VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Fear and authority are used as a means of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Sarah Moss’ 2018 novella Ghost Wall exposes how patriarchal, intellectual and collective forms of authority can…
Sarah Moss’ 2018 novella Ghost Wall exposes how patriarchal, intellectual and collective forms of authority can restrict individual autonomy, particualy when those subjected to them are denied alternative sources of knowledge or support. Yet Moss complicates the proposition by demonstrating that authority itself is not inherintly oppressive. Knowledge, community and female solidarity can instead challenge coercive power and create possibilities for freedom. Ultimately, Moss suggest that control becomes most enduring when fear is internalised, allowing oppressive authority to operate without requiring constant physical force.
Moss first demonstrates that authority becomes a means of control when those who possess power are able to determine what others accept as truth. Bill’s authority is strengthened by his selective understanding of history, as he presents his interpretation of of the past as unquestionable knowledge. His description of Hadrian’s Wall as a “physical manifestation of Ancient British resistance still marked on the land” reveals how he transforms history into ideological validation, with the noun “manifestation” giving his personal interpretation an almost tangible authority. Significantly, Silvie has been largely educated through her father’s knowledge admitting “[her] dad taught [her]”. This reveals the epistemological authority that Bill has over Silie. This is further reinforced by her admission that “[she] didn’t quite know how to ask anything of [her] own”, where the pronoun “anything” suggests that his authority has restricted not just her answers, but her capacity to formulate independent questions. Moss therefore reveals that control does not always require direct violence, authority over knowledge can make idividuals uncertain of their own judgement, causing them to police themselves before authority even needs to intervene. Against this, the Professor’s correction that Hadrian’s Wall was rather “a marker, the edge of empire” exposes the instability of Bill’s supposed authority. In this way, the isolated campsite operates as a small scale reflection of a divided Britain. Competing narratives of national identity demonstrate how authority over history can create an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality, particularly resonant with the nationalism and divison surrounding Brexit. Moss ultimatelty suggests that authority is most controlling when it succeeds in convincing individuals that its version of the truth is the only version avaliable.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: this is an ORAL pov
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 95%: Good evening everyone. As part of this community discussion on Victoria’s healthcare system, I’ve been asked to…
Good evening everyone. As part of this community discussion on Victoria’s healthcare system, I’ve been asked to speak about an issue that affects thousands of Victorians every day. As an emergency department nurse, I see the impact of this issue firsthand.”
“It’s 2am. Every chair in the emergency department waiting room is occupied. An elderly man is clutching his chest. A mother is trying to comfort her crying child. A paramedic crew waits beside their ambulance because there is nowhere to transfer their patient.
And all around them is the same question: ‘How much longer?
As an emergency department nurse working within Victoria’s public healthcare system,
this isn’t a scene from a television drama.
It is a reality that healthcare workers and patients face every day.
Last winter, I cared for an elderly woman who arrived at the emergency department struggling to breathe. She was frightened, exhausted, and clearly needed urgent medical attention.
Yet because there were no available beds, she spent hours waiting in a chair.
Throughout the night, she kept asking me the same question:
“When will I be seen?”
I wanted to reassure her.
Instead, all I could do was apologise.
Sadly, her experience is not unique.
Victoria’s emergency healthcare system is under immense pressure, and urgent action is needed to reduce dangerous hospital wait times.
The evidence is clear. The number of patients waiting more than 24 hours in Victorian emergency departments has increased by over 70% compared to the previous year.
In addition, only around 71% of patients are treated within clinically recommended time limits,
meaning nearly one in three patients waits longer than they should.
These are not just statistics. They represent real people waiting in pain, fear, and uncertainty.
One major reason for this crisis is the shortage of hospital beds.
Emergency departments are designed to assess and stabilise patients before transferring them to hospital wards
. However, when wards are already full, patients remain in emergency departments for extended periods.
This creates a bottleneck across the entire system.
Some people argue that the Victorian Government has already invested billions of dollars into healthcare and that improvements simply takes time.
While that may be true, investment means little if demand continues to exceed capacity.
VCE · Creative Response
Creative Response: RESIST AND PERSIST Stimulus 1: “If you…
VCE Creative Response essay scoring 82.5%: There is an old tale, a sad one, and we all know how it ends. Yet, we tell it anyway. It goes like this: Once…
There is an old tale, a sad one, and we all know how it ends.
Yet, we tell it anyway.
It goes like this:
Once upon a time, there was a hungry young girl. She lived in a world where the warmth of spring was few and far between. She lived in a world where the days were cold and dark, because spring had been consumed by the ruthless winter. The winter that burrowed its people in thick layers of snow so they could no longer be heard, starved them so they no longer had the strength to think and froze them so they no longer had the ability to move. All so that they could continue to build their mounds of snow, drowning out the land that was once green with love and freedom.
There would be days, weeks if lucky, for which spring would return and happiness would blossom in the population once more, though this time would seem to always be cut short by the inevitable return of winter. Then one day, the flowers stopped blooming, the birds stopped chirping, the water stopped running and the people stopped hoping. This girl was one of those people, her name was Eurydice.
