Ink Magazine 2018 - Churcher's College by Churcher's College

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Editorial It is fitting that as we celebrate 100 years since women won the right to vote, this fifth edition of INK is dominated by the girls, who account for eleven of the fifteen articles as well as the magnificent painting on the front cover. It’s pleasing that the submissions this year come from across the humanities, arts and sciences, including creative writing pieces, enabling the full breadth of the students’ talents to be showcased. Anyone looking back over editions of INK in years to come will get a very good flavour of the subjects that dominate our lives; Brexit has made it into the magazine for the third successive year and one wonders for how many more years it will do so.

Contents Why were women given the vote in 1918? ..................................................3-5 Megan Hassanali

Should sixteen year-olds be given the right to vote? ...................................6-7 Molly Steele

‘I know nothing except that I know nothing’ (Socrates). Is it possible for someone to teach if he does not know anything? ......................................8-11 Archie Phillips

An Exploration of Clarissa Dalloway’s Relationships with Women in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway ..................................................................14-16 Ella Lacey

How to remember everything ..................................................................17-18 Annabelle Hall

Does a theologically pluralist approach undermine the central teachings of Christianity? .........................................................................20-23 Fintan Wood

Contemporary debate: Some neuroscientists claim that murderers can now be identified by their brain structure. Using psychological knowledge, discuss the ethics of neuroscience including its social implications. ....................24-26 Emma Porter

Partum ...........................................................................................................27 Beth Proctor

Why did France adopt a policy of Terror in 1793 and could this ever be justified?...............................................................................................30-32 Imogen Morrogh

“The women of The Aeneid are plot devices and decoration”. How far do you agree with this assessment of Virgil’s female characters?.........................33-35 Lizzie Rose Cover by: Rose Giffin (Fifth Year)

What do you thINK? Submissions to Ink are welcomed throughout the year. Email wbaker@ churcherscollege.com if you have an article you would like to publish.

500 Word Competition .............................................................................36-37 Flora Edward / Carl Flohr

How does Sheers use the concept of musicality in the poem ‘Four Movements in the Scale of Two’ to explore the different stages of a relationship? How far and in what way is this poem characteristic of Sheers’ methods and concerns in Skirrid Hill as a whole? ...................................................................................................................38-40 Maddie Plummer

Novelist ..........................................................................................................41 Ella Lacey

What is your vision of a post-Brexit UK?....................................................42-43 Josh Coates

Why were women given the vote in 1918? Megan Hassanali Fourth Year

Before the industrial revolution, women were believed to be inferior to men physically, morally and intellectually. The idea of separate spheres pervaded in the 1800s; men occupied the public sphere and were expected to earn their way in the harsh industrial world, whilst women inhabited the domestic sphere and were expected to remain responsible for the household and their families. However, there were some women who challenged this stereotypical image and battled to gain a place in society that wasn’t dictated by male prejudice. In 1918 the “Representation of the People Act” gave the right to vote to women over 30, and in 1928, a major milestone was reached when women were granted equal suffrage to men. Some people may argue that the long term persuasion and protesting of the Suffragists secured the enfranchisement of women. The NUWSS, also known as the Suffragists, were formed in 1897 and founded by Millicent Fawcett. The group demanded the vote for married, middle class, property owning women and they relied upon patience, non-violent demonstrations and rational arguments to reach their aim. They believed that if they were seen as intelligent, lawful, moral women then they would prove themselves responsible enough to participate fully in the political decisions and future for their country.

change could only happen by becoming politically stronger and by having their say in Parliament. They used lobbying techniques to do this, which led members of Parliament to show sympathy towards their cause. Their tactic worked and debates regarding women’s suffrage started taking place at least once a year in Parliament. National and regional press focused on the Parliamentar y proceedings and therefore the issue became entirely established with the general public. The group also worked with politicians, supporting and helping pro-female suffrage Liberal candidates with their campaigns to gain their support. These tactics won over many of them, including David Lloyd George, who

expressed support towards women, which gave the Suffragists the political recognition that was needed. In 1910, the Suffragists presented Parliament with a petition including 250,000 signatures in favour of women’s suffrage. The Suffragists believed that, “their movement was like a glacier, slow moving but a powerful and unstoppable force”. However, they were also in danger of losing publicity and support. After a few years of campaigning, Parliament and the newspapers were able to virtually ignore their peaceful protests and most men still believed women were not opinionated or intelligent enough to take part in the electoral process. Also, without the support of the Prime Minister at the time, Asquith, who was dead set against the granting of votes to women, it would be virtually impossible for them to make progress before 1914. Many women were becoming impatient with the Suffragists’ prolonged methods so a new break away movement was formed, the Suffragettes.

[W]omen inhabited the domestic sphere and were expected to remain responsible for the household and their families.

Arguably, it is another group that had a larger influence in gaining suffrage for women. The WSPU was founded in 1903, by Emmeline Pankhurst, and soon became better known as the “Suffragettes”. Due to the perceived lack of success resulting from the Suffragists’ peaceful and law abiding methods, Emmeline believed it was necessary to force the Government out of a stalemate situation and into a state of action and involvement – ‘Deeds not Words’ became their motto. She escalated the group and encouraged more violent behaviour

The Suffragists believed that real

Suffragettes and it brought about many discussions and debates in Parliament, something that the actions of the Suffragettes had consistently ensured, and Suffragists seemingly failed to do.

in pursuit of receiving attention from Parliament, the public and the press. The Suffragettes smashed windows and vandalised and bombed letter boxes in central London. They were also known to harass and disturb those who were seen to not support women’s suffrage, specifically MPs. Members persistently chained themselves to the railings inside Buckingham Palace. They shouted abuse at the public, refused obstinately to pay taxes and attacked politicians on their way to work. Suffragettes seemed to go to prison proudly, and showed no remorse for their actions. They even led starvation campaigns and hunger strikes whilst in prison, which led officers to force feed them. This was a traumatic, degrading and potentially fatal procedure carried out by male doctors on struggling female bodies. The Suffragettes may have exaggerated and exploited this endurance to provoke sympathy from the public, but this definitely worked and was eventually looked upon as a hugely successful strategy in gaining publicity and sympathy. And this proved not to be the only example of extremist and life-threatening behaviour within the group. One Suffragette, Emily Davison, apparently ‘threw’ herself in front of the king’s horse during the Derby of 1913 and was killed. Emily was an important and well-known Suffragette and upon her death she became a martyr for the campaign as well as achieving a huge amount of publicity for the Suffragettes – both good and bad. Her death also got politicians conversing about the

Immediately prior to the War, the Suffragettes caused much upheaval and arguably delayed the process of enfranchisement due to Parliament’s refusal to award “militants” the vote. It has been argued that they lost more support for the cause than they gained. Certainly, women had not been given the vote by 1914, even after a massive amount of Suffragette militancy. On top of this, many women were utterly appalled by the behaviour of the Suffragettes. Some didn’t even wish to have the vote because they saw it as threatening to both their comfortable lifestyle and their identity as a woman. Even Queen Victoria, the most powerful woman in the country at the time, wrote, “Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for a man, but with totally different duties and vocations.”

that it was an inevitably, albeit slow, process of enfranchising women. Even towards the end of the 19th Century, many acts had been passed that led to more independence for women. Some of these included the 1882 & 1893 Women’s Property Acts and the 1870’s Universal Primary Education Act. Attitudes to women in politics were also developing. In 1869, the “municipal franchise” meant that women could vote in local elections such as the Town Council. Women’s involvement in this proved that the belief of the “women’s sphere” was becoming outdated. The perception of women in society was also progressing as they became better educated, acquired more rights and some prejudiced attitudes of men improved towards women. However even though women made some progress, they were still not considered equals to men, and certainly not in need of the vote. Women’s enfranchisement was still considered trivial in the eyes of the Government and they only dismissed the views of the women who spoke out. Furthermore, many middle class women were horrified that women were going to these great lengths attempting to advance their position in society.

However, some historians believe that although the Suffragettes were extreme and divisive, they fought vehemently and created a strong, independent image for themselves. They believe that this led Parliament to question the original stereotype for an early 20th Century woman. As well as this, it could also be argued that although Parliament seemed to ignore the desperate protests at the time, politicians would find it impossible to return to Suffragette violence after the war, because of their compliance during the war, and that is why women were given the vote.

Another opinion is that women may have received the vote as a “reward” for the indispensable contribution of the women of Britain during the Great War. In previous years, men would hold professional, ‘public’ careers whilst women’s employment was limited to domestic service, factory work, teaching or secretarial work. The perception of women was that they were too incompetent, uneducated or ‘feminine’ to carry out the vast majority of male professions and society also disliked the idea of any woman, regardless of wealth or class, having a position in power and influence over the country.

Other people may argue that women’s pre-war efforts were a main factor in reaching emancipation for women –

However, at the outbreak of the cataclysmic conflict that was World War 1, men were forced to abandon

Emily Davison apparently ‘threw’ herself in front of the king’s horse during the Derby of 1913 and was killed.

their families and jobs to fight for their nation. Due to heavy losses on the Western front, in 1916 the Government saw no alternative other than to introduce military conscription. This meant all single men aged 18 to 40 years were liable to be called up for military service, excepting the medically unfit, religious leaders or men who held a position of other importance during the war. This caused a huge amount of upheaval and rebellions amongst men and led many vital industries to suffer immensely. Production rates decreased because of the loss of many skilled workers and there were food shortages in cities throughout the country. However, conscription also left staggering job vacancies open for women, which gave them the opportunity to play a significant part in the victory of the war. The Government used propaganda to advertise specific positions available and they even paid Christabel Pankhurst £3000 to organise women’s war work. These occupations enabled women to demonstrate that they had the ability to work equally to men and they were just as capable in various areas of labour. A variety of positions were now being filled by women including office jobs, engineering work, secretaries, and in hangars used to build aircraft and for the first time in British history, women were employed by the Government. They worked in munitions factories - the largest employer during World War 1, and women generated 80% of the British Army’s weapons and shells. The environment in a munitions factory was unhealthy and dangerous. Some women even became ill because of over-exposure to TNT throughout the course of the war. However, women’s patriotism and bravery to risk their own lives to provide for those who were fighting demonstrated that they truly deserved the vote. Women gave fundamental contributions to maximising food productions with the Women’s Land Army as well as working on the Western front themselves as

nurses and doctors. Moreover, they played a crucial part in encouraging young men to volunteer as soldiers before military conscription was introduced. Undoubtedly, women’s war work balanced the militant and destructive behaviour of the Suffragettes, who re-established their public image as intelligent and driven people, collaborating with the Government in their war efforts. Women now demanded a “right to serve” and many British industries which had previously excluded women were now open towards the idea, due to the shortage of male labourers. Therefore, it is certain that the Great War had a colossal impact on enfranchisement for women in 1918 – perhaps as a recognition for their efforts or because it destroyed the imperialist argument that women did not contribute to the defence of their country and thus did not have the right to vote.

It destroyed the imperialist argument that women did not contribute to the defence of their country and thus did not have the right to vote.

On the other hand, some people argue that World War 1 wasn’t the most significant factor in women gaining the vote in 1918. The vote was given to those aged more than 30 who had married into wealth or who owned property. The predominance of workers during this period were young women aged from 16-21 who were not wealthy enough to own property. In France women also gave essential contributions in French industries yet they were not given the vote. This perhaps suggests that the British prewar suffrage campaign had an influence over the Representation of the Peoples act in 1918, and that the war was, in fact, merely a catalyst. Furthermore, there are many other, slightly more simplistic, factors that could have played a part in women receiving the vote. One of them was when Prime Minister Aquith was replaced with Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1916. Lloyd George was sympathetic towards the suffrage

movement and influenced other MPs. Secondly, democratic changes in other countries across the world were also important in winning the vote. Britain judged itself as a “mother of democracy” and it believed itself to be far superior to others in terms of political and human rights. However, countries such as New Zealand, Australia and Denmark had already awarded women the vote and had not suffered as a result of it. To retain its advanced and democratic image, Britain could not deny half of its adult population the vote. Finally, it may be concluded that the most significant factor in women being awarded the vote is a combination of the campaigning groups and the War. Undeniably, there were multiple elements that gave the cumulative effect which was the Representation of the Peoples Act, but the pre-war Suffragist and Suffragette campaigning was responsible for gaining publicity, support and recognition – which is what the French lacked. The Government’s fear of repeated Suffragette violence after the war also pressured them to award the vote. Women’s war work in Britain may have acted as a catalyst that led to the franchise but without it, women’s equality may still have happened – just not as quickly. Ultimately, the vote was never “given” to the women of Britain: it was a continuous battle of campaigns, endurance and endeavour, that they fought determinedly to reach their final goal.

Emily Davison throws herself infront of the king’s horse

Should sixteen year-olds be given the right to vote? Molly Steele

Fifth Year This unseen, timed essay was written in one hour

Since the EU referendum, in which Britain voted to leave the European Union, there has been an ongoing debate over whether sixteen year-olds should win the right to vote. Some believe that the younger teenagers should have been able to gain their inputs: the results of the referendum will have serious effects on their lives for years to come. Others believe that the younger voters would not fully understand what they are voting for and their inputs would be “a waste of a vote.” As someone who quite politically active and vocal about my views, I feel that giving sixteen year-olds the right to vote is becoming increasingly necessary, as we need to have an input into the future of our country. The right to vote is an essential part of the democratic society we live in today. It took many years of petitioning and sacrifice for just some women to get the right to vote in 1918. They had originally been denied it as they were believed to be “too emotional” to be able to make important decisions. This turned out to be false, and later in the year, those women eligible to

vote turned out heavily at the polling stations. Although only a few women could vote at this time, it was a vital and necessary step to allow all adults over the age of 18 to be able to vote. One of the main reasons women were given the vote was because society realised that by excluding women, they were removing an important and influential voice: women made up nearly half of the population. Most women were active members of society and wanted to have a say in what happened to their rights, their government, and their country. Nowadays to vote, you must register before each election to show that you are of legal age (18 years old) and status within the country.

generations in order to get the votes. The best example of this was with the Scottish referendum, when Scotland brought down the voting age to 16. It meant that teenagers became politically engaged and aware of the situation around them and got very involved in the discussion – with some attending events to ask their local politicians questions to develop their knowledge further. After the referendum, statistics showed that the younger generation had one of the highest turnouts seen for that age category ever.

