginning to lose his identity in his society

In chapter 18 we are introduced to the victim, Mayella. She is put up on the stands after her father. Harper Lee gives off little hints that Mayella is smarter than her family; she can read, she is the eldest of the chirldren. And because of this we begin to feel a little sympathy for her and we are lead to believe that Atticus is a bad guy who is being very mean to Mayella

‘don’t want him(Atticus) doing me dirty like he done papa’ – Mayella

‘I won’t try to scare you(Mayella) for a while, not yet.’ – Atticus

Atticus’ further supports me augment that Mayelka is being toyed by Atticus and that Atticus is being wicked and twisted. I gathered this from the use of ‘not yet’ as it suggests that Atticus, if not being vile now, he will soon.

However other quotes suggests that Mayella is becoming impatient and angry by Arricus’ in capability to ask important questions and treating with the respect that she thinks she deserves

‘Mayella’s hostility, which had subsided to grudging neutrality, flared again.’

Harper Lee prepared us for a unfair and brutal trial for Atticus , Tom Robinson and the black community. This is done through many different characters and metaphors

‘Roman circus’- Ms Maudie (the day of the trail, description of the courthouse)

this quote is said as Ms Maudie justify’s why she will no be attending the trail. It is very powerful as using these words to describe a court suggest that the trail will be brutal/entertaining but for all the wrong reasons just like the Roman games.

‘… Original court house burnt in 1865. Another court was built around them. It’s better to say, built in spite of them’

I belive that the court house burning and the declaration of the freedom of slaves have a strong connection. I think that the original court house and the way in which it has been rebuilt shows is the true Deep South philosophy of  Maycomb society, I think this quote is a powerful metaphor as it enhances our understanding of how Tom Robinson might feel. The same persecution that the Black community has felt over the last hundred years hasn’t change and that Tom Robinson will enviably fall like the people previous to him

Calpurnia is shown to be a woman who has lost culture or her identity. This is shown throughout the chapter as we begin to discover more about her personal life. She has a son, Zeebo, and grandchildren, as well as her lack of knowledge of her own birthday. We begin to feel sympathy for her and so do Jem and Scout

‘That Calpurnia led a modest double life never dawned on me’ (Scout)

Suggesting that scout possibly feels a little sympathy for Calpurnia