English 105 Test
2 Information Winter 2007
The second test will be held in
our regular classroom. The morning
sections test will be on Tuesday, April 24, 8:00-11:00 AM; the afternoon
sections test will be on Wednesday, April 25, 12:00-3:00 PM. I anticipate that it will require about two
hours for most students to complete the test.
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. You will have eight quotations to identify,
selected from The Merchant of Venice, King Lear,
and The Winters Tale. Remember 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
four of the following questions will appear on the exam:
1. Scenes of recognition are one of dramas most
effective means of both representing psychological action on stage and exciting
audience interest. Analyze major scenes
of recognition from three 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 Shakespeares use of scenes
of recognition?
2. As weve noted, throughout his career,
Shakespeare provided elements of tragedy within his comedies and elements of
comedy within his tragedies. As his
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 conventional
characteristics of a Shakespearean comedy and of a Shakespearean tragedy? Within these plays, what elements come from
the opposite genre (i.e., in the comedy, what are the tragic elements and in
the tragedy what are the comic elements?) and what is the effect of these
foreign elements? Based on at least one other play, discuss what happens when
Shakespeare blends these modes further in his later plays? Which do you prefer--the purer comedy and
tragedy or the mixing of the two? Why?
3. Shakespeare is notable within his period for
the attention given to his female characters.
On the basis of the plays weve read (referring to at least four of
them), how would you characterize Shakespeares 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 Shakespeares conceptions of
women?
4. Consider The Winters Tale as a culmination
of a career of playwriting. What
elements of this play does Shakespeare take from earlier plays that weve
read? (Discuss at least three other
plays besides WT). What is new
or different about Shakespeares use of these elements here? In what ways is the overall effect and theme
of WT different from the earlier plays?
5. One of Shakespeares 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 Shakespeares work, discussing at
least three plays. In which play do you
think this is least successful? Why? In
which play do you think it is most successful?
Why?
6. In Shakespeares 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 Shakespeares work
throughout his career (i.e., examine at least four plays). What does Shakespeare seem to you to be
saying about forgiveness? How does he
say it? Comment on the characters
transgressions, their forgivableness, and whether or
not they are forgiven (and why).
7. Shakespeare seems to reflect his societys
consideration of the role of father as primary; he also seems to regard the
role of the father as undergoing considerable stress. Using
at least four plays to supply examples, discuss the various factors that
Shakespeare appears to consider as de-stabilizing the role of the father and,
as a consequence, destabilizing society itself.
If you would like your exam returned to you (along with your final grade for the course), please bring a self-addressed stamped business envelope and tuck it into the blue book when you turn in your exam. Unreturned exams will be stored in my office, and you can, if you wish, pick up yours if you can catch me in my office in May and/or June; they will be available during my office hours during the fall semester (TBA). Those exams still in my possession on the eve of the winter solstice will be sacrificially immolated along with the last rutabaga of the season -- in a bonfire to the goddess Bardophilia.