VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Shakespeare explore the tension…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 75%: Duty is an individual’s ability to fulfill a certain responsibility and the possible consequences that it may pose.…
Duty is an individual’s ability to fulfill a certain responsibility and the possible consequences that it may pose. In William Shakespeares “Twelfth Night”, individuals are placed in roles where they are required to fulfill their duties whilst they are confronted with desires that may impede with their ability to carry out their role. Whether this is determined through the bypassing of social obligations, disguise or social advancement. Ultimately, Shakespeare reveals that desire disrupts an individual’s ability to carry out their duty by shaping their identity in unpredictable ways.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: In what ways does “Twelfth Night”…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Transformation is the change an individual experiences eventually leading to the renewal being the outcome of the…
Transformation is the change an individual experiences eventually leading to the renewal being the outcome of the change. Set amidst the backdrop of the late Elizabethan era, William Shakespeare's ‘Twelfth Night’, celebrates the interrelationship between these two concepts through love, disguise, and self-deception. Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ reveals that transformation must happen before renewal, where individuals must lose themselves in illusion before they can find truth and identity again.
Shakespeare emphasises that emotional transformation through love can lead to renewal of the heart. The emotional transformation is conveyed through an individual’s experience, particularly highlighted through Orsino in the opening line of the play, “If music be the food of love”. The metaphor compares love to appetite, where he wants to consume it endlessly. This reveals emotional self-absorption where Orsino is in love with the idea of love rather than loving someone. Shakespeare affirms Orsino’s relationship with love prior to the transformation, where he seeks to change his view of love to renew his view of the genuine emotion. Viola’s disguise as Cesario challenges Orsino’s inflated view of love. Orsino exaggerates through a hyperbole that “there is no woman’s sides that can bide the beating of so strong a passion as love doth give my heart.” This declares that women cannot love him deeply while Viola (a woman) is the one who truly understands him. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to expose Orsino’s blindness and set up his transformation. The honest conversations about emotion transform Orsino where he begins to value the sincerity and connection over love as an idea. The revealing of Viola’s disguise is what leads to Orsino’s renewal. This is reflected when Orsino asks to “Give me thy hand and let me see thee in thy woman’s weeds.” This is clarified as “thy hands” and “woman weeds” symbolise trust and connection, where Orsino has moved from idealised love to genuine human connection. Shakespeare utilises Orsino as a character to unveil how love can transform one’s fantasies to authentic affection through understanding.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Jackson's novel examine the…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: Shirley Jackson's 1962 gothic novel We have always lived in the castle creates a world that replicates amarican…
Shirley Jackson's 1962 gothic novel We have always lived in the castle creates a world that replicates amarican societies nuclear family archetype, wherein woman are disenpowered and sujeted to domestic roles. Throughout her novel jackson exposes the difficulties woman have to endure in a world where power is distributed uneavenly. Through the gothic tope of insiders vs outsiders jackson denounces socities attempts the indoctrinate a patriarcal ideoplogy onto non conformists. Hence, jackon revelas how woman are marginalised in attemps to subvert convention. Ultimatly although jackson delenites that in a world where post war era Mcathystic Ideologies strip woman of thier autonamy. Through mericat and constance, she prompts her readership to understand there are means to subvert these dificulties and achive liberation from a world where power is distributed uneavenly.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Jane Eyre challenges the moral codes of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In a society where external appearances and class are conflated within inner morality, Bronte argues that…
In a society where external appearances and class are conflated within inner morality, Bronte argues that character and worth are not defined social hierarchies. In the exposition of the novel, Bronte elucidates the hierarchical disparity between Jane and her aunt. Denouncing that Jane is but a “servant to [her]”, Bronte establishes how Mrs Reed possesses superiority over Jane. This tension is further developed, as Jane exacerbates that Mrs Reed is “bad, heard-hearted [and] deceitful”, reflecting her resentment towards her aunt's cruelty and social superiority. However, through moral guidance of her surrounding peers, Jane’s integrity deepens, fostering a “strong yearning to forget and forgive” Mrs Reeds’s actions and extinguish “[her] flame of resentment”. This moral growth is evident when Jane declares that she is “not vindictive”, acknowledging her desire for Mrs Reed’s forgiveness. Despite Mrs Reed's continued bitterness, Jane’s capacity for self-reflection illustrates that moral worth is not dictated by class or status. Though this development, Bronte challenges the Victorian amalgamation of social rank with virtue, asserting that true character arises from compassion rather than social class. Continually, Bronte contrasts Jane and Blanche Ingram’s outwardly appearance and moral attitudes, underscoring the disparity between superficial beauty and inner virtue. Blanche’s very name, meaning white, connotes elegance and aristocratic superiority, reflecting her elevated social standing. Jane’s association with the word plain suggests simplicity and ordinariness, reinforcing her lower position in the social hierarchy. This contrast mirrors the stark disparity between the two women’s class identities, whilst exemplifying how superior classes are viewed through a lens of purity and righteousness. Blanche’s remark describing governesses as “detestable and the rest ridiculous” and “all incubi” reveals her contempt for those of lower status. The hyperbolic language of “incubi”, evoking demonic imagery, reflects the aristocratic mindset that views them as "dependants". Brontë uses this disdain to expose the hypocrisy of the landed gentry, who pride themselves on refinement yet display cruelty, suggesting that high social standing does not equate to virtue. Therefore, Bronte reveals that social superiority masks moral ambiguity, challenging the Victorian assumption that higher class means higher virtue.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Jane Eyre challenges the moral codes of…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Jane Eyre challenges the moral codes of the Victorian era. Discuss.
