Analysis of Monologue

 I am Elphaba. What? What are you looking at? Okay…I know. I know I’m green. No I am not seasick! Yes I've been green ever since I was born and I didn't eat grass when I was little. Everyone is always looking…staring… Why are you people so judgmental?

This is who I am. People say I’m a rebel; I speak my mind even if I know it will make me some enemies.  I believe in equality. What if you’re green? What if you’re a goat like Dr. Dillamond? Or rich and popular like Glinda the good? To the world, all those things matter, but to me we are all equal and made perfect because of our imperfection. I desire discrimination to be history! To be a thing of the past! I want to change how people see things and I want to change the ideals of the world!

The extract that I have chosen to talk is about, is from the Broadway musical, Wicked. Elphaba is the main character in this musical that is also known as the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz. Wicked is the prequel of Wizard of Oz and explains what happened with the two witches, the good witch of the South, Glinda and Elphaba the wicked witch of the west, and how their friendship started at school and ended as they both go their separate ways.

I think that the purpose of this monologue, like any is to tell the audience how the character is feeling, but I believe that it is also to entertain the audience and to give a brief overview of what the character Elphaba is like, and to make the audience feel like they know who she is, and what she is about before the play has even properly started.  The monologue starts off by using a wide range of punctuation. She begins with use of rhetorical questions to engage the reader, “What?” “What are you looking at?” and even uses of explanation marks as well to emphasize the power and even raising of her voice, “No I am not seasick!”, this tells the audience that it is obviously something that she has had to explain before and by doing this she has become very snappy towards the issue of her green skin.

The register of this monologue is written in colloquial. This is shown by the fact that Elphaba is very informal with us, and treats us as if she is having a causal conversation. It is also shown by the amount of questions she asks, involving us with what she’s doing. However, a slight intimate register is also used as she refers to “Dr Dillamond” and “Glinda” as we should already know who they are. This is very effective in the play and as a monologue as it really engages us with what’s going on and makes us feel a part of the story as well as just watching from the side lines. Also, many high frequency lexis words are used throughout her monologue, which makes us able to relate to how she’s feeling, as you can see that she doesn't particularly have a very high social class and is quite like the rest of us, which enables us to see what’s going on through her eyes, and how frustrating and infuriating it must be to always be “stared” at and “looked” at by people for being different.

The implicature of the monologue comes through from her idiolect and the things that she says. Even though the monologue does not tell us, from the amount of rhetorical questions that she asks the audience and from the amount of exclamation marks used, it suggests to us that she is quite a vocal person and is not afraid to speak her mind, which is proven as the monologue continues. You can also see from this, that she is also very forceful with her opinions, as when she is talking to the audience, she is drilling what she believes into our heads in order to get us to agree with what she’s saying, this is shown with the amount of rhetorical questions she is asking us, in order to make us think about it. Another thing, which is not said but is implicated, is the fact that she probably doesn't have many friends due to how she looks. You can tell this, by the way that she is almost defending herself with all the questions that she’s asking as if she has been judged on her appearance and because she’s “green” more than a few times. 

The Beauty Department

http://thebeautydepartment.com/

The blog that I have chosen to write about is called The Beauty Department. The blog consists of several beauties and fashion tips which would appeal towards a woman audience. The way that the blog is written is in a very informal and casual register. For example, the woman refers to the audience as “guys”, which almost builds up a relationship between her and the audience, as we almost feel as if we have a bond with her.  
One part of the blog gives instructions on how to apply your eye shadow and it is laid out in a format which makes it easy and understandable to read. There is listing used which allows you to view what equipment you are going to need in order to get started, and then it continues with the instructions. All throughout the blog you can see that this blog is written with quite high frequency lexis words, which matches the audience that it’s aimed at. I think that this blog is probably aimed at woman/girls of most ages who are interested in learning about how to apply makeup, do their hair etc. So by using these high frequency lexis words, it makes it relatable and an easy read/easy to understand for whoever is reading it.

Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging

My parents snog occasionally.
Even at their age.

  
Cringey.

  
Seeing old people over the age of snogging is just horrific.

  
Of all of the boys I've ever snogged,
Sven is definitely the best.

  
'Cause he's emotional.

  
Where have you got to
on the snogging scale?

  
What?

  
Jas and I invented a snogging scale.
The Ten Stages of Snogging.

  
- You're mad.
- No. It's scientific.

  
- How would you know anything about it?
- Please.

  
- Who got 82% in Bio?
- True.

  
We cut out all the letters about kissing

  
from the problem pages
of every girls' magazine.

  
So, it starts with level one,
holding hands.

  
Two, arms around waist.
Three, good night kiss.

  
Four, kiss lasting over three minutes
without breath.

  
- Five, open mouth kissing.
- Number six, tongues.

  
Oh, my God.

  
Seven, upper body fondling outdoors.

  
Eight... Oh, my God.

  
I've gone all jelloid.

  
- Who are those fitties?
- They're well beyond fit, they're lush.

  
They are sex gods.