It meant that teenagers became politically engaged and aware of the situation around them and got very involved in the discussion.

If sixteen year-olds gained the right to vote, it would encourage political parties to appeal to the younger

Those arguing against sixteen yearolds winning the right to vote often believe that the younger teenagers are not as aware of the political climate as older generations are. Only recently has politics been put into the national curriculum, and even so private schools have the right not to teach it. This means that most teenagers

have some knowledge about the political atmosphere, and we are seeing more and more that they want to have a voice. The rise of news outlets placing their stories online means that more teenagers are seeing the important headlines. This allows them to research and read articles to create informed views about a situation: there are many different news sources providing many varied perspectives on the same story.

leading the Remain campaign. There was a 72% turnout on voting day and the results were 52% leave, 48% remain – with about 1 million people being the difference between staying or going. This decision has a hugely impact on our trading rights with the EU, as well as the changes to migration laws. As the months preceding the results arrived, it became increasingly clear that many people who voted Leave had not been entirely sure what they had voted for. The people had been promised £350 million back to our valued NHS, once we left the EU, but once the referendum had happened we were told that that was not exactly true.

[I]f there is a limit on the youngest age to vote, should there be a limit on the oldest age to vote?

There is also the fear that sixteen yearolds’ political views will be influenced by their parents and other adults around them: young people are more malleable, so the argument runs. Although this may be true, by the age of sixteen most teenagers are self-aware enough to realise that they will not always hold the same morals or views as those around them, and they can do their own research into the topics being discussed – this gives them a wider understanding of the world around them. With both of the issues that lowering the voting age could cause, it is important to recognise that not all adults are informed about what they are voting for, and a lot fall into the traps of bias spread by the media. Take Brexit, for example. Boris Johnson and Michael Gove led the Leave campaign with Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May

impact on their future opportunities and statistics showed that the older generation hugely influenced the result. The government are still trying to work out exactly what they want the UK to gain out of Brexit and it feels as though those in power do not have a consensus for what they want. Even now there is a continuing debate over whether there should be another referendum because there seems to have been such a change in public opinion. The other question that stands: if there is a limit on the youngest age to vote, should there be a limit on the oldest age to vote? To some this is a preposterous idea, but the same arguments used against the younger generation winning the right to vote apply to the older voters. As society is constantly changing, so are the views of what is acceptable and what is not. Some of the older generations have views ingrained in them that are considered negative to society’s ability to progress (racism against immigrants being one of the main ones) - hence why this is becoming an increasingly valid question, even if based off generalised views.

[W]e are allowing those who are interested, who want an input and who want a voice, to be able to speak up and have their say.

The debate of ‘misinfor mation’ or ‘disinformation’ proceeded; a lot of the nation felt they had listened to lies: the promises made by the campaign leaders were broken within a few months. The nation had heard about the glory of a Single Trade Market but the government never provided clear methods and solutions for how they would go about gaining that. The younger generation feel betrayed and excluded as this decision has a direct

The right to vote is an important one that no one should ever abuse. If younger teenagers are not interested in politics and do not want the vote, then they do not have to vote: no one is forcing them. By lowering the voting age, we are allowing those who are interested, who want an input and who want a voice, to be able to speak up and have their say. This means that when they arrive at the polling stations they are going to be fully aware of the decision they have to make because they had to register themselves to vote. By lowering the voting age parliament would encourage younger people to interact with other generations and allow them to integrate themselves into society as they can establish their own views.

‘I know nothing except that I know nothing’ (Socrates). Is it possible for someone to teach if he does not know anything? Archie Phillips Lower Sixth

Statue of Socrates by the sculptor Leonidas Drosis, 1873. Situated at the Academy of Athens.

Socrates – it is hard to imagine that a man so famed for his wisdom could claim such ignorance of himself. Attributed to the Athenian philosopher through the works of Plato, the quotation has withstood the ages, perhaps due to its paradoxically intriguing nature. It highlights Socrates’s epistemological contributions and raises many questions: notably, how the so-called ‘father of western philosophy’ can possibly teach the masses anything at all, given his allegedly vacuous mind? For the purposes of this essay, I will be taking the liberty to assume that the Platonic depiction of Socrates is indeed an accurate biographical and philosophical portrayal. It is a falsehood to suggest that Socrates has never once taught a man by enhancing his

wisdom. Therefore it is necessary to examine an example of this in order to assess the way in which Socrates was able to do so while being in a state of utter ignorance. This may be found in Plato’s Theaetetus, wherein Socrates is attempting to define knowledge conclusively with the help of the young Theaetetus. The question is posed to him thus, and the first response is that knowledge is in the form of cobblery and carpentry – “craftsmen’s’ arts; each and all of these are nothing else but knowledge.” Socrates, however, is dissatisfied, as mere examples are not an adequate denotation, and queries further. “Knowledge is nothing else than perception” , is the second answer given, after some thought. Although initially exalting the young man for his astuteness, scrutiny

discerns that perception cannot be a universal definition for knowledge as “each person perceives things, such they are to each person.” The insufficient reliability and variability of the senses cannot, therefore, indicate knowledge. The question is posed again. Unperturbed, his third attempt is “true opinion probably is knowledge” . But once again, Socrates quashes this argument by suggesting that an accidentally true opinion does not constitute knowledge. This leads onto the final definition of knowledge: “knowledge [is] true opinion accompanied by reason” .

The aim of the elenchus is to wake men out of their dogmatic slumbers into genuine intellectual curiosity.

The School of Athens by Raphael

This account is an archetypal example of the Socratic method. Otherwise known as elenchus, the Socratic method is a common and widespread pedagogical technique whereby the

Bust of Socrates. Date and sculptor unknown. Situated in the Louvre.

questioner elicits deeper critical thinking of a topic via the medium of debate. The interlocutor may give acceptable individual answers, but the outcome is almost always a deeper comprehension of the subject matter through their cognition. Any erroneous beliefs or opinions held without prior thought are quickly routed under the scrutiny of elenchus, identifying logical contradictions or otherwise disproving the assertion. Richard Robinson asserts that “the aim of the elenchus is to wake men out of their dogmatic slumbers into genuine intellectual curiosity” . Socrates did not provide any answers, nor did he steer Theaetetus to the conclusion he saw fit. Nonetheless, his opinion and understanding of knowledge was amended beyond recognition, and the definition of knowledge as justified true belief withstood to be the widely accepted definition among philosophers until 1963, with the publication of Edward Gettier’s paper ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’ However, an argument can also be made for the Socratic method’s purpose being not a device for learning, but a way of demonstrating one’s ignorance. This is certainly the viewpoint of W.K.C. Guthrie, who stated that “the essence of the Socratic method is to convince the interlocutor that whereas he thought he knew something, in fact

he does not.” This belief has its provenance in Plato’s Meno, in another perfect example of elenchus. Meno, a brazen and assured man, is challenged by Socrates as to what virtue really is. Each and every one of his proposals is systematically repudiated, leaving Meno wholly at a loss. Westacott commented that “we see Socrates reduce Meno, who begins by confidently assuming that he knows what virtue is, to a state of confusion” . We hear Meno himself, under no impression that he has been taught, lament that “on countless occasions I have made abundant speeches on virtue to various people … but now I cannot say one word as to what it is” . Teaching must have prominent elements of improvement and advancement benefitting the pupil, therefore the Socratic method may have little application as a type of pedagogy to a subscriber of Guthrie’s interpretation.

this is demonstrated in the Meno, when Socrates strives to help a slave boy understand a geometric problem. He draws a square in the earth of sides two feet in length, and tasks the boy with doubling the area of the square. Being untrained in mathematics, he answers that you must double the length of the sides in order to double the area. Socrates, by drawing out this proposed square, proves to the boy that this is incorrect. Knowing that the answer must be between two and four, the slave boy guesses a 50% increase, resulting in a square with sides measuring three feet. Again, Socrates shows him his error and the boy finally concedes that he does not know. Turning to Meno, Socrates uses this example to exhibit the value of conscious ignorance; declaring that the boy, reduced to a state of perplexity, is now craving to acquire the knowledge which he wrongly assumed he had. He therefore argues that, were it not for this conversation, “he would have been only too ready to suppose he was right in saying, before any number of people any number of times, that the double space must have a line of double the length for its side.” Hence, not only has he not done any harm to the slave boy in revealing his ignorance, he has “given him some assistance, it would seem, towards finding out the truth of the matter” . To give assistance in the pursuit of truth is intrinsically the ability to teach; and it is clear to see that Socrates considers a presumption that you know nothing at all a useful, if necessary, first step to learning.

One must begin with a tabula rasa (or ‘blank slate’), devoid of all preconceived notions and false axioms.

With this having been said, many would believe that one must clear the mind of all misconceptions in order to learn. One must begin with a tabula rasa (or ‘blank slate’), devoid of all preconceived notions and false axioms, to best absorb the correct knowledge or form explanations uncorrupted by unverifiable evidence. Elenchus, it could be said, is concerned first and foremost by this end. This is not just alluded to by Socrates, it is illustrated plainly and effectively in the Theaetetus, with the encouragement of Socrates: “wipe out all we said before, and see if you have any clearer vision, now that you have advanced to this point.” Furthermore,

The prerequisite of a sceptical attitude and the assumption that one knows nothing was most famously adopted by René Descartes in his landmark philosophical work: Meditations on First Philosophy. Socrates goes on to teach the boy the correct answer by asking (admittedly very leading) questions, but never directly telling him the answer – a method conducted widely in classrooms today. This is known as

The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David

Socratic teaching, and Dr Linda Elder, an educational psychologist, believes it to be “the oldest, and still the most powerful, teaching tactic for fostering critical thinking”. In the Oxford English Dictionary, the rudimentary meaning of the verb ‘to teach’ is to impart knowledge. Consequentially, it would be impossible for Socrates to teach anybody by this superficial standard. Perhaps this is why Socrates did not believe himself to be a teacher, as is mentioned explicitly in Plato’s Apology – an account of Socrates’s trail. Although this may be an effort to distance himself from the sophists, in place of refuting the charge of corrupting Athens’ youth, Socrates instead denies that he is even a teacher, and therefore incapable of corruption. He says that “I was never any one’s teacher” , but “I ask questions, and whoever wishes may answer and hear what I say… I should not justly be held responsible, since I

never promised or gave any instruction to any of them” .

further, an explanation of the context of the quotation from Plato is required. Socrates recounts that his friend Chaerephon visited the Delphic oracle and asked whether there was any man wiser than Socrates. The answer was no, inducing great puzzlement from Socrates, who did not believe himself to be wise in the slightest. And so henceforth he set out to find a man wiser than himself to prove the oracle mistaken. He met many supposedly wise men, from politicians to craftsmen, and realised that, whilst they were very knowledgeable about certain matters, they also thought that they were equally expert in others, when they evidently were not. This phenomenon has since been dubbed ‘the fallacy of the artisans’. The ‘universal genius’, polymaths like Leonardo da Vinci, only come around once in a generation; but despite their rarity, artisans throughout history unduly liken themselves to one. Therefore Socrates concluded that in that regard he was the wisest as he did not claim to possess knowledge

The Socratic method is, at its core, a method of hypothesis elimination.

However, a common belief is that Socrates may not have actually believed he knew nothing - for example, he is very confident that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. Socrates is never recorded to have said such a phrase in the works of Plato, and the saying as we know it is originally from Cicero’s Academica, in the Latin: “ipse se nihil scire id unum sciat” . The phrase with the most similar wording can be found in the Apology, with Socrates being quoted as saying: “that what I do not know I do not think I know either” . These discrepancies have led some scholars to believe that it “is a clear misreading of Plato” and that “it is better not to attribute it to him” . In order to understand this viewpoint

Socrates considers a presumption that you know nothing at all a useful, if necessary, first step to learning.

which he did not have; and although they were greatly wiser than him about matters concerning a narrow field, this wisdom was counterbalanced by such foolishness. In other words, he was aware of his own ignorance. If this interpretation is to be believed, and there is firm evidence to suggest that it should, Socrates is just as, if not more, qualified to teach than the next Athenian.

and actions, Socrates demonstrated key concepts critical to the future process and ethics of scientific collaboration.” In line with the theories of Karl Popper, Socrates pursued a course of philosophical falsificationism, rejecting ideas proved to be false and continuing to question seemingly watertight arguments. For example, he was not entirely satisfied with Theaetetus’ final definition for knowledge and deliberated extensively as to what logos (account) might entail. If his desire for the truth and methodology has inspired the modern scientific method, Socrates has undeniably impacted the spheres of education, as science is arguably the greatest tool for learning in human history.

[H]e was the wisest as he did not claim to possess knowledge which he did not have.