Jane Eyre challenges the moral codes of the Victorian era. Discuss.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: And he is the only family I have left, I…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Flames ii) And he is the only family I have left; I wasn't ready to give up what my mother had built. Family…
Flames
ii) And he is the only family I have left; I wasn't ready to give up what my mother had built. Family Bonds do not necessarily produce positive outcomes in flames, Discuss.
In Flames a novel by Robbie Arnott explores the magical realism in the story through characters such as Charlotte who is one of the main characters alongside Levi who is Charlottes brother, Jack who is a fire Spirit and Levi and charlotte's father and Karl who is a seal hunter. Flames adequatley portrays how bonds between people do not necessarily produce positive outcomes. To support this Robbie Arnott highlights how Charlotte and Levi's relationship brings negative outcomes toward the family dynamic they have, Arnott also shows how the closest bond can become a fading memory, And how family bonds can create distance and isolation.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: What is the significance of blindness in…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 80%: Sophocles’s Oedipus the King is a classic Greek tragedy about the downfall of Oedipus, a heroic yet ill-fated…
Sophocles’s Oedipus the King is a classic Greek tragedy about the downfall of Oedipus, a heroic yet ill-fated character who was prophesied to marry his mother and kill his father. Oedipus’ journey is a pursuit of knowledge and the truth, and in finding his true identity, which he was blind to, he became physically blind. Combining physical blindness through the character of the blind seer, Tiresias, with figurative language used relating to vision, Sophocles uses this as a motif to highlight the play’s central argument: that vision, especially relating to knowledge and the truth, is valuable but detrimental.
Oedipus’s search for his own identity and Laius’s murderer eventually reveals the truth, bringing about his own downfall and blindness. He is not destroyed by his destiny, but rather by his realisation of the truth, suggesting that reality is the most necessary yet devastating thing in life. His high-stakes goal to find out the truth was set early on, with a message from Apollo urging Thebes to “Drive the corruption from the land”, encouraging Oedipus to carry out his investigation; “I’ll bring it all to light myself!”. His persistence in revealing the truth led to him disregarding Tiresias, who warns him, “if the truth has any power”. Instead, Oedipus’s hubris led to him criticising Tiresias; “You’ve lost your power, stone-blind, stone-deaf - senses, eyes blind as stone!”, yet in such he was only “flinging at me (Tiresias) the very insults each man here will fling at you soon”. His mockery of Tiresias, the blind prophet, is seen as a ridicule of himself, as not only is he oblivious to his own crimes and actions, Oedipus even accuses him and Creon of “this conspiracy”. His eventual realisation of the truth results in his blindness; although he is no longer metaphorically blind to the truth, he finds this newly acquired wisdom unbearable: “What good were eyes to me? Nothing I could see could bring joy.” As Oedipus is forced into self-exile, Sophocles shows how Oedipus’s journey to knowledge resulted in blindness, that wisdom is simultaneously valuable and detrimental.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: Shirley Jackson's gothic novel 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' explores the dynamics of Blackwood sisters…
Shirley Jackson's gothic novel 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' explores the dynamics of Blackwood sisters Merricat and Constance, after the tragic poisoning of their family, showcasing a quiet and intimate kind of horror, where gentleness and terror intertwine. Through Merricat's lyrical narration, the isolation of the Blackwood household, and the sisters' peaceful descent into delusion, Jackson transforms the conventions of horror into something strangely beautiful rather than relying on violence and terror. Jackson's novel invites readers to find unease in tranquility and beauty in decay.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “We demand the right to control our own…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Jane Harrison's Rainbows End explores the story of three generations of aboriginal women living in 1950s rural…
Jane Harrison's Rainbows End explores the story of three generations of aboriginal women living in 1950s rural Australia.Through dialogue, symbolism, and tonal contrast, Harrison positions Nan Dear, Gladys, and Dolly as figures whose quiet persistence and humour dismantle stereotypes of victimhood. Through the quote “we demand the right to control our own destiny" Harrison implies that vulnerable people are able to control their own destinies by using their family bonds as a shield to be able overcome adversities, this helps the characters to gain a sense of self determination to push for change. Through these actions however the oppression and discrimination that the indigenous people face does not truly minimise it
Rainbows End conveys the message that subjugated people should also have the right to control their own futures. Harrison does this by portraying family bonds as a means to build strength and have that sense of knowing for the characters that they have support in any matter. Family sits at the heart of rainbows end serving both as a source of strength and a space of tension. Nan dears declaration “my birth certificate says murray river….. born there and by crikey im gonna go back and die there” demonstrates deep connection to country and her family history grounding their identity in place. Yet the family was also burdened with secrets as shown when Nan hides the truth about her own assault, telling Dolly only when she too becomes pregnant after violence: “I was your age once, too. And I even became a mother too when I was your age.”Harrison shows how silence, passed down through generations, becomes a method of survival but also a heavy weight. Despite this, the women’s solidarity emerges as their strongest weapon, as when Gladys fiercely insists during the flood, “They’re only possessions. People is what matters.” In presenting family as both fractured and resilient, Harrison illustrates how love allows the women to endure even in the harshest circumstances.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Here, every man has to fight for himself…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir published in 1960, recounting the author’s first-hand experiences with the…
Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir published in 1960, recounting the author’s first-hand experiences with the Holocaust and the attempted systematic extermination of Jews by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. In the text, Wiesel delineates the inversion of human values and the systematic acts of dehumanisation of Jews. Through recounting his experiences, Wiesel highlights the tendency of humans to prioritise survival over morality in dire situations, suggesting that complete desperation strips individuals of compassion and reveals the human capacity for inhumanity.
