What is Shakespeare’s larger purpose in his characterisation of Coriolanus in Act I?

In the play Coriolanus, Shakespeare designates his leading character with qualities that correlate with other classical heroes, yet depicts his flaws as well, while setting the stage for further conflicts ahead.

As the main protagonist and central character, throughout who the play revolves around, Coriolanus proves to be a severe, yet highly respected warrior within Rome. Shakespeare illustrates him with great leadership and authenticity to his character  through glimpses within the act 1 in lines such as "Hang em! They say!", the exclamations providing emphasis upon his control over the public. His great hate for the plebeian's or lower class of Rome crafts further exaggeration in this politically centralized play. The text "Hang ye! Trust Ye? With every minute you do change a mind, And call him noble that was now your hate, Him vile that was your garland. What's the matter, That in these several places of the city You cry against the noble senate, who, Under the gods, keep you in awe, which else Would feed on one another? What's their seeking? " contains rhetorical questions, as Coriolanus argues upon the worthiness and significance of the public, speaking of their rapidly shifting emotions and using diction such as "garland" "awe" to emotionally derail the citizens and their perspective of the wealthy.

He can also be categorized as an active character who (throughout act 1) creates various mistakes, one of the most significant being his  avoidance of disposing-off of his arch enemy Aufidius, providing sparks of attitude and self-centeredness. The lines "he's a lion that I'm proud to hunt" contain animal imagery, conveying prowess to Coriolanus's tone of speech, yet is highlighted as irony of circumstance, as he has esteem for his enemy and is aware of the fact that there is non who may challenge him in his quest more than Aufidius, becoming an important form of reasoning as to why Coriolanus leaves him wounded rather than dead.

As a result, Shakespeare uses his characterization to foreshadow key moments to occur as the tale progresses, producing an entrance towards the political scenario of Rome. Shakespeare provides no personal touch of thought towards Coriolanus's character, though, avoiding the implementation of soliloquies, yet crafts an unusual hero, almost unlike the connotations of good, regardless of his strong physical stature. Nevertheless, with lack of rational decision making and slight absence of mind, Coriolanus could walk along the path of evil as the play moves forth.

bell hooks Blog Post

"An unbroken connection exists between the broken English of the displaced, enslaved African and the diverse black vernacular speech black folks use today. In both cases, the rupture of standard English enabled and enables rebellion and resistance. By transforming the oppressor’s language, making a culture of resistance, black people created an intimate speech that could say far more than was permissible within the boundaries of standard English."

Selected Text: What's so wrong with "sounding black?"

The following text correlates with the quote above made by bell hooks as it speaks of the common misconceptions and viewpoints towards African Vernacular English as having wrong or incorrect grammatical rules and forms of speech. The author produces and proves her own claims of AAVE and how certain linguists have categorized and contrasted it to standardized English, leading to false results or conclusions which are usually based upon "racial bias". The text battles with white stereotypes, as the author declares that "I stress that, in this case, I am talking about an accent, not poor diction and not slang, but a distinct cadence and way of pronouncing words.". She urges for such a rebellion to stop, facing away from black vernacular, through comparing and contrasting other dialects in English "The change is largely unconscious mimicry, much like how a New Yorker who now lives in California might find her Brooklyn accent gets a little stronger when she goes back home".

Similarly, this idea connects with bell hook's saying above where she states that there are still distinct features of AAVE and Broken English that separate the two, as she persuades the audience of the fact that the African Americans produced an independent dialect to portray sovereignty to showcase the varied features their society has achieved regardless of the white's. As a result the two authors display the tongue as a form of resistance from the acts of oppression applied towards them in the past, and symbolize the significance of their own rights through the craftsmanship of this dialect.

Indigineous Languages Cornish Podcast

Please Visit the Following Link to access our Podcast on the Cornish Language

https://clyp.it/ued0arps

What is the value of preserving indigenous languages?

Native languages are the heart and soul of an individual. They signify cultural heritage, promote national pride and evidently portray who we are in the modern day world. As human beings, each one of us have distinct features from one another, including that of identity which is centrally influenced by aspects such as our own mother tongue. Although at times we may tend to ignore such blessings,  disregarding their real natural beauty, which leads to issues such as indigenous languages.

Of the 7000 languages in the world, around 3000 of them are considered to be spoken by a minority, from which around 400 have 50 or fewer speakers, and 200 have below 10. This undoubtedly exhibits the significance of preserving indigenous languages in the modern day era as watching such tongues rapidly disappear can result in the decline of multiple civilizations, customs and beliefs. As this gradually begins to incline, we will end up losing track of facts or details, such as where certain historical monuments originated from or how mankind once began, and eventually misplace the central reason of our existence.

In conclusion, learning and maintaining our home languages are an immense factor in current day context, as according to the Times magazine, it is expected that 95% of all languages are to be either lost or indigenous by the end of the 21st century, leading to great chaos and utter disaster in terms of determining ones master identity. The relevance of this situation is key to deciding our future selves as well as the lives of generations after us and has been highlighted by numerous leaders across the world, including South Africa's former president and politician, Nelson Mandela, who said “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”.

Stereotypes

Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?

