A
What adjective was used (almost always) to describe Iago?
Honest
What did Desdemona's father die of?
Heart ache
Give one example of any one tool used by Iago to trick Othello into doubting Desdemona's fidelity.
Cassio/Handkerchief/Dream
Explain the significance of 'nightmare heat' in War Photographer.
References the use of Napalm in Vietnam
Give one example of women's subservience as shown in Othello.
Duty to husband/father, compliance even in death/abuse, women staying silent in matters concerning them, use of terms such as my lord
List 3 words/phrases used to describe Othello in the first act.
Black Moor/Black Devil/Black Ram/Thief
What were the connotations of the word 'spinster' as used to describe Cassio? (That never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster—)
Tries to raise doubts about Cassio's masculinity, unfit for military services
How do Desdemona and Emilia differ in their perceptions of marriage?
Different views on fidelity & equality in marriage
What is the historical context of the poem The Human Bee?
The poem is inspired by the problems being suffered in the southern Sichuan province of China, following pesticide poisoning killing all the local bees and forcing local farmers to have to hire people to pollinate their orchards by hand.
Comment on the use of "Poker. Gin Rummy. Blackjack" in The Big Ask.
Games of deception Holophrastic speech to suggest indifference
Name 3 poems that explore themes of mental health.
War photographer/Last Post/Deportation/Originally
Comment on the pun used in "We are in our element but we are not free." (The Dolphins)
element - natural element (water) & the colloquial implications which suggest they couldn't really be themselves
Comment on the use of animal imagery in Othello. (eg+tech+effect)
Black ram/barbary horse/beast with two backs/goats and monkeys
How does Emilia's treatment of Bianca highlight discrimination of women by women?
Divide on the basis of socio-economic class, lack of unity, double marginalisation
Comment on Iago's portrayal as a Machiavellian hero.
two-faced, manipulative, cunning, puppeteer
Why was the handkerchief important to Othello?
- represents fidelity
- symbolic of marital bliss
- given by his mother
Why is the poem Foreign written in free verse?
The poem explores misunderstanding, violent communication (hate speech), and the difficulty of learning a language that's not "your" own.
How does CAD suggest a loss of innocence in Little Red Cap?
At childhood’s end/came at last to the edge of the woods/I made quite sure he spotted me/would lead me deep into the words,
away from home, to a dark tangled thorny place/stockings ripped to shreds, scraps of red from my blazer/I clung till dawn to his thrashing fur, for
what little girl doesn’t dearly love a wolf?
What is the “Building of Exile” in the lines “I have felt less small/ below mountains disappearing into cloud/ than entering the Building of Exile.”? Why does the poet use these words to describe it?
Metaphor: Refers to the Immigration Enforcement office in Britain, creates visual imagery of exit permanent exile from the country.
Indicates how the speaker feels in front of the immigrant officials, small and helpless, insignificant.
How does the title "Parliament" tie in with the context of the poem?
Reflects on ecologically delicate environment around the world and the lack of action around it despite a lot of discussion/arguments.
Reflects actual parliament settings that aren't executing any policies but often get caught up in political debates
Give an example that suggests Mrs. Faust was not too different from Mr. Faust morally/ethically.
- bought a kidney
- materialistic
- obsessed with superficial features
- response to Faust's doom is c'est la vie
Comment on the significance of the reference to Dulce Et Decorum Est in The Last Post.
- Owen as the most celebrated war poem
- literary meaning of the phrase
- rejection of the same by CAD through the use of 'no'
Identify the techniques in the lines “I remember my tongue/ shedding its skin like a snake, my voice/ in the classroom sounding just like the rest. Do I only think/ I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space/ and the right place?” What does it bring out?
Simile- just as a snake develops a new skin, similarly, the speaker sheds her old Scottish life and takes on the new life of a Britisher, her accent is even the same now.
Allusion - The poem/line alludes to a particular snake: the serpent of the Garden of Eden.
Sibilance - hissing - suggests a sense of guilt at her betrayal of her culture
Asyndeton/ Metonymy-parts of her identity- a list of things the speaker has lost in her transition.
List Iago's motives against Othello/Cassio.
- race
- jealousy
- power dynamics
- avenge his "honour"
List the key features of Othello as a Shakespearean tragedy.
- hamartia
- revenge tragedy
- hubris
- pride & honour in the Elizabethan era
- dramatic irony
- the foil
- tragic waste