Wiesel highlights how survival instinct overrides morality in a cruel, harsh environment. Prisoners who were once ordinary human beings have been subjected to cruel torment, reduced to animals fighting over crumbs of bread. Wiesel recalls how men were “ready to kill for a crust of bread”, illustrating how the Holocaust caused brutal conditions where starvation stripped away compassion, leaving an animalistic husk of their former selves. In this way, Wiesel confronts how survival becomes a form of moral erosion leaving individuals to act in ways they would have never thought about outside the concentration camps. Furthermore, Wiesel recounts how sons would “abandon their father without a tear”, portraying how the Nazis engineered moral collapse among the prisoners in these camps. Through this, Wiesel demonstrates how the brutal conditions of the Holocaust transformed prisoners into egoistic beings who have been stripped of empathy and morality. The prioritization of survival over morality creates an inhumane environment where empathy is stripped and morality is lost.
Wiesel emphasises how the harsh conditions of the Holocaust systematically strips prisoners of their identity and autonomy, leaving them as a shell of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Dracula endorse challenge marginalise
VCE Text Response essay scoring 60%: Bram Stoker’s Dracula reveals Victorian anxiety surrounding England’s waning geopolitical power and shifts in…
Bram Stoker’s Dracula reveals Victorian anxiety surrounding England’s waning geopolitical power and shifts in societal morals amidst the Fin de Siècle. Stoker warns of a knowledgeable obsession with the West from foreign powers, yet endorses the scientific and spiritual dedication harnessed to combat these same powers.
Stoker characterises Van Helsing as knowledgeable and focussed, yet differentiates him from the English protagonists through slightly erratic and emotive behaviour. His research of vampirism and how to combat it is instrumental in the defeat of Dracula, particularly through the use of scientific knowledge and spiritual tokens such as ‘communion wafers’. This unwavering pursuit of Dracula and fight to save ‘pure’ English women such as Lucy and Mina from his predation illustrates Van Helsing to be morally righteous in the quest against ‘evil’. Stoker therefore endorses this notion of obsession in the pursuit of good prevailing, through his descriptions of Van Helsing’s toil by other English characters also portrayed as ‘good’.
However, this endorsement is not absolute as Stoker challenges obsession as a force for temptation. Van Helsing’s admission that he has a ‘sweet fascination’ and ‘was moved’ by the vampire women in the passage undermines the notion of obsession having scope for dangerous desire. The somnambulant description of ‘lapsing into sleep’ as he is ‘transfixed’ by the women speaks to a moral lapse in judgement, as Van Helsing nearly loses consciousness of what is right. The ‘voice of dear Madam Mina’ being the vehicle to disrupt this obsessive temptation illustrates morality as a driving force in combatting ‘instinct[ual] desire’, Mina, being portrayed as the idea, pious Victorian woman. Here, Stoker challenges obsession through the notion of it being a dangerous subconscious entity.
Stoker additionally challenges obsession by utilising it as a hallmark of
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: To what extent does Born A Crime show that…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 70%: In the memoir ‘Born A Crime’ set in the context of 1980s apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, Trevor Noah…
In the memoir ‘Born A Crime’ set in the context of 1980s apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, Trevor Noah challenges the superficial notion that hope and determination can help one overcome all obstacles to reveal the harsh reality faced by the majority who remain trapped in the cycle of poverty, abuse, and discrimination. While he does demonstrate that strong-willed and resilient individuals are capable of defeating obstacles, he also contradicts it by uncovering the limitations imposed by systematic oppression and fear. In addition, he explores a different purpose that goals and motivations play for disadvantaged groups living in adversity. Through Born A Crime, Noah intends to debunk the illusion that sheer willpower will help individuals get out of their struggles and educate his readers about the cruel reality under South Africa’s apartheid control system.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: Sophocles anticipates that its audience…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Sophocles anticipates that its audience will feel sympathetic towards Oedipus.Do you agree? The true human…
Sophocles anticipates that its audience will feel sympathetic towards Oedipus.Do you agree?