Once upon a time, there was a boy who refused to relinquish the hope that spring would come again. He was a shy boy, yet he loved to sing, bringing light and music to an age riddled with silence and oppression, but more than this, he loved Eurydice. When he proposed to her, he promised that he would write a song, a song so beautiful and so raw that it would melt the winter freeze and allow spring to warm the land once more. The people were humoured by this idea, they laughed:
”How could you, one single man, bring down a tyrant like winter itself?”
“If spring would not come around when we needed it most, it would certainly not come again just for a boy such as yourself, who has decided to sing a song.”
Orpheus heard these comments but he did not care - or at least he tried not to - for he knew that while they sat, huddled together, mocking him and complaining about their conditions, he wrote, he planned and he moved. He asked them:
“How can you be so sure that spring will not come for my song when you yourself have never sung?”
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does the play subvert the view that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Oedipus the King, a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles, explores a connection between the possession of hubris, and…
Oedipus the King, a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles, explores a connection between the possession of hubris, and the entitlement of fate. Through the presentation of admirable traits, the inescapable nature of fate, and ignorance towards clear warnings, Sophocles ultimately suggests that Oedipus’ hubris alone, did not make him deserve his fate.
Presenting admirable character traits, Sophocles explores how actions contributing to downfall were made in good faith. In the opening scene of the play, when Oedipus is addressing the people of Thebes, he states, “you pray to the gods? Let me grant your prayers”. Through Oedipus’ use of personal nouns, saying “let me”, Sophocles introduces the idea that Oedipus is willing to take on duties of the gods, when he is nothing more than a mortal human. Oedipus’ selfless nature suggests that he is a leader of the people, and is motivated by satisfying the needs of Theban citizens. Later in the plat, when Oedipus learns of the “plague” within Thebes, he vows to hunt Laius’ murderer down, exclaiming, “I am the lands avenger by all rights”. The presentation of Oedipus, as the “avenger” of the land represents a connection with Thebes, deeper than regular human bond. Sophocles employs this deep connection with Thebes to highlight where Oedipus’ loyalties lie; with the land and people of Thebes. By allowing the audience to understand Oedipus’ drive to satisfy the needs of the Theban citizens, as well as his deep connection with Theban land, Sophocles represents how Oedipus’ search for the truth was in good faith, and his admirable motivation meant he was not deserving of his fate.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Based on the text above, discuss the way…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: In this passage, Ovid masterfully elevates the impending assassination of Julius Caesar from a localized political…
In this passage, Ovid masterfully elevates the impending assassination of Julius Caesar from a localized political murder to a catastrophic event of cosmic and divine proportion. Writing during a period deeply invested in the mythologizing and deification of Caesar, Ovid reflects a cultural and political climate where the transition from Republic to Empire legitimized through divine lineage. By framing the assassination through a supernatural lens, the Ovid highlights the world-altering significance of the event, reinforcing the sacred authority of the imperial regime that followed.
Ovid conveys the immense significance of this event primarily through the mobilization of the entire natural and divine order. The passage begins not with human conspirators, but with "Venus anxia" (an anxious Venus) pleading across the heavens. As the mythical ancestress of the gens Iulia, Venus's personal anguish immediately ties Caesar's fate to the highest tier of the Roman pantheon. The sheer inevitability of his death is magnified by the "ferrea... decreta sororum" (the iron decrees of the Sisters), demonstrating that Caesar’s demise is so monumental that it is woven into the unyielding fabric of cosmic destiny, which even the gods cannot alter.
VCE · Language Analysis
Language Analysis: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre…
VCE Language Analysis essay scoring 70%: In response to the recent debate surrounding the rise of AI data centres, David Pocock's article published in…
In response to the recent debate surrounding the rise of AI data centres, David Pocock's article published in The Guardian contends that the Australian Government must maximise the benefits they receive from foreign-owned companies. Writing in a cautionary tone, Pocock warns Australians of Australia's past mistakes regarding gas exportation.
Pocock first highlights Australia's previous failure to receive a fair return for gas companies' gas exportation, using this as a warning against repeating similar mistakes with the emerging AI industry. Pocock guides the audience by utilising hypophora, asking the audience "why" people promote the idea for a '35%' tax on gas exports" and answering his own question. This makes it easier for them to follow along, as they are able to immediately realise "what's happening" with gas exports. This hypophora also serves to make the answer appear obvious and appeal to the audience's sense of Pocock then employs inclusive language, where he shifts from focusing on the issue of gas exports from a national perspective to a more individual scale. He suggests their gas "belongs to all of us," personalising the argument to the audience emphasising the effects of not maximising their potential "return" and how it would impact Australian citizens directly. This use of inclusive language also serves to evoke a shared sense of responsibility, as Pocock positions
them to feel as if they have ownership over this gas and therefore have an obligation to 'deserve a fair return for it.' This is further accentuated by Pocock's appeal to concern through referring to gas as a 'finite resource.' This evokes concern in the audience, positioning them to presents gas as a valuable resource and emphasizes the severity of the situation. By portraying the government as putting their 'vested interests' ahead of the national interest," the audience is encouraged to evaluate whether the government is capable of being in control of such a valuable resource. The government is also presented as acting out of self-interest, amplifying the audience's frustration as they may feel previously established sense of responsibility over Australia is impacted by the government's careless mistakes. Thus, Pocock leaves the audience feeling a sense of ownership and control over the Australian government's decisions.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘In Oliver’s poetry, moments of connection…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems, Volume One (1992) explores the profound relationship between human beings…
Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems, Volume One (1992) explores the profound relationship between human beings and the natural world. Drawing on poems from collections including American Primitive (1983) and Dream Work (1986), Oliver repeatedly presents encounters with animals, landscapes and natural processes as opportunities for individuals to understand their own existence. For Oliver, nature is not separate from human life; instead, humans belong within a larger “family of things”. Through moments of connection with nature, individuals can discover belonging, accept their physical existence and recognise the value of life despite its inevitable limitations. Oliver ultimately suggests that meaning does not have to be found through achievement or social approval, but can emerge through an attentive relationship with the world around us.