The Socratic method is, at its core, a method of hypothesis elimination. A hypothesis is put forward and tested via logic, with any contradictions or inconsistencies disproving its validity. This process leads to the formation of improved hypotheses which can be scrutinized under the same conditions. Albeit Socrates was primarily concerned with logical and moral ethics, the crossexamination of hypotheses has led some to recognise his contribution to science and the scientific method. Blake White from the Strategic Technology Institute claims that “through his words

Socrates is not a teacher in the practical sense and would not have found a job in a Victorian schoolhouse. However, throughout a conversation with the philosopher you may realise your

Karl Popper - Philosopher of Science

ignorance and learn something new, like the mathematically deficient slave-boy, alter your opinions on a certain subject similarly to Theaetetus, or realise you know absolutely nothing at all like Meno. Very rarely will you come away with your outlook unchanged, comfortable with your flawless interpretations and beliefs. Briefly, he encourages people to learn for themselves. But I believe Socrates himself most accurately describes his role – that of a “μαῖα”, or ‘midwife’. The analogy is appropriate in that Socrates does not play an active role in the proceedings and most of the toil is exerted by his subject. He often states that he is barren of ideas or that “I do not know my own meaning as is yet” . Nevertheless he is able to aid the acquisition of wisdom in his interlocutor by his ability to bring the theories of other to birth and to determine whether they are worthy or mere “wind eggs” (yolkless eggs). Socrates may appear to some to be “a flat torpedo sea-fish”, benumbing anybody whom comes near him, but to many he is but an intellectual midwife.

Phoebe Hammond

Dan Colegate

Kate Thompson

Olivia Chads

Saffron Wood

Holly Goddard

An Exploration of Clarissa Dalloway’s Relationships with Women in Virginia Woolf ’s Mrs Dalloway Ella Lacey Lower Sixth

own bisexuality and the significance she experienced in lesbian relationships, as well as the social pressure to embody masculine characteristics in order to overcome the repressive role customarily held by women in society in 1923.

In Mrs Dalloway, the exploration of Clarissa Dalloway’s life through the narrative of a day presents the oppression of women in a society that still upheld traditional values in its governing class. The imposing social constructs of the Victorian middle class maintained dominance of the patriarchy and status of women as second-class citizens, allowing Woolf to portray the treatment of women in the way she personally experienced it: demeaning and derogatory. From this stemmed much of the contrast between Clarissa’s relationships with male and female characters, which are exposed to the reader through external interactions and the internal discourse of opposing characters. The prominent female relationships in the novel between Clarissa and Sally Seton, and Doris Kilman perhaps emulate Woolf ’s

Memories of time spent with Sally Seton in Bourton are one of the few recollections that bring Clarissa the utmost happiness, and offer the most contrast between the freedom both Clarissa and Woolf found in the company of women, and the restriction they often found in the company of men. Shortly preceding the introduction of Sally in the third chapter, Clarissa’s stream of consciousness ponders on the isolation she is subjected to at the hands of her relationship with Richard Dalloway, the sexlessness she views as an inadequacy and the ‘emptiness about the heart of life’ both in her internal emotions and conflicts, and her marriage. From the onset of such bleak thoughts arises the admission of Clarissa’s feelings of ‘extraordinary alleviation’ at the revelation that she ‘feels how men felt’ in respect to female attraction. Mulling over the ‘question of love… this falling in love with women’, Clarissa reminisces the infatuation with Sally she experienced at the age of 18 in Bourton - the ‘extraordinary beauty of

her’ and the ‘purity and integrity’ she felt about a relationship which could only ‘exist between women’. The dynamic in their relationship is likened to that of ‘a match burning in a crocus’, to Clarissa’s ability to remain open with her true self in Sally’s presence, as when a crocus remains open in the presence of heat. Clarissa could ‘remember going cold with excitement . . . in a kind of ecstasy’ because she thought of Sally’s closeness in the house and equated her happiness with that of the intensity of Othello, feeling ‘if it were now to die ’twere now to be most happy’. Her portrayal of Sally is one of almost supreme reverence, describing the ‘most exquisite moment of her whole life’ as Sally’s kiss, even 25 years later. The relationship Clarissa has with Richard Dalloway, and even Peter Walsh, pales in comparison with the significance of that with Sally. In Clarissa’s memories, Sally was presented as an anti-patriarchal figure who devised how she and Clarissa would ‘reform the world’ and caused Clarissa to want to learn more about the world - to ‘read Plato in bed before breakfast; read Morris; read Shelley by the hour’. She was unruly and unconventional, ‘completely reckless’, doing ‘the most idiotic things out of bravado; [she] bicycled round the parapet on the terrace; smoked cigars’. Unlike men, who were afforded far more liberties and freedoms than women, females were ingrained with the ideas that they had to accept the repressed role in society - only being present to serve men rather than themselves. This is reflected in the doubts of Clarissa Dalloway, whose critical nature states ‘she knew nothing; no language, no history; she could scarcely read a book now’ and

[She] bicycled round the parapet on the terrace; smoked cigars’.

she believes that she is at fault due to the conditioning that the societal structure of male dominance had imposed. During her time at Bourton, not only was Clarissa physically and intellectually attracted to Sally, but the freedom that Sally appeared to have as a young woman may have resonated in Clarissa’s inner self who desired to have the same liberties. The presentation of Sally as ‘absurd’ and ‘reckless’ reflects traditionally masculine characteristics, meaning the reader may infer that these characteristics granted Sally a proportion of liberties that the male gender experienced far more freely.

Street she tried desperately to ‘subdue this turbulent and painful feeling’, internally countering the laugh with the justification that ‘she prayed to God. She could not help being ugly; she could not afford to buy pretty clothes’. It then becomes evident that Miss Kilman has transferred those feelings of attraction onto Elizabeth, Clarissa’s daughter, to a higher degree. Miss Kilman plainly states that ‘she had got Elizabeth’ and that she ‘genuinely loved’ her. Her obsessive compulsion to steal Elizabeth away from Clarissa is fuelled by the intense emotions she

Her obsessive compulsion to steal Elizabeth away from Clarissa is fuelled by the intense emotions she inflicts upon herself.

Virginia Woolf

Clarissa’s relationship with Doris Kilman is an antithesis to that which she had with Sally Seton; whereas Sally brought bliss and euphoria into Clarissa’s life as a young woman, Miss Kilman acts more in a villainous manner, manipulating Clarissa’s daughter and harbouring a fierce hatred of the family, or more specifically, Clarissa. Miss Kilman became a ‘spectre with [which] one battles with at night’ in Clarissa’s mind and a great deal of animosity lay between them. Although the majority of Miss Kilman’s hatred springs from the Dalloways’ position in the upper-middle class, their wealth and their lack of religious faith, it is implied within the seventh chapter that Miss Kilman’s loathing may also derive from the rejection she feels as a second-hand emotion from the repressed attraction she holds for Clarissa. As Elizabeth and Miss Kilman leave the Dalloway house to visit the Army and Navy Stores, Clarissa laughs at the ‘dwindling of the monster’ that is Miss Kilman as she ‘crumbles’ from a thing of ‘hatred’ to a thing of pity - to someone Clarissa ‘would have liked to help’. The severity of Miss Kilman’s reaction is what may allude to her attraction: ‘Doris Kilman had been overcome. She had, as a matter of fact, very nearly burst into tears when Clarissa Dalloway laughed at her’ and as she walked down Victoria

inflicts upon herself as a result of her envy and jealousy of Clarissa, her beliefs as a devout Christian and also as a citizen of the lower class. Not only does Miss Kilman embody masculine characteristics in her mannerisms and interactions, but her appearance appears to be a physical manifestation of the striving to epitomise masculine traits as well. Her ‘largeness, robustness, and power’ are described as ‘impressive’ by a stranger, and her ‘ugliness’ is constantly spoken of as she lingers in the Dalloway household in her ‘cheap’ mackintosh which she invariably ‘perspired’ in ‘all year round’. As Miss Kilman strives to be part of the dominant culture that men usually possessed, her masculine physicality presents itself as the need to dominate Clarissa both palpably and

mentally towards the end of chapter seven. There is a dark and violent streak to her stream of consciousness that becomes evident, as she wishes to ‘overcome’, ‘unmask’, ‘fell’ and ‘subdue’ Clarissa, to ‘make her weep; to ruin her; humiliate her; bring her to her knees crying… as it was God’s will’. It is a disturbing revelation in Miss Kilman’s character as she evolves from simply queer to undoubtedly sinister in her actions and relationship with Clarissa. The subconscious orthodoxy of desiring masculine attributes in order to gain social liberties also manifests itself in Miss Kilman as the vehement desire for power and status through her entitlement to items she lacks the means to own. Miss Kilman’s inability to avenge the perceived injustice she suffered at the hands of her lower class status, her ‘German origin’, her appearance and her position as a person who ‘was dismissed [from her job]... during the War’ perhaps drove her to deny her femininity and adopt aggressive masculine values. These values are particularly prevalent in her interactions with Clarissa, who she ‘pitied and despised from the bottom of her heart’. As a lower-class citizen, Miss Kilman was ‘degradingly poor’ and believed that the Dalloways did not deserve the ‘expensive items’ they possessed because their lives were full

of vanity and deceit - by her reasoning, she had a ‘perfect right’ to anything the Dalloways did or owned. Yet she continues to act with inverted snobbery, as if anything owned by the upper classes disgusts her when in fact she is hugely envious of their wealth. She uses her position as Elizabeth Dalloway’s tutor to condition her into turning away from her family, in order to experience a sense of influence over her, and into conforming to the Christian faith which would have been especially concerning at the time due to the rise of atheism after The Great War. Woolf presented religion (along with other permanent ideas such as love which were used as inspiration in many works of Victorian literature) as a negative facet of society, stripping individuals of their uniqueness and preventing people from appreciating the ephemeral beauty of life: ‘Love and religion… how detestable they are!’ In addition to her desire to possess Elizabeth, her manner of eating is peculiar and excessive, staring at the food of a child on the next table with ‘intensity’, looking ‘again and again’. When asking herself if she could stand the cake being eaten

she replies, ‘Yes, [she] did mind it. She had wanted that cake – the pink one’ the absurdity at being so irked by a child eating a cake revealing her greediness at that moment.

[S]exual exclusivity was discouraged and many members engaged in homosexual relationships.

Vita Sackville-West

In Mrs Dalloway, Virginia Woolf both emulates her own character and criticises the social constructs of a Victorian society that required women to take on masculine characteristics in order to gain a small portion of the same liberties men were gifted automatically. Woolf differed from other early 1900s writers by normalising homosexual relationships and portraying them in both a positive and negative manner. The easy acceptance of lesbianism in Mrs Dalloway suggests links to Woolf ’s own bisexuality and her involvement in the Bloomsbury Set, where sexual exclusivity was discouraged and many members engaged in homosexual relationships - Woolf ’s relationship with Vita Sackville-West was an example of this. Her insistence that feminism is not gained at the sacrifice of femininity but the embracing of both femininity and masculinity can allow a person to embrace their true self are both incredibly important even in a modern day setting. ‘The history of men’s opposition to women’s emancipation is more interesting perhaps than the story of that emancipation itself ’ stated Woolf in A Room of One’s Own, for not only did the patriarchy transcend into women’s subconscious minds but into that of men, where only they deserved the right to act on their own wants, needs and desires without denunciation. By focusing on the introspectiveness of individuals, the subconscious mind through streams of consciousness and free indirect discourse of women in particular, she exposed women as people, as intellectual entities who had the right to do as men did, free of social pressure and criticism. As Jane said in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, which goes for all women, ‘I am not a bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.’

How to remember everything Annabelle Hall Upper Sixth

really taught how to remember. It is like being taught P y t h a g o r a s ’s theorem before you know how to multiply. It is fundamentally flawed and very very difficult. So, last year, after the failure of one too many memory tests, I mean, exams, I decided to learn how to remember. What I present to you here are tried and tested methods that I have used to help improve my, less than perfect, memory. When I say tried and tested, I used these techniques to help the entirety of Drake House remember a list of random words (this is no mean feat, as Mrs Herrington will assure you) and from asking around afterwards, I experienced an almost 100% success rate. Mind Palace

“Okay, so Annabelle: Was machst du mit deinen Freunden?” The words hit me with a dull thud: like a baseball bat to a piñata, except that this piñata had nothing inside. Damn, DAMN! I don’t remember. Why do I never remember? Oh come on. Come on. I am not a skilled linguist; my German Oral exam relied heavily on my ability to memorise large chunks of text that (in theory though never in practice) I could then recount when asked that particular question during the exam. I would diligently sit at home reciting the same chunk of foreign text over and over and over, in the hope that the answers might somehow fly off the page and tattoo themselves onto my brain. They never did. I would walk into the languages office and my head was buzzing with words. By the time I sat down, everything I had so diligently tried to learn was gone. The ability to retain and recall information is a vital part of the education system and yet, we are never

The method is surprisingly simple, “Elementary, my dear Watson”, you might say. For I use my ‘Mind Palace’. A ‘Mind Palace’ (for want of a slightly less pretentious term) is a mental filing system that the Ancient Greeks and Romans coined, to help them memorise and perform speeches that could last for hours. It works by placing key ideas along a familiar real-life route that you can then walk through in your mind. You turn each key idea into an image (the weirder the better) and you ensure

that each image interacts with notable elements along your mental route. That way, when you walk through it in your mind’s eye, you can see each key part of your speech, or subject content in my case, in the order in which you wish to remember it. I think the best way to explain this is to give an example. This is how I remember the difference between Agonist and Antagonist drugs. (This is a topic in the A2 Psychology course.) “As you walk into my bedroom (this particular topic is upstairs in my house) you see someone standing in front of the mirror mimicking everything his reflection is doing. You go to walk over to him but you are blocked by his brother. This brother is clearly the Antagonist. He assertively tells you not to talk to his brother Agonist.” This odd scenario tells me that Antagonist drugs block receptors in the brain (as the Antagonist of the story blocks your path) and that Agonist drugs mimic the effect of another drug (as ‘Agonist’ is mimicking his reflection in the mirror) When played out in my mind this encounter takes seconds. I then proceed to go into more detail regarding the efficacy of both drugs and whilst it makes complete sense in my head, it doesn’t read particularly well so I won’t bore you. Memory is a very individual process, so something that makes complete sense to you, may not work for other people. This is why it is most effective if you create your own ‘Mind Palace’ as you can then incorporate images into it that only you understand. For example, I have one image revolving around a stool in my bathroom. To me, this makes complete sense and can be easily visualised. But for someone who

By the time I sat down, everything I had so diligently tried to learn was gone.

this bypasses the working memory. In an exam, this allows your working memory, which is limited to handling one task at a time, to expend less effort in the attempt to remember content and more time working out what the question is asking.

around a room I know well, I will happily sit and incorporate everything I need to remember.