The true human experience is to visualise ourselves within others so that we may evolve and strive for the better. In Sophocles play “Oedipus the King”, he invites the audience to spectate the lives of the characters within the play and form a sense of sympathy from their outcomes, but ultimately invoke other emotions from the characters experience. Sophocles argues a perspective in which the lives of the characters is one to feel sorry for, as their experiences could be perceived as out of their reach to avoid. However, Sophocles manipulation of the characters true human nature and actions, invites how the characters demise is ultimately deserving and not rewarding of any sympathy. Despite these arguments, Sophocles overall intention and message towards the audience is invoke fear, as the audience may resemble with the actions of the characters within the play. It is often highlighted within the play that we must learn from not only our own experiences, but the experiences of others that live around us to understand life to the fullest.
Sophocles play can most definitely invite his audience to gain a perspective that allows them to feel sympathetic towards the character Oedipus. Sophocles portrays many personas of Oedipus, with one of them being a a problem solver/hunter. While Oedipus does display a sense of hubris in searching for the truth, with episode one saying how he will “bring it to light myself”, he ultimately displays the characteristics of a civic leader who prioritizes the safety of his people with the Athenians. Sophocles demonstrates Oedipus determination as a characteristic that invites the audience to be empathetic towards Oedipus, as he demonstrates Oedipus as a selfless leader. Sophocles also utilises the parameters of fate in invoking sympathy to Oedipus. Sophocles demonstrates towards his audience how it was from birth that Oedipus was written within fate, and discussing how its inevitability will prevail any force of mortal choices. Within the second episode, we see Tiresias describe Oedipus as “no man will be ever rooted from this earth as badly as you”, demonstrating that it was from his “roots” that was intrenched with fate, and despite Oedipus's efforts to avoid such, he had no control over his destiny. Sophocles utilities this fate as a way for the audience to feel sorry for Oedipus, as the ability for him to be treated fairly was denied. Sophocles then links both the determination of Oedipus and the inescapabilities of fate that are then emphasised to his suffering. The main driver to feel sympathy towards Oedipus is his ultimate demise. Oedipus suffering in which he “gouges” his eyes out and along with losing his mother/wife, along with being rid of his city in which he ruled, highlight a opportunity in which the audience my feel pity for Oedipus. Within the fourth episode, Oedipus describes himself in guilt as “i am an abomination…i am agony” highlighting how the tragedy is of the highest form of human destruction. Sophocles ultimately suggest through Oedipus downfall, the positive selfless determination and the inescapability of fate, a reasonable stance for the audience to feel sorry for Oedipus.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: ‘There is nothing tragic about being 50,…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Billy Wilder’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is a timeless tale set in the 1950’s that demonstrates how the realities of…
Billy Wilder’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is a timeless tale set in the 1950’s that demonstrates how the realities of aging in Hollywood is laid bare, revealing the culture with the infatuation over youth while marginalising those who age. Wilder portrays the obsession of youth through his characters and their narratives, exploring how Hollywood creates an environment where aging stars fight their diminishing relevance. Sunset Boulevard critiques Hollywood’s relentless obsession with youth, depicting aging as a curse that leads to irrelevance and despair. Through Norma Desmond’s fear of growing older and her desperate attempts to maintain her youthful image, the film exposes the harsh pressures placed on women in the industry. In contrast, Joe Gillis’s acceptance of his own failures underscores the destructive consequences of denial, reinforcing the film’s exploration of aging and self-delusion.
Sunset Boulevard critiques Hollywood’s obsession with youth, portraying aging as a curse that leads to irrelevance and despair. The film presents Norma Desmond as a once-glamorous star who has been discarded by the industry, illustrating how Hollywood devalues those who can no longer maintain an image of youth. This is visually reinforced through mise-en-scène, with Norma’s decaying mansion serving as a metaphor for her own fading career. The contrast between the mansion’s grandeur and its eerie emptiness reflects the industry’s treatment of aging actors—once admired, now forgotten. Camera techniques, such as extreme close-ups on Norma’s heavily made-up face, emphasize the artificiality of her attempts to maintain youth, while high-contrast lighting creates shadows that exaggerate her expressions, making her seem ghostly and trapped in the past. The film’s use of diegetic sound, particularly when Norma watches her old silent films, further highlights her longing for a time when she was admired. Her own words reinforce this idea when she bitterly remarks, "I am big. It's the pictures that got small." This line encapsulates her refusal to accept that Hollywood has moved on without her, further emphasizing the film’s critique of an industry that glorifies youth while discarding its aging stars.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Jane Eyre challenge the social…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 82.5%: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) charts one woman’s moral and emotional evolution within the confines of…
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) charts one woman’s moral and emotional evolution within the confines of Victorian patriarchy. Through the bildungsroman form and first-person confessional narration, Brontë transforms the female search for autonomy into both a moral and feminist act. Across the novel’s Fichtean arc from Gateshead and Lowood, to Thornfield and Moor House, and finally to Ferndean, Brontë reimagines Gothic conventions of imprisonment and revelation as expressions of psychological truth. Jane’s journey becomes a rebellion against a society that equated virtue with submission and female obedience with moral purity.