Oliver first presents connection with nature as a source of belonging and reassurance. In “Wild Geese”, nature provides an alternative to the isolation created by human expectations and guilt. The poem directly addresses a lonely reader, immediately stating, “You do not have to be good.” This rejection of moral perfection allows the reader to recognise that belonging is not conditional upon achievement or behaviour. Oliver then encourages the reader to “let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves”, using the language of instinct to reconnect human beings with their natural selves. The adjective “soft” suggests vulnerability, while “animal” deliberately places humanity within the natural world rather than above it. The reader is encouraged to trust an instinctive connection with life instead of constantly judging themselves. This connection becomes complete when the wild geese are described as “announcing your place / in the family of things.” The metaphor of family suggests that belonging is already available to every individual because they are part of a wider natural system. “Morning Poem” similarly presents connection with nature as a source of meaning even for those experiencing unhappiness. The poem states that “Every morning / the world / is created”, transforming the daily renewal of nature into a meaningful event. Even people carrying a “thorn” within themselves are reminded that the earth continues to offer beauty. Oliver ultimately describes each pond with its lilies as “a prayer heard and answered”, giving the natural world spiritual significance. Through these poems, Oliver suggests that meaning emerges when humans recognise themselves as participants in nature rather than detached observers.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In We Have Always Lived in the Castle, the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Suspicion and hostility gripped 1950s and 60s Cold War American society. Shirley Jackson's proto-feminist Gothic…
Suspicion and hostility gripped 1950s and 60s Cold War American society. Shirley Jackson's proto-feminist Gothic Novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, written in 1962, investigates the consequences of cruelty towards outsiders for both the persecuted and the persecutor. Her text exposes the danger of lacking compassion for those that do not conform to social dogmas, while also highlighting the damage of classism. Jackson posits that while the villagers in her text are in part driven by fear, resulting in their loss of humanity, their motivation also lies in their resentment towards the Blackwood's sense of superiority.
Jackson interrogates parochial society as a climate for anxiety and distrust towards women who threaten its structure. Constance and Merricat are feared due to their independence from men and the wider androcentric society. The community resent their self-sufficiency and "heaps of gold coins", enabling them "to pay for whatever [they] wanted", in this way, they are defying societal norms of remaining within the internal space while the men occupied the external world. Merricat's trips into the village are an adoption of the masculine role, however it makes her feel "vulnerable and exposed" due to the villager's "ugly glance[s]" and general hostility towards her. Furthermore, Jackson's simile that "a little gasp went around the store like a scream" crystallises the villagers' uneasiness about the murders, motivating the shop owner to "serve [Merricat] immediately" out of fear. Indeed, Merricat's declaration that she "could make them run like rabbits" just by saying "what [she] really wanted to" punctuates the distrust the community has towards the remaining Blackwood family. Further, the sisters, through their occupation of the domestic space, particularly Constance's cooking, have power that deviates from traditional masculine power, elevating their resistance against patriarchal structures. The motif of sugar exemplifies the control women have over those they cook for, and the danger of underestimating their capabilities - Merricat's afterthought that the family "are very low on sugar" frightens the villagers. Thus, the fear from the villagers is a response to Merricat and Constance sitting outside of expected American identity, an identity that was seen as crucial to the functioning of the nation. Charles "pointing his fork at [Merricat]" acts as a historical allusion to the Salem witch trials; punctuating the transcending patriarchal response to marginal women that sit outside of hegemonic social structures, threatening the power of these structures. The repetition of the sisters' witch-like status is emphasised through the simile that she looked "like a pair of witches walking home", coupled with Merricat's query about whether she "could eat a child if [she] had the chance". Their position as 'witches' is utilised by Jackson to elucidate the connection between enforcing conformity upon independent women and the femicide of the witch-hunt. So, wielding the gothic element of the past haunting the present, Jackson criticises the misogynistic history embedded in New England's societal fabric, predisposing the people of the community with prejudice that leads to fear. Thus, We Have Always Lived in the Castle posits that the motivation of the villager's in part stems from their anxiety about women who deviate from the norm.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: write an introduction and body paragraph:…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Written as an autobiographical memoir, Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" exhibits much of the constant strain between…
Written as an autobiographical memoir, Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" exhibits much of the constant strain between opportunity and the lack of choices. Set against both a apartheid and post-apartheid backdrop, Noah examines the determination of fate based on one's race, tied to their inherent access to different parts of the system. Additionally, patriarchal constraints remove much of the choices for women, where men define what is socially acceptable for them to do or not to do. This is compounded by the many restrictions placed by stereotypes such as socio-economic and education status, where your position on this scale dictates your freedom of choice.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Twelfth Night shows the impacts of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night interrogates the performative nature of identity through its intricate exploration of…
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night interrogates the performative nature of identity through its intricate exploration of deception and disguise, revealing how social constraints necessitate various forms of masquerade. Through the parallel concealment strategies of Viola and Malvolio, Shakespeare examines how performance simultaneously enables social mobility and exposes the constructed nature of class and gender boundaries. While the play acknowledges the potentially destructive consequences of deception, as evidenced in the cruel manipulation of Malvolio, it ultimately validates strategic performance as a means of navigating rigid social hierarchies. Indeed, Shakespeare demonstrates how successful social integration requires an understanding of both conscious deception and unconscious self-deception.
