English 2120 Exam III 1 Name: 22 April 2013 Fill-in-the-blank + Multiple Choice + Essays = TOTAL / 200 Fill in the Blank 50 points possible (5 points each) Fill in with the term that BEST fits. Identify the author and the title of the texts excerpted below. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. " 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door; Only this, and nothing more." 1. _Edgar Alan Poe (author) 2. The Raven (title) For hours I sate and stared... That way went my thoughts When wandering beyond sight. And as I grew In years, I mixed, confused, unconsciously, Whatever I last read or heard or dreamed, Abhorrent, admirable, beautiful, Pathetic, or ghastly, or grotesque, With still that face... which did not therefore change, But kept the mystic level of all forms Hates, fears, and admirations, was by turns Ghost fiend, and angel, fairy, witch, and sprite... 3. _Elizabeth Barrett Browning (author) 4. Aurora Leigh (title) To every article. I boarded the King s ship; now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement. 5. William Shakespeare (author) 6. _The Tempest (title) That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Fr Pandolf's hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. 7. _Robert Browning (author) 8. My Last Duchess (title) 9. _Prospero Who is the protagonist in The Tempest? 10. _ Play/Drama What genre is defined as fiction written for performance on stage by actors?
English 2120 Exam III 2 Multiple Choice 50 points possible (5 points each) Choose the answer that BEST answer the question. 11. _A What defines the genre of poetry? a. i, and ii b. ii, iii, and iv c. i, ii, and iv d. i, ii, iii, and iv i. rhythmical quality of language ii. compressed treatment of language iii. enjambment iv. rhyme scheme 12. _C What year was The Tempest written? a. 1590 b. 1599 c. 1611 d. 1621 13. _B What spritely character in The Tempest is the central performer and speaker in Prospero s magical dramas? a. Miranda b. Ariel c. Ferdinand d. Antonio 14. _D_ What character usurps his brother s dukedom in The Tempest? a. Miranda b. Ariel c. Ferdinand d. Antonio 15. _B How is the tempest created in The Tempest? a. It is created by the cyclical monsoon season weather. b. It is created by a sprite carrying out the orders of a wizard or enchanter. c. It is created by Sycorax and three witches trying to overthrow a the kingdom of Naples. d. It is create by Neptune, Greek god of the sea, taming a Sea Horse. 16. _A What is the name of the theater where most of Shakespeare s plays were performed? a. The Globe. b. The Stage. c. Avonlea. d. Oxford. 17. _A Which drama is set in Middle Earth? a. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring b. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone c. The Tempest d. Twilight 18. _C What poem describes a man murdering his lover with her hair? a. My Last Duchess b. Aurora Leigh c. Porphyria s Lover d. The Raven
English 2120 Exam III 3 19. _B What poem creates a character that challenges the stereotypes created by John Milton s character Eve in Paradise Lost? a. My Last Duchess b. Aurora Leigh c. Porphyria s Lover d. The Raven 20. _B_ What author s books were the basis for the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone a. JRR Tolkien b. JK Rowlings c. Stephen King d. Peter Jackson
English 2120 Exam III 4 Essay Question 100 points total (50 points each) Choose TWO of the four questions to answer. Answer these short essay questions in four or five paragraphs using the space below (or your own paper). Remember, an essay should have a thesis and topic sentences that tie it together into a unified response to the question. To receive full credit you must correctly identify and analyze the material (give specific examples from the text and offer cultural context when significant explain your answers). 21. Identify the text and author of the text below. Analyze this excerpt. Summarize what is being said and then EXPLAIN what that means and how it is important. What character is speaking these lines? To whom is the character speaking? How does this passage relate to the commentary about theater that Shakespeare wove into his final play? 1 Now my charms are all o'erthrown, 2 And what strength I have 's mine own, 3 Which is most faint. Now 'tis true 4 I must be here confined by you, 5 Or sent to Naples. Let me not, 6 Since I have my dukedom got 7 And pardoned the deceiver, dwell 8 In this bare island by your spell, 9 But release me from my bands 10 With the help of your good hands. 11 Gentle breath of yours my sails 12 Must fill, or else my project fails, 13 Which was to please. Now I want 14 Spirits to enforce, arts to enchant, 15 And my ending is despair, 16 Unless I be relieved by prayer, 17 Which pierces so that it assaults 18 Mercy itself, and frees all faults. 19 As you from crimes would pardoned be, 20 Let your indulgence set me free. This is the epilogue to William Shakespeare s final play, The Tempest (1611). Shakespeare offers a fair-well to the theater by embedding a commentary on the power of theater within this final drama. This epilogue is spoken by the character Prospero directly to the audience, rather than to another character on the stage; in effect, the epilogue draws the audience actively into the performance. This epilogue both concludes and summarizes the main points of Shakespeare s commentary on theater by identifying the power of the playwright to change the hearts and minds of his listeners as well as the social contract between the audience and actors that enables the art of drama (thesis). It is believed that Shakespeare himself may have performed this role, making Prospero s commentary and his final fair-well even more significant: the character Prospero becomes a double or stand-in for the playwright. Lines 5-7 of this epilogue summarize the comic plot of The Tempest: Propsero s dukedom has been restored and he is returning to his home with his family (including his daughter, who will marry Ferdinand, Prince of Naples). Prospero has also pardoned the deceivers who usurped his dukedom and dealt with him so treacherously years ago. This life-affirming ending is what the defines the drama as a comedy, rather than a tragedy (which ends in death). Prospero could have exacted revenge (instead of pardoning his enemies) and turned this drama into a revenge tragedy instead of a comedy. On the surface of things, the epilogue ads one more twist to the rather complex and convoluted plot of The Tempest. Prospero claims he has thrown away his magic cape and books (see line 1), but he will be magically confined to the island unless the audience
