Author: Christopher Waugh

1

“Joyous Morning!” chirped the guard at every passerby. 
As Arthur ambled to work, he craned his neck back so his face was bathed in the early sunlight that barely peeked over the rooftops. The sky above the town was the same as usual. Cerulean. However, today something was amiss; in the distance, there were smatterings of thin clouds, like healing wounds. Velvety and sanguine-shaded. He felt the warmth and morning rays soak into his paper-white skin, deepening the brown constellation on the bridge of his nose. Pausing for a moment, he looked all around him to admire the quaint pastel-coloured buildings of the town that he felt privileged to call home. The soft smell of baked goods filled the bumpy cobblestone streets. There were no vehicles on them, of course, not during the day. Arthur liked it that way. It let the sound of idle chatter and laughter satisfy the air. He breathed deeply through his nose, letting the crisp fresh air wake his lungs and agreed silently to himself that indeed, it was a joyous morning. Smiling with the general contentment he feels every day, Arthur took one last moment to appreciate his surroundings, and finally went on his merry way.
The black sign sticking out the side of the building had faded and cracked in a way where you could see the pale pine beneath. It read Felix’s Mood Boosters written in what is assumed to be once glossy gold paint. Unlike the sign, however, the building it was attached to was clean and new but still retained an antique charm. The white bricks were thoroughly polished, the auburn tiles on the roof and dormers were spotless like freshly groomed hair straight out the barbers. The gutters held not one stray leaf. It seemed like every property in Pembroke was well taken care of, though Arthur wasn’t so sure he’d ever seen anyone cleaning them. 
There was a small chalkboard placed near the foot of the door of Arthur’s workplace. This morning it had ‘Don’t forget your Joy!’ beautifully inscribed in cursive, likely the handiwork of one his female coworkers, Arthur thought. Bending his legs slightly to fit his tall, lanky body under the doorframe, he entered the reception and was met by Samuel, a jolly man who was as fat as Arthur is tall. Arthur wondered how Samuel got through the door, perhaps he had to turn sideways…
“Joyous Morning, Arthur! How are ya today? Didya see the sign outside? Did it meself, the wife’s got me practising fancy writin’ like that. What’d ya fink?” Samuel greeted, he almost turned himself blue with excitement.
“Good morning. I’m well, although I must admit a bit tired. Your cursive is wonderful, let Maggie know she’s a great teacher.”
“Course, I will. Make sure you ‘ave a Joy if ya feeling sleepy. Wouldn’t want ya falling asleep on the job, would we?”
“No, no of course not…” Arthur trailed off while Samuel chuckled. He wondered back to the last time he had taken his Joy. It must have been at least three days now. Of course, he hadn’t meant to let time slip away, but work had just been so busy with supply issues. There had been a mix up at the production plant where some ninny added too much of this and not enough of that. The whole batch for the week had to be chucked.
“Right then-” Samuel huffed. “I’ll leave ya to it.” and he promptly plopped back down behind the reception counter. While pulling his pinstripe suit snuggly around his thin body, Arthur firmly nodded and vowed to pop a Joy by the end of the day.

