My Attraction To Study English At University
Through the use of literature different people can read the same text and have different interpretations that are shaped by the context of society, religion and history. My fascination with literature and attraction to study English at university has stemmed from this concept. I am captivated by the different contexts that influenced the choices that writers made such as The Great Depression and Wall Street Crash in America in the 1930s that contrasted the extravagance and decadence of the upper class in the Roaring twenties. The idea that enthralls me. In The Angel of the house by Coventry Patmore, a husband describes the characteristics of his wife that mean she fulfills the role of a perfect wife living in the Victorian patriarchal society. He describes all the desirable characteristics that mean she reaches the almost unattainable gender roles of the time period. The Angel in the House outlined the expectations of women and is now often used to communicate the repressive ideal of women within the Victorian era.
Whilst attending a performance of Othello at The Globe theatre, I found it particularly interesting how the director highlighted the personalities of the female characters through their costumes. At the end of the play when Desdemona is being accused she wears a black and relatively revealing dress which has connotations of sin and seduction. This is contrasted when she lay dead on the bed in the center of the stage wearing a nude nightgown, as her innocence was revealed she wore a fair pale colour giving faultless connotations to her character. I believe that Shakespeare’s works are still relevant today because the issues that he discussed are still ongoing such as the address of the patriarchal society - women are still oppressed by men. The character of Mariana in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure is a symbol of the control of men within the Elizabethan patriarchal society as she is manipulated by the Duke.
The role of women within society is something that has always interested me and I am interested to study this further at university. When visiting the Barber Institute in Birmingham, there was an exhibit called New York City Life by John Sloan. In one piece named The Showcase societal expectations about the presentation and bodies of women are explored as a corset of unrealistic body expectations is displayed in a glass case as women of normal body types walk past. Some of the women look deeply into the display from which I could infer that they contain some desire to live up to the unattainable societal expectations of women in the time period. Another looks away as though the expectations are so out of reach they are not something they she desires to attain. The Matriarchy created by Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath contradicts the typical patriarchy of 1930s America and she breaks away from the gender expectations of women, contrasting those of the exhibit by John Sloan.
Studying English has allowed me to develop my communication further as it was crucial to articulate my ideas clearly in essays and classwork. I am often given opportunities to present ideas and interpretations of texts to my classmates which would spark discussion about what we had read. This provided me with the confidence to speak out about my thoughts and feelings as well as not being afraid to ask if I did not understand so that I could further my learning. The opportunity to have the role of senior prefect has allowed my confidence to thrive, as well as developing good communication skills needed when students in younger years can come to me for guidance, this also expanded my ability to problem solve. On Friday afternoons, I assisted English intervention sessions for younger years within the school, which consolidated own learning as I was able had to help them. It helped me gain the ability to speak openly and confidently about my ideas without being judged.
In 2017, I received The Thorne Shield of Excellence for English literature due to my hard work and enthusiasm for the subject. Biology and Chemistry at A level helped my analytical skills which helped me to be strategic in my analysis of texts and to have an objective interpretation of literature. Studying biology has given me an insight into how the human brain works and therefore the emotions of humans, this has allowed me to develop a further empathy for characters and understanding in the way that they behave. To complement my studies, I attended the ‘taste of BA English’ course at City University of London, we looked at the different devices used by Shakespeare as a playwright to draw out emotions of the actors that performed his plays. We observed how Shakespeare would write one script of each play and the different parts were given to the different actors due to the cost of paper and would only be lead by a cue which caused confusion, surprise and delay amongst the delivery of speech. We also covered modern interpretations of Victorian literature such as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and how the book would be different today due to the contrasting contexts of the dissimilar time periods.
Attending this course confirmed my interest in studying English at university, I find literature both emotionally and intellectually stimulating and I deeply desire to further my knowledge and interpretation of texts.