Shakespeare foregrounds how social survival necessitates various forms of performance and disguise across class boundaries. In the play's opening scenes, Viola's adoption of male attire after her shipwreck exemplifieshow marginalised individuals must craft elaborate personas to gain social access. Her declaration that she will "serve this duke" establishes disguise as both protective shield and social ladder, while her choice of aeunuch's identity - neither fully masculine nor feminine - reveals the liminality of the performing self. The symbolism of her "masculine usurped attire" constructs gender as fundamentally performative, as reinforced by hersuccessful embodiment of masculine behaviors. The sea captain's complicity in her transformation demonstrates how social performance requires collaborative deception; his subsequent disappearance suggests theerasure of authentic origins necessitated by successful imposture. This dynamic of collaborative illusion extends to the aristocratic sphere, where Orsino's theatrical lovesickness represents another form of socialperformance. His melodramatic assertion that his love "give[s] no place, bows not the knee" reveals how even those in power must maintain carefully constructed personas. The artifice cultimates in Malvolio, whose socialclimbing through affected mannerisms is mocked by Maria's observation of how he "jets under his advanced plumes." Through Malvolio's exaggerated "puritan" bearing and practice of political "behavior," Shakespearereveals how upward mobility requires the studied performance of class markers. His reading of Maria's forged letter aloud while alone demonstrates how social performance becomes internalised, whereas his yellowstockings and cross-gartering represent the dangerous conflation of costume with identity. Yet Sir Toby's orchestration of this cruel deception introduces class warfare into this system of performance, as the aristocracyweaponises the very behaviours it demands from social climbers. Feste's professional role as fool further complicates this dynamic, as his licensed performance of folly allows him to speak truth and "wis[dom]" to powerSuggesting how sanctioned deception can serve subversive ends. The parallel between Viola's successful performance and Malvolio's failed one suggests that social mobility requires not just the adoption of disguise, but a sophisticated understanding of its limits and contexts.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘You can trust me. I am ready to help...’…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Honourable desires do equate to honourable outcomes. In Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, he posits that…
Honourable desires do equate to honourable outcomes. In Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, he posits that seeking to do good leads to significant pain for oneself and others. He concedes that one’s desire to do good assists in understanding themselves, an empowering consequence of their intent. However, Sophocles frames desire and reality as separate, showing how beneficent desire transforms into maleficent outcomes. Ultimately, Sophocles suggests that man’s kindhearted impulses are weak in comparison to divine malevolence, with the playwright implying that noble rebellion against man’s overlords will lead to destructive retribution.
Sophocles concedes that honourable actions often lead to the attainment of knowledge and self-discovery. Oedipus, in willing to ‘do anything’, devotes himself to a search which he views as ‘for his own sake’ due to an insatiable desire for knowledge. Sophocles explores Oedipus’ mathematical nature - with the king’s realisation that ‘one can’t equal many’ forms the basis of his innocence and guilt, demonstrating how Oedipus utilises his benevolent desires to mathematically solve a challenge to his intelligence. Through dramatic irony, Sophocles highlights Oedipus’ initial ignorance, by placing obviously misguided assertions of being a ‘stranger to the crime’ and vow to ‘fight for [Laius] as if he were [Oedipus’] own father’. The gradual erosion of dramatic irony within the narrative parallels Oedipus’ attainment of knowledge. Oedipus ultimately transitions from ‘blind to the corruption in [his] life’ to a man who ‘can see it all’, with his gradual attainment of metaphorical sight paralleling his attainment of knowledge. Through his desire to ‘raise up’ Thebes, Sophocles suggests that Oedipus is ultimately driven towards an understanding of self, with the playwright ultimately implying that when one is driven by beneficence, they will ultimately gain significant knowledge.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: write one intro and body paragraph: How…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Written as an autobiographical memoir, Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" exhibits much of the constant strain between…
Written as an autobiographical memoir, Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" exhibits much of the constant strain between opportunity and the lack of choices. Set against both a apartheid and post-apartheid backdrop, Noah examines the determination of fate based on one's race, tied to their inherent access to different parts of the system. Additionally, patriarchal constraints remove much of the choices for women, where men define what is socially acceptable for them to do or not to do. This is compounded by the many restrictions placed by stereotypes such as socio-economic and education status, where your position on this scale dictates your freedom of choice.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Born A Crime show the importance…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Written as an autobiographical memoir, Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" exhibits much of the constant strain between…