Bronte explores how hardship due to restrictive social hierarchies can be a catalyst for those oppressed to assert their worth. At Gateshead, the architecture of repression mirrors the patriarchal authority that defines Jane’s childhood. The “red-room,” saturated with “crimson” and “deep-curtained gloom,” acts as both Gothic chamber and moral allegory: a domestic prison enforcing hierarchies of class and gender. Brontë converts this physical confinement into psychological revolt through first-person narration. Jane’s retrospective voice fuses immediacy and reflection, reinterpreting her defiance— “I am not deceitful; if I were, I should say I loved you”—as the awakening of conscience rather than childish insolence. This moment marks her refusal to conform to the Victorian code that equated female virtue with silence. At Lowood, Brontë extends this critique through Mr Brocklehurst, whose attempt to “mortify” the girls by cropping their hair and dressing them in “brown stuff frocks” exposes religion’s role in enforcing female subservience. His “grim-faced” piety reduces morality to discipline, contrasting with Helen Burns’s gentler spirituality. Jane’s empathy and outrage reveal the evolution of integrity from rebellion to reflection; she learns that conscience must be guided by compassion, not coercion. Across these settings, Brontë exposes how patriarchal structures, both domestic and religious, seek to control women’s minds and bodies. By giving Jane narrative control, Brontë symbolically restores the authority society denies her.
As the texts progresses, Bronte tests moral doctrine through temptation and love, aiming to reaffirm the worth of people beyond social convention. At Thornfield, Brontë stages the bildungsroman novel’s moral and emotional climax, where Jane’s integrity is tested against passion and patriarchal dominance. The first-person narration immerses readers in her inner conflict. When she discovers Rochester’s existing marriage, her refusal— “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation; they are for such moments as this”—asserts moral conviction over desire. The biblical rhythm of “they are” elevates private conscience
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: TRUMAN SHOW: What does the Truman show…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: Released (1998) during a peak of public interest in surveillance, reality television and the digital world, Peter…
Released (1998) during a peak of public interest in surveillance, reality television and the digital world, Peter Weir’s “*The Truman Show*” exposes the exploitive and synthetic nature of modern day media - wherein the lust for power and entertainment can corrupt the real meaning of truth. Through Truman’s slow and tragic realisation of his fabricated circumstances, Weir suggests that through the blurred lense of the entertainment industry, what appears authentic is often fraudulent in reality. Utilising the audience within the film, Weir places responsibility on his own audience, emphasising the moral ambiguity of finding comfort in the consumption of another man’s false reality. Despite this, “*The Truman Show*” encourages its audience to examine their own realities for falsehoods through the suggestion that the truth arises not from illusion and deception, but from recognition and realisation of oneself.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: High ground suggests that some conflicts…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: Stephen Maxwell Johnson's 2020 film 'High Ground' endeavours to shatter the 'great Australian silence' by…
Stephen Maxwell Johnson's 2020 film 'High Ground' endeavours to shatter the 'great Australian silence' by presenting the confronting reality of the violence and genocide endured by First Nations people. Johnson highlights that many divisions will remain unresolved, however some conflicts may be able to be healed. Johnson illustrates the implications of physical violence in addition to the impact of cultural differences. But Johnson is able to portray that internal conflicts can be resolved.
Johnson highlights the implication of physical violence and how the impacts linger into the future, whether it's the massacre of many First Nations peoples or the impacts of using a gun. Johnson implies that these acts of violence cannot be resolved. The first scene of the massacre shows how violence has taken over as a once an edenic, peaceful home has been transformed into blood tainted memories for any survivors of the tragedy. Johnson juxtaposes this as it portrays the watching white colonist suggesting to viewers that any person who did this will be unable to seek forgiveness. Physical violence against First Nations people is evident throughout the film, with white colonist even somewhat celebrating the death including 'did I get her' after shooting an innocent woman. This physical violence is also shown when Eddie resorts to strangling Gutjuk to get information out of him and continuously screaming 'tell us where he is' or 'you know something'. These acts of violence have been kept quiet throughout Australia's history and Johnson aims to illustrate to the audience how even now these acts of violence haven't be resolved. Violence also comes from the use of the gun. When First Nations characters are first seen, the viewers see them through the lens of Travis's gun, indicating the imbalance of power, showing First Nations people as prey and colonist as predators. The gun acts as a symbol for violence and during the film, someone ends up dead every time it is seen. This unlawful act of violence against First Nations people occurred all throughout history and Johnson is able to indicate that they still haven't been resolved.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does High Ground depict the lasting…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s High Ground depicts the enduring consequences of colonial violence by exploring how…
Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s High Ground depicts the enduring consequences of colonial violence by exploring how trauma, guilt and division continue to shape individuals long after the bloodshed has passed. Set in 1930s Arnhem Land and framed around the legacy of the Gan Gan massacre, the film illustrates that colonial violence is not confined to a single moment in history, but instead survives in memory, identity and intergenerational relationships. Through its focus on the experiences of Gutjuk, Travis and Claire, High Ground reveals that colonial brutality lingers psychologically for Indigenous survivors, morally damages those implicated in the system, and continues to fracture relationships between peoples. Johnson ultimately suggests that without truth, accountability and recognition, the violent foundations of Australia will continue to dictate its future.
