Comparative: Cultural Context Sample Answer.
2011 Exam Paper
“The roles and status allocated to males or females can be central to understanding the cultural context of a text.”
(a) Show how this statement might apply to one text on your comparative course. In your answer you may refer to the roles and status allocated to either males or females, or both. (30)
(b) Compare how the roles and status allocated to males or females, or both, aided your understanding of the cultural context in two other texts on your comparative course. (40)
Answer:
The texts I have studied are “Pompeii” by Robert Harris, “Translations” by Brian Friel and “I’m Not Scared” by Gabriele Salvatores.
(a)
Robert Harris’ “Pompeii” is set in the distinctive world of Ancient Rome. As a pre-modern society, it had considerably different values and customs to our own, modern, world. The way in which men and women were regarded provides us with plenty of evidence of this.
One of the most intriguing characters in the novel is Ampliatus. Despite starting his life as a slave, Ampliatus has gained both freedom and huge wealth. With that wealth come considerable power and influence. As any man at the time would expect, he is the undisputed head of his household. He has the power to determine the lives of both his family and his slaves. His authority is accepted by almost all those affected by it. The range of his power is remarkable. In the opening scenes, he is overseeing the execution of one of his slaves. The method chosen is particularly merciless – the slave is cut until bleeding, then pushed into an eel pond to be eaten alive. As a wealthy man, Ampliatus literally controls the lives, and the deaths, of other people.
However, Ampliatus also demonstrates a particular quirk of Roman society at the time. Despite his huge wealth, he is never able to shake the fact that he is a former slave. When we meet him in the novel, he has climbed as high as he can in society. He is carefully orchestrating the upcoming election and has all the main nobles financially tied to him. This does not prevent them from looking down on him, however. He is acutely aware of the gaps in his education (he cannot read Greek) and is marrying his daughter off to an established patrician in an effort to increase his social standing. While men are indisputably regarded as superior to women in this world, even they cannot completely overcome the circumstances of their births.
Ampliatus’ daughter, Corelia, is hugely privileged and enjoys a much more comfortable life than most of the women at the time. She has been educated to a high standard, is able to ride on horseback and lives in absolutely luxury in her father’s mansion. These advantages have helped to make her confident, courageous and headstrong. None of this changes the fact that she is a woman and so subordinate to the men in the text. Her father has arranged a marriage for her to a much older man. The marriage is to suit Ampliatus’ purposes far more than it could ever suit Corelia. She will gain prestige through the marriage, but the text makes it clear that she in no way wants to marry the man in question. She appears much more interested in Attilius, the aqueduct engineer. Here, we see another aspect of the culture of the time. While it could be argued that Corelia is simply the daughter of a former slave, Ampliatus’ money has elevated her sufficiently that there is no possibility of her marrying for love, and the idea that she might marry a manual labourer, even an engineer, is entirely out of the question. As a woman, she is ruled in all things by external forces – her father, her social position and the expectations of modesty and virtue placed on all women of the time.
Her position is still vastly superior to that of Atia, mother of the slave killed by Ampliatus. Atia unquestionably occupies the lowest position of any of the characters in the novel. She is simultaneously a woman, old and a slave. She is a possession, but due to her age has no monetary value. In the world of the text, this means that she is essentially without worth. From a modern perspective, this is almost impossible to comprehend. We are not raised to think of people as objects and so struggle to assign extrinsic value to them. Regardless of our personal opinions on the matter, Atia’s position demonstrates the culture of Ancient Rome in shocking fashion. After she attempts to prevent the death of her son, she is viciously beaten for her disobedience and impertinence. As she was already old and weak, this beating leaves her entirely broken. She is dumped outside the gates of the mansion and left there to die. This callous disregard for human life is an important reminder that for all the engineering advances made by the Roman Empire, there was a huge human cost.
Throughout the novel, we see a very rigid social structure, the importance of money and the inferior status of women. We also see the insidious effect that condoning slavery can have on a society. Once a price can be placed on human life, it loses its intrinsic value and becomes nothing more than a commodity. The effects of this were felt by both men and women, but there seemed to be far fewer opportunities for women to move beyond slavery.
