Hamlet help?

montown

This is really the only thing scaring me about English, simply because there's so many different questions that could come up!

Anyway I've heard and been told that a question relating to the women in the play is due to come up. I just wrote an essay on the characterisation of women (ie that they are weak, passive characters who become victims to the male dominated court etc) and that's fine, but what I want to know is, what does the "role of women" refer to? I've looked through the past papers and a question came up in (I think) 2003 about the importance of either Gertrude or Ophelia in the play.

Importance in the play = role in the play essentially, correct? Could anyone tell me what exactly is their importance/role in the play? I know Gertrude acts as a catalyst to the plot, but what else is important about her and Ophelia? What is their role in the play?

galwaymusic

These are just my own opinions...
I think Ophelia was in a way, used as a reason for Hamlet's apparent madness. All the characters, (Polonius, Gertrude and Claudius) believedshewas the cause of his madness for a while.

But to be honest, I wouldn't tackle the 'Role' of Women in the play, because as you have realized, you meet a lot of dead ends...it's more the Characterisation. How Shakespeare portrayed women in his play. Do an essay or plan or study on the Characterisation of Women in the play.

You cover all the same information anyways.

spurious

montown wrote: »

Anyway I've heard and been told that a question relating to the women in the play is due to come up.

You heard, you were told....I have a friend whose neighbour's cousin met a man in the supermarket who said...
That is nonsense.
Your 'role of women' may or may not come up, but you do not 'know' it. Neither did anyone who told you.
Nothing is 'due' to come up. The 'predictability' of recent papers makes it even more likely that you could get something that was not 'due' to come up.

It's this sort of nonsense makes people leave out important areas to focus exclusively on their 'tips'.

Who was it a couple of years ago that everyone 'had heard' was guaranteed to come up? Eavan Boland?

montown

spurious wrote: »

montown wrote: »

Anyway I've heard and been told that a question relating to the women in the play is due to come up.

You heard, you were told....I have a friend whose neighbour's cousin met a man in the supermarket who said...
That is nonsense.
Your 'role of women' may or may not come up, but you do not 'know' it. Neither did anyone who told you.
Nothing is 'due' to come up. The 'predictability' of recent papers makes it even more likely that you could get something that was not 'due' to come up.

It's this sort of nonsense makes people leave out important areas to focus exclusively on their 'tips'.

Who was it a couple of years ago that everyone 'had heard' was guaranteed to come up? Eavan Boland?

I never said i 'know' so don't put words in my mouth. Of course it isn't guaranteed to come up, I'm merely stating that since it hasn't come up in quite a while, it's more likely that it will come than say a question on Claudius which was on the paper last year. It is, in fact, due to come up, it might not, but it's more likely than some of the other topics, therefore it makes sense to study it. Your reply is more of an attack on my question that an answer to it, really not helpful at all.

spurious

Believe me, the only thing that is 'due' to come up is something from the syllabus.

The SEC can put the same question on a paper six years in a row, or never if they feel like it.

If you think my reply is an attack on you, report my post to the mods, thanks.

DepoProvera

spurious wrote: »

You heard, you were told....I have a friend whose neighbour's cousin met a man in the supermarket who said...
That is nonsense.
Your 'role of women' may or may not come up, but you do not 'know' it. Neither did anyone who told you.
Nothing is 'due' to come up. The 'predictability' of recent papers makes it even more likely that you could get something that was not 'due' to come up.

It's this sort of nonsense makes people leave out important areas to focus exclusively on their 'tips'.

Who was it a couple of years ago that everyone 'had heard' was guaranteed to come up? Eavan Boland?

Yeah, I don't know what the point is with these type of replies... As he said, he never said anything was guaranteed or anything of the sort, so I don't see the need for such an attack really.. It's human nature to seek patterns and speculate on things.

Stalin and rugby

DepoProvera wrote: »

Yeah, I don't know what the point is with these type of replies... As he said, he never said anything was guaranteed or anything of the sort, so I don't see the need for such an attack really.. It's human nature to seek patterns and speculate on things.

Now that we're all bagin the mod might as well join in haha

Chill out peeps, leaving cert is getting to us all.

As for answering the question... Role of women = function of women in the plot. Why did the author put them there in the first place. G'luck!

Hesh's Umpire

"since it hasn't come up in quite a while, it's more likely that it will come than say a question on Claudius which was on the paper last year."

Please, please don't use this as a rule.

It's equally as likely that something which "came up" last year will "come up" again this year as something which hasn't appeared on the exam for a while.

spurious

Hesh's Umpire wrote: »

"since it hasn't come up in quite a while, it's more likely that it will come than say a question on Claudius which was on the paper last year."

Please, please don't use this as a rule.

It's equally as likely that something which "came up" last year will "come up" again this year as something which hasn't appeared on the exam for a while.

Exactly.
I don't know where anyone got the 'rule' that if it came up last year it won't this year.

Stalin and rugby

Hesh's Umpire wrote: »

"since it hasn't come up in quite a while, it's more likely that it will come than say a question on Claudius which was on the paper last year."

Please, please don't use this as a rule.

It's equally as likely that something which "came up" last year will "come up" again this year as something which hasn't appeared on the exam for a while.

Nope cmon I know you're trying to make a point but that's not true

DepoProvera

Hesh's Umpire wrote: »

"since it hasn't come up in quite a while, it's more likely that it will come than say a question on Claudius which was on the paper last year."

Please, please don't use this as a rule.

It's equally as likely that something which "came up" last year will "come up" again this year as something which hasn't appeared on the exam for a while.

http://www.thejournal.ie/exam-board-to-address-leaving-cert-predictability-311193-Dec2011/

"Education Minister Ruairi Quinn told Morning Ireland that he had asked for predictability in the State exams to be looked at to ensure the bridge between secondary level and higher level education is strengthened. He added that such predictability had become a “big issue”.

Quinn, however, also moved to assure current Fifth and Sixth Year students that no changes will be implemented in the education system that would “change the path they are taking”.
The proposals outlined in the report will not take affect within the 2012 school year.

Nobody is saying 'only study predictions' or whatever, but, having studied the whole course extensively throughout the year, how is it not advisable to gear the final leg of your studies towards that which hasn't come up in a while?

Taking the idealised view that the SEC pull questions out of a hat is simply untrue, and it's undeniable that previous papers have, in general, an impact on the current one. Whether you agree with the predictability of the exams or not, you can't escape that fact IMHO.