High Ground first depicts the lasting impact of colonial violence through the trauma and dislocation that persists within Indigenous memory and identity. The Gan Gan massacre becomes the defining wound of the narrative, as Johnson uses jarring gunfire and still, lingering shots of burning huts to show how violence fractures cultural continuity. For the Yolngu survivors, the trauma remains “a scar on Country,” symbolising the way memory is carried collectively and spiritually. Gutjuk, raised between conflicting worlds, embodies the disruptive consequences of this violence; his fractured identity reflects the destruction of kinship and belonging. Grandfather Dharrpa’s insistence that “we remember” reinforces how memory becomes both a burden and a tool of resistance, refusing erasure. Johnson’s recurring fire imagery serves as a visual metaphor for trauma that cannot be extinguished, suggesting that colonial violence survives in the psyche long after the physical event. Through Indigenous characters who are defined by loss yet anchored by resilience, Johnson demonstrates that the legacy of colonial brutality is intergenerational, shaping identity, culture and memory across time.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Of this dead butcher and his fiend-like…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 72.5%: During the Jacobean era, belief in the divine order coexisted with fears of witchcraft, reflecting a society…
During the Jacobean era, belief in the divine order coexisted with fears of witchcraft, reflecting a society anxious about sin, power, and instability. William Shakespeare’s 1606 play ‘Macbeth,’ explores its eponymous protagonist as he succumbs to his own ambition and the intervention of forces. Through his dramatic tragedy, Shakespeare critiques fragility of human ego and the dangers of unchecked ambition, exposing humanity’s ultimate tragedy as allowing noble qualities to be consumed by their own perversion. The witches’ seductive prophecies feed into Macbeth’s dormant ambition, uncovering his repressed desires of becoming king. Moreover, his fragile ego is challenged by Lady Macbeth’s goading at his masculinity, consequently leading him to abandon his humanity in pursuit of personal power. Shakespeare thus presents ‘Macbeth’ as a cautionary tale, warning Jacobean audiences to live a virtuous life by God, for fear of disrupting the natural order.
Macbeth’s tragic downfall is ignited not by ambition itself, but from the way external forces cunningly exploit his vulnerabilities. Shakespeare immediately establishes a world of supernatural disorder through the witches’ entrance amid “thunder and lightning,” using pathetic fallacy to foreshadow the moral chaos soon to engulf Scotland. Their eerie chants, delivered in trochaic tetrameter deliberately invert the play’s dominant iambic rhythm, emphasising their otherworldly and malevolent nature as corrosive agents within the natural order. This celestial disturbance finds its first victim in Macbeth, whose “valiant” façade is unsettled under the weight of their prophecy, awakening his “black and deep desires.” Moreover, the personification of his “horrid image” that “unfix[ed]” his hair emphasises the way temptation unsettles both conscience and reason. By allegorically characterising Macbeth as humanity, Shakespeare exposes the sheer vulnerability of the human morale when tempted by desire, instilling a Jacobean fear: the demonic supernatural actively prey upon those morally frail, corrupting the nobility of humankind. While the witches plant the seeds of ambition, it is Lady Macbeth who cultivates them into grim resolve, beginning her transformation into a “fiend-like queen.” Her challenge, “When you durst do it, then you were a man,” undermines his masculinity and exploits his insecurities. Through her manipulative rhetoric, Jacobean gender roles are inverted, positioning Lady Macbeth as a symbolic threat to the natural patriarchal order itself. In doing so, Shakespeare reflects Jacobean anxieties about gender and authority, illustrating how distorted conceptions of traditional feminity and masculinity can be equally destructive. Shakespeare thus critiques not only the characters, but the cultural values that legitimise violence, unveiling the ultimate tragedy of how societal values and personal insecurities can compel an individual to actively collaborate in the suppression of their own noble virtue.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: How does Johnson explore the long-lasting…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 67.5%: Set in Arnam land, ‘High Ground’ is a post-colonial, western film based on the event of the Gan Gan massacre.…
Set in Arnam land, ‘High Ground’ is a post-colonial, western film based on the event of the Gan Gan massacre. Through this film, director Stephen Maxwell Johnson explores the lasting impact of violence, on both individual parties, and groups, demonstrating how trauma continues through time and generations through the use of camera angles and symbolism. Through the portrayal of the aftermath of a colonial massacre, the film highlights how this foundational act of violence drives separation between Aboriginal people and colonisers, and continues to shape certain characters and communities. Through this post-colonial film, and the techniques used, Johnson underscores how violence never confined to the past, but continues to scar people and communities long after the occurrence.