I couldn’t think of anything more mind numbingly boring than sitting down and rewriting everything I had learnt over the course of the year.

has not been to my house, this feature would probably be impossible to see in her or his mind’s eye, and this therefore would make it tricky to remember. Although this process of turning key points into images may sound laborious it is actually rather fun and forces you to engage with what you are trying to learn much more than simply writing notes. This helps to improve your overall understanding of the content. Your ‘Mind Palace’ should encompass your key points and act as a catalyst for the rest of your knowledge because the vital pieces of information that present themselves to you along your mental route, help retrieve information that has been stored deep within your longterm memory. Kenneth Higbee likened the mind to a box. You can either throw everything in and hope you can find it later, or you can carefully organise it so the contents are easier to find at a glance. Most people use their memories like a big cardboard box, throwing in as much information as possible and hoping that they will be able to find it when they need to recall it, as I tried to do in preparation for my German Oral exam. By contrast, the ‘Mind Palace’ system provides an organised way of remembering information that is far superior to the ‘chuck it all in’ style so frequently used. The visual nature of the ‘Mind Palace’ approach ensures that information is catapulted straight into the long term memory and as a result

Like 65% of the population, I prefer visual learning. So I find it impossible simply to concoct these ‘Mind Palace’ stories in my head. Instead I prefer to write them down as I go. This gives rise to the opportunity to draw some of the more obscure images, thus making the process even more light-hearted. One of my personal favourites is a dark red ‘R2D2’, who reminds me of the DRD2 gene linked to addiction. People with a larger artistic skill set could simply draw out their entire ‘Mind Palace’ as a kind of ‘map’. However, one must be careful not to spend too much time on this.

To quote Mary Poppins: “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun, you find the fun and snap, the job’s a game.” I hated revision, and I found the whole process of making revision notes extremely tedious and very time consuming (partly due to my perfectionism). I couldn’t think of anything more mind numbingly boring than sitting down and rewriting everything I had learnt over the course of the year. Now, instead of making the revision notes I hate so much, I make brief notes on what I need to know for the topic I want to revise. After proceeding to make up a story Mary Poppins that revolves

As with everything, you must revisit your ‘Mind Palace’ occasionally to ensure that its contents are not forgotten. This process is much more engaging than reading revision notes as it forces you to think and although it may seem time consuming, after a few attempts, it can be quite quick and easy. However, one of my favourite benefits of a ‘Mind Palace’ is: it automatically comes with you into an exam hall. This automatically sets it apart from revision notes that must be left outside. It is like a footballer who plays with you in a match, rather than just waving at you from the side line. I hope this has given you an insight into how a ‘Mind Palace’ works and how I apply the system to my studies. I highly recommend that you give this method a try and see if it works for you. This applies particularly if you are struggling with the volume of content you must remember. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain and you might even find a little bit of enjoyment along the way.

Love’s Labour’s Lost

Miss Saigon

School of Rock

Miss Saigon

Does a theologically pluralist approach undermine the central teachings of Christianity? Fintan Wood Upper Sixth

More traditional Christians believe themselves to have a unique kind of relationship with God, made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; these Christians see Christianity as the key to salvation. As such by traditional teaching as stated above, Christians feel it is their ‘duty’ to save the eternal souls of others. However, in the latter half of the twentieth century especially, this exclusivist position has come under heavy criticism as the relationship between Christianity and other religions has become an increasingly important issue. The pluralist approach argues for the legitimacy of all the world’s faiths, suggesting that they are all equally valid. There is an obvious difficulty reconciling an omnibenevolent God with one who would “ordain that man must be saved in such a way that only a small minority can in fact receive salvation” (John Hick), which is the exclusivist view. However, the extent to which such beliefs detract from ‘true’ Christian teaching is debateable, though many exclusivists would suggest that to take up such pluralist beliefs would be to undermine the sacrifice made by Christ. Compromise between such opposing beliefs is verging on the impossible; although it may be argued

that a pluralist approach does indeed undermine central Christian teaching, specifically that of salvation through Christ, it can actually be seen as a positive position to take as we move forwards into a far more connected world. Much of the church, even in today’s culture, holds an exclusivist position. ‘Exclusivism’ or ‘Particularism’ is the name given to the belief that salvation can only be found through Christianity, and only Christianity can lead to the right relationship with God. Most Christians would agree that Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross was an event of cosmic significance, but the exclusivists believe this event, and this event alone, brought salvation to the world once, and for all, and only through hearing the gospel and responding with faith in Christ can we be saved. Furthermore, there are two forms of exclusivism known as ‘narrow’ and ‘broad’ exclusivism. Some Christians prescribe to the narrowly exclusivist view, holding that salvation is only possible for those who belong to their own particular denomination within Christianity. For example, bible-believing Christians may distinguish themselves from those who do not take such scripture literally, believing only they alone will receive salvation.

receive Eucharist can be taken up to heaven. They even took the motto “extra ecclesiam nulla salus” for many years, which translates as “there is no salvation outside the church”. Broad exclusivists, by contrast, believe that all denominations within Christianity may also receive salvation. One such exclusivist was Hendrik Kraemer (18881965). He suggested that although God’s revelation can be seen through nature and human reason, the only way to salvation is through the Christian church. A d d i t i o n a l l y, although other religions may hold an element of the ‘truth’ within them, such systems are a way of life and must be judged as a whole, and dismissed as such. For example, like Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism and Hinduism all teach we should “treat others as we would like to be treated”.

[S]alvation is only possible for those who belong to their own particular denomination within Christianity.

Both St Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century and Calvin in the 16th held very narrowly exclusivist views, believing and teaching only the ‘elect’ of Christianity will achieve salvation: faith alone cannot guarantee salvation. One such denomination purporting narrow exclusivism is the Catholic Church, taking the view that only those baptised into the church who regularly

Further support for such a view can be found in the thoughts of Karl Barth (1886-1968), a prominent Protestant theologian who expressed the belief that revelation can only be found where God chooses to reveal it through his word. Barth based much of his teachings on bible-based evidence including the opening verse of John’s gospel which reads; “in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God”, which suggests that God uses the church and the Bible to reveal himself. For Barth, Christ himself is the only totally reliable way to God, because Jesus is fully and uniquely the way in which God has chosen to make himself known. Yet part of central Christian teaching is the concept of an omnibenevolent or all-loving God. It seems an unsolvable

The Blind Men and the Elephant Stephen Hawking

paradox that a God of love would create such a narrow form of salvation that only a few could experience it. The injustice of eternal damnation for those who give their lives and lifetimes for others (or simply never had the chance to in the case of infant death) seems so at odds with the traditional Christian God one would have to disregard it all together or risk an illogical and unpalatable conclusion. Thus, it might be argued that pluralism in fact upholds traditional teaching rather than undermines it. William Lane Craig (1948- present) suggests a solution to this problem suggesting arguing that God has a capacity for ‘middle knowledge’. Referring to God’s omniscience, Craig suggests that, in his perfect knowledge God knows what you would have done had you been a believer, therefore God never unfairly denies salvation. He is aware what you would have done if you had not been a Christian or if you had been given the opportunity to live to adulthood, and thus God can judge individuals accordingly. On the other hand, critics may point out that if God does have this ‘middle knowledge’ there is little point in missionary work or attempts to convert people and further calls to question the extent to which we have indeed got true free will. ‘Middle knowledge’ undermines the central importance of missionary work within the Christian exclusivist church and thus may be

argued detracts substantially from the urgency of the Christian mission. Overall, at least to an exclusivist, pluralism substantially undermines central Christian teaching, mainly the centrality of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation. Pluralism critically disregards the centrality of the crucifixion by portraying it as simply an alternative path to God. Yet, pluralism upholds certain central teachings too, such as belief in the omnibenevolence of God, and therefore although to an exclusivist the concept of pluralism represents a significant disregard of the ‘true’ religion, a more balanced conclusion would acknowledge that it is not without support for some Christian teachings.

inclusivists would claim that God’s omnibenevolence leaves open the possibility of salvation even for nonChristians. They suggest that religions contain a ‘partial truth’, and in his infinite wisdom God will make allowances for those truly attempting to follow him, though they are in the context of the wrong religion. Some inclusivists even take the view that other religions are unknowingly following and accepting Christ, though they may know him under a different label and do not know he is truly to be found in Jesus of Nazareth.

[T]here is little point in missionary work or attempts to convert people.

Some Christians are similarly uncomfortable with the idea that salvation is totally impossible outside the church, but they want to maintain that Christianity holds the truth and do not want to go as far as suggesting that any other path is equal to that of a commitment to Christianity. Much like the exclusivist position, inclusivism encompasses a variety of different positions. Some believe salvation is possible for those who turn to Christianity after death; God gives us the possibility to repent in the next life before entering heaven. Most

Karl Rahner (1904-1984), despite being a Catholic theologian, proposed the idea of the “anonymous Christian”. Rahner believed Christianity held the unique position of being the one true religion founded on God’s ultimate revelation. Rahner was one such theologian who also struggled with the exclusion of those ignorant of Christianity. Individuals can devote themselves to God’s example unknowingly and thus those who “seek God with sincere heart and moved by grace, try in their actions to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation”. However, exclusivists such as Hendrik Kraemer might point out that central Christian teaching and scripture make plain that other religions are simply

rather than factual statements. Overall, it is once again clear that pluralism undermines the central teaching of Christianity of the salvation found in Christ. Although inclusivists hold a looser form as to where salvation is found, they nonetheless believe Christianity is the ‘true’ religion, whilst pluralism teaches there is no such thing, and that they are all equally valid ways to God. As such, despite pluralism undermining this inclusivist version of central Christian doctrine as well, it does so in a lesser extent to that of exclusivism, and thus due to their shared belief in salvation outside the church, pluralism only moderately undermines the central Christian teaching of salvation in Christ.

realms, the noumenal realm being the reality of God as he is, and the phenomenal realm simply our limited, human, worldly perception. Different religions are simply the different lenses of culture and context seeing the same God under a different perception; all religions are just flawed human attempts to connect with ‘the real’.

[U]nder different experimental conditions light is found to exemplify both wave-like and particlelike properties depending on how we interact with it.

Karl Rahner

misguided attempts from people trying to find the truth for themselves. NonChristian religions are, for Kraemer, little more than cultural constructs rather than responses to God’s revelation in Christ. Rahner disagreed and he felt that Old Testament characters such as Moses, Abraham and Job were all perfect exemplars of the Christian faith even though God had not yet revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Job even identified this point: “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth”. Though these individuals may not go to church or receive baptism they are following Christ by their attitude and actions, they are ‘anonymous Christians’.

[A]ll religions are simply planets orbiting ‘the one’ who have a common centre.

Yet, pluralists might undermine even the looser central teaching of salvation in Jesus proposed by inclusivists. Pluralists contradict the position of the church in inclusivist theology, claiming it to be ‘a truth’ rather than ‘the truth’, and furthermore, propose that religious truth claims serve another function to being simply cognitive. The truth claims could, for example, be mythological or symbolic ways of communication

John Hick (19222012) was once an evangelical Christian, but he became a strong advocate of the pluralist view of the relationship between Christianity and other world religions after coming into contact with other believers of different faiths. Hick wrote: “As soon as one does meet and come to know people of other faiths a paradox of gigantic proportions becomes disturbingly obvious”, begging the question as to whether a God of love can “ordain that man be saved in such a way that only minority can in fact receive this salvation”. Hick suggested a need for what he called a ‘Copernican revolution’ in theology. We should not put Christianity at the centre and measure others against it, instead we should put God at the centre, then all religions are simply planets orbiting ‘the one’ who have a common centre. Hick drew ideas form Immanuel Kant about the noumenal and phenomenal

To help visualise John Hick’s pluralist hypothesis we might use the analogy of light. Although not directly observable, under different experimental conditions light is found to exemplify both wave-like and particle-like properties depending on how we interact with it. Hick calls this the “wave-particle complementarity in physics” and considers it an empirical analogy to how the properties of the ‘Real’ are experienced in different ways depending upon how the observer (and in the case of religion the practitioner) acts in relation to it. Although not using it as an argument, Hick also used the reality of a rainbow as a pedagogical metaphor: John Hick

“The rainbow, as the sun’s light refracted through rain drops into a glorious spectrum of colours, is a metaphor for the refraction of the divine Light by our human religious cultures.” One of the strongest objections to pluralism is that it seems to undermine central Christian beliefs, especially the ‘unique’ event of Jesus’s resurrection and creating the possibility of salvation. It brings to question what is ‘central’, if anything, as according to pluralism there seems only the expression of culture and tradition, rather than ‘truth’. Hick dispensed of aspects of traditional Christianity he felt where “either quite untenable or open to serious doubt”. He instead thought of these aspects as non-literal expressions of God’s relationship with mankind. Yet, this abandonment from central doctrines leaves critics wondering what in fact is even left of Hick’s Christianity.

by the exclusivist doctrines of the church. Alhough Hick’s pluralism clearly undermines traditional Christian teachings, such teachings may not even be central to Christianity if one is to place a successful relationship with God as the sole focus of Christian life. However, such a belief cannot be backed with nearly as much support as traditional teaching can. Hick seems to claim the phenomenal realm is flawed and we are unable to see things as they truly are, yet Hick does just this, attempting to explain things as they really are as if he has some insight the rest of us do not. Thus, it is more likely under this scenario that The Bible containing God’s revelation over thousands of years can be trusted more than one man’s assessment of reality.