Written as an autobiographical memoir, Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" exhibits much of the constant strain between opportunity and the lack of choices. Set against a mostly post-apartheid backdrop, Noah examines the determination of fate based on one's race, tied to their inherent access to different parts of the system. Additionally, patriarchal constraints remove much of the choices for women, where men define what is socially acceptable for them to do or not to do. This is compounded by the many restrictions placed by stereotypes such as socio-economic and education status, where your position on this scale dictates your freedom of choice.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘You can trust me. I am ready to help...’…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Moreover, in exploring the conflict between beneficent intent and divine ordinance, Sophocles suggests that…
Moreover, in exploring the conflict between beneficent intent and divine ordinance, Sophocles suggests that honourable acts of transgression against the gods are ultimately punished with suffering. Sophocles portrays the gods as all powerful yet ill-intentioned, establishing their relationship with man in the parados. The chorus’ repeated use of thanatological language - mourning their ‘deaths on deaths’ - establishes the idea of divine cruelty, reinforced through the chorus ‘worship[ping] [Apollo] in dread’ and questioning his ‘price’ for alleviation of their suffering. The gods’ malevolence often contrasts with actions of noble intent. Oedipus' avoidance of ‘the shame of all those oracles come true’ and desire to ‘grant…[the] prayers’ of Thebes in lieu of the gods signal his interest in upholding the dignity of the city, yet subvert divine will. Additionally, Jocasta’s attempts to allow Oedipus to ‘have no fear’, in asserting that ‘chance rules our lives’, intends to stem the anxiety of her husband yet
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent do you agree?
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: However, Sophocles suggests that desire rarely leads to the alleviation of pain, with honourable intent…
However, Sophocles suggests that desire rarely leads to the alleviation of pain, with honourable intent transforming into torment. On hearing that he is ‘fated to couple with [his] mother’ and ‘kill [his] father’, Oedipus’ response is to ‘[abandon] Corinth’. However, his immediate attempts to protect his parents preclude him from contemplating the ‘slander [which] spread’ throughout the city of his status as ‘not [his] father’s son’. This action, although of noble intent, leads to Oedipus committing ‘crimes too huge for hanging’ against his actual parents. Sophocles uses Oedipus’ ankles to suggest the damage inflicted by his cluelessness, as in looking outward to conduct beneficent action, he dismisses the ‘old affliction’ as something ‘from the cradle’; a clue both in body and name that goes unnoticed and failing to aid Oedipus in avoiding his fate. Following the plague, Oedipus later falls victim to his ‘sick[ness]’ due to the disparity in his desire to ‘help’ Thebes and the city’s ‘dying’, reacting to Tiresias’ suggestion of his culpability by labelling him a ‘scheming quack’, and Creon a ‘mastermind’ of a ‘witch hunt’. The ‘terrible accusations’
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How is trickery and deceit shown in ‘Much…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Essay: Introduction: Whether it is Beatrice’s ascetic disdain of overly romance, Claudio’s fickle romantic…
Essay:
Introduction:
Whether it is Beatrice’s ascetic disdain of overly romance, Claudio’s fickle romantic affections or even Don John’s brazen malevolence, Shakespeare 16th century tragicomedy, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, illuminates the importance of trickery and deceit, is a powerful force that can either strengthen or destroy human bonds, whether it is wield with kindness or malice. Set in the sunny, witty world of Messina, the play explores that benign trickery-undertaken with good intentions- can strip away psychological defences and reveal characters’ love and growth. Conversely, Shakespeare juxtaposes how malicious deceit-born from spite and selfishness-can only triumph temporarily before the truth emerges. Lastly, the playwright emphasises that while trickery may intimate love, its external destruction can shatter ones’ honour and reputation. Shakespeare reveals that true measures of a character lie not in their initial resistance of love, but in their moral character when faced with deception.
Paragraph 1:
Shakespeare presents how the concept of deception is a necessary tool, often symbolised through staged performance and overheard conversations. As the play’s complications develop, Benedick hides in the garden, and becomes both an observer and target of manipulation. The garden itself symbolises a space of growth and transformation. Reflecting benedick’s attitude towards love begin to change as he ‘notes’ the state dialogue “This can be no trick; / They have the truth of this from Hero”. Emphasising how easily deception can be mistaken for truth when supporting by convincing ‘evidence’, making himself a “fowl”. Benedick’s psychological defences crumble up as he realises that love may not be the weakness he once believed it to be. Similarly, Beatrice in Act 3, Scene 3 relies on the symbolic use of eavesdropping in the corresponding scene orchestrated by Ursula and Hero ‘tricking’ Beatrice. Beatrice in the garden symbolises the dramatic staging by the loss of control; hiding herself and listening to the speaker. Yet paradoxically, this loss of control enables her genuine transformation. Beatrice, stripped of her greatest weapon-her voice-is forced to listen passively. The garden symbolises a cage; Beatrice is trapped in the physical space of the garden, as the narrative is spinning around her. As her attitude changes, love shifts into her mood saying, ‘Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, aiden!”, exemplifying how their “merry war” of wit dissolves into vulnerability. Through these moments, Shakespeare emphasises that deception is not the opposite of truth, but how evidence is structured and displayed by characters’, as other characters essentially force them to step out of their “bachelor” and “maid” identity.