Through the intentional usage of camera angles and symbols, Johnson portrayed how violence can permanently alter an individual's identity. This is heightened by Baywara, who, in the opening of the film is depicted as an empathetic and peaceful teacher who is connected with his traditions and country as he teaches Gutjuk his totem and dance. However, Johnson starkly contrasts this with Baywara’s characterisation 12 years after the brutal massacre, when he is depicted in the middle of fire and destruction. Johnson's use of a low camera angle and ominous, non-diagetic music portrays Baywara as violent and ominous, highlighting the stark change in character he experienced after the act of violence committed against his family. However, Johnson also portrays Baywara from a distance with his face and features hidden from the audience, implying that he is being consumed by past violence that has wharped his identity, and hence his sense of self and autonomy is in jeopardy. This is further emphasised though Grandfather Dharrpa, who says that Baywara ‘lost his potential’ as a ‘teacher’, conveying that in a response to outside forces as a result of the colonial forces heartlessly murdering his family, Baywara has lost his connection to his cultural identity, and more importantly, to his country. Furthermore, Gulwirri, a young female member in Baywara’s mob, expresses the bitterness and lasting anger she carries from additional violence she has experienced, when she tells Gutjuk that ‘your anger is all you have.’ Her words demonstrate how the trauma that follows her as a result of the violence she has endured has consumed her identity, leaving anger as her primary connection to the past.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: "But I am the master of my own fate. I…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 65%: "But I am the master of my own fate. I must find the truth". How does Oedipus the King examine the illusion of…
"But I am the master of my own fate.
I must find the truth".
How does Oedipus the King examine the illusion of control.
The concept of human agency is at the heart of Sophocles' cathartic tragedy, 'Oedipus the King', which magnifies the importance of divine rule. Following the play's eponymous character, on his unflinching quest for the truth, Sophocles contends that ultimately one does not exercise direction or restraint over their lives and that it is an illusion. Sophocles' employs dramatic irony to showcase the lack of human agency that mortals posess, prompting his progressive human-reasoning based viewers to critique their reliance on human logic. Natural references are employed by the playwright to underscore the arbitrary nature of the gods, maintaining the notion that the immortals hold all power. Furthermore, Sophocles structures the play in a circular manner to examine the futility of human action on the path to a pre-determined fate. Ultimately, a state of ignorance provides a false impression of control showcasing the futility of human agency.
Sophocles employs dramatic irony throughout the play to examine the illusion of agency. Sophocles characterises Oedipus early on through his claim in which he exclaims that "I stopped the Sphinx! With no help from the birds, the flight of my own intelligence hit the mark". The ironic use of the bird motif which is a direct reference to the divine rule, and the perceived dominance of human logic and reasoning over divine authority. The playwright is showcasing to his progressive audience through the over-confidence of Oedipus that the perceived ability of control in one's life is deceitful and false, thus prompting his 5th BCE audience to reflect on their own agency. In a similar manner, Sophocles explores the notion that human achievement and status are not dictated by wilful human actions and instead the divine when Oedipus wrongfully boasts in the prologue that he is the "Land's avenger" and "Apollo's champion too". The irony of a mortal being believing that they independently controlled their path to an achievement, encourages the Athenian audience to critique their reliance on humans and pay more reverence towards the gods. Furthermore, the playwright employs dramatic irony by utilising the light and blindness motif when Oedipus confidently states that "You can't hurt me or anyone else who sees the light". In this way the audience understands that Oedipus is truly "blind to the corruption" of his own life. Thus Sophocles is pursuing the notion that regardless of ones believed sight and control they are ultimately blind, and have no control over their lives.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Nobody listens anymore.” How important is…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: In his 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury depicts a dystopian society where government control over…
In his 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury depicts a dystopian society where government control over communication has rendered the people powerless. While it is an exaggerated metaphor warning his post-war readers of the dangers of consumerism and technological advancement, there are lessons for modern readers. Personally, I found it rather uncanny the parallels that can be drawn with my own world. In the text, Bradbury condemns the villainous way the government stifles authentic and meaningful communication, in order to maintain control. While our own democratic society isn’t this extreme, we still see evidence of our own leaders cheating people of the truth in order to control a narrative that suits their agenda. Bradbury celebrates the power of honest and authentic communication to strengthen family cohesion and by extension, create a more wholesome society. In our own country where screens outnumber people 2:1, there is a genuine temptation to ignore the people we love, opting for screen time instead. Audiences of Fahrenheit 451 are urged to recognise the strength of books to communicate ideas and build thinking, enlightened individuals. Fortunately, we have not lost this understanding to the same extent as the deprived citizens in the novel, but we do tread a dangerous path if social media, gaming and video streaming services continue to suck our time, replacing the time once spent immersed in books. If we lose our interest in books, we also lose the diversity of messages they bring. Overall, Bradbury reinforces the importance of communication. He condemns government efforts to block communication, whilst celebrating those who understand the power of open, two way communication to build a wholesome society.
