Impressions of the end of act 1

In the last few pages of act one, the audience learns that Willy has had thoughts of killing himself, the evidence being the car crash Willy was in which "wasnt an accident" and the "length of rubber pipe" found by Lynda. What's immediately clear as being starnge about the rubber pipe discovery is that she removes it but "puts it back where it was" "when he comes home". This is strange behaviour for someone who supposedly loves Willy, and gave me the impression that she possibly does this out of spite for his recent verbal mistreatment of her, and unconciously passes this off as guilt. She also exclaims how "his life is in your hands" to Biff, possibly to pass of some of the responsibility to him.
    Besides this occurence, the characters seem to be behaving as they have in the previous scenes of act 1. Willy is still deluding himself over his apparent popularity, e.g. describing himself as a "big shot". It is also seen when descussing Biff's meeting with Bill Oliver that Willy is still transfixed with the impression that "Personality always wins the day". Lynda is still being undermined by Willy, seen in the last scene of the act when she is being constantly blamed by Willy for interupting him. It is Biff who stands up for her in the end by saying "dont yell at her Pop, will ya"? This is befitting to both Lynda and Biff's characters that he is the one contradicting Willy while she does nothing. There is a point towards the very end of the act when Happy says, "Im gonna get Married". To which there is no reaction from any of the other characters. This is the second time this has occured in the act, namely the first one being when Happy describes how he has "lost weight" and similarly there is no responce. The most likely reason for Arthur Miller to include this dialogue for Happy is to cement the reason for Happy's clear attention seeking nature. Whether Happy is or isn't getting married is irrelevant, as its use as an extreme comment to which there is no reaction signifies that Happy may be seen as less important to Willy than Biff.
     The way that these characters maintain their individual idiosyncrasies so meticulously towards the end of act one suggests to me that one or more of them will show a big change in their personalities in act two, as this big change can now create a large juxtaposition with their original selves.

First impressions of Biff and Happy

The stage directions found on page 14, just before the scene depicting a conversation between Biff and Happy provides the audience with a general idea of the characters of Biff and Happy. Within these stage directions, the brothers are compared and contrasted, mainly regarding their current predicaments, i.e. they are both 'lost'. However, the stage directions also explain that Happy's position of being 'lost id "different" to Biff's, in that he has never "turned his face toward defeat". This suggests that Biff has seen "defeat". Defeat which is likely tied with the fact that "he has succeeded less", and why his "dreams", despite being "stronger" than Happy's, have not been realised.
       In the first few lines of dialogue, Happy is shown in a positive light, as the fact that he is "getting nervous" about Willy, suggesting he cares for his father. It appears however, based on Happy's question, "you're not still sour on Dad, are you Biff?", that Biff is tired of his father. This may be due to Biff acting selfishly as he feels his father's issues are taking precedence over his own, or he may just feel his father doesnt deserve the attention as he is just feeling sorry for himself.
       As the conversation progresses, it becomes apparent that Happy is actually more arrogant than caring, for example when describing a woman as "a pig". It also seems he is not particularly genuine, particularly when describing how he "controls" his "bashful" nature, and does so by putting on a 'front'.      
       Biff's lack of "self-assurance" is seen within the conversation as well as the stage diresctions, when he says to Happy, "I dont know what im supposed to want". This realisation seperates Biff from Happy as assembles him as an honest character, much unlike Happy's deceitful nature.

Arthur Miller

Hi-Hi  -  this is basically the only thing from waybuloo I can put on here.

Arthur Millar was born in October of 1915, in New York City, which is also the setting of two of his most recognised plays, A View from the Bridge, and, Death of a Salesman. Miller grew up into a moderately wealthy family, however his luck changed when his family came near to bankruptcy when his father lost his women's clothing business after the Wall Street crash of 1929. Miller discovered his talent for writing while studying journalism at university. There, he wrote his first play, No Villain, and reveived an award shortly after. Upon leaving university, Miller received an offer to work for 20th Century Fox, but this offer was quickly taken away by the US congress due to their beliefs that it had ties to communism for some reason.
   
    Miller wrote several plays for both radio and stage, but as i said he is most famous for three of his works:

Death of a salesman was written in 1949 and depicts the last days of a failing salesman who lives in New York City with his family. Death of a Salesman is well known for the stroy of its origin, in which Arthur Miller retreated to a log cabin with the first two lines of the play in his head and returned six months later with the completed play.
Another noted play by Arthur Millar is 'The Crucible', which is a dramatization of 'The Salem Witch Trials', a set of trials which attacked people the government believed were invloved in communist activities.
Miller also wrote 'A View from the Bridge', a tragic semi-love stroy set in Brooklyn, New York.

Arthur Miller lived an exiting life and was highly publicised thanks to his works and his marriage with Marilyn Monroe. Miller married three women in his lifetime but sadly divorced his third wife three years before his death in 2005.

