The British Character - Cartoon analysis
At first sight the cartoon ,,The British Character, Importance of Tea'' looks very chaotic, which I think is caused by the
stormy weather.
The cartoon shows Britons while they are having a picnic with tea. They act like the weather don't bother them and try to
make their picnic work.
It shows how important their Teatime is to them. Most Britons have a kind of routine in their day, in which the Importance of
a cup of tea cannot be underestimated.
In the foreground there are four people, two women and two men. The black haired woman on the right is sitting on a box
and wearing a raincoat, which isn't closed in the right way, a skirt or a long dress under it with some thighs and a pair of
shoes. The blond woman standing next to her is wearing a black coat and a hat. She is holding another light coat to
protect their lamp from the wind. The man on her left, who is dressed in a black jacket and a normal pair of trousers is
holding a black umbrella over the lamp so it cannot get wet. On the left the man in the checked suit and the socks pulled up
to his knees, is kneeing on the ground trying to light the lamp, although it comes smoke out of it.
On the bottom centre there lays a white blanket with some food and a pot of tea on it.
The four Britons are having their teatime picnic beside a path in the grass. In the background their are only some trees and
small hills. The weather in the cartoon is very stormy, what you can see at the raindrops and leaves in the air all around.
The cartoon is named ,,The British Character.'' and captioned with ,,Importance of Tea.''
The main message the cartoon tries to show is how much Britons like tea. On the one Hand the cartoon brings its message
across by captioning the cartoon with ,,Importance of Tea'' which also makes the cartoon more understandable. On the
other Hand the cartoon conveys its message through the four people trying to have their tea even though it is stormy. They
seem very stubborn when it comes to their tea.
To make the audience clear that the four people are british the cartoonist not only uses the title, but dresses them in in
typical british clothes, for example the tidy and clean looking checked suit with the pulled up socks, which i think matches
the tidy, polite and narrow minded character of the British. Another thing that underlines the importance of tea and their
stubbornness is that they try to make it perfect, like they imagined it. Although the picnic is already kind of ruined they try to
light the lamp, though it seems impossible.
Without the storm it would be a more or less very extravagant picnic for just a cup of tea. The cartoonist makes use of their
formal clothing, that they had to walk all the way in the forest and that they built up a nice place for their teatime.
The cartoon brings its message effectively by making use of the exaggerated humor. In real life no Briton would take their
cup of tea a day that seriously like the people do in the cartoon. The cartoonist uses the well-known cliché that tea is very
important to Britons.
Does Great Britain still need a monarch?
The united Kingdom is one of the last monarchies, right now it is KingCharles who is the official head of the state. Beside
his representation functions, he is the one who passes the Bill and making it a law, which gives him much power. Although I
think a monarch is useless, they should not be abolished. If you take a look at the influence they take on their nation, you
will notice how important the monarch and the royal family is to them. For example Queen Elizabeths death, every Briton
mourned for her.
Therefore I would say the monarch should not have any political power, but represent their nation.