Paragraph 2:
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, love has…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Named in the spirit of the Feast of Epiphany celebrations, the suspension of reality present in William…
Named in the spirit of the Feast of Epiphany celebrations, the suspension of reality present in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is orchestrated and resolved by love. Shakespeare's blend of love and comedic feature of disguise in Twelfth Night initially acts as a disruptor of the social hierarchy, challenging traditional boundaries of gender and sexuality. Shakespeare poses that ambition and love for power obstructs individuals’ ability to conform to conventions within a disillusioned Illyria. However, upon the final reveal of truth and the reassembly of class structures, love acts as a resolving force, thus exposing how revelry and disorder are temporary.
When love is complicated by deception, conventions of gender and love are disrupted to demonstrate the lack of agency individuals have to choose who they love. Shakespeare imbues his play with homoerotic undertones as a response to the disguise of Viola as Cesario, who exists "in standing water, between boy and man". This reference to the motif of water and its shifting nature depicts how Viola's disguise contrasts the traditionally binary operation of gender and creates a liminal space in which Viola can embody the perspectives of both man and woman. This disrupts the intention of characters admissions of love for her, for when Olivia admits that "by the roses of spring," "I love thee" she is unknowingly opposing the assumption of love to be an act between a man and a woman. Shakespeare expands this, by exploring Olivia's lack of agency in this disordered reality as she acknowledges "how much the better to fall before the lion than the wolf". By admitting her socially assumed expectation to love someone noble like Orsino rather than the deceptive “wolf" of Cesario, Shakespeare depicts how character cannot choose to love only who society deems correct. This is further instilled through Olivia's likening of her sudden onset infatuation for Cesario to "the plague", portraying how it does not follow rules of society and can infect anyone regardless of their class or desire to love. Shakespeare mirrors this with Orsino by implying that when Orsino admits "by heaven I swear I tender [Cesario] dearly", his love may match the romantic intensity of Olivia's love, challenging the conventions of who he may love. When love occurs for characters engaging in disguise, traditional Elizabethan expectations of gender and sexuality are blurred.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Sophocles explore the flawed…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 85%: Leaders may hold power, yet they never attain perfection. In his tragedy, Oedipus the King, Sophocles posits that…
Leaders may hold power, yet they never attain perfection. In his tragedy, Oedipus the King, Sophocles posits that leaders are inherently imperfect, never shielded from the flaws that unite humanity. He explores their vulnerability to tyranny, exposing the superficiality of their benevolent veneers and their internally corrupted state. Additionally, he explores their rebellion against the gods, and cautions against the destructive consequences for both themselves and their subjects. Finally, he dismisses the notion of exceptionalism within leaders, demonstrating how they are vulnerable to the same flaws as the rest of men, and often descend below.
Sophocles portrays leaders as vulnerable to tyranny, with the rulers of Thebes all pursuing repression to maintain power. Laius’ ‘wildest fear’ is the removal of his power through murder ‘at the hands of a son’, leading Laius to ‘[fasten] [Oedipus] ankles and [have] a henchman fling him’ to die. In describing the act as an attempted ‘destr[uction]’, Sophocles implies that Laius’ act is political in nature. Sophocles explores the insidious nature of repression through Oedipus, with the king initially concealed behind a veneer of ‘trust’. Sophocles gradually erodes this facade, as Oedipus rejects Creon’s suggestion of being ‘wholly wrong’, reasoning that he ‘must rule’. Oedipus’ ultimate descent into tyranny is driven by his ‘torture’ of the shepherd, using his royal authority to force him to ‘talk with pain’. The ‘double doors [which] dominate the facade’ of the palace are symbolic of Oedipus’ internal authoritarianism, representing the king’s initial benevolent presentation to his people. With each opening of the doors, they reveal more about the autocratic nature the king cannot avoid. The destruction of Oedipus’ heroic facade is revealed through nautical imagery, with Sophocles paralleling Oedipus with a ‘good helmsman’, tasked to ‘steer [Thebes] through the storm’ of the plague. The ‘pilot of the vessel’ eventually ‘go[es] to pieces’, ultimately ‘drowning’ in a ‘black sea of terror’. Sophocles suggests that a leader can never truly be ‘ready to help’, and outside suggestions of benevolence are merely superficial. This is reinforced through Oedipus’ successor, who appears to be a man of ‘self-control’, embodying ‘calm[ness]’ and ‘ration[ality]’ in his argument with Oedipus. However, Sophocles challenges the notion of Creon’s goodhearted exercise of power, as, in ‘directing Oedipus towards the palace’ to discuss the oracle’s prophecy, Creon signals a desire to act outside the will of the people. Upon attaining the throne, he is rapidly corrupted by newfound rule, using force to ensure Oedipus ‘let[s] go of the children’, and mocking the former ruler for ‘none of [his] power…follow[ing] [him] through life’. Ultimately, Sophocles suggests that leadership is inherently corrupting, with external veneers unable to fully hide the despotic core imbued within individuals upon attaining power.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “In Oedipus The King, the individuals’…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Set in the golden age of Ancient Greece, individuals have to live amidst the consequences of their peers and the…
Set in the golden age of Ancient Greece, individuals have to live amidst the consequences of their peers and the ones above . In his magnum opus, Oedipus The King, Sophocles contends that, while individuals can fall victim to the poor choices of others, it is ultimately the combination between the choices of self, others and divine fate that determines suffering. The playwright outlines how fate can be a force that conquers and dictates the sufferings of individuals. Furthermore, he explores the sufferings of individuals to often be catalysed by their own individual poor choices. However, Sophocles extends that the poor choice of others is undoubtedly a potent force that can spark the suffering of peers.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "Love is a creative act. When you love…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 92.5%: Set in a society built on violent acts, Trevor Noah’s memoir ‘Born a crime’ undermines the power of violence with…
Set in a society built on violent acts, Trevor Noah’s memoir ‘Born a crime’ undermines the power of violence with the power of love and demonstrates how acts of love can have astounding effects on an individual. In an apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa the need for love as a method of negating violence is necessary in order to overcome prevalence of violence in society. Noah also argues that while violent acts can have detrimental effects, sometimes, violence coming from places of love are crucial to the protection and development of an individual. Moreover, love and belonging within the females of the community, is essential to escape and combat the violent men who uphold virulent, patriarchal standards.