Impressions of Liz

Elizabeth is the main character in Pride and Prejudice. I think this is because she is the most dissimilar and independant of all the frequently appearing characters, as well as her sisters. One factor which causes Elizabeth to stand out in such a way is that she feels that couples should marry for love in a time when marriage was more often used to improve one's social status, i.e, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possetion of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". You can see this is Elizabeth's view in chapter 6 when her and Charlotte are discussing the relationship between Bingley and Jane. Charlotte is describing how once Jane is "secure" with Bingley, then she should "love as much as she chooses". Liz then commends Jane for "not acting by design", in that she is marrying Bingley for love not status.

Elizabeth's independance is also seen later on when she rejects the marriage proposal from Mr.Collins, which is ironic as it is her, (uncommon) "lively, playful disposition", brought on by her independance, which attracts Mr.Collins as well as Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Liutenant Wickham. Later on in chapter six, Elizabeth and her younger sister, Mary, take turns playing the piano. It is described by free independant thought that Elizabeth was "listened to with much greater pleasure" despite playing "half as well" as Mary. This also shows Elizabeth's free personality and intelligence are what make her more admirable. This personality trait of Elizabeths seperates her from her sisters, who are more influenced by their mother, Mrs.Bennet, when regarding possible suitors.

I think Elizabeth is the most admirable character in Pride and Prejudice as she is a character who lives fee and independantly in a time when most of her actions would usually be decided by her superiors. its this personality which allows her to "lead a happy marriage of the convention" at the end of the novel 

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was a British novelist and is one of the most highly commended authors to date for her works in romantic fiction. She is most commended for her novels, 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Mansfield Park' and 'Emma', all of which were published within a period of five years.

Jane was born into a large family consisting of six brothers and one sister. Her family was relatively wealthy as they were members of the 'landed gentry', which is a social class which owns and operates certain areas of land. Her sister, Cassandra remained her best friend throughout her life and sometimes drew her when she was writing. She was mainly educated by her father and brothers but she spent a lot of her young life reading. She began her writing in her teenage years and at first experimented with 'epistolary' novels, which are novels usually written as a series of ducuments, usually in letter form. She also experimented with poems, short stories and plays, but realised later on her talents mainly lied with romantic novels. Jane lived with her family well in to her adulthood as she was part of a very close family. Her days were mostly spent socialising with friends and reading or writing. She was religious and attended church regularly.

Unfortunately, Jane Austen wasnt appreciated in her own time and received little fame for her novels in the years she was alive. However in the years after her death she gradually became more and more well known throughout the literary community and is now considered one of the most talented and influential English writers in history. She is now appreciated around the world for her works and is studied in English and Drama classes accross the country.


Jane Austen died on the 18th of July 1817 at the young age of 41 after she contracted what is thought to be tuberculosis.

The Convent Threshold

Last lesson we moved on to a new Christina Rosetti poem named, 'The Convent Threshold'. For this poem, we began to explore different themes involved with characters, destination etc. The poem is written in the 1st person which seems to be becoming apparent as one of Christina Rosetti's writing styles.

When looking at the character aspect of the poem, we concluded that there are two characters in this poem, a man and a woman - who we also believe is the narrator. Although this seems to be the case, there is one point when she adresses the other character as "she" so it cannot remain certain. It is also clear throughout the poem that the two characters are in love as it is one of the main themes.
We also looked at the point of view aspect of the poem. With this, we concluded that the narrator holds a biased point of view as it is written in the 1st person. Because it is written in this style, I believe this poem may be a form of Rosetti venting her own feelings through the narrator. This could be the case when you consider the strong feminist and religious themes in the poem, examples including the constant mention of "Heaven" and "Hell", "paradise", "Sky-ward stair", "far off city grand", "Repent", "Give me light!". Although from these examples it is apparent that religion is a more obvious theme, which isnt surprising as it was a large part of Rosetti's life.

When looking at the different aspects of this poem it seems as though religion, love and feminism are key themes in the poem, 'The Convent Threshold'. All three of these themes are also strongly present in the last two Rosetti poems we looked at so her writing style is becoming more and more clear as we go on. However, from what we have seen already, i believe that religion is the most influential and important theme in the poem.

A fallen woman and Cousin Kate

Last lesson we discussed what could be the possible definitions of a 'fallen woman', and several suggestions were made in the class. One suggestion was that it could just be a woman that has tripped and fallen down. Another suggestion was that it could be describing a woman who has succumbed to some kind of pressure, for example sex or drugs. One of the most agreed upon suggestions was that it was the definition of a woman who has fallen emotionally, whereas a physical act is being used to describe her emotional downfall. Betrayal is an example of something that may cause this.
   
Last lesson we also read through a new poem, entitled, 'Cousin Kate'. To simplify the poem, it seems to be about a woman who was sought after and used by a rich and powerful lord, only to be disgarded for her Cousin, Kate.
The poem is told in the first person, and for the first two stanzas it seems to be adressed at the reader. After this though, she seems to be adressing Kate herself, for example when she says, "You grew more fair than I". And in the last stanza it appears she is talking to her son, who hadnt been mentioned at all previously. This change in adressee may indicate that she is telling a story or talking to herself.
Another interpretation of this poem is that cousin Kate may not actually be her cousin, but she is using the prefix 'cousin' to describe their similarity and their relation with each other.
This poem is linked with the aspect of the 'fallen woman' as the character reciting the poem seems to have been emotionally betrayed and has fallen herself.