2011 Exam Paper
“The roles and status allocated to males or females can be central to understanding the cultural context of a text.”
(a) Show how this statement might apply to one text on your comparative course. In your answer you may refer to the roles and status allocated to either males or females, or both. (30)
(b) Compare how the roles and status allocated to males or females, or both, aided your understanding of the cultural context in two other texts on your comparative course. (40)
Answer:
The texts I have studied are “Pompeii” by Robert Harris, “Translations” by Brian Friel and “I’m Not Scared” by Gabriele Salvatores.
(a)
Robert Harris’ “Pompeii” is set in the distinctive world of Ancient Rome. As a pre-modern society, it had considerably different values and customs to our own, modern, world. The way in which men and women were regarded provides us with plenty of evidence of this.
One of the most intriguing characters in the novel is Ampliatus. Despite starting his life as a slave, Ampliatus has gained both freedom and huge wealth. With that wealth come considerable power and influence. As any man at the time would expect, he is the undisputed head of his household. He has the power to determine the lives of both his family and his slaves. His authority is accepted by almost all those affected by it. The range of his power is remarkable. In the opening scenes, he is overseeing the execution of one of his slaves. The method chosen is particularly merciless – the slave is cut until bleeding, then pushed into an eel pond to be eaten alive. As a wealthy man, Ampliatus literally controls the lives, and the deaths, of other people.
However, Ampliatus also demonstrates a particular quirk of Roman society at the time. Despite his huge wealth, he is never able to shake the fact that he is a former slave. When we meet him in the novel, he has climbed as high as he can in society. He is carefully orchestrating the upcoming election and has all the main nobles financially tied to him. This does not prevent them from looking down on him, however. He is acutely aware of the gaps in his education (he cannot read Greek) and is marrying his daughter off to an established patrician in an effort to increase his social standing. While men are indisputably regarded as superior to women in this world, even they cannot completely overcome the circumstances of their births.
Ampliatus’ daughter, Corelia, is hugely privileged and enjoys a much more comfortable life than most of the women at the time. She has been educated to a high standard, is able to ride on horseback and lives in absolutely luxury in her father’s mansion. These advantages have helped to make her confident, courageous and headstrong. None of this changes the fact that she is a woman and so subordinate to the men in the text. Her father has arranged a marriage for her to a much older man. The marriage is to suit Ampliatus’ purposes far more than it could ever suit Corelia. She will gain prestige through the marriage, but the text makes it clear that she in no way wants to marry the man in question. She appears much more interested in Attilius, the aqueduct engineer. Here, we see another aspect of the culture of the time. While it could be argued that Corelia is simply the daughter of a former slave, Ampliatus’ money has elevated her sufficiently that there is no possibility of her marrying for love, and the idea that she might marry a manual labourer, even an engineer, is entirely out of the question. As a woman, she is ruled in all things by external forces – her father, her social position and the expectations of modesty and virtue placed on all women of the time.
Her position is still vastly superior to that of Atia, mother of the slave killed by Ampliatus. Atia unquestionably occupies the lowest position of any of the characters in the novel. She is simultaneously a woman, old and a slave. She is a possession, but due to her age has no monetary value. In the world of the text, this means that she is essentially without worth. From a modern perspective, this is almost impossible to comprehend. We are not raised to think of people as objects and so struggle to assign extrinsic value to them. Regardless of our personal opinions on the matter, Atia’s position demonstrates the culture of Ancient Rome in shocking fashion. After she attempts to prevent the death of her son, she is viciously beaten for her disobedience and impertinence. As she was already old and weak, this beating leaves her entirely broken. She is dumped outside the gates of the mansion and left there to die. This callous disregard for human life is an important reminder that for all the engineering advances made by the Roman Empire, there was a huge human cost.
Throughout the novel, we see a very rigid social structure, the importance of money and the inferior status of women. We also see the insidious effect that condoning slavery can have on a society. Once a price can be placed on human life, it loses its intrinsic value and becomes nothing more than a commodity. The effects of this were felt by both men and women, but there seemed to be far fewer opportunities for women to move beyond slavery.