The piece of text that I chose to analyse was a script from Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging. I chose this script and piece of writing mainly because I love the typical teenage language used. From looking at the text, you can notice that a different sociolect is used throughout as they're all friends together, not only is the topic of conversation once which you would only have with your friends, but the language as well. For example, "Who are those fitties?" "They are sex gods." Also, by looking at the language you can guess what age and exactly what these girls are like, because although to an older generation some of these words used would be quite low frequency lexis, however, to a typical young teen friendship group, quite a lot of these words would be used on a regular basis. An example of this is, "cringey", which is a very high frequency lexis word used among teenagers. However, although by reading this you get the idea of what kind of age group and who they are, the sociolect is very exaggerated and they have taken words used by teenagers and then played on them to make an even bigger effect. An example of this is the phrase "I've gone all jelloid.". Another thing which is also noticeable in the text is the idiolect. From certain phrases that they use and say, you can see that these girls are quite common and aren't particularly upper class in any way. You can notice this from the way they say, "Oh, my God." and even common words such as, "beyond fit" and "lush". 

C is for contrafibularity - Blackadder

C is for contrafibularity

The main theme of this video is comedy. It uses and plays with the language to make the audience laugh. The language used is formal, but some frozen register is also used throughout, as it was based in a late 18^th and 19^th century, so the language used would be very different from the language that we use today. The 2 main characters used in this scene are Prince George and Dr Johnson, the author of the English comprehensive dictionary. Both of these two characters have their own idiolect, dialect and sociolect. They both have very different dialects due to how they’ve been brought up, their social title and where they have been living. For example, Dr Johnson uses a wide range of low frequency lexis language such as, “the encyclopaedic implementation”. By this use of low frequency lexis, you can see his higher level of intelligence in opposition to King George that has obviously had a laid back life due to his riches, as you can see he hasn’t had much of an education or had to fend for himself.
Due to King George’s high frequency lexis language which is used in our everyday vocabulary, the contrast of language within the two characters creates a comical situation. You also notice that throughout the scene, no fillers are used. This shows the confidence between both of the characters and how they due to their high status, they feel comfortable around each other.  

Shot thee, sweet darling, one last time. - Hit me baby, one more time.

Oh baby baby
How was I supposed to know
That something wasn't right here
Oh baby baby
I shouldn't have let you go
And now you're out of sight yeah
Show me how you want it to be
Tell me baby cause I need to know now oh because


My loneliness is killing me
I must confess I still believe
When I'm not with you I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me baby one more time



"Oh sweet darling, sweet darling, wherefore was I supposed to realise? That something was not correct. Oh sweet darling, sweet darling, I should have not let thou escape, because now thy out of my sight  . Show'th me, how thou want t'to be, speak to me sweet darling, as I must know now, oh because. 
Thou loneliness, destroys thy soul, and I, I must confess to thee, I still believe. When I be not with thou, I lose thy mind, anon. Deliver me a sign. Shot thee, sweet darling, one last time. "

"Perks of being a Ginger" - English Homework

                    “Perks of being a Ginger”

Sophie wakes up a reality check and soon finds herself heading towards the stressful days of work ahead of her at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College. Although buzzing with excitement to make a fresh start at a new place and meet plenty of new friends, Sophie soon finds herself stressing out and facing problems that she never would have dreamed of.
What if she can’t successfully complete her set homework’s? Including Halla’s English Language task to write about you in a different form of writing? What if she forgets that she’s not allowed to wear her favourite colour yellow because it clashes with her ginger hair? What if she meets the love of her life and forgets about her bad pickled onion breath from earlier on in the day? What if she forgets how to make friends? And what if she gets judged for her cringe love of musicals?
Whilst juggling all these problems at college, she then has to go back to her house to live with her whacky parents, who like to embarrass her at any available moment and her incredibly smart, academic sister who is practically perfect in every way!

What on earth is she going to do? Will she ever settle down and have an amazing college experience?  Or will she crash and burn under the pressure of all that life has to offer? And what will happen to her if she does?

                                                   “A good read and a good laugh for all ages!”
                                                                          - Mail on Sunday

“An ideal look into the teenage mind. An enjoyable light read.”
                                      - Heat

Harry Potter Introduction

“The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn’t think they could bear it if anyone found about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley’s sister, but they hadn’t met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn’t have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursley’s shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.”

 
I have chosen this extract because I am a really big fan of the Harry Potter books, especially the first one, Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone, which is my favourite. This part of the book is very powerful and engaging, as it needs to be, as it is part of the introduction to the book. I like this part especially, as it creates a mysterious and unknown vibe about the “Potters” and it creates an illusion to the reader about who the Potters are and why the Dursley’s are so ashamed to be associated with them.

 
In the first part of the extract, I like how the author dwells on the idea of the Dursley’s having a big secret that no one knows about, “but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.” This, as mentioned before adds an intrigued atmosphere and makes the readers feel almost part of the book, as nobody knows of this big secret, and neither do we.
Later on in the extract, the author and language also creates an illusion of the Potters, even though these characters have not been properly introduced yet. If you haven’t watched any of the films or were not aware of the storyline, from this first paragraph, it gives a misleading opening of the story and makes the Potters sound like the villain/bad guys in the book, and makes the Dursley’s sound like good, main characters of the novel. However, this is soon proved wrong as the book continues.