Advertising is an open source technique used to market products and entice others to buy them. Therefore it is somewhat accessible by everyone and anyone, depending upon the text type used to portray the advertisement, and should not be aimed negatively towards a race, culture or ethnicity. Marketing directors and advertising sectors of companies need to be aware of this fact as ads are not optional for the consumer to watch and should be monitored to suitable for all viewers (in correlation to the location of the Ad). Advertisements, unlike movies or other mass media, are not implemented to deduce a viewer based on uncontrollable variables (like societies, cultures etc.) they represent or contribute to. Their central aim is to promote a good or service and not ridicule a stereotype. Several advertising laws and regulations in various nations such as the UAE state clear boundaries on such acts, for example Al Tamim and Co state in their Advertising standards "instill respect for the local religious, cultural and social values which prevail in the UAE". or the Government of the UK say "The code specifies standards for accuracy and honesty that businesses must stick to, including causing offence". Thus, personally, I don't see why there is a need to mislead, instill fear or hurt individuals through the use of such stereotypes as, at the end of the day, the purpose of a TV commercial or Print Ad is to sell an item, not encourage a false, yet widely held belief or perspective.

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What does the ad reveal about the cultural/ social/ or historical context of its production?

The advertisement is a modern day commercial exhibiting Nivea beauty products and enticing the audience to buy their products. It seems to have aimed towards regions in South Asia, mainly highlighting India as it consists of current day popular Indian celebrities but could also relate to a general or international audience who could perceive the individuals as beautiful, yet plain folk.

According to the ad, what values or characteristics are the most important?

There are various important methods of persuasion as well as visual language techniques present within this advertisement. Tone, lighting and color are key factors implemented within this advertisement, as all eyes are centered towards the woman with brightly lit shining skin, developing a sense of encouragement towards younger women to buy and use Nivea beauty products to their advantage, exhibiting fair skin which is a wide form of attraction in the modern era. The presence of similar light blue colors on the product’s bottling is repeated elsewhere in the advertisement, such as on the woman’s and man’s clothing, as well as on the header and footer of the poster. This color provides a somewhat soothing and comfortable feeling to the mind, which is a factor of association Nivea wants customers to have towards this product. The texture is smooth, highlighting major details about the good, as its main goal is to provide a soft and natural look, as most of her skin is revealed to represent this and some light makeup is used to enhance the effect.

Who is empowered in this commercial?

It is very evident that the woman herself is the most dominant figure in the advertisement, as Nivea beauty products are centrally manufactured for and targeted towards women. She is also facing the spectators, proving that this advertisement is targeted towards them, as well as providing a sense of presence to them, ensuring to seek their attention. The product itself, placed on the bottom-right of the commercial is added to the scene to allow the audience to be able to identify the product before buying, instigating some logos alongside it which says that it repairs dryness in 24 hours and that Nivea celebrates 100 years of success.

Who is ignored or marginalized? For what reason?

The male actor included within the advertisement is somewhat cropped out of the photo and is displayed with no real lighting or makeup, depicting great ignorance towards the figure. He seems like a prop portrayed within the advertisement as a sign that Nivea beauty products attract men, as he has his hands wrapped around the woman, yet has no sense of great significance simply due to the fact that the product being promoted is not for men. He doesn’t even seem to have any connection with the viewers either, as he is positioned side onwards, gazing upon the woman only.

The Pitch Practice FOA

What main appeals did you use in your pitch? Why did you decide they would be the most effective?

The central appeals included within the presentation were to clearly identify and explain the target audience of this product, and with examples related to our main location (Suburban New Zealand), we could effectively display that. The second was not only to highlight the specific ways to exhibit this commercial, but what scenario to introduce to the people and what text-type it must be present in. The importance of visuals in our PowerPoint played a great role in this aspect.

What were some specific persuasive techniques you used (include examples) why did you believe these would be effective?

We implemented certain rhetorical questions, such as "Why buy the Phantom 4?" or "Have you heard of the Phantom 4" in order to engage the audience as well as attract them towards the content. Implicit claims were a key feature within this pitch as the product itself was a technological good, and specification details and updates on the new version of this product is perhaps the best way to promote such a good within the market. There were also glimpses of the use of New, along with promotional offers, to entice the customers to, not only come and visit the store or test the product, but to also guarantee that sales will take place for this item.

How did an awareness of audience and context influence your overall approach to this activity? 

Presentations aren't one of my specialties. I usually don't enjoy speaking to an audience and find it one of my greatest weaknesses. However, through experiencing this practice session, I've got a fair taste of what is required of me during this unit to achieve my goals, and, through watching my other peers present, I am now able to see how the emphasis on the persuasive techniques have been put to play. Analyzing and acting out various actions and tones presently seen in a number of  advertisement can be somewhat enjoyable and also demands some use of creativity.

If you were to complete this presentation again, what would you do differently in terms of content and preparation?

In the future, I will mainly focus towards and spend more time on practicing the presentation itself, as mentioned earlier, this is not one of my strengths and therefore I feel as if I need to invest greater time and effort on it. Creativity is another component I lacked, as significance towards persuading the audience to select our advertisement through adding prominence in tone and actions were not completely extant in my performance, unlike my partner's, and therefore with the collaboration in our group, I was able to learn from my peers as well as acquire several ideas from them to enhance our execution. Nonetheless, group work can be frustrating at times, especially when a clear form of communication with our group members outside of school is missing. This can lead to misjudgment of ideas and mislead one another, leading to a downfall in the final exhibition.