[T]he phenomenal realm is flawed and we are unable to see things as they truly are.

Hick further argued that such doctrines were not central to a relationship with God, but that such doctrines belonged to the realm of the phenomenal, not noumenal; they are representations of culture. Hick felt the God of unconditional love is in fact undermined

It is obvious that pluralism does indeed undermine traditional Christian teaching, especially that of exclusivists. Perhaps the most central of all teaching within Christianity is the unique event of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection to provide the possibility of salvation, but only through the Christian church,

which pluralism blatantly disregards as simply ‘a truth’ and way to God and hence significantly undermines exclusivists’ central doctrine. Moreover, the same can be said of inclusivism to a lesser extent. Although inclusivists share the view that salvation can be found outside Christianity, they disagree on the importance and uniqueness of salvation through Jesus, thus Pluralism again undermines the central teaching of Christianity but to a lesser degree. However, although pluralism does undermine the teachings of salvation through Christ, they actually uphold others perhaps more effectively than exclusivists. The traditional teachingof an omnibenevolent God is easily maintained by pluralists whilst traditional Christians struggle to solve the paradox of an omnibenevolent God and one who would send good people to eternal damnation. Furthermore, as the world become more and more “a global village”, it is important that Christianity develops a more pluralist perspective in order to remain relevant within an increasingly multi-faith society, or else it may be left behind.

“The rainbow... is a metaphor for the refraction of the divine Light by our human religious cultures.”

Neuroscience is an industry of constant change and expansion. It is funded by the ever-growing desire to know more about the brain; how it influences our behaviour, personality and how it contributes to our overall health. It offers new tools in solving problems and improving ordinary life. Many scientists have dedicated years of their lives to investigating brain structure. In this essay, I will discuss the ethics of Neuroscience, and what implications on society there will be if scientists can explain the link between the structure of a criminalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brain and her or his behaviour. Neuroscience can be used to suggest how we can explain and treat criminal behaviour. Raine et al studied the brain activity of murderers who pleaded not guilty for reasons of insanity (NGRI). They found reduced glucose activity in the prefrontal cortex, angular gyrus, corpus callosum, thalamus, amygdala and hippocampus regions of the brain. These results imply that all people with these brain abnormalities will show aggressive behaviour. However, this may not be the case, as other factors contribute towards criminality. Furthermore, these findings could

suggest that murderers who plead NGRI have brains that function differently, and therefore should not be held responsible or punished for their actions. Some scientists believe that an abnormality in the levels of particular neurotransmitters is where criminal behaviour originates. Serotonin has shown both inhibitory and stimulating effects on aggressive behaviour, depending on the brain region measured and specific receptors where it acts. Dopamine, associated with reward seeking behaviour, is also linked to aggression. It can sometimes enhance aggression, as well as reducing the impulsivity that might lead to violence. Therefore, these scientists would suggest that drug treatment is capable of correcting this behaviour, and studies reinforce this belief.

al (2002) studied levels of aggression and impulsivity in males with a known history of aggressive behaviour. The experimental group received Paroxetine, an SSRI drug used to treat depression, and the control group received a placebo over 21 days. The results were promising: they showed a decrease in impulsivity and aggressive behaviour in those who took the Paroxetine. This supports the theory that criminal behaviour can be treated by pharmaceutical means. Drug treatment could transform the prison and jurisdiction systems almost unrecognisably. The annual cost for a prisoner in the U.K. exceeds ÂŁ40,000 (Kevin Marsh 2008). Being able to treat criminal behaviour with drugs before a crime has even been committed would save the U.K. millions of pounds, and could lower the crime rates significantly. Furthermore, the punishments criminals face would be altered. Judges could offer a prescription course instead of jail time, giving criminals early opportunities to rehabilitate themselves back into society. Naturally, there are drawbacks to treating criminal behaviour. Criminality cannot just be

[A]ll people with these brain abnormalities will show aggressive behaviour.

Research has investigated whether drug treatment is effective in correcting levels of neurotransmitters and whether they reduce the behaviour of a criminal and their impulsive nature. Cherek et

blamed on biological evidence - there are other factors to consider such as the upbringing of an individual or the social context in which they lived when she or he committed the crime. Treating criminal behaviour also sparks the debate of free will and consent. Martha Farah (2004) argued that if the court uses neurological interventions, such as administering a prescription of a certain medication, that this is a violation of the accused’s free will, as she or he are left with little or no choice as to whether they should medicate themselves. Furthermore, showing a PET scan of a murderer’s brain could be used by lawyers as justification as to why they committed murder. Peter Jordan Chiesa was convicted for the lesser offence of second-degree murder for killing two of his neighbours because he had evidence showing damage to his prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes and cerebellum - areas that are associated with aggression. If it is possible to detect what makes someone a criminal via PET scan, should we not make them compulsory for all citizens? This could lead to a decline in crime rates, and a safer community overall, as in theory we could stop those who have the brain structure of a criminal before they have committed their crime. However, psychologists argue that you would be more likely to commit a crime if you were told it was biologically inevitable.

the woman performed a reading task. his performances in complex tasks, During the stimulation, the woman mathematics, problem solving skills, ‘lost consciousness’ languages, attention and memory - she was unable improved. In addition, this form to complete the of Neuroscience can help people task and was with neurological disorders, such as unresponsive to strokes, recover and can also help the visual and auditory aging brain by easing some symptoms commands. When of dementia, such as memory loss. the stimulation Enhancing neurological function is not ended, she regained a new phenomenon, many of us drink consciousness with caffeine multiple times a day - TDCS no recollection or medication is only one progression of what had further from this. However, TDCS as happened. When a method of treatment is extremely the experiment was repeated, it showed flawed. There are no training or licensing the same response each time, suggesting rules for practitioners, meaning TDCS that the claustrum is an important is incredibly unsafe (it has been known component of consciousness. There are to cause brain damage) and unregulated many ethical benefits to understanding - there are even ‘DIY’ kits that you can consciousness; for instance it could take home and use on yourself. The help seriously ill or comatose patients equipment used for TDCS is expensive who aren’t able to show they are still and so is not readily available to all conscious. Without this, doctors could of society, therefore giving an unfair withdraw care from patients that advantage to only those who can afford are still alive. However, the evidence it. As well as TDCS, the pharmaceutical presented by Koubeissi et al (2014) drug industry in America is being is questionable. Many argue that it is exploited by university students who invalid as the findings only come from will pay for illegal prescriptions for an investigation on one brain, which medication such as Adderall, in order was severely epileptic. This is a very to enhance their neurological function specific test patient, and therefore the (Smith & Farah 2011). Adderall is results are not applicable to the general often prescribed to patients who have population. More research is necessary ADHD to improve their focus and before any specific conclusions or TDCS (Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation) assumptions on consciousness can be made.

If it is possible to detect what makes someone a criminal via PET scan, should we not make them compulsory for all citizens?

In addition to criminal treatment, Neuroscience can also be used to investigate what consciousness is and how we can understand it. Crick and Koch (1998) believe that the claustrum, a thin sheet of neurons attached to the underside of the neocortex in the centre of the brain, is the driving force behind consciousness. Koubeissi et al (2014) conducted an experiment on a 54-year-old female test patient who suffered from severe epilepsy. An electrode was placed between the left claustrum and anterior-dorsal insula, and was electrically stimulated whilst

A further use of Neuroscience is enhancing neurological function. This is the idea that we can use Neuroscience to assist the normal ability of the brain. Cohen - Kadosh et al (2012) found that if an individual underwent TDCS (Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation where a small electric current is passed across specific regions of the brain), her or

attention. Therefore when used by someone who doesn’t have ADHD, it enhances a normally functioning brain, giving them an undeserved and unnatural edge over their peers. Neuroscience plays a key role in contemporary society, and therefore has social and economical implications. The Nuffield Trust (2014) observed that since the financial crisis of 2008, an increased amount of antidepressants has been prescribed. The Trust also pointed out a greater usage of antidepressants in areas of the population with higher rates of unemployment. Furthermore, if neuroscientists can help to treat or cure mental disorders such as depression - which Thomas and Morris (2003) estimated cost £1.9 billion for adults in England in 2000 - this could save the UK economy billions of pounds. Neuroscientists have a responsibility to ensure that the societies in which they work are informed and aware of any implications of their work, so not to cause unnecessary psychological distress. To conclude, in my opinion the current ethical drawbacks outweigh the benefits of Neuroscience at this moment in

time. Whilst Neuroscience continues to discover more about our behaviour, personality and overall health, it can have extreme implications. Understanding consciousness would alter the medical procedures used when a patient is in a vegetative condition substantially. Enhancing neurological function has the potential to be beneficial, but treatments such as TDSC must be made available to all, and licensing rules for practitioners need to be introduced, for the safety of clients. Being able to identify what biologically contributes to making a criminal could save the economy millions of pounds by reducing the cost of prisons. Instead, alternate methods of treatment such as medication could be offered, which may in turn contribute toward a ‘boom’ in the pharmaceutical industry. However, forcing people to take medication to alter their natural personality could be seen as unethical as it is taking away their free will. Furthermore, it is not clear where the line can be drawn when talking about treating criminals. If criminals

can be identified by their brain structure, should we not be prescribing medication before they have even committed the crime? A program such as this would incur a significantly large cost. Individuals who have been diagnosed with a criminal brain structure may suffer from psychological distress, which could trigger aggressive behaviour or even a crime if they feel it is inevitable. This could contribute to the overall mental health of society worsening, as feelings of paranoia could increase, as well as diagnosed criminals feeling that their choice of freedom in the future has been taken away. In future, Neuroscience, particularly the treatment of criminal behaviour, must be monitored carefully so as not to strip individuals of their free will before they have even committed a crime.

However, forcing people to take medication to alter their natural personality could be seen as unethical

Partum Beth Proctor Upper Sixth Creative Writing I looked out of the glass wall in front of me, surveying the frozen landscape that lay beneath me. My breath frosted the glass walls. Everything was still. Smothered in an inescapable silence, as if the very air itself were frozen. I was in a glass cage that was floating above the ground. The snow fell from the sky gently and incessantly. The sky was dark and brooding, but the landscape around me was barren and featureless. Perfect. Unbroken by rock or tree. A blank canvas.

at where I had come from. From each foot fall sprang shoots of green, growing as I watched them. They were striving for the sky, which now cracked open and revealed an ocean of blue in the heavens. These plants continue to grow in accelerated time, until they were trees as tall as any I have seen, and flowers as bold as rainbows.

Gently I pressed my hand to the glass wall in front of me. I knew instinctively that it would shatter at my touch. Cracks formed a halo around my hand, and then… Then I was falling. The glass cage fell away in pieces in the air around me. My descent was exaggerated so that it filled a thousand moments, as if I were falling through water. I fell with the snowflakes. There were thousands of us, all falling from the sky.

After seeing what I could do, I was reinvigorated to inscribe more into the snow. Now frantic I was charging around, trying desperately to get it all down before the snow melted.

Softly, almost hesitantly, I fell into the snow, and suddenly the world that I was in was not perfect anymore. I had ruined it. The shape of my body had marked it. Rising to my feet I felt an excited rush to mark and draw and inscribe the snow with myself. It was and will be the tool of my ultimate self-expression.

I woke, and I howled in sorrow, as all that I made had died.

Soon all around me was green. Grass covered the plain, punctuated with trees and flowers. Satisfied, I then decided to rest in the garden that I had created. So I slept beneath one of the incredibly tall trees, in the warm shade… I woke, and I howled in sorrow, as all that I made had died. The trees that were as big as any I had seen were bare and black, bleached by the oppressive white sun in the sky that watched the plain. The green grass was brown and dry, and the flowers were nowhere in sight.

I fell with the From the sky fell snowflakes, and they snowflakes. turned the air cold. There were Where had it all Then I started thousands of us, gone? How long had running; leaping and slept? In my grief all falling from I I cried. jumping; sprinting and Tears were the sky. galloping; waltzing and cascading down my pirouetting in the snow, leaving my trail of foot prints in its soft face. When I exhausted myself and that mad rush that drove me to do this act of destruction - to destroy the unblemished, and replace it with all the faults that I am – I turned to look back

I looked only at the sky, as there was nothing to celebrate anymore. I wanted to express my grief but I was unable to do so. The sky had turned an ashen brown, but the snow had stopped. Then I felt a breeze on my face. It was growing stronger and stronger. Pulling and tugging at me.

face, and they fell on the ground, but nothing happened. There was no magic resurrection for those plants from my tears.

So I walked slowly across the plain between the skeletons of my creation.

I became uprooted, and was whisked away on the breeze, up higher and higher. I looked down and I could see all that I had made and grown. It was turning green again! But I could see more than I could before. My creation spread from horizon to horizon. Green seeping into the world again from the centre! My pent up feelings were able to be expressed. And I am still rising, ever higher, but now I can see my creation for what it is. An exact self-replica and the life is seeping in from my heart. It is a portrait of myself, of who I am, not what I am. It is a full realisation of self. This is my ultimate act of self-expression.

