composing an essay on powerplay (1 Viewer)

[Abtari]

hi everybody,

i have all the information ready here in my hands - i have quotes, explanations of quotes, techniques used by composers to convey meaning, how power is represented, what types of power are represented, how relationships are shown...

buttttt

i am having trouble gathering it all into an essay. should i take the syllabus into consideration whilst structuring my essay (i.e. should i format it according to what different concepts the syllabus has given us) or should i approach it in my own way and how i think... (which is not a good thing as far as i know).

can someone please explain how i should STRUCTURE my essay. yes, intro, body and conclusion, but what meaty bits do i put in the body... HOPE THIS MAKES sense.

thanks heaps

 

[LaCe]

Yes u do make sense, I am exactly in the same position as u. I was told that you have to treat it like an AoS essay with the supp texts. ie. structure your essay according to the different types of concept but having said this, u have to have ur own style of writing cause it wont work if u do it someone else's way. Have it wither integrated, loosely integrated, or completely structured according to texts.

The supp texts should do exactly that, supplement your texts. Have the same ideas/concepts of power. I am working on my essay right now and it is looking pretty good if i do say so myself. Just need that flow and you're set.

 

[SimbadTheSailor]

Hi there. Lets see if i can help you out...

I would advise that you dont take too much consideration of the syllabus while writing the essay, just remember the focus on representing powerplay. Do you have any marking criteria that have been given to you with this essay? I find this is ultimately the most useful guide for creating essays, but its possible that our teacher gives it to my class as an exception - i dont know if you teacher does the same.
If not, its best to stick to the question, and make sure you satisfy each individual word - if it asks for discussion, then discuss.. etc.
The 'meaty bits' should be paragraphs on the way that power play is represented through:

*medium of production
*textual form
*choice of language
In these paragraphs you should also show an understanding of powerplay, its diversity and manifestation, and should use alot of supporting evidence from diverse text types.

Thats about it. The rest of the marks are mostly the 'sophistication' of the response, and the dealing with purpose/audience/language, which is pretty simple. Good luck!

 

[Abtari]

SimbadTheSailor,

when you say dealing with purpose/audience/language, do u mean our ability to write in a style that is reflective of the purpose/audience/etc...e.g. for a speech transcript, we would try and reduce complex jargon, keep it simple, include repetition etc???

i understand that we MUST talk about these meaty bits :

- representation of different types of power
- representation of interplay of power
- representations of the powerful
- representation of people power
- language techniques and HOW composers represent...

but in what order do i put these meaty bits ? do i have a paragraph on each of the things i have mentioned in this post and a separate paragraph on just language techniques, or do i talk about techniques the whole way throughout?

LaCe,

i see what u mean when u say that the supp. texts should have ideas related to the set text... do we include techniques used in the supp. texts in that same paragraph with the concept + techniques of set text?

thanks heaps..

 

[hikari]

you have paragraphs for each of the points you just mentioned, but a different paragraph per 'type of power'. then u talk about the techniques throughout those paragraphs as they're supposed to depict the representation of.. whatever you're talking about~

and if you're structuring it according to 'types of power', 'interplay of power', etc.. then you'd put set text + supp. text in the same paragraph in order to synthesise it and fully exemplify the varying/similar representations.

good luck

 

[Abtari]

do you have to talk about all the different types of power? which ones would be most important?

hikari, you mentioned talking about diff types of power (each para) and also include interplay of power (para). how would i structure it so that types and interplay are still both included but more blended??

thanks heaps.

 

[hikari]

oh sorry for replying so late ><

anyway, you just talk about the most evident and important types of power in your text. though i dunno which one ur doing so its hard to say.. =x

generally, you should be basing your entire essay on 'types of power' because the other dotpoints can be integrated into it. the following structure is for antony and cleopatra by william shakespeare, and may be edited according to however you want but .. i checked up a couple other ways and they're a pain in the ass you can also switch around where the 'types of power' go, i just did it this way for fun~ oh and each paragraph should integrate all your three texts, just makes it easier to synthesise and such. doing text by text in this module is probably the eqiuvalent of unstructured suicide xD

- political power : discuss the type of power, how it is obtained/maintained, who has political power, how is this shown, are there particular relationships which depict a political power relationship. these dotpoints should be in every single 'type of power' paragraph in order to meet all requirements of the rubric

- military power : military power is important in establishing political power, remember that ;D

- sexual power : sexual power is depicted in a&c as capable of overriding other types of power .. as antony so easily exchanges his responsibility and duty for sex.

- power through deception: this is a potent weapon in the powerplay of a&c, especially with caesar. power through deception can govern ALL other types of power hence its extremely important. this is a particularly important type of power in terms of interplay; as you can link it up to whichever power doesn't have enuogh interplay.. if you get what i mean~ haha

- personal power: this is power of suicide. to a roman general, it is the ultimate way of maintaining honour.

- power amongst the people: discuss how power amongst the people can also be governed by context. you can define the characteristics of rome and egypt, because people power works in rome with their democratic system though everyone in egypt is confined to cleopatra's will.

and yeah, that .. should be it. hope it's helping! ._.

 

[daemon22]

omg

omg.. I spent a week reading all BOS essays on A&C, I STILL DON'T KNOW how to write a damn essay.. I read this thread and I seemed to get an idea but I'm still confused anyway.. good work guys I have my trials on monday and no essay, great yea?

Anthony and Cleopatra is the worst Shakespeare play ever.

 

[hikari]

omg i know what you mean.. I HATEE antony and cleopatra >_< lucky the trials for powerplay are only worht 5%

haha anyways i think my previous explanation was a bit fudgy so i just elaborated a bit, hope it helps! good luck for monday~

 

[Rhan]

hi everybody,

i have all the information ready here in my hands - i have quotes, explanations of quotes, techniques used by composers to convey meaning, how power is represented, what types of power are represented, how relationships are shown...

buttttt

i am having trouble gathering it all into an essay. should i take the syllabus into consideration whilst structuring my essay (i.e. should i format it according to what different concepts the syllabus has given us) or should i approach it in my own way and how i think... (which is not a good thing as far as i know).

can someone please explain how i should STRUCTURE my essay. yes, intro, body and conclusion, but what meaty bits do i put in the body... HOPE THIS MAKES sense.

thanks heaps

i have noooooo idea sorry, powerplay is such a gay topic grrrrr...

 

[Rhan]

Re: omg

omg.. I spent a week reading all BOS essays on A&C, I STILL DON'T KNOW how to write a damn essay.. I read this thread and I seemed to get an idea but I'm still confused anyway.. good work guys I have my trials on monday and no essay, great yea?

Anthony and Cleopatra is the worst Shakespeare play ever.

just a word of advice...drama essays are more of a personal approach like using first person ..... kinda the opposite of english lol....
anyways thought id add a bit to try and help