From the second-floor window, it showed the rooftops, busy streets and the sliver of green from the fields just beyond the walls. Arthur never cared to know what was out there, never thought he needed to. Despite this, he slouched, absentmindedly tracing his finger along with the thin detailing of the desk while staring intently at the unknown distance until his eyes watered. Forcefully blinking, Arthur composed himself and wiped away the trail of lazy dribble that was creeping its way down his chin. He turned his attention back to the ever-growing summit of paper when a groan sneaked out from his lips. His wide eyes shot up to where the door stood and waited expectedly for something. A few minutes must have passed before he allowed himself to release the air trapped in his throat.
“What’s gotten into me today?” He whispered. Brow furrowed, Arthur stood up and made his way toward the bathroom.
He cupped his hands around the stream of cold water and brought it up to his face, letting the chill embrace his skin. With hands firmly clasped around the basin he looked up to meet his gaze in the mirror but he found himself looking at an unsightly stranger. This stranger had large purple bags under his eyes, so packed you’d think they were going on a lengthy holiday. Their teeth rotten and their flesh scabbed. Arthur recoiled so that his back hit the tile wall. With a heart and head pounding so strong it rattled his fragile frame he scrambled out into the hall. In the short time he’d spent in the bathroom the wallpaper peeled, the carpet stained, spotted black mould clung to the roof and the stench- The stench was so unbearable it brought Arthur to his knees.
“Alright, mate?” A voice questioned, “Ya lookin’ a wee bit peaky.” Arthur looked up desperately, expecting to see Samuel’s familiar face but was instead met by a contorted guise. He had wide eyes and a crooked grin filled with a few stained teeth where the gaps were replaced with loose gore.
“What’s happening?” Arthur asked frantically. He felt his whole body begin to sweat.
“What are ya on about?” His head tilted slightly to the left and the smile refused to falter “Er’rything’s fine.” Samuel reached into his tattered jacket pocket and pulled out a small metal cylinder. “Here, ‘ave one of me Joys” He grasped Arthur’s hand and firmly planted a yellow capsule in the middle of his palm. Shyly, Arthur fiddled with the pill, rolling it around between his index finger and thumb. He had taken at least one Joy a day for as long as he could remember without issue, to him it was as routine as eating. So why, Arthur wondered, was he struggling this time? Especially with his blissful world decaying around him. Samuel stood there expectedly, waiting for his gift to be appreciated and Arthur believing there were no other options brought the sunshine pill to his lips.

Freedom of expression. A human right, according to the United Nations declaration. Under this declaration, in Article 19 it states “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers“. Our ability to express our thoughts, opinions and beliefs is important to the wellbeing of society as it enables the exchange of ideas ultimately creating an understanding between groups and it is essential for us to live in a democratic society. The ability to express opinions freely without repercussions is a fundamental pillar of our lives.

However, in this age of technology, our human right to expression is being infringed upon by manufacturers, hackers, and in some places of the world, the government. This situation we are in right now is similar to that of George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ where there are no laws created by the totalitarian “Party” to protect this right of the people and any ideas that challenge the status quo are vapourised “-every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word.”

Orwell coined the term “thoughtcrime” in his dystopian novel and it is defined as “an instance of unorthodox or controversial thinking, considered as a criminal offence or as socially unacceptable”. Simply, thoughtcrime is a set of thoughts that are seen as a criminal offence because they challenge the social norm generally established by the government in power. It is a way of justifying the censorship of unorthodox concepts. This idea may seem foreign and even impossible to many of us and some may say that thoughtcrime is an impossible future as the public wouldn’t allow it, however, it has already happened.

The example of censorship we are most familiar with is the Nazi Book burnings. The Nazi party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler ran a campaign, chiefly in 1933, to find and destroy any books that opposed the Nazi ideology or were considered “un-German”. The dictating party in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ was actually inspired by the repressive methods of the Soviet Union and the Nazi Party. Although Orwell hadn’t written his novel at the time of the book burnings, in the eyes of the Nazi party these books had committed thoughtcrime and needed to be burned to stop the Austrian and German people from viewing unorthodox ideas in order to interfere with public opinion “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”. Restricting the expression of various ideas was a way of reducing the chance of original thought, so the principles of Nazism would be accepted without opposition, much like in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ with Newspeak. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end, we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.”

Orwell was well ahead of his time; In 1948, when ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ was written, televisions existed though only 14,500 sets were present in Britain, so very few families had one. Despite this, Orwell warned that our televisions or rather, “telescreens” in his novel would betray us “the telescreen with its never-sleeping ear. They could spy upon you night and day-“. He theorised that technology in the home can and will be used to spy on us from anyone that wants to and he was right; our ‘Smart TVs’ have cameras installed for “facial recognition to make programming suggestions based on who’s watching” and microphones “allow users to control them from the comfort of the couch.“. Both of these features are internet-connected meaning that in theory, anyone can hack into your television to see and hear everything that’s going in your home.

The uncertainty of whether we can trust our devices or not is becoming more common every day. It only takes a quick Google search to find millions of news articles about phones (tiny telescreens) and televisions recording their owners without permission. This is and will lead to the restriction of the free flow of opinions, as we don’t know what and when we can say things. You’ll no longer be able to complain about your boss after a hard day at work because someone might be listening and waiting for an opportunity to get you fired “Always eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or bed—no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres in your skull.”