Noah explores how love between individuals and families can overrule the mass inhumanities and violence that arose from apartheid. Apartheid fuelled an already segregated South Africa and imposed violent subjugation on innocent Black and other Coloured individuals, which was mitigated through varying acts of love. Despite Abels domineering abuse and tyranny, the love that Patrica shared with Trevor enabled her to resile from being shot and escape his oppression. The moments shared with Trevor after Patricia was shot demonstrated that no matter the situation or external environment, their mother-son love and connection counteracted the violence forces present through society. In the beginning of the memoir, Trevor and Patricia share a moment after being thrown out of the van “on the side of the road in the light of a gas station” where they both “laugh[ed] together through the pain”, which was juxtaposed in the very final sentences “laughing through the pain…on a bright and sunny day”. This juxtaposition in setting clearly demonstrates how the mother-son duo’s love for each other rejected adverse effects of violent acts imposed by the normalisation of domestic abuse, and the brutality from the broader oppression towards black families. This love, in conjunction with her own ability to be “unwavering in the face of danger” enabled Patricia to resile from being shot and be “out of the hospital in four days”, demonstrating the significance that love holds in overcoming violence. Moreover, the familial love shared between Trevor, Patrica and Robert highlighted that the mixing of races challenges a system built on institutionalised racism and the violence that arises from that. Patricia and Robert’s willingness to commit a crime “worse than treason” showed that despite the sheer force and hegemony elicited by the White colonisers, the love that both of them shared towards Trevor invalidates the ‘immorality act’ placed upon South Africa. Noah’s inclusion of the “immorality act” at the very beginning of the memoir not only introduces the bildungsroman nature of the text and provides context to his struggled upbringing, but it also grounds the memoir as an expression of love, rather than violence. Opening with this act enabled Noah to highlight how his very existence is proof of “rebuke to the logic of the system”, and how Robert had the opportunity to leave Patricia and Trevor alone, but instead he chose to evade apartheid’s control to love and support him as his son. Ultimately, the inhumanities and domestic violence that arose from the hatred and oppression of apartheid were combated through the love present in this memoir.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In his play, Sophocles portrays both the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Grief motivates a man to achieve anything, yet can never cure itself. In Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King,…
Grief motivates a man to achieve anything, yet can never cure itself. In Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, grief is portrayed as a deeply empowering experience that is hopeless in removing man’s suffering. Through grief motivating the journey towards intellectual enlightenment, Sophocles shows one’s ability to achieve greater knowledge that ultimately will only worsen mental state. He frames grief as a tool for repentance, bringing man to closer moral alignment with the gods yet not allowing them to avoid punishment. Moreover, he explores the destructive impact of grief, exhibiting how its powers of annihilation never translate to positive change, with grief ultimately being both powerful and futile.