Saoirse White

Annabelle Jenkins

Zoe Callum Blackburn Howes(Third Year)

Lucy Gee

Amelie Lewis

Katie Hutchinson

Louis Wright

Why did France adopt a policy of Terror in 1793 and could this ever be justified? Imogen Morrogh Lower Sixth

The execution of Louis XVI

As articulated by historian Marisa Linton, France in 1793 saw: “For the first time in history, Terror becoming an official government policy, with the stated aim to use violence in order to achieve a higher political goal”. This article plans to explore why this occurred and whether at any point Terror could be deemed justifiable. By 1793, the War of the Grand Coalition, in which France fought against most of Europe, was well under way and undeniably, the increasing ruthlessness of the new Republic was, in part, a response to the immense pressures the country faced externally. However, other pressures operating within France such as civil war and the demands of the sans – culottes (the urban poor and driving force behind

the revolution) were arguably to blame for the use of Terror, which in total, claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people.

offensive began on 18th March 1793, French troops, led by Dumouriez, were subject to a heavy and critical defeat at the Battle of Neerwinden which invariably placed the Republic at a severe disadvantage in terms of the war and further augmented the external pressure. Crucially, however, the situation was exacerbated in April as a result of the defection of General Dumouriez who, following his defeat, plotted with the Austrians to march on Paris, overthrow the Convention and restore the monarchy. Inevitably, his defection had major ramifications, most notably in the way in which it prompted some politicians to suspect the loyalty of army commanders and thus considerably worsened France’s position in the war. Therefore, it is fair to say, the poor state of France’s military situation warranted emergency measures and the implementation of Terror in this sense was the decree for a L’evée en masse in August – a piece of legislation carried out by Lazare Carnot and one which ordered everyone to participate in the war effort in order to mobilise the nation’s entire human resources. The ideas and expertise of Carnot led to the reorganisation of the army, the acceleration of conscription and the re-establishment of discipline. All unmarried men aged 18-25 were ordered to give immediate military service and those who resisted were most likely sentenced to death. The effects of the L’evée en masse were monumental and almost immediate, when the next confrontation of the war at the Battle of Wattignies in October saw French troops destroy three Austrian regiments and emerge victorious. Therefore, it can be seen that Terror in 1793 was necessary in order to combat such severe external pressures and

With such a vast coalition of foreign powers against her, war at first went extremely badly for France.

One could claim that Terror was justifiable in response to the intense external pressures that faced France in early 1793. There is substantial evidence to demonstrate this. With such a vast coalition of foreign powers against her, war at first went extremely badly for France and so arguably, Terror was not only justifiable, but necessary, in order to suppress the foreign threat. For example, when an Austrian counter

undeniably, the impacts of the L’evée en masse were invaluable in aiding the war effort. However, there is reason to suggest that the war-time pressures were not the biggest cause for Terror since the foreign threat had considerably subsided by October and thus it no longer warranted such extreme measures. The L’evée en masse en masse was hugely successful in helping to man and equip armies of unprecedented size and as a result the fortunes of war improved greatly. However, the subsequent victory at Wattignies and the French army’s ability to drive back invaders in the Pyrenees and on the Alpine Frontier demonstrate the fact that Terror in the form of forcible conscription had achieved its aim and thus was no longer required after autumn 1793. Undoubtedly, Carnot’s L’evée en masse was of fundamental importance to improving the war effort, but after October, the pressures of war diminished and so no longer warranted the use of Terror.

which inevitably utilised Terror in order to supress it. In May, 30,000 troops were diverted from the war to crush the rebellion and a further 100,000 were sent in September. Those involved in the uprising were subject to extreme Terror, and Hibbert describes how: “Three thousand captives perished in an epidemic in the grossly overcrowded prisons and a further two thousand were towed out in barges into the middle of the Loire and drowned”. Although brutal and sadistic, these measures were successful given that in December, the core of the Vendeean army had been destroyed, and this suggested the extent to which internal pressures necessitated the use of Terror.

[A] further two thousand were towed out in barges into the middle of the Loire and drowned.

A second potential reason for the use of Terror in 1793 was as a result of internal pressures, most notably, the two rebellions which erupted across France and threatened the new Republic. The first of these was a massive uprising in the Vendee in March – a region in central west France stretching around the mouth of the River Loire. The Vendee was an ideal breeding ground for rebellion. Not only was it conservative and devoutly Catholic, meaning religious resentments were strong, but crucially, the remaining local noblemen also had good cause to dislike the Republic and were prepared to take the lead in opposing the National Convention. The uprising began as a protest against the levy for 300,000 men into the revolutionary army and this prompted the formation of the ‘Catholic and Royal Army of the Vendee’ who massacred local officials, including priests and National Guards. The uprising was perceived to represent a serious threat by the government

overwhelmingly sadistic methods that the government adopted highlights the bloodthirsty nature of the Republic’s most prominent members. A final factor that arguably caused the use of Terror in 1793 was pressure from the sans-culottes who had become increasingly militant and served as the popular force behind the revolution. Heightened by the amalgamation with the so – called “enrages” who campaigned against high food prices, the sans-culottes became a force to be reckoned with and, with this in mind, the Committee of Public Safety (CPS) felt increasingly at their mercy and agreed to meet more of their demands, the first of which were economic grievances. Unemployment, grain shortages and high bread prices meant that there was constant rioting in the capital and, intimidated once more by mass demonstrations on 5th September, the Convention brought about economic Terror through the Law of the General Maximum. This method of forced requisitioning of grain from peasants in which revolutionary armies forced them to disgorge their surpluses to feed the cities, laid down a maximum price on basic commodities and thus satisfied the sans-culottes who, for so long, had suffered from high bread prices.

The second internal pressure was the Federalist Revolt. Described by Doyle as a “protest against extremism and instability in the capital”, the Revolt was a response to the unpopularity of the expulsion of the Girondins in the National Convention and erupted in 60 of the 83 departments beyond Paris, of which 8 experienced serious conflicts. New assemblies were set up in the name of the people of the A second example of the desires of rebel cities and Jacobin officials were forced out of office, imprisoned and executed. Although branded as such by the Jacobins, these revolts were not necessarily counter - revolutionary, but instead were a reaction to the strong centralising control of the Jacobins in Paris and thus, appeared to pose a significant threat to their concept of Revolution. Terror in this sense was carried out by the revolutionary armies who successfully crushed most of the uprisings by October and were sent in to force the cities back into line, thus emphasising the importance of Terror in supressing internal pressures. Overall, it is evident that the chaos and potential threat posed to the Republic as a result of both the Vendee Rebellion and the Federalist Revolt were the causes for the use of Terror in 1793 and the

Maximilien Robespierre

the sans-culottes influencing the use of Terror in 1793 can be seen through the Law of Suspects which was passed on 17th September and proclaimed that ‘suspects’ could be arrested because of their conduct, relationships, words or writings. Following the Law of Suspects, there was a rapid increase in the number of those brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal and between September and December, it dealt with 500,000 cases, 180 of which (in Paris alone) resulted in execution by the guillotine. For example, Marie Antoinette was sent to the guillotine on 16th October following her trial in which she was accused of squandering government money and sharing intelligence with the enemy and many ordinary citizens were condemned too. Crucially, however, very few of those who were executed posed any significant threat to the Republic, and this therefore demonstrated the extent to which the bloodthirsty nature of the sans-culottes influenced the use of Terror in 1793. The final way in which the view that Terror was used in response to pressure from the sansculottes can be vindicated is through the

evidence of religious Terror. The desire for an atheistic state was particularly supported by the sans-culottes’ radical representative in the CPS – Collot d’Herbois – whose barbaric desire to make “Terror the order of the day” prompted the start of a dechristianisation campaign in October. Religious statues, street crosses and other religious ornamentation were removed or vandalised. For example the figures on the west front of Notre Dame Cathedral were all beheaded and royal tombs were all desecrated after which royal bones were thrown into a common grave. The impacts of this activity were monumental on Catholic France since all churches were closed by November and 20,000 priests were forced to renounce their positions. Crucially, Robespierre grew increasingly resentful of the dechristianisation campaign, believing that such excesses ran the risk of earning the revolution more enemies, and this in turn adds greater value to the view

The desire for an atheistic state was particularly supported by the sansculottes’ radical representative in the CPS.

that Terror was used primarily to sate the desires of the sans-culottes and not because it was required for the security of the country as a whole. Therefore it is fair to say that the National Convention and the CPS yielded to a considerable amount of popular pressure during 1793 and many of the subsequent measures implemented were done so with the intention of meeting the demands of the sans-culottes who formed the majority of the Jacobins’ powerbase and thus were vital in the continuation of the Revolution – a view also suggested by Linton who argued that: “the resort to Terror also emerged out of relative weakness and fear”. In conclusion, it is evident that the initial causes for Terror were the external pressures, but the fact that the Terror escalated can be blamed on pressure from the sans-culottes. Whilst the Republic simultaneously faced internal and external pressures, the view that Terror was linked to these pressures alone is a paradox, since by the autumn, the war effort had significantly improved and both internal revolts had been quelled. Therefore, beyond the autumn of 1793 the driving force behind the use of Terror was pressure from the sans-culottes who heavily influenced the measures implemented by the government. All that remained after the external and internal pressures were crushed was, as described by Doyle, the sans-culottes’ “visceral lust for social revenge” which, as reflected through evidence of show trials and dechristianisation, invariably was the primary cause for the use of Terror. This extension of Terror beyond its practical means cannot be justified.

[T]he figures on the west front of Notre Dame Cathedral were all beheaded and royal tombs were all desecrated.

A sans culotte revolutionary

“The women of The Aeneid are plot devices and decoration”. How far do you agree with this assessment of Virgil’s female characters? Lizzie Rose Upper Sixth

Virgil presents many female characters in The Aeneid. Unlike in Homer, the women of The Aeneid are given great character development and have complex roles in the plot. Women such as Dido and Juno have established roles in the action of The Aeneid whereas w o m e n such as Camilla and Venus have more ambiguous roles. However, to a certain extent, it can be argued that all women in The Aeneid are plot devices, to catalyse events and emphasise specific characteristics of Aeneas and Turnus, or decorative, to give the text extra depth and excitement.

as such initiates their involvement in the text. Aeneas’s wife, Creusa, acts as a plot device in Book 2 of The Aeneid. She is presented by Virgil as a good Roman matron and as such her death not only creates pathos for Aeneas, but her appearance as a ghost has greater gravitas. Therefore, not only does her character emphasise Aeneas’s positive attributes (since he goes back to look for her), but it is also her words of reassurance (as a ghost) that are instrumental in prompting him finally to leave Troy and pursue his fate since she assures him it was with “the approval of the Gods” that she died and that he ought to leave her, and Troy. This legitimises his actions and gives his quest divine validation. Creusa’s ghost-speech also serves as a plot device by foreshadowing later events of The Aeneid such as the Trojan arrival in Hesperia where a “Lydian Thybris flows.” and by establishing two other main themes of the text: fate and the importance of the relationship between a father and son. Through this device Virgil repeatedly emphasises Aeneas’s virtue as he is depicted to be both accepting of his challenging fate and never “fails in [his] love for [his] son”.

Creusa’s ghostspeech also serves as a plot device by foreshadowing later events of The Aeneid.

There are several examples of women as minor characters in The Aeneid being used by Virgil as plot devices. For example in Book 1 Venus appears to Jupiter regarding the ongoing suffering of her son, Aeneas. This creates the opportunity for Jupiter to list the future successes of Rome, enabling Virgil to incorporate an element of political propaganda – foretelling the birth of a ‘Trojan Caesar’ – and add a level of decoration, since the addition of the divine gives the text an increased sense of grandeur and excitement. Again in Book 1, Venus acts as a plot device when she meets Aeneas and Achates in the guise of a Spartan girl since she provides context to their arrival in Carthage and prepares the reader and Aeneas alike for the introduction of Dido by establishing a precedent for strong female characters. This is important given the lack of mortal female characters who are powerful in their own right in traditional epic texts, and since contemporary Romans would appreciate the relative liberation and independence of Spartan women in the ancient world, Venus’s appearance

Virgil used multiple female characters as decoration to make the text more accessible and palatable for a contemporary audience. For example, in Book 4, Anna is a plot device to catalyse Dido’s peripeteia, endorsing her sister’s emotions despite the consequential breaking of her oath; encouraging her to give in to her (mortal) attraction to Aeneas, but in doing so dishonour the promise she made to the immortal Gods never to marry again. It is in this way that the characters of Dido and Aeneas are contrasted: while both are great leaders, Dido allows emotion to override her devotion to the Gods, whereas Aeneas remains ever-pious, despite several trials and tribulations (for example, he loses Creusa, Troy, Dido, Anchises

and Pallas). Yet it is to Dido’s flawed human judgement that the audience can most relate and empathise, eliciting the necessity for the character of Iris to intervene in Book 4. As Dido “was dying not by the decree of Fate or by her own deserts but pitiably and before her time” Iris’s intervention, by giving the tragic heroine a Roman funeral in miniature, restores to Dido some honour and dignity in death, rendering her tragic end more satisfactory to a sympathetic audience. A number of women in The Aeneid are plot devices to motivate or justify events or the actions of male characters. In Book 5, the Trojan women act as a plot device, burning their fleet to elicit Aeneas’s building his first city and abandoning those too weary to continue, thus permitting only the best and strongest Trojans to continue to Italy and found the Roman Race. Later, Amata and Lavinia are also used as plot devices in the war in Latium. Amata’s madness (driven by Juno) in Book 7 catalyses the war since she subverts Latinus’s agreement that Lavinia should be promised to Aeneas and therefore Lavinia, like Helen in The Iliad, acts as a device to motivate war, alongside an ostensible element of xenophobia towards the Trojans. As women too, Lavinia and Amata are used as devices by Virgil to indicate what was, and what was not, proper behaviour for a Roman woman respectively while Lavinia is escorted, without a word and with ‘downcast’ eyes – just as a Roman woman should be – unseen, unheard and unheard of, her mother is described to be a ‘Bacchante’ and mad – a clear breach of appropriate or civilised behaviour to the Roman reader. To some extent, the character of Camilla is used as a plot device and for decoration too. Yet she is also a character in her own right. The placement of Camilla’s description in Book 7, last of all, even after Turnus, establishes her as a serious warrior (and character) whilst simultaneously denying Turnus the grandeur accorded to this position of honour. The juxtaposition of Turnus’s and Camilla’s descriptions is deliberate and invokes the reader to compare the two. Their similarities are highlighted in that both are heroic, proud and

doomed. Yet due to Camilla’s placement and the way in which Virgil brings attention to the unique way in which she is respected, admired and feared

to some lengths to establish her as a character and warrior in her own right. She is given a unique back story (having been dedicated to the Goddess Diana

