Analyse_the_Ways_Conflicting_Perspectives_Generate_Diverse_and_Provocative_Insights

Analyse the ways conflicting perspectives generate diverse and provocative insights In your response, make a detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least one other text. Conflicting perspectives work to generate diverse and provocative insights through their ability to allow an audience to develop their own ideas and interpretations in relation to character situations and personalities. Such conflicting perspectives are presented in the anthology ‘birthday letters’ by Poet Ted Hughes and the Photograph of Sylvia Plath on Cape Cod beach taken in 1952. Upon close study of the poems ‘Fulbright scholars’ and ‘the shot’ from the collection of poems, as well as the photograph of Plath the audience are torn between the two perspectives of Hughes and Plath as each text is set out as to make themselves the victim. In Fulbright scholars, the conflicting perspectives are shown through literary devices which include theme, tone, rhetorical question and allusion. ‘Fulbright scholars’ refers to Hughes’ memory versus his hindsight and this acts a theme running through the course of the poem. Hughes is in a constant battle over his recollection of the day in question, In support of this; the poem opens with a rhetorical question “was it in the strand’ the use of this device immediately informs the audience that Hughes is unsure of his ability to accurately recall this day. Alongside this is the consistent tone of uncertainty, and conjecture as well as the repetition of the words ‘maybe’, ‘or’ and ‘for some reason’. The fact that the poem is written in retrospect adds weight to the idea of generating insights through the use of conflicting perspectives as it allows the audience to make a comparison between the way in which Hughes makes reference to Plath in the present, and His reaction to her in the past, ‘noted your long hair and loose waves’, this quote is in direct contrast to that of Hughes later poems which reveal a more accusatory, aggressive tone towards Plath and their relationship. The use of allusion in this poem allows the audience to make a reference point in regards to Hughes interpretation of Paths appearance. “Your veronica lake bang” the reference to Veronica Lake who was a 1940’s film star and model suggests that Hughes had found beauty within the photograph of Plath and this allowed him to make the connection. The audience however are also aware of what Plath’s ‘veronica lake bang’ aims to hide. Plath’s hair acts as a mask to disguise the scar left from her first suicide attempt in 1953 and therefore acts as means of hiding her mental instability. This is supported later on in the poem when Hughes continues to describe Plath’s appearance “your exaggerated American grin” The Poem ‘the shot’ provides an entirely new Perspective on the relationship between Hughes and Plath and therefore provides the audience with a different insight. ‘The shot’ by Ted Hughes relates to the mental state of Sylvia Plath, this contradicts ‘Fulbright scholars’ as it provides a deeper, more educated description of Plath’s mental state as opposed to the shallow recollection of her external appearance. It is here that the audience are able to contemplate the idea of Hughes being the victim in the relationship between himself and Plath. This is achieved through the use of literary techniques including conceit, theme and Tone. Throughout ‘the shot’ Hughes employs the use of conceit or extended metaphor in order to relate Sylvia to that of ‘a high velocity bullet’. This conceit acts a very violent means of portraying Plath and the effect that her mental state had upon Hughes himself. Weight is added conceit in that Hughes relates Plath’s unstable mind frame back to her ‘daddy’ who’s ‘death touched the trigger’ as he is viewed as the ‘god with the smoking gun’ suggesting that Plath’s father was the source of Her mental instability and it was her father who had chosen the path for her which despite all efforts could not be altered. The theme of internal feelings versus external feelings is presented in the poem through the way in which Hughes describes Plath’s ‘Saturday night panics’, this is suggesting to the audience that Plath was insecure of herself in social situations . The reference to Plath’s hair ‘your hair done this way, and done that way’ also acts here as a means of overtly describing paths mental state in reference to her scar, her suicide attempts an her efforts to conceal it from those who did not know her. The audience are able to make this connection with ‘Fulbright scholars’ in which references to Plath’s hair are also made. The tone in the last stanza is of direct contrast to that of the rest of the previous stanzas. Throughout the poem the tone is consistently accusatory, and aggressive. The quote ‘even your scar where you sideswiped the concrete served as a rifling groove’ gives reference to the violent aggressive tones of the poem. However in the last stanza, the tone alters to present a more regretful, sad and wistful perspective. This provides the audience with a further developed insight into the mind of Hughes and the way in which he felt about Plath. ‘All I managed, a wisp of your hair, your ring, your watch, your nightgown” suggests to the audience that Hughes has been left with nothing but Simple material possessions of Plath’s, suggesting that Hughes had a longing to be more connected to Plath in order to have more left of her. Similar ideas are presented in the photograph of Sylvia Plath which was taken on Cape Cod beach in august of 1952. Here Sylvia is portrayed as a beautiful, young, carefree, woman who appears to have nothing to hide from those around her. This in fact is not the case, thus presenting yet another diverse insight into the Sylvia Plath’s character; the ideas presented in the photograph compliment the ideas in both ‘Fulbright scholars’ and ‘The shot’ however different techniques are used in order to express these ideas. The photograph of Plath uses body positioning, Costume and setting in order to present the ideas of her mental instability. Plaths body is positioned in a coy manner with just her body facing away from the camera. This is suggesting that she is closed off and shy, again with connotations of mental instability Costume acts as a means of setting the time period in which the photograph was taken, Plath is shown to be wearing a bikini with a high waist nature, and is relatively ‘covered up’. This automatically suggests to the reader that the photograph was taken in the 50’s. The way Plath’s hair is styled in the photograph compliments the poem ‘Fulbright scholars’, ‘your Veronica Lake bang, not what it hid’, suggests that Plath, even before her first suicide attempt had something to hide. Her ‘exaggerated American grin’ acts as another reference point to ‘Fulbright scholars’. The photograph has been taken on Cape Cod Beach which is a destination that was significant to the relationship of Hughes and Plath, the two spent a holiday there in the summer of 1956 where the couple spent the summer writing. Conflicting perspectives work to generate diverse and provocative insights through their ability to allow an audience to develop their own ideas and interpretations in relation to character situations and personalities.