TODAY WAS A CUP FINAL. All the material discussed in today's session was aimed at providing students with material for the JERUSALEM coursework essay. Students were provided with an exemplar essay, a potential essay structure for a question, and a host of material that will allow students to create an informed critical response when responding to Butterworth's play. Class contribution was excellent. This level of engagement and participation needs to be reflected in the written work. The areas explored within class discussion today included:
- The significance of Northrop Frye's THREE WORLDS THEORY and how this can be applied to JERUSALEM. Class discussion linked the fact that the NEW WORLD section of this model could not be applied to JERUSALEM and this fact was linked to the author's aim and the thematic meaning of the play. This is a play that encourages defiance and questions the value of conformity and this reading was linked to the refusal of Butterworth to follow the codes and conventions of this model of Shakespearean Comedy. His allusion to the world of Shakespeare seems to suggest that Butterworth values the magical nature of Shakespeare's storytelling and creativity and the lack of order at the conclusion of JERUSALEM seems to encourage a sense of Romantic mystery. The ending is loud, violent, defiant and ambiguous.
- The class also considered how the fact that Butterworth encouraged the original cast to write their own dialogue and consider their own character's place in the play, could be linked to meaning. His very approach to the construction of the play's narrative structure could be considered unconventional and non-conformist.
- The class were asked to consider why Butterworth offers so many references to iconic English images such as the great Literature of Blake and Shakespeare, the English Folk Tradition of May Day, the significance of the Spitfire etc...ALL THESE IMAGES SEEM TO BE POSITIVE SYMBOLS OF ENGLAND AND ENGLISHNESS. Perhaps the symbol of ENGLAND that serves the symbolic heart of this play is STONEHENGE as this is a site of mystery and awe that 'experts' have failed to explain. Its function remains a mystery. This is a play that seems to embrace the ROMANTIC SENSIBILITY that the world, and life itself, is a more imaginative, exciting, and rewarding experience if the world contains mystery. Some unidentifiable quality that is not function.
- The class also considered the importance of Myth in this play and considered whether Byron is The Pied Piper, Robin Hood, A Troll in a Fairy Tale, or St.George or the dragon!!?? One student desribed this play as an EPIC NARRATIVE. A MYTH that celebrates the ROMANTIC SENSIBILITY and presents this sensibility for a twenty-first century audience. Why does this play seem to celebrate a sense of the mysterious? What is Butterworth's view of twenty-first century England? THIS IS KEY and crucial to any real understanding of the play. Butterworth has stated that this is a play 'about loss'. What has been lost?
- One of the most enlightening comments concerned the play as a Tragedy and considered Byron as a Tragic Hero. Class discussion considered how Byron's defiance, contempt for authority, strength of character, courage and pride could be all be viewed as his 'fatal flaw'. In contemporary England, Byron's bravery and strength is his weakness. Qualities that could be perceived as admirable are, in this play, a weakness. What does this play tell us about contemporary England? Students must refer to my Arthur Miller notes if considering this play as a tragedy. Who or what is the 'heroic finger pointing' at when illustrating the 'enemies of man's freedom' in this play? It is completely relevant to offer the viewpoint that this play begins as a comedy and concludes as a tragedy.
- Another comment offered the view that the sentiment in Blake's JERUSALEM, that England is a work in progress and the imaginative freedom of its people is being hindered by industrialisation and the routine of 'the dark satanic mills', is the same sentiment being expressed in Butterworth's JERUSALEM. This idea that there is a 'fearful symmetry' between the two texts is an extremely relevant interpretation. Furthermore, the play seems to reflect the same sentiment as William Blake's painting 'NEWTON'. This being the idea that the we ignore the beauty, majesty, and mystery of the world when we attempt to solve its many puzzles and place life and experience within a rigid and inflexible framework!
HEYWOOD BELIEVED THAT 'COMEDIES BEGIN IN TROUBLE AND END IN PEACE.' TO WHAT EXTENT IS THIS TRUE OF JEZ BUTTERWORTH'S JERUSALEM?
- This play certainly begins with trouble. Students could refer to the stage directions that shape the comedy before Byron utters a word. What is the purpose of the comedy here? Why is it funny? We discussed how the humour is used in this section of the play to suggest a fairly simple narrative. The comedy used to direct the audience through the narrative in the first Act seems to offer the audience with a simple narrative that involves an eccentric individual being evicted from a caravan by the local council. There is a sense of forewarning when it is suggested that BYRON died when he was a stuntman. The comedy in the first section seems to mask the real thematic intent of the play.
- Students could refer to the Dawn moment as this changes the whole narrative tone of the play and introduces the idea that Byron is much more than a drunken buffoon. How does the play become more than a comedy at this point?
- This could then move into a discussion of how Byron's use of language becomes more poetic and figurative in Acts 2/3 which reinforces his dramatic evolution from Shakespearean Clown/Trickster/Fool to a character much more complicated and ambiguous. This paragraph might also deal with Byron as SYMBOL. What ideas are being offered through this character in Acts 2 and 3? He evolves from a mixture of stock Shakespearean comic characters to become....A Tragic Hero?? A Fairy Tale Troll? Like the Dragon in the St.George Myth? Or is he like the symbol of the Spitfire that appears in the play, especially in Act Three. Is the audience encouraged to view Byron as a sympathetic character at the end of the play? How significant is the PHAEDRA moment just before the dramatic and violent conclusion?
- The idea that this comedy ends in peace could be challenged with reference to Northrop Frye's THREE WORLD THEORY. FRYE, like Heywood, suggests that Shakespearean comedy follows a rigid narrative structure that concludes with a sense of order. Students could explore how the play conforms to the OLD WORLD/GREEN WORLD model but not the NEW WORLD MODEL. Students then need to state why Butterworth ends his play in such a chaotic and ambiguous manner. Why does Butterworth end the play with BYRON screaming and banging a drum, calling on all the old giants of English Myth????
- Students could then briefly link the play to THE ROMANTIC SENSIBILITY and the idea that this play reflects many of the concerns explored by Blake and the Romantic poets.
- CONCLUSION: The conclusion should contain a strong personal voice and precise question focus. Is this play relevant for A Level Study? Is it a valuable play? Does the play begin as comedy and conclude with tragedy?
THE FINAL DEADLINE IS OUR FIRST LESSON AFTER THE BREAK...THURSDAY 11th April.
HOMEWORK: THE JERUSALEM COURSEWORK.
FINAL DEADLINE.....11th APRIL.
GET STUCK IN TO THE ESSAY LIT FREAKS.
GOOD LUCK.
LINK TO JERUSALEM RESOURCES:
http://becuriouslit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/jerusalem-resources.html
NEXT WEEK WE WILL NAVIGATE THROUGH TROTAM. BRING THE POEM.
No comments:
Post a Comment