This Post follows on from my earlier Post explaining Message of Author and its importance in analytical essays for Year 12 Maintstream English.
Look at these 4 prompts and my Essay Introductions where Message of Author is colour coded.
Essay Introductions / Message of Author in Burial Rites
Prompt #1 “I understand that these people did not see me. I was two dead men. I was a burning farm. I was a knife. I was blood”. Discuss how the reader’s perspective of Agnes is formed in the novel.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent explores the reader’s perspective in her novel by a complex structure of official documents and the many narrative voices that have their own viewpoints of Agnes in discovering her secrets and the extent of her guilt. The significance of the quote is that Agnes realises that these people standing around did not see her as a person. They see the implication of the murders of Natan Ketilsson and Petur Jonsson as “two dead men”, the image of the “burning farm”, the murder weapon “a knife” and the consequences of the murders the “blood”. Kent enables the reader’s perspective to be formed by some characters who have biased viewpoints about Agnes. As readers we see how unreliable as narrators they are with their own personal agendas and prejudices against her. As Agnes tells her own story other characters change their perspectives of her as the novel progresses. Kent’s stated intention to present a “more ambiguous portrayal” of Agnes is evident from the start of the novel and this ambiguity is fuelled by the very fabric of the novel that is composed of many narrative voices.
For Reference Only = Ambiguity [uncertainty] explanation = Hannah Kent attempts to challenge the audience’s perception of Agnes based on her murder of Natan through promoting a deeper understanding of her former life. Kent adopts the idea that people are not ‘monsters’ but have a mixture of unconscious motives. Kent characterises Agnes so that by the change of perspectives and the change in judgements she is able to create a more ambiguous and arguably more realistic, ‘human’ character. Kent’s ability to create such uncertainty about Agnes also relies on the dilemma regarding the morality of her act of murder.
Prompt #2 “Discuss the ways in which Kent manipulates the reader’s compassion for her characters”.
19th century Iceland society harshly judges those on the margins. In her novel Burial Rites Hannah Kent cautions readers about stereotyping those individuals confined to a marginalised position in society through no fault of their own. Kent criticises the harsh religious and social policies of the patriarchal institutions that stereotype Agnes as a murderer. In order to manipulate the readers’ compassion for her characters the author compares the binary of evil characters against the good to develop our empathy for those who support Agnes. Then she takes Agnes, Toti and Margret on a spiritual and emotional journey transforming them at the start of the novel from a judgemental mindset to value compassion at the end of the novel. By encouraging readers to recognise the ambivalence of Agnes’ crime she suggests there are often extenuating circumstances that need to be considered before judging her guilty. As Agnes divulges her personal stories of her life to Toti, Margret and the family at Kornsa she searches for forgiveness and compassion in her listeners. Kent is able to manipulate the readers to view those characters with kindness as the listeners develop and change responding to Agnes’ emotional demands so that the ultimate journey towards compassion is shown in the cathartic and confessional aspect of Agnes’ story telling mission that gives her a renewed passion for life.
Prompt #3 “This valley is small and she had a reputation for a sharp tongue and loose skirts”. Burial Rites explores how a society measures an individual’s worth. Discuss.
19th century Iceland was a conservative society deeply divided by class with power residing in the hands of a relatively few men dominated by an uncompromising religious ethos and traditional gender expectations. It is clear in the novel Burial Rites by Hannah Kent that the measures Icelandic society used to value an individual’s worth are based on prejudice, ignorance and bias, cruelly stereotyping people according to gender and social status. Kent explores how society as a whole did not look favourably upon women of low social standing who were ‘too clever’ or who deviated from their conventional roles as an obedient wife or daughter. According to Kent, the protagonist Agnes Magnusdottir struggled against the limitations and expectations forced on her by society, some of which are due to her gender and others that are the consequence of her position as a landless servant. In a conservative context Agnes is viewed as ‘different’ by many who know her and she is resented for the perceived airs she gives herself. The text examines how many characters view Agnes’ qualities and her worth in both negative and positive ways that set her apart from her peers. The fact that Agnes is ‘different’ makes it easier for people to believe the worst and contributes to the stereotypical perception that she must also be a ‘murderess’. Ultimately Kent allows Agnes to go on a figurative journey that involves reclaiming her worth as an individual at least in the eyes of Toti and the family at Kornsa with whom she establishes a connection.
Prompt #4 “Burial Rites demonstrates that fear is more powerful than love”. Do you agree?
In Hannah Kent’s haunting novel Burial Rites, two of the most potent forces are fear and love. Fear is rampant in 19th Century Iceland, the fear that accompanies abject [hopeless] poverty and uncertain mortality [death], as well as the fear that arises from living in a patriarchal society fortified by brutality and injustice. For most Icelanders in the text, fear is a persistent element in their lives of “mud and struggle”. Fear is also a political tool of repression used by the Danish authorities and Blondal’s determination to make an example of Agnes. Agnes execution is an opportunity to send a strong message to the Icelandic community of the consequences for such a ‘grave misdemeanour’. However, individuals are also motivated by love and in Agnes Magnusdottir’s case, to her great cost. For many of the characters, charity and love are the primary drivers for their actions, illustrating that love has the capacity to prevail over prejudice and cruelty. While fear and love are both shown by Kent to be powerful influences in the novel, indeed, at a personal level, they are often intertwined with love presented as the greater force, as it can overcome fear.
