agrippina speech (1 Viewer)

[amystephens]

Okay, well. I have a speech due on Tuesday. and it's all about Agrippina.

The question is:

"What Kind Of Person was Agrippina the Younger?"

I'm not having trouble as such, but it's rather difficult to describe who she was without "retelling history" as per se.

I'm going along the view that "she was a licentious woman who did what she had to do".

The speech has to go for 6 - 8 minutes, so I was thinking of maybe discussing her relationships with Ahenobarbus, Crispus and Claudius, and how she manipulated them to do what she wanted to.
I'm definitely going to talk about Claudius, and how she manipulated him to adopt her own son instead of Britannicus.
But I'm unsure of how she would have manipulated Crispus and Ahenobarbus. the only thing i have on ahenobarbus is a quote from suetonius that says "he was a man who was in every aspect of his life utterly detestable" or something like that, and that's not really showing the manipulation of agrippina,.
and okay, i'm rambling, sorry.

Thoughts, if you have the time etc. would be greatly appreciated.
i'm just not sure how to show this view with her actions.

Thankyou =]

 

[xeuyrawp]

I'm not having trouble as such, but it's rather difficult to describe who she was without "retelling history" as per se.

Yup, well if you understand that 'retelling history per se' is a problem, you've understood 95% of the HSC Ancient course.

The best solution is simply to think about how you will set out your thesis in a good way (ie a plan). I do one of two things:

1. Still go chronologically, but analyse each idea or event using a number of different and conflicting sources,
2. go thematically. So, you could start with the 'traditional' view of Agrippina (which I believe is quite harsh?), and then contrast it with a more balanced view. Or, you could go main idea by main idea, eg her sexuality, her being controlling of politics, etc, and analyse it using different evidence.

I prefer the first method in 2.; ie, contrast traditional (bad) views of her with modern (balanced) views. You could even throw in the contrasting traditional good and modern bad views, if that makes sense.

Hope that makes sense and helps - I always find it difficult to explain this issue.

 

[amystephens]

yeah it does make sense. i think.
maybe i'm really tired and everything makes sense
lawl.


thankyou! i'm going to try to go with those ideas.