Trojan women setting fire to their fleet

by mothers and sons alike, the reader too is inclined to view her with awe. In this way Camilla adds decoration to the text. Her character is in such sharp contrast to that of a traditional Roman woman that she adds a sense of exoticism and excitement. In Book 11, for example, she proves knowledgeable and competent in battle – a traditionally male sphere of influence – suggesting to Turnus that he should guard Latium while she directly engages the Trojans in battle, where she kills dozens before her own demise. Camilla is also repeatedly referred to as “Amazonian” by Virgil despite not being an Amazon – but given her unusual nature as a character this is the only frame of reference to hand for a Roman audience. Given the similarities drawn between Turnus and Camilla in Book 7 and Book 11, her death in Book 11 could also be considered a plot device to foreshadow that of Turnus.

in her infancy and raised in the wild “spinning baby javelins” and fed with the milk of “wild brood-mares”) and she demonstrates her heroic prowess in Book 11. The extent of her heroism is emphasised by Virgil’s use of Homeric epic simile, in which he compared her to a hawk and her opponent a dove, and his use of apostrophe – emphasising her prowess as a warrior and the number of men she killed before her own death. Virgil reduces the extent to which she can be considered merely a plot device to emphasise characteristics of Turnus by giving her, an individual, complex and developed character: she is realistically flawed by pride and, therefore, accessible to the reader hunting the biggest/best prize since this would confer the most kudos whilst oblivious to the fact she too was being hunted. Her prowess is as an outdated Homeric warrior who fights only for glory, which while great, is visibly inappropriate in Virgil’s Roman text and is therefore pitiable since she dies in pursuit of values that are clearly oldfashioned and obsolete.

[S]he directly engages the Trojans in battle, where she kills dozens before her own demise.

However, the extent to which Camilla is merely a plot device or piece of narrative decoration is limited since Virgil goes

Dido, too, is a complicated character who, despite being used by Virgil as a device and decoration, also qualifies as a major protagonist. The story of Dido is used by Virgil initially to highlight the positive attributes of Aeneas’ character, since in Book 1 he demonstrates his virtue by giving Dido the last treasure of Troy in gratitude for her xenia to the Trojans, and in Book 4 he demonstrates his priority of duty above personal desires when he leaves her. Dido is in a way a plot device in Book 1 also, since she is raising Carthage – reminding the reader that this is what Aeneas should be doing. The fact that at her introduction she is aware of Aeneas’ fame and renown is also a plot device intended to increase Aeneas’ prestige.

her when he leaves in Book 4 and she realises her love was not reciprocated. The range of emotions she feels upon discovering that Aeneas is leaving (anger, heartbreak, shame at breaking her oath and neglecting her city) and the rapidity with which they fluctuate, is so harrowing and pathetic, that the audience pity her as a flawed and brutally realistic character, who represents much more than the positive attributes of Aeneas’.

Dido’s sad and unfortunate fate adds much tragic decoration to The Aeneid.

To some extent the incorporation of Dido’s tragedy into the body of The Aeneid is artistic decoration on Virgil’s part. The addition of a tragic dimension into the body of Virgil’s epic illustrates his variety of writing skill, demonstrated from Book 1 by his addition of references to Greek tragedy and the initial descriptions of Carthage taken from the semantic field of the theatre (“backcloth of trees”, “foot of the scene”); as such, Dido’s sad and unfortunate fate adds much tragic decoration to The Aeneid. However, Dido is greater than any piece of decoration or plot device. Her past distinguishes her as unique: widowed, chased from her homeland, and surrounded by enemies – she is immediately a pathetic character whose determination and courage are exhibited by her success in beginning to found her own city despite all the odds. Dido is also admirable in her devotion to the memory of her first husband, but when this is erased by Cupid in Book 1, Virgil goes to lengths to create an accessible character, hopelessly and helplessly in love, with whom the audience can relate. It is Dido’s devotion and commitment to Aeneas, to the point of obsession where she neglects her duty in raising Carthage, that make it so earth-shattering for

Juno is an example of a character that contests the view that the women of The Aeneid are ‘plot devices and decoration’. She is not only a character in her own right but the main antagonist of the poem too. Juno is directly responsible for driving events in the plot of The Aeneid, due to her hatred of the Trojans and frustration at their inevitably glorious fate. The greatest examples of her direct impact on the plot are in Book 1 when she causes the storm which forces the Trojans to land in Carthage and in Book 7 when she casts Latium into war. Another case in point comes in Book 10 in which she

actually intervenes – removing Turnus from the battlefield in order to delay the inevitable out of sheer spite for the Trojans. Juno is unlike the divinities of Homer’s epics since she is not simply an external representation of mortal talent but rather an entirely separate being with her own agenda and enemies. Overall the view that women in The Aeneid are plot devices and decorations is partly valid. Though there is much evidence to support the view that Virgil uses of women to emphasise specific attributes of Aeneas and Turnus and to catalyse events, they also have more complex and independent roles in the text. Juno, Dido and Camilla are all examples of female characters that have complex and developed personalities, supporting the notion that women in Virgil’s The Aeneid can be both plot device, decorative and independent characters simultaneously.

Death of Dido

500 Word Competition These pieces were submitted to the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 500 word competition Flora Edward (Fifth Year) The Last Performance The crowd fell silent as I stepped outside, my footfalls echoing like church bells do, out across the town. As I drew closer the gossiping began, each conversation mirroring the next. Their chatter did not stop the crowd from watching my progress, eagerly awaiting the moment I was to take the stage though I was taking my time. My eyes roved over the onlookers trying to find comfort in a familiar face but all those staring back at me were those of strangers. Eyes followed me as though I stood under a burning spotlight. One foot before the other closing the distance between me and my destination. The short flight of stairs creaked beneath my weight as I climbed, making my way onto the stage. I crossed to the centre. I came to a stop. I turned to face my audience. They all waited with baited breath for what was to follow. The light chatter from before had died out and to me, the only sound to be heard was the hammering of my own heart. It seemed as though it were trying to beat as many times as it could before it was forced to a stop. I knew my nerves were getting the better of me so I tried to silence them with a deep breath. I sucked in the crisp cool autumn air, expanding my lungs until it felt like they might burst. I then exhaled slowly, my breath puffing out in a small cloud before me.

country. Never had it crossed my mind that my biggest fault would one day make me a celebrity. These thoughts both pleased and scared me. The whole world had my name on their tongues but here I was before a crowd now expecting a show.

The short flight of stairs creaked beneath my Time seemed to move in slow motion as I weight as I stood there and collected climbed. my thoughts. As a child, it had never occurred to me that I would stand here one day. Never did I think my name would be in the headlines of every newspaper in the

I had been told that people had been staking out positions since the day before, everyone eager for a prime spot from which to watch. The crowd stretched back as far as the eye could see, each of the expectant faces watching me as though their lives depended on it. I could sense them getting impatient with the slow start and talk began to

rise, the chatter sounding like a swarm of angry wasps. I knew everything had to be perfect if this was to go to plan. I was given the signal and took a step back, closer to my two stagehands. They remained silent as the final checks were made. For the second time, the hum of talk fell, as though someone was playing with the volume dial on a radio. Around my neck and secured with one final check before the go-ahead was given. My stagehands stepped back and the lever was pulled. A long drop, a short stop; the crowd cheered and the noose took its bow.

Carl Flohr (Lower Sixth) Human avarice The raging winter wind was throwing all its curses at Jonny. His hands were crying with cold and his feet were like blocks of ice weighing him down as he tried to put on his ski boots. He knew he had to catch the last gondola down into the valley before the wind got too strong. On top of that, it was getting dark. The last trip into the valley would be at 5pm. He had no time to lose. Jonny bolted down the mountainside with the wind now screaming into his face. His cheeks burnt and his hair was frozen stiff from the constant spray of snow at each edge change. He looked like the beast of the mountain. He had promised that he would be there to coax Gaspard into the last cabin. The others would do the rest. This should be the end of his criminal career or – if it backfired - the end of him. He reached inside his backpack, confirming whether the precious painting was still there.

he spotted the signal from the others. A quick flash of a torch. They would be ready for him. Jonny turned abruptly on hearing a screech of the release of brakes. The cabin above had started sliding towards his with a silhouette of a figure dancing viciously; “Gaspard, the little devil.” Jonny responded quickly. He reached for the painting in his bag and made for the cabin doors pulling them open. Holding out the snare he glared across. Gaspard had applied the brakes again causing the cabin to come to a standstill swaying, kissing Jonny’s gondola. He suddenly lurched forward and deviously swung himself across to Jonny. ‘I am mad, acting as bait,’ it struck Jonny, when he was looking into the deadly black hole of a pistol. There was no way out. Why had he agreed?

Jonny looked back once more, leapt into the cabin and was tossed out into the darkness.

As Gaspard threw himself at Jonny, he dodged the Frenchman and hurled himself into the darkness, the painting

Through the curtain of icy flakes, he could just make out the station. It stood stooped, like a vast bleak figure gaping down into the dark valley. He made his final carved swings and pulled up right by the turnstile, clipped off his skis and glanced across to the attendant’s hut. Only a dim light was visible. 4:58pm. Jonny looked back once more, leapt into the cabin and was tossed out into the darkness. Jonny didn’t have to wait long. The cabin halted suddenly, causing it to swing severely. Plan A had worked. He clambered up and peered through the glass into the forest below where

in his right hand like a tantalizing scent. A bullet screamed past Jonny, tearing off a branch below. Jonny grappled the top of a pine tree, whirling up snow as he slid down the trunk. Gaspard menacingly tumbled after him, but suddenly cursed. Flashing lights and sirens. Shadows between the trees had morphed into policemen. ‘Mon Dieu, they have tricked me.’ Plan B had also worked.

How does Sheers use the concept of musicality in the poem ‘Four Movements in the Scale of Two’ to explore the different stages of a relationship? How far and in what way is this poem characteristic of Sheers’ methods and concerns in Skirrid Hill as a whole? The poem ‘Four Movements in the Scale of Two’ can be seen on page 40

Maddie Plummer Upper Sixth

In ‘Four Movements in the Scale of Two’, Sheers uses the concept of musicality throughout the poem to explore the different stages of a relationship. He uses the close relation of music and poetry to encourage us to make comparisons between the two whilst conveying how they work alongside each other and aid the representation of one another. The title of the poem reminds us of T.S. Eliot’s ‘East Coker’ (from ‘Four Quartets’), used by Sheers as the epigraph for Skirrid Hill, aligning with the form of the symphony in which each of the four movements convey different parts of the same story, following different emotional tones, rhythms and narratives, similar to these four stages of a relationship.

the “blank pages” of a couple lying in bed, yet to create memories together and write their ‘story’. However, this phrasing also has a naive undertone that suggests their relationship is lacking depth, enhanced through the “foetus curled, back to naked back” position that the partners lie in and that they are “opposing bass clefs”. It is as if the possibility of a failed relationship is already contained in that genesis.

[A] relationship built purely on physical attraction will become loveless and toxic.