Don’t fear too much though, there are steps you can take to ensure that what is said and done in the privacy of your home, stays private. For iPhone, all you need to do is go into settings, privacy and then microphone. Once you have turned the microphone off, your phone will no longer be able to record you. However, you can no longer use voice activation for Siri – a very small price to pay for privacy. Unfortunately with Smart TVs, it’s not as simple. If you already have one set up, then there is a very little chance that you can change the privacy settings you would have agreed to when you first got the television. My only recommendation would be to contact the manufacturer to see if they can assist you. However, if you about to buy a Smart TV, make sure you read all of the privacy policies and take the opportunity to decline the ones that gather your data. Despite this, hackers are still able to gain access to any microphone and cameras the television may have because of the internet feature that Smart TVs provide. Ultimately, the only true way to protect ourselves from prying ears is to live without internet-connected devices.

For us to remain in a democratic society where opinions and diverse discussions are encouraged, we must first heed George Orwell’s warning about a possible dystopia. Orwell was fearful of a society where there is no freedom of speech or expression permitted and he wrote extensively about his concerns of a governing body using technology to suppress public ideas in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. We cannot allow seemingly small infringements to our freedom of expression occur, so we must speak out against manufacturers use of unnecessary privacy violations. If we abet small acts like these now then we are creating a path for bigger breaches in the future, a future where if we challenge the orthodoxy our words will be manipulated against us “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”

The human quality of ambition is a useful tool that writers and film creators manipulate to tell a story. The dictionary defines ambition as “a strong desire to do or achieve something”. Ambition is shown to be the cause of both good and evil occurrences, and I will be discussing how different texts in literature and film represent this factor of ambition by using their characters.

The sonnet, Ozymandias, written by Percy Bysshe Shelley tells the story of an ambitious king overcome with hubris. The poem begins with the poet meeting a foreign traveller that describes the broken statue of a fallen king, Ozymandias in the desert  “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert. . . Near them, on the sand, half sunk a shattered visage lies. . .”. The king shows ambition to be remembered in history based on the traveller’s retailing. In this poem, Shelley utilizes his character Ozymandias to show that some forms of ambition can cause demise rather than the achievement of one’s goals. An example that shows that the king desired to be commemorated is;  “And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”. In the quote, it tells that the king saw himself as powerful and important when the reality is that his statue is broken and crumbling in the desert, forgotten by all. Ozymandias’s ambition to be recognized is a selfish desire that he will do anything to ensure he achieves, the king goes so far to instill fear in his people. Shelley makes clear of this fact and writes “… whose frown and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command”  describing the king’s broken statue, to make certain the reader knows that Ozymandias was so invested in being remembered that he had the sculptor make him look formidable. The character of the King, Ozymandias demonstrates the result of having ambition with only selfish goals.

Similar to Ozymandias, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare uses selfish ambition within his characters to progress his story. The tragedy displays Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, driven by their want for power. Infamously ambitious, Lady Macbeth takes a dark turn when her husband tells her of a possibility of her becoming the next Queen of Scotland. She takes it upon herself to secure that position by manipulating her husband into completing what she believes, needs to be done. She goes as far as to call upon evil spirits to possess her and give her the strength she requires “Come you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here; and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty”. This shows the determination and commitment she has to attain her objective. Shakespeare skillfully employs Lady Macbeth’s unwavering ambition for power and status to show an example of the evil occurrences that unfold when goals are achieved by means of lying, manipulation, and murder. Another example that proves her corrupted ambition is that throughout the story she uses her own husband to get what she wants. She constantly takes advantage of his weak will by stating things such as “Thou’rt mad to say it.” and “Infirm of purpose!”. Ultimately calling him mad and useless. She willingly dismisses her role “wife” and takes the strong lead in the relationship; very rare for the time she is written in. Lady Macbeth manages to achieve her goal but becomes overwhelmed with the guilt of the actions she has taken and as a result, commits suicide to ease her troubled mind “The queen, my lord, is dead”.