History has shown that an ignorant society can fall victim to extremist ideas and be easily manipulated by governments. Having a populace with little understanding of critical issues which directly affect them is an attractive opportunity for more corrupt ruling parties to present an alternative narrative under the disguise of ‘public safety’ or to ‘clarify’ a complex issue by simplifying it to their own advantage. Keeping the population in a heightened state of alarm allows the government
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: The fatal flaw in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 77.5%: During the Jacobean era, belief in divine order coexisted with fears of witchcraft and rebellion, reflecting a…
During the Jacobean era, belief in divine order coexisted with fears of witchcraft and rebellion, reflecting a society anxious about sin, power and instability. William Shakespeare’s 1606 play 'Macbeth', explores its eponymous protagonist succumbing to his own ambition and the intervention of otherworldly forces. Through his dramatic tragedy, Shakespeare critiques the corruptive influence of power, fragility of human ego, and the dangers of unchecked ambition, suggesting that ambition alone is insufficient to explain Macbeth’s downfall. The witches' seductive prophecies feed into Macbeth's dormant ambition, contributing to his repressed desires of becoming king. Moreover, his fragile ego is challenged by Lady Macbeth's goading at his masculinity, consequently leading him to abandon moral integrity in the pursuit of personal power. Shakespeare thus presents Macbeth as a cautionary tale, warning Jacobean audiences of the chaos that ensues when individuals disrupt the established order.
Macbeth’s tragic downfall stems not from ambition itself, but from the way external forces cunningly exploit this latent flaw. Through pathetic fallacy, Shakespeare immediately establishes the supernatural disorder through the witches’ entrance amid “thunder and lightning” foreshadowing both the physical and moral chaos about to engulf Scotland. This celestial wrath finds its first victim in Macbeth, whose “valiant” façade is fractured by their prophecy of him becoming “king hereafter,” awakening his “black and deep desires.” The witches’ chant in trochaic tetrameter further emphasises their otherworldly and malevolent nature, highlighting the supernatural as both alluring and corrosive. Moreover, the personification of Macbeth’s “horrid image” that “unfix[ed]” his hair emphasises the way temptation unsettles both conscience and reason. By portraying him as an allegory for humanity, Shakespeare suggests that it is not simply action but thought itself that can be corrupted, exposing the vulnerability of human imagination when tempted by desire. Here, a core Jacobean fear is instilled: that the demonic supernatural actively prey upon the morally frail through temptation, disrupting the social order. Macbceth’s malleability is emphasised, demonstrating how his virtue is susceptible to external pressure. While the witches plant the seeds of ambition, it is Lady Macbeth who transforms temptation into resolve. Her challenge, “When you durst do it, then you were a man,” undermines his masculinity and exploits his insecurities. Through her manipulative rhetoric, Jacobean gender roles are inverted, positioning Lady Macbeth as a symbolic threat to the natural patriarchal order itself. In doing so, Shakespeare reflects Jacobean anxieties about gender and authority, illustrating how distorted conceptions of traditional feminity and masculinity can be equally destructive. By Shakespeare thus critiques not simply the characters, but the cultural values that legitimise violence, showing how pressures to perform manhood can fatally erode moral restraint. cy.XX Thus, ambition is shown to be fatal only when combined with Macbeth’s insecurity and weakness, indicating that it alone cannot fully account for his downfall.
VCE · Text Response
Text Response: “Look at this street. All cardboard, all…
VCE Text Response essay scoring 87.5%: Billy Wilder’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’ unveils Hollywood as a paradoxical realm where glamour masks moral decay and…
Billy Wilder’s ‘Sunset Boulevard’ unveils Hollywood as a paradoxical realm where glamour masks moral decay and delusion shrouds reality. Through the tragic downfall of Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis, Wilder critiques the film industry’s exploitative nature, portraying it as both a seductive fantasy and a corrosive force. The street’s veneer of “cardboard” superficiality, described by Betty, encapsulates Hollywood’s duality: a world constructed on illusion that dazzles even as it destroys. Wilder makes use of gothic symbolism, metatextual references, and dramatic irony to argue that Hollywood’s allure lies precisely in its ability to commodify dreams, trapping individuals in a cycle of self-deception.
Wilder juxtaposes Hollywood’s glittering façade with images of decay to underscore its moral hollowness. Norma’s mansion, a “great big white elephant of a place”, becomes a gothic tomb symbolizing the industry’s discarded history. Its overgrown greenery and elaborate interiors cluttered with dust and velvet drapings reflect her stagnation, while the drained swimming pool, later filled to frame Joe’s corpse, foreshadows the fatal consequences of Hollywood’s false promises. The mansion’s deterioration mirrors Norma’s fractured psyche, as she clings to her delusional belief that “stars are ageless”. Wilder’s dialogue—such as Norma declaring her iconic line, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small”—ironically highlights her pridefulness while falling victim to an industry that discards artists once their fame begins to dwindle. Thus, the setting becomes a metaphor for Hollywood’s toxic allure: it enthralls with grandeur but leaves its victims entombed in the past.