The aim of the first movement of a symphony is to introduce new themes and ideas that are to be built on but also challenged throughout the course of the piece. Much like the introduction of new themes in a symphony, we see the beginnings of a relationship through

Visually, the couple “lying in bed” seems to depict closeness and love, yet Sheers is communicating to us the subliminal feelings of distrust and lies in this relationship, both in the sense that they are lying to each other as much as they are to themselves. We could associate conflicting musical themes or cross-rhythms in a symphony with the imagery of the couples’ personal vulnerability against the superficial intimacy that we crave for selfassurance. This supports his idea about existence, ‘solipsism’, that we can only be certain of our individual existence and nobody else’s, implying that physical

intimacy is the only way of being assured of our individual existence and role within the world. The concept of superficiality is one that Sheers blames on the impositions of Western culture elsewhere in Skirrid Hill, such as in ‘The Steelworks’ in which he describes the ‘‘brushed-metal sky’’, implying that the industrialization of Wales has blown a wave of machinery over the country, creating a superficial metallic sky. Sheers maintains the tercet form throughout movements one and four, whilst using couplets for two and three. In relation to music we could infer that the tercet form mirrors a 3/4 time signature, meaning three beats in a bar. Such a time signature is typically used in a romantic waltz for a couple and the enjambment between the last two stanzas of this section and the triplet form help convey this naturally romantic and flowing musical mood. This romantic mood created by the lulling and swaying rhythms of this movement can be viewed as a contradiction of the language, that the couple have a sexual tension and physical connection that may aid the somewhat lacking emotional sector of their relationship and potentially

bode the way for a secure future. However, the most compelling inference is that the rhythm and form, though seemingly contradictory to the language, ironically enhance the message that the relationship is shallow and short-term, through its romantic body. Our reasoning for this is simply that a relationship built purely on physical attraction will become loveless and toxic, eventually dissipating due to our human need for comfort and comprehension. It is the inexplicably powerful bond of empathy and gratitude that creates lifelong connections, which will invariably overpower our superficial desires for lust, passion and attention, that can momentarily be displaced onto another. Sheers creates a tentative mood in the next stanza with the phrase “opposing bass clefs”, as in music you would require a bass instrument to create the harmony and a treble instrument to complete it. Similarly to this couple, the merging of both should result in a harmonious relationship. Some might argue that the bass is the founding and defining feature of the harmony and is therefore fundamentally crucial and the most important. The presence of two bass clefs and lack of a treble clef suggests that the couple are fighting each other for dominance in the

relationship, refusing to compromise due to the lingering distrust. Through this analogy, Sheers not only suggests potential conflict but also communicates its inevitability and therefore their incompatibility and harmonic dissonance. However, the potential for the relationship seems possible when Sheers talks of the “elegant scars on the hips of the cello”, referring to the front sound holes in the body which are required in order for the cello to make a sound and function properly. We could interpret this as Sheers’s suggestion that scars are required for a relationship to work, that the couple must break down their emotional and physical barriers between each other, even if it causes them pain. Yet again the uncertainty of the future of the relationship returns through Sheers’ suggestions that there is “an X in the equation”, an unknown quantity, which could be inferred as possible secrets kept from each other and future unanswered questions, or in a more pictorial inference, a kiss or an error. If we are to presume it is a kiss, Sheers could be suggesting that there are suppressed and withheld emotions within the relationship, increasing the emotional rift between the partners. These emotional restraints are also ‘errors’ within themselves as they communicate to the reader an unwillingness in both partners to give themselves physically and emotionally, not to render themselves vulnerable. Again their refusal for self-exposure shows an attempt to warp self-perception and the subconscious distrust, which desists them from attaining a healthy and

successful relationship. Sheers uses the new themes of the first movement of a symphony to convey the beginnings and foundations of a new relationship. The second movement of a symphony is typically the slowest, an ‘Adagio’, and can be beautiful, longing and reflective. Sheers incorporates these themes into his second movement with the addition of nudity to convey intimacy, symbolizing the physical and metaphorical exposure of truth and honesty between the couple. This can be seen in the changed form of the movement, progressing from the previous tercet form to couplets, suggesting the couple are living harmoniously side by side. We can relate this to musical melodies and countermelodies which have differences that work against each other but also with each other to create a greater sound, enhanced through the line “the impression of your breasts/ against the sentence of my spine”, as the use of sibilance further reinforces the metaphor of the bonding of two counterparts. In the final lines of the poem Sheers writes “making me realize once more that bodies, like souls,/only exist when touched”, a potential hint to the concept of the tabula rasa, by the philosopher John Locke, a notion that humans only learn from experiences and engagement with the world and their environment. In this poem the phrase “making me realise” echoes ‘Hill Fort’ and ‘Intermission’ where Sheers writes “I think I understand”, expressing that poetry is his method of understanding the world whilst accepting and processing life’s changes.

[T]emptations from a foreign, exotic and attractive place with the seductive “promise” of a better life.

The third movement of a symphony is the ‘scherzo’, a fast and climactic piece of music, which we can parallel with the relationship reaching its highest intensity. Much of Skirrid Hill bemoans the English influence filtering westwards and subsequent modernisation and industrialisation of a previously more traditional and agricultural Wales. The inference

conflicts with this movement’s title ‘Eastern Promise’, suggesting temptations from a foreign, exotic and attractive place with the seductive “promise” of a better life. Sheers makes use of the musical sonority of the onomatopoeic and alliterative language and harsh sounding consonants such as ‘c’ and ‘k’ to emphasize the woman’s confession that she has cheated, “cracked their consonants over her tongue”. The sibilance that underlines this climactic build up to an icy environment compared to the “Steppe and Siberian snow”, enhances the contrast with the intimate atmosphere in the second movement similar to the diametrically opposed second and third

movements of a symphony. We could infer this to mean both a literal pause in speech and a metaphorical pause in their relationship. Relationships are subjective and unique each to their own, and an equal perspective can be taken to music. Open to interpretation, there are many ways of approaching music and with each possibility comes a contrasting effect, often imposing a differentiating impression and experience upon each listener. Sheers’ depiction of this relationship is a description of one among many, similar to how one genre of music is a mere label in a void of endless terms, some of which have

ambiguous or even futile definitions. We could say that Sheers’s poem coaxes us into considering our superficial tendency to label and materialize our emotional connections to people, even though the definition is personal and an experience that can never be understood by another. That being said, Sheers successfully communicates the stages of a relationship, albeit a depiction that may be subjectively appreciated, through the combination of romantic flowing triplet rhythms and sonorously musical language, composed into the physically and emotionally contrasting movements of a symphony.

Four Movements in the Scale of Two I - Pages Cut to us, an overhead shot, early morning, Lying in bed, foetus curled, back to naked back. Opposing bass clefs, the elegant scars on the hips of a cello, a butterfly’s white wings, resting. The double heart of a secret fruit, an ‘X’ in the equation. An open book with blank pages and nothing on them but sleep, the reading of our dreams and this. II - Still Life I sit, eyes closed, my naked back a canvas on which you paint, drawing upon a palette of touches, light across the skin, shading between my shoulder blades with the brushstrokes of your hair, adding depth, with the impression of your breasts against the sentence of my spine and texture with your tongue cracking close in my ear,

By Owen Sheers making me realise once more that bodies, like souls only exist when touched. III - Eastern Promise Beneath the dark tent of her down-falling hair. Speak he said - and she did. Drawing the language from deep, summoning the Steppe and Siberian snow to their bed until the words caught her and she cracked their consonants over her tongue before dropping them to him, like the shock of new ice in old water. IV - Line-Break What breaks when this happens? Insignificant, but enough to leave a caesura and us, puzzling over what gave as suddenly and obscured as a glass dull-snapping in the hand beneath the washing water. that gives no sign it has done so until the slow smoke-signal of blood, uncurling from below.

The Novelist Ella Lacey Lower Sixth This piece of creative writing is written in the Modernist style Perhaps it was a sweet, simple childhood day when I first set my eyes upon a novel. I had heard of the things but in my churlish, childish mind I had never quite fathomed the language in which they spoke. My understanding had never truly curled like a fist, grasping the writhing of the words beneath the pages and the thrum of a pulse beating from the spine but I grew, up and up and up into the graceful musings of Jane Eyre, the riddles of Sherlock Holmes, the longing of F r a n k e n s t e i n ’s Monster, and the cries of Ichabod Crane. The tears trickling down my soft cheeks at the young age of twelve, the sharp intake of sorrow stinging my breastbone at fifteen and the rising and falling of my ribcage to the beat of the moon in an antiphon to the anguish I felt at seventeen. How peculiar it is that we are moved by such things. The scribbles of letters on a page result in a clenched heart, a serrated breath and a flutter of eyelashes; emotions are such thoughtless entities, always there yet always not. Novels were such peculiar things. They were such truly peculiar things.

think of me, crouched like a question mark, ripples of a frown flickering in and out of sight, pale and sharp in the contours of my body. I ponder and I ponder and I ponder. Strange are the mannerisms of the mind. Always bothered by such temporary inklings. At least my mind is so. Maybe I am alone in my sea of confusion, the crashing waves filling up my mouth, coursing down my throat, squeezing my lungs in a grip of terror. Remaining afloat is a befuddling predicament, but a somewhat pleasing one all the same. As long as I am musing, dwelling, creating, I am making my mark on the veil of reality and I suppose that’s all that really matters. Isn’t it? A mark that resides in hearts, clutched and precious, harboured along with the rarity of truth and a heady gasp of stolen time.

How did one simply start writing? I suppose that is the eternal struggle of a novelist.

The rocking of the train lulled my heavy thoughts yet they pursued nevertheless, a pack of hungry wolves slinking in and out of the labyrinth corridors, snaking their way through the alleys and flaunting the sinking of their teeth into the scruffs of whatever wonderings my mind could conjure. I could hear the general bustling of people tromping around in the carriage. How simple their lives must be. No more than the worryings of habitual muddlement swam through the forefronts of their consciousness. I ponder now what they

Now I am grown, withered and tired, the language of the novels lost to me so long ago is one I still cannot fathom, yet know far better than my own. The language of my dreams and whispers, of weavings of mothers and the lies of children. The pen shook in my hand as I touched it to the page, hands not as steady as they used to be. I remember the days in which my hands were as steady as a bird in flight; delicate but purposeful in their intent. Drifting across the keys of a typewriter, flowing over the lines of a smile written upon the face of a sweetheart. That particular sweetheart was kind and safe and the smile that plastered his face never left until it cracked at the edges and left me despairing at what I had lost. He left after that and I never did see him again. He was another one I loved and lost, one in a long list of others similar.

The shout of a child echoed as the train jolted suddenly, the sliding of bags and feet and voices raucous and loud, the sliding of my pen against paper knocking me out of my head and into the carriage. Ink had smeared across the page and, disgruntled, I tore it from the pad, a jagged line cutting through the drips of writing that could have been. My fingers stuttered as the words hung from the tip, a splatter of letters waiting to drop. How could tales be crafted in such a manner that they fractured breaths and wrought melancholy, anguish, elation, thrill and terror from those who beheld it? As soon as they are written down, they exist infinitely on eyes not yet created and tongues that are not born. How did one simply start writing? I suppose that is the eternal struggle of a novelist.

What is your vision of a post-Brexit UK? Josh Coates

Fifth Year This unseen, timed essay was written in one hour

On 29th March 2017, Theresa May triggered article 50, which gives two years of negotiations before the UK leaves the European Union. This was because of a referendum held on the 23rd June 2016, in which 51.9% of UK voters decided that they wanted to leave the EU. There are many advantage, disadvantages and unknowns about leaving the EU, but as the Prime Minister says “Brexit means Brexit” and so it looks as if it is definitely going to go ahead. The three main “divorce” issues connected with the departure of the UK from the European Union are the free movement of people, the Irish border and the trade agreements. Keeping easy movement within the continent would be considered by most as a good result, as it makes travel far quicker and cheaper. However, the EU is not going to allow all the benefits of being a member to a country that has left; therefore, a realistic view would be to expect that travel will get more laborious. One of the main reasons why 51.9%

of the UK population wanted an EUfree future was to reduce immigration. To try and counter this, people might need a visa to travel into the UK from a European Union country. This will, unfortunately, inevitably lead to a visa being needed by UK citizens to travel into the rest of Europe. After the result of the referendum and the triggering of article 50, the net migration decreased by almost a third, down to 240,000 per year entering the country (net). The Prime Minister hopes this can be further reduced to a “sustainable” level of 100,000, which didn’t seem possible under the influences of the EU. On the whole, this should be a good thing as jobs will not be threatened and fewer benefits will be given out to immigrants, which was one of the main drivers of why

people wanted to reduce immigration. The border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (part of the UK) is a big hurdle in the Brexit negotiations. The withdrawal bill released recently, explained that the EU said that Northern Ireland might have to stay a part of the customs union, if a physical border was not to be set up. Theresa May said, however, that this would create a border along the Irish Sea and “no Prime Minister would ever accept that”. Both sides want to keep the border how it is, so some deal is going to have to be made, which might hinder the UK’s economy slightly but that is what is probably going to happen.

Following Brexit, the UK will no longer be part of the single market and this will make trades more difficult with countries inside the European Union.

Being a member of the EU, the UK has been a part of the single market, which

allows the tariff-free transfer of goods, people, money and services around the EU. Following Brexit, the UK will no longer be part of the single market and this will make trades more difficult with countries inside the European Union. Many people voted for Brexit because they would be able to gain business outside the EU, which was restricted by being a part of the single market and customs union. Once the UK has officially left, trade deals can then be struck with countries from around the world helping to boost the economy.

expensive. This is not good but postBrexit, the pound is likely to rise again as trade begins with other parts of the world. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up after the Second World War to do many things, including keeping countries from going to war, because the ‘war to end all wars’ (WW1) didn’t turn out as expected. By leaving the EU, the UK will be alone, and this could make the UK more susceptible to war and violence because European allies might be less willing to help out, presenting the UK as less of a threat. On the other hand, not being under the laws of the EU means that the UK can make strong partnerships with other countries, meaning that it could be safer than people might think.

The pound has regained its losses against the dollar but is still down by 15% to the euro.

As expected, the pound plummeted after the result but there has not been a huge economic meltdown as the Remain campaigners had predicted. The economy kept increasing in annual growth at 1.9%, second only to Germany in the G7 most industrialised nations. The pound has regained its losses against the dollar but is still down by 15% to the euro. This makes the UK’s exports cheaper for other countries and its imports more

To counter political and economic black-holes, on 29th March 2019, when the UK will provisionally leave the EU, all the laws and regulations used by the EU will be kept by the UK as UK law. From then, the government

will have time, during a two year ‘transition’ period to go through each law and decide whether they want it to be kept. This means that some good things from the EU will be kept, which some remain voters thought might not happen. Scotland voted to remain in the EU, which started debates, following the idea of Scotland leaving the UK, whether they should have another election. However, the snap election initiated by Theresa May on the Easter Bank Holiday in 2017, led both the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party to lose seats in the House of Commons to Labour. This made the talks of a Scottish election weaken, which is for the best for the whole UK. The UK post-Brexit will, hopefully, not be as bad as people fear. Trade with the EU countries will become more difficult and travel might get harder, but negotiations at the moment suggest that Brexit will be relatively ‘soft’ and will keep good connections with the EU and also allow deals and partnerships from other countries.

Fusing the disciplines of literary analysis with modern philosophical enquiry, LitSoc and PhilSoc present:

Language and thought How the choice of what we say shapes what we think and how our words influence others

By Professor

A.C. Grayling

of The New College of the Humanities

monday 17 september 2018

4.15pm

churcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s college, lecture theatre

churcherscollege.com