Gattaca, the 1997 movie by Andrew Niccol, also has a character driven solely by ambition. Similar to the other texts, the character Vincent Freeman, uses ambition for selfish desires and will go to great lengths to accomplish his goals. In Gattaca, those that aren’t genetically modified before birth are considered “Invalid” and have fewer opportunities. Therefore, Vincent, a “god-child” must possess a new identity, breaking the law.  For Vincent’s dream of going to Space, it is necessary that he breaks laws because of the unjust system he was born into. Due to the prejudice he faces, it allows the extreme actions Vincent takes acceptable. As proof of commitment to his goals, Vincent teams up with Jerome Morrow, a genetically perfect individual crippled in a suicide attempt, and uses his DNA to begin working at Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. Everyday Vincent goes through a meticulous routine of scrubbing off dead skin cells and using samples of Jerome’s urine and blood to avoid detection. Creator, Andrew Niccol, displays the positive result of a character using ambition righteously. Vincent has all the odds stacked against him, including his genetic code, but because of ambition with determination, he fulfils his dream. Vincent demonstrates this determination when he is challenging his genetically superior brother “You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton; I never saved anything for the swim back.” 

The Help, contrary to the other texts contains a character that uses her ambition to help others. In Kathryn Stockett’s 2009 book, The Help, aspiring writer Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan applies her knowledge and platform to further her career, but also to give the oppressed black maids a voice. The novel is set during the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. As written, many of these women experience poor treatment and discrimination. Skeeter begins to notice this and the racism prevalent in her childhood friend, Hilly Hillbrook. Skeeter, driven by the thought of change decides to act on this opportunity. One day when at a high society bridge game, Hilly discusses her plan to make separate bathrooms for “the help” mandatory within earshot of maid, Aibileen Clark. Later, Skeeter approaches Aibileen and apologizes on behalf of Hilly, and also states “Do you ever wish you could…change things?”. This statement enlists Aibileen to help Skeeter with her book about the mistreatment of maids. Skeeter’s ambition to change the status quo and help those around her, she receives support in return. Stockett exhibits the good occurrences that can come with ambition. In learning about what the maids go through, Skeeter’s drive to become an accomplished female author also turns into aspirations of being educated in segregation and the systems that oppress African-Americans. She is ambitious and brave enough to risk being discovered by the white population of the town to do this  “…I realized I actually had a choice in what I could believe.”

In conclusion, it is evident from these texts that those that use ambition with morality are able to not only achieve their goal but ultimately end up happier and more successful. The above-mentioned authors and creators all cleverly applied their extremely different characters to tell varying versions of ambition.

How does Shakespeare exploit the conventions of language and theatre to fill his play from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty – and moreover, why is this so essential to the universal meaning of the play?

In the play, Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, many language effects are used to display the universal meaning of the play. The idea that Shakespeare was attempting to convey was Macbeth’s deterioration of the mind. The most notable devices utilized are metaphors, hyperbole, and personification. With the application of these tools, Shakespeare is able to produce a well-structured script that leaves an impression on the history of literature.

Shakespeare uses the relationship between metaphors and the play, Macbeth to demonstrate a deeper meaning in his tragedy. Metaphors are a word or phrase that are often symbolic of something else. Throughout Macbeth, the reader is presented with many metaphors to provoke understanding of Macbeth’s mind, or rather the deterioration of it. A sentence is stated showing Macbeth’s interpretation of that thing or person, revealing his damaged perception of the world around him. An example of a metaphor presented in Macbeth is in Act Three, Scene Two. Macbeth discusses his suspicions to Lady Macbeth that Banquo knows that he had killed King Duncan. He compares Banquo to a snake “We have scorched the snake, not killed it”.  Banquo is the snake in the grass that will bite (or reveal) Macbeth if he steps too heavily, or in other words; takes advantage of the Witches predictions. Shakespeare uses a metaphor in this scenario to show Macbeth’s beginning skepticism about those around him. Macbeth then goes on to arrange Banquo’s death, to ease his inessential suspicions. Shakespeare applies metaphors in Macbeth so he can represent an idea while remaining rhythmical (following the Iambic Pentameter) without becoming too literal in his script. It is through Because of Shakespeare’s successful use of metaphors the reader is able to see the darkness building in Macbeth leading to his hopelessness and madness. Another example of a metaphor is in Act Five, Scene Five. Macbeth has just been told that his wife, Lady Macbeth, has died; we assume from suicide. His response is the iconic soliloquy describing his view on the triviality of life. In this, the metaphor “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more” is written. Macbeth is comparing life to an actor that performs worryingly on a stage for a short time, then is immediately forgotten or not heard of again. Shakespeare writes this is the form of a metaphor because he is imagining the script being performed on a stage, and so he is being ironic while also enabling Macbeth to show that he has deteriorated into a depressive state of mind. Shakespeare intentions when applying metaphors was to allow the reader to see how Macbeth views the world, therefore revealing his inner thought process.

