Category: Classic English Literature

What purpose do the soliloquies that Hamlet delivers over the course of the play serve? What do readers and audience members learn about Hamlet from what he says in these speeches?

Unit Test on Hamlet (Shakespeare)

1. Explain both the literal and symbolic meaning and importance of pouring poison in a person’s ear in Hamlet.

2. What purpose do the soliloquies that Hamlet delivers over the course of the play serve? What do readers and audience members learn about Hamlet from what he says in these speeches?

3. In drama, a character’s tragic flaw is the character trait that leads directly to his or her downfall in the work. Many critics and scholars argue that Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his tendency toward inaction—his inability to act. Do you agree? Why or why not? Cite specific examples from the text to support your response.

4. As you know, Laertes and Fortinbras are two characters in Shakespeare’s play that serve as foils for Hamlet. How does each figure expose or highlight certain traits in Hamlet’s character, and how does each character’s behavior in the play relate to the themes of advice and duty, action versus inaction, and sanity versus madness?

Why is the idea of playing a role or acting a part so important to Hamlet over the course of the play? How does role-playing affect several major events in the plot and the relationships between various characters?

Critically analyze the ideas in the text to make a claim about the relationship between gender and success and explain this analysis to readers.

Critically analyze the ideas in the text to make a claim about the relationship between gender and success and explain this analysis to readers.

“The Lady Vanishes” LINK: https://www.pushkin.fm/episode/the-lady- vanishes/

Where do you see figures such as Augustine or characters in The Odyssey display a failure in “vision,” of seeing reality as it truly is? What causes this deficiency? What are the consequences of such “blindness” to reality? How can this impediment be remedied, if at all?

One of the most pervasive themes in Western Literature is that of blindness vs sight as a spiritual or moral allegory. Characters or figures in literature are often unable to see clearly because of some moral failure (what we Christians call sin) that impedes not physical sight, but their capacity for “seeing” reality as it truly is.

In an essay of at least 750 words (but, no more than 1200) discuss this theme of spiritual blindness in Augustine and Homer.

Where do you see figures such as Augustine or characters in The Odyssey display a failure in “vision,” of seeing reality as it truly is? What causes this deficiency? What are the consequences of such “blindness” to reality? How can this impediment be remedied, if at all?

 

What is the symbolic significance of the lighthouse? Discuss it in relation to the novel’s trajectory as well as individual characters’ relationships to it.

To The Light House Essay (Create Own unique title)

Write an essay in which you identify and explore the painterly images associated with Mrs. Ramsay. Use them to elaborate the relationship between Mrs. Ramsay and Lily Briscoe as well as Mrs. Ramsay and Mr. Ramsay.

What is the symbolic significance of the lighthouse? Discuss it in relation to the novel’s trajectory as well as individual characters’ relationships to it.

Compare the first and last sentence of the novel. Make a claim about the critical significance of these lines and how they help to elaborate the underlying relational structures of the novel.

Consider gender in the text and make a claim about Woolf’s view of femininity and masculinity in the text. In what ways are women shaped by expectations of them? But what about the men?

Consider the stream of consciousness mode of storytelling that prevails throughout the novel and the claim by many critics that for Woolf’s fiction the action is on the inside. What truths about human psychology and relationality might this technique reveal?

How successful is Miller in adapting material from the Odyssey?If Miller changes materials regarding the original myth, why and how does she do so? What purpose does it serve?

Circe – Madeline Miller

Give a review of the novel Circe, by Madeline Miller. Use two sources, one being the book itself and the second the poem, The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson.
touch on the below points:

1. How successful is Miller in adapting material from the Odyssey?

2. If Miller changes materials regarding the original myth, why and how does she do so? What purpose does it serve?

3. Focus primarily on the characterization of Circe

4. To a lesser degree, some other examples of topics to discuss in the paper: Circe’s relationship with the gods and/or humans; the changing characterization of Odysseus; the characterization of ‘minor’ characters like Hermes, Pasiphae, or Jason; the nature of the gods in general as portrayed in the novel; the novel’s sense of time. You might also consider whether Miller’s understanding of Circe, Odysseus, and the Odyssey impacts how you understand those characters and the ancient text.

What function does the figure of the “soldier” play in the novel? How does this figure overlook the female characters in the text?

This assignment is based on the novel Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

Requirements for Excelling (A)
• These responses are Insightful, original, and thoroughly address the prompt question.
• These responses choose one main point to focus on and stick to that point throughout the whole post.
• These posts make specific reference to the literary texts – this is best done through specific quotations from the text.The writer should explain why the quoted text is important to the point being made in the post.• These posts are well-written and Demonstrate careful editing.• Includes questions at end of post that encourage others to offer different viewpoints or to make connections to other material or to discuss other parts/components of the text. Question The Title of West’s novel

What do you think the title means?From what is Chris returning? To what is he returning? What function does the figure of the “soldier” play in the novel?How does this figure overlook the female characters in the text?And finally, consider what Kitty means by “he is cured?” in the concluding lines of the novel. Does Jenny, or the reader for that matter, have a different understanding of this line?

What is the wasteland in your section (examples: Lack of passion, miscommunication, disconnection, Something mental, something physical)?

Choose your favorite section of the Wasteland by T. S. ELIOT(not including section 4 which is the shortest).

Also do not to just go with section one because it was the first one unless it really was your favorite.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the wasteland in your section (examples: Lack of passion, Miscommunication, disconnection, Something mental, something physical)?

How does the wasteland connect to a main theme in your section?

Can you describe your wasteland in 3-5 words?

2. What are some reoccurring images in your section and what might be one significance to them?

3. come up with an alternative title and explain why.

4. what is one useful footnote and why?