Page 77 - Bellfort Magazine Issue 8

English Language Creative Writing The Study of Written Language
I remember. In the Jacobean era, women were
At GCSE level this year, students seen as being inferior in all as-
I remember the drawn out jour-
have been able to explore differ- pects of life. They were expected
ney across those harsh waters,
ent aspects of the English lan- to be loyal and dutiful to their hus-
the stench of salt hanging in the
guage. They have focused on how bands, with a lack of independ-
air, the distinct feeling of impend-
Spoken language can be adapted ence, therefore fulfilling the stere-
ing doom that was so blatantly
in different contexts, evaluating otypical Jacobean wife’s role of
prominent. We all sat side by side,
tone, volume and language being meek, obedient and subser-
shoulder to shoulder. Some quiv-
choice. vient. Women were seen as com-
ered and trembled out of sheer
Students have also approached fear, some huffed in a deep passionate ‘care’ figures, who
fictional and non-fiction texts, ex- breath and said their prayers and vowed to obey their husbands’
plaining and commenting on a others merely hung their heads demands and ambitions at all
writer’s viewpoint, language low. We were all garbed in the times, and were unable to express
choice and their intended effect same attire consisting of a hel- their own opinions and ambitions
on the reader. met, a raggy old uniform of which were thought to be insig-
nificant and of no worth. From
In addition, students at KS4 have drenched, dull shirts and trou- the commencement of Act 1, Sce-
further enhanced their ability to sers. There was almost no distinc- ne 5, Lady Macbeth is portrayed
write to advise, persuade and in- tion between any of us, almost as as an intelligent and educated in-
form their audience. They have if we were expendable… Our ach- dividual who was very unlike the
also thoroughly enjoyed writing ing feet were covered with ebony typical Jacobean woman of the
creatively, creating vivid imagery boots, almost shiny if it wasn’t for 1600s.
and rich descriptions. the dull skies shrouded in an al-
most black cloud; it was as if the A vast majority of women were
weather itself was screaming at unable to read, however, in the
us about our impending demise first scene, Lady Macbeth receives
on that disastrous day. However, a letter from her husband which
the most prominent memory I she is able to read aloud. In the
have of that horrid… horrid day… letter, Macbeth portrays his wife
was the very moment that shutter as “my dearest partner of great-
at the front of the boat creaked ness” with the superlative adjec-
slowly open… tive suggesting that nothing to
him is dearer than his wife. In

times when gender equality was
Luke Neeson non-existent, he saw his wife as
an equal to himself which would
have been surprising to a Jacobe-

an audience as women were seen
to be inferior, as previously stipu-
lated, and it was them that were

supposed to show respect and
admiration to their husbands, not

the other way around.
Kirsten McLeister

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