The final examination will be held in our regular classroom (159 SFH) at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 26. I anticipate that it will require about two hours for most students to complete. Please bring a blue examination booklet in which to write your essay.

The format of the examination will be similar to that of the mid-term, except that there will be no Literary Terms section:

Part 1: Quotation identification--The instructions for the quotation identification section will read as follows: "Identify each of the following quotations as specifically as you can. Explain what the quotation means, and then explain why the quotation is significant or important in the text in which it appears." Quotations will be selected from Measure for Measure, King Lear, and The Winter's Tale. Note that you have three tasks: identification, paraphrase, and textual interpretation. You may combine two or more of these tasks into one sentence--but in order earn full credit you must accomplish all three.

Part 2: Essay--You will be asked to write a 6-7 paragraph, thesis-driven, well-supported, coherent essay in response to a question chosen from among those appearing on the exam. At least three of the following questions will appear on the exam:

1. Scenes of recognition are one of drama's most effective means of both representing psychological action on stage and exciting audience interest. Analyze major scenes of recognition from four or more plays: on the basis of these scenes, what principle(s) might you derive about the effect and usefulness of scenes of recognition in drama? What might you conclude specifically about Shakespeare's use of scenes of recognition?

2. As we've noted, as Shakespeare's career continued, he grew more experimental with the conventions of the standard genres of comedy and tragedy. Based on two plays, what would you say are the standard characteristics of a Shakespearean comedy and of a Shakespearean tragedy? Based on another two plays, discuss what happens when Shakespeare blends these characteristics in his later plays? Which do you prefer--the "purer" comedy and tragedy or the tragicomedy? Why?

3. Shakespeare is notable within his period for the attention given to his female characters. On the basis of the plays we've read (referring to at least four of them), how would you characterize Shakespeare's attitude towards women? What characteristics does he seem to hold up for admiration in women? What does he have to say about the situation(s) of women? Which character(s) seem best to exemplify Shakespeare's conceptions of women?

4. Consider The Winter's Tale as a culmination of a career of playwriting. What elements of this play does Shakespeare take from earlier plays that we've read? (Discuss at least three other plays besides WT). What is new or different about Shakespeare's use of these elements here? In what ways is the overall effect and theme of WT different from the earlier plays?

5. One of Shakespeare's recurring character types is a character who manipulates people or helps to control the action of the play by circulating among other characters and convincing them of fictions which then provide them with the circumstances and/or the motivation necessary for them to do what the controlling character wants them to do. Sometimes this controlling character is a force for good, sometimes for evil. Write a brief history (i.e., use the proper chronology of the plays) of this character type (and plot device) in Shakespeare's work, discussing at least four plays. In which play do you think this is least successful? Why? In which play do you think it is most successful? Why?

6. Many of Shakespeare's characters suffer from delusions. Examine at least four characters (from at least four plays) who are deluded, in order to develop a thesis about what Shakespeare has to tell us about delusions and illusions. Where do delusions come from? How are characters able to persist in their delusions? What are the cures for delusions? Can there be healthy delusions?

7. In Shakespeare's later plays, he seems increasingly interested in the issue of forgiveness (an issue not unrelated to mercy and justice). Look at this theme as it manifests itself (both implicitly and explicitly) in Shakespeare's work throughout his career (i.e., examine at least four plays). Comment on the characters' transgressions, their forgivableness, and whether or not they are forgiven (and why).

If you wish immediate notification of your grades for the examination and for the course, please give me a self-addressed stamped (or campus mail) envelope when you turn in your exam. If you'd like the exam returned with the grades, please make sure the envelope is a business-sized one ( 4"x 9"). No grades will be reported to you over the phone or by e-mail; grades will not be posted. I'll be generally unavailable until the beginning of the Fall semester. I will keep unreturned exams in my office if you wish to pick them up then. (I'll have early evening office hours on Mondays.) Any remaining exams will be destroyed in my annual sacrificial bonfire to Janus, the two-faced god, on the eve of the winter solstice.

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