English Blog

What is Shakespeare’s larger purpose in his characterization of Coriolanus in Act I? In Shakespeare's play, Coriolanus, he sets the scenes and characters throughout Act1. According to Act 1, Martius is portrayed ambitious, war person, and follows what his mother, Volumnia, wants. In battle scenes he is also portrayed as brave (willing to take injury), as a leader, and a person who highlights the outcome.  This is portrayed through his words, and opinions of citizens. Menius is portrayed friendly, wise, and as a good speaker. We can see this in his speech made towards the common people. His use of diction and word choices shows that he does not want wars and wants peace among the people.  Volumnia , the mother of Martius(Coriolanus) is portrayed with a characteristic of strong woman, who wants her son to suceed in a manly way - wars. However, Virgilia , Martius's wife, is portrayed as a stereotypical women at that time - being obedient, and to the extent of being '

 It is not the English language that hurts me, but what the oppressors do with it, how they shape it to become a territory that limits and defines, how they make it a weapon that can shame, humiliate, colonize. Bell Hooks As this quote focuses on the point of how English or other languages become territory that limits and defines and makes some people ashamed, humiliated and colonize people for it. We can analyse texts from 1800s when racial segregation was apparent. We can analyse such as old animations where they use AAVE as a funny accent. For example, The Jungle Books dubbed the monkeys in AAVE while they dubbed other animals and Mowgli with 'standard English'. This example can used as an evidence to prove that English language was use to shame, humiliate, and colonize. For my FOA, I can use this as my source to prove my thoughts that English - or any language has the power to oppress people. This quote serves a great role in the speech by Bell Hooks as she writes