In Macbeth, hyperboles are commonly used from some of the central characters to add excitement and tension to the play. Hyperbole is the act of exaggerating a statement for dramatic purposes. Macbeth is known for his use of hyperboles and unnecessary over-the-top behaviour throughout the play. He uses them to demonstrate his emotions in larger scale, but it also displays to the reader his lack of control over his feelings. After Macbeth successfully kills King Duncan he reunites with Lady Macbeth to confirm he has done the deed. Noticeably he has blood on his hands and when washing them, he utters: “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red”. Translating to ‘Can the ocean truly clean these hands? No, I’d turn the sea red with the blood’. This is hyperbole because he exaggerating the amount of gore present, he believes it to be worse than it actually is. Shakespeare cleverly utilizes hyperboles to the play and to the title character, Macbeth to show how his state of mind progressively worsens and the effect that his paranoia has on the people who were once considered trusted friends. The effects Macbeth’s actions have on these people, perfectly display the effective use of hyperboles. In Act Four, Scene Three, Malcolm and Macduff are planning to take back the throne of Scotland from Macbeth. In their conversations, Malcolm, who has just learnt that his family has been murdered by Macbeth, says “This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues”. This is hyperbole because simply saying Macbeth’s name will not cause physical harm. But Malcolm says this to put emphasize of Macbeth’s awfulness and actions. The reader is able to understand Macbeth’s damaged condition because of Shakespeare’s intentional use of hyperboles.

In his tragedy, Macbeth, Shakespeare manipulates personification to progress the story and character. Personification is the language device of giving human attributes or characteristics to something that is not human. Personification is commonly used in stories and poems to give a non-human character or object the ability to relate, this language device often enables the reader to sympathize with something they otherwise wouldn’t. In Act Two, Scene One the reader is given the first glimpse of what will begin a downward spiral in Macbeth. He is having his final thoughts before fulfilling his wife’s wish of killing Duncan when he sees an apparition of a dagger in front of him. “The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still”. He refers to the dagger as ‘thee’, translating to ‘you’ in modern language. He calls the inanimate object a ‘you’ because he feels a strong human connection with it. This shows Macbeth’s dawning insanity because not only is he seeing something that is not there, but he is giving it a human pronoun. Personification can also be used to show madness in humans that see lifeless objects in an unorthodox way. Shakespeare takes advantage of this aspect of personification to show the interplay between reality and Macbeth’s form of reality. Macbeth’s reality is that he is immortal because of what the witches told him, but by believing this he is taking away the human tradition of death, dehumanizing himself. To compensate; Macbeth personifies insentient things. After committing the act of murdering his longtime friend and King while he slept, Macbeth shows regret in his actions and expresses this to Lady Macbeth. He believes he heard someone say “Sleep no more! Macbeth doth murder sleep”. In his worries, he personifies sleep because he believes that he also killed sleep as well as Duncan. This is personification because sleep is something that cannot be murdered, but Macbeth declares it as so because of the remorse he feels. Shakespeare uses personification to provoke sympathy from the reader towards Macbeth, although he does not subjectively deserve it.

Shakespeare operates metaphors, hyperboles and personification in Macbeth to illustrate his character’s deteriorating state of mind throughout his journey in becoming of Scotland. These language devices put importance on the script and make the reader more aware of what is being stated. This reflects the intelligent thought process of Willian Shakespeare.