As a tool for self-discovery, grief is a motive for intellectual enlightenment, yet is unable to change its status. Oedipus’ quest is driven by ‘his spirit griev[ing] for the city’ in the throes of the plague, viewing it as an opportunity to ‘defend [him]self’ from his torment by ‘avenging Laius’. Oedipus’ initial status as ‘the ignorant’ is made clear through Sophocles’ use of dramatic irony in the prologos. Oedipus’ misguided proclamations of being a ‘stranger to the crime’ and ‘stranger to the story’, and commitment to ‘fight for [Laius] as if he were [Oedipus’] father’, establish the lack of knowledge he possesses about himself. The gradual cessation of dramatic irony mirrors the character ‘solving the mystery of [his] birth’ and the murder of Laius. This attainment of understanding cements himself as an intellectual hero, with Sophocles portraying his grief for Thebes as empowering him to achieve this status. However, Oedipus’ attempts for relief are futile, with the achievement of his anagnorisis only exacerbating his grief. Oedipus’ imploring of ‘god’ for ‘all burst[ing] to light highlights the profound and devastating shock of the attainment of knowledge, resulting in an ultimate assertion that ‘no grief can crown’ his worsened despair. Through exploring Oedipus’ ‘precious eyes’ and eventual blindness, Sophocles portrays the duality of grief as both empowering yet destructive. Oedipus transforms from ‘blind to the corruption of [his] life’ to ‘see[ing] it all, clear as day’, yet the attainment of knowledge destroys his ‘precious eyes’; the ‘blood spurt[ing] from the roots’ mirroring the violence of his exacerbated torment. Ultimately, Sophocles posits that one can draw upon their grief to attain self-discovery, yet this exercise is futile in alleviating their emotional pain.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In his play, Sophocles portrays both the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Additionally, grief drives individuals towards atonement for immorality, yet does not excuse them for their…
Additionally, grief drives individuals towards atonement for immorality, yet does not excuse them for their transgressions. In uncovering their cardinal sins, ‘griefs…burst upon’ the ill-fated couple, marked by Jocasta ‘[weeping]...the marriage bed’ and Oedipus ‘giving a low, wrenching sob’. Their grief is met with acts of flagellation, with Jocasta ‘swinging back and forth’ on a ‘woven noose’ and Oedipus imploring Creon to ‘drive [him] out of Thebes, in exile’. Sophocles utilises agricultural imagery to highlight the beneficent power of their actions, the ‘raging plague in all its vengeance’ symbolising the destructive consequences of their transgressions with implications far beyond their own. Sophocles posits that, in accordance with notions of divine inflexibility, the ‘blight’ must be ‘root[ed]...out’, accomplished by the grief-stricken self-destruction of the couple. However, Sophocles suggests that their actions are ‘past all cure’, as the ‘great laws [which] tower above us’ from ‘the
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "Love is a creative act. When you love…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Set in a society built on violent acts, Trevor Noah’s memoir ‘Born a crime’ undermines the power of violence with…
Set in a society built on violent acts, Trevor Noah’s memoir ‘Born a crime’ undermines the power of violence with the power of love and demonstrates how acts of love can have astounding effects on an individual. In an apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa the need for love as a method of negating violence is necessary in order to overcome prevalence of violence in society. Noah also argues that while violent acts can have detrimental effects, sometimes, violence coming from places of love are crucial to the protection and development of an individual. Moreover, love and belonging within the females of the community, is essential to escape and combat the violent men who uphold virulent, patriarchal standards.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Systemic racism is a daily reality for…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 90%: Historical injustices have continually marginalised Indigenous populations, forcing them to endure the daily…
Historical injustices have continually marginalised Indigenous populations, forcing them to endure the daily impacts of a colonial society. Set on the backdrop of the Mooroopna Flats in 1950s Australia, Jane Harrison’s 2007 play ‘Rainbow’s End’ explores the prevalence of systemic racism and how this has limited the hopes and opportunities of Indigenous communities. Utilising the characterisation of the Dear women, Harrison celebrates the resilience of First Nations people while condemning oppressive institutions that imposed daily struggle.
Harrison examines how government policies limited the autonomy of Indigenous families on a daily basis. From the onset of the play, Harrison comments on the everyday struggles and hardships of living on the Flats, as she introduces the Dear women while they are [rebuilding after a flood]. This flood motif both literally and physically demonstrates the inadequate housing left to Indigenous families, and also suggests that the cycle of trauma and injustice is ongoing. This is supported by Dolly’s [resigned] sighs, highlighting how hardship and physical obstacles resulting from systemic oppression is accepted and normalised amongst Indigenous communities. Building on this theme of daily struggle, Harrison utilises figures such as the Inspector to epitomise systemic oppression, stereotypes, and intergenerational racism. The Inspector’s assertion that the “Aborigine must be absorbed in the community” and that he would "recommend assimilation in [his] report” brings attention to the blatant racism that is interwoven into colonial society. This confronting dialogue forces non-Indigenous and Indigenous audiences to recognise how latent discrimination pervades western society, and further illustrates how families endured the surveillance of white authorities, limiting their freedom and autonomy over their own lives. Furthermore, Harrison amplifies the denigrating ramifications of government policies through Ester, a minor character whose “boys” were “[taken]” by government authorities and later seen at the “cork trees.” The depiction of forceful removal from family and the Stolen Generation laments on the pernicious and destructive consequences of systemic oppression and assimilationist ideologies. Additionally, the motif of the cork trees is repeated frequently throughout the play, acting as a symbol for the everpresent impacts of colonisation, injustice, and trauma that Indigenous communities experience daily. In addition, Harrison strategically constructs a bookend structure with frequent references to the song ‘Que sera, sera.’ The repeated refrain “whatever will be will be” initially seems to offer a sense of hope. However, the implementation of the second verse after Dolly is raped questions “will there be rainbows day after day.” This cultivates irony as Harrison satirises hope and presents a sense of fatalism that dictates the power and control of Indigenous populations. The inclusion of this song in the Prologue, end of Act One, and in the final scene deliberately presents the crux of the play, raising the question as to whether Indigenous communities can truly escape the harsh vicissitudes of an oppressive society that aims to marginalise them on a daily basis.