English 2120 Exam III 5 frees him by clapping and cheering (lines 10-11). The applause of the audience will be the breath (line 11) that fills his sails and enables the happy (comedic) conclusion to the drama. Beneath the overt plot twist of the epilogue (Prospero s magic confinement on the island) there is a commentary on the power of drama and the social contract of the theater. By inviting the applause of the audience and INCORPORATING that interaction into the plot of the drama, Shakespeare acknowledges the role that the audience plays in a successful production. Prospero claims that if the audience does not clap and cheer for him, his project fails (line 12). On the surface, this means that Prospero s project to get back to Italy with Miranda fails (because Prospero will be stuck on the island). Prospero is suggesting that the applause has some magical property, which will free him from the curse of being stuck on the island (in the context of the fantastic plot of the play). Thus, the audience becomes an active performer in the drama. However, this passage may also be interpreted as an acknowledgement that the PLAYWRIGHT S project (the art of drama) fails whenever the audience does not engage with and support the actors and their performance by suspending disbelief and participating in the imaginary space of the theater. This double meaning is reinforced by the fact that Shakespeare may have performed this role (as mentioned earlier). Thus, the epilogue acknowledges the social contract of the theater by including BOTH the audience and the playwright as actors it recognizes the importance of all these diverse aspects of a live performance. This epilogue celebrates the power of imaginary space. The imaginary space of the theater the suspension of disbelief is what allows a playwright like Shakespeare to write a drama in which a tempest and a shipwreck are performed on stage (instead of off stage, where these things were normally done) because Shakespeare is depending on the audience IMAGINING the scene based solely on the words. It could be argued that the imaginary space created in the theater enables the fantastic that the performance of a fantastic drama in an era without extensive special effects depends upon the imaginary space of the theater. The production of a fantastic drama is the TEST of the strength of imaginary space. Actors/playwrights can describe a magical and bizarre scene to the audience and rely upon their imaginations to fill in the gaps because of the social contract that exist in the theater. This use of imagination is laced throughout the epilogue, particularly the references to the audience filling Prospero s sails with their breath (line 11). On one hand, this line is a metaphor for praise and encouragement. On the other, it is painting a final word picture for the audience to imagine: their cheers are the wind that fills the sails of the boat Prospero will sail upon. Shakespeare is recognizing the active role of the audience in imagining the fantastic and otherwise unportrayable events in Early Modern drama. The SOCIAL POWER of imaginary space is that it can change the hearts and minds of the audience. Shakespeare demonstrates this throughout The Tempest by comparing and contrasting political power and the power of the dramatist. This comparison in explicit throughout The Tempest and implicit in the epilogue, where Prospero references his dukedom. Although he has his dukedom, that does not make the audience like him (cheer for him). As a duke he can command, but not change hearts and win a pardon that will free him from the island. However, as a playwright, Shakespeare can do that: the pen is mightier than the sword. This is further demonstrated throughout The Tempest; the spectacles/dramas that the
English 2120 Exam III 6 sprite Ariel performs for Prospero effect the hearts and minds of the audience, beginning with the way the nobles respond to Ariel s initial performance of a tempest. Ariel claims that his dramatic performance of lightening and thunder touched the hearts and minds of everyone who saw and heard him. Even Miranda, who was watching from the shore, was emotionally distraught at the sight. In the climactic third act, Prospero and Ariel use a drama to make Antonio and the other nobles conscious of their guilt. The drama changes their hearts and minds (prior to this, they did not feel bad about the way they had treated Prospero and Miranda). This makes drama more effective than laws and corporeal punishment, which can only physically restrain people (not internally change them). This comparison would have been especially significant for Shakespeare s audience, because political power and political punishment were corporeal (and often visual spectacles). Although prisoners were sometimes locked in prisons and dungeons, they were often placed punished publically (i.e. put in the stocks, public executions ). This visible cruelty was meant to dissuade the public from committing crimes (through fear). By contrast, drama changes the hearts and minds of people by making them reflect and consider things. The imaginative space of the theater opens the audience up to such contemplation by suspending disbelief to enjoy the drama, they also imaginatively participate in it and vicariously experience the lessons that the characters learn.
English 2120 Exam III 7 22. Identify the text and author of the text below. Analyze this excerpt. Summarize what is being said and then EXPLAIN what that means and how it is important. Consider the context of this passage within the plot of the poem. Why is the character engaging in the activities (thoughts) she describes? What does this mean? Consider how this passage may be making a statement about female stereotypes in Western literature. 1 For hours I sate and stared... 2 That way went my thoughts 3 When wandering beyond sight. And as I grew 4 In years, I mixed, confused, unconsciously, 5 Whatever I last read or heard or dreamed, 6 Abhorrent, admirable, beautiful, 7 Pathetic, or ghastly, or grotesque, 8 With still that face... which did not therefore change, 9 But kept the mystic level of all forms 10 Hates, fears, and admirations, was by turns 11 Ghost fiend, and angel, fairy, witch, and sprite... This was excerpted from Aurora Leigh, a novel-like poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This passage describes the title character, Aurora Leigh, sitting and staring at her dead mother s painting. She projects different images of womanhood onto this painting and her idea of motherhood, trying to determine what it means to be a woman. This essay argues that through this exercise, Aurora discards the stereotypes for women that were generated by Western literature and realizes that she needs to search for (and create) a new example of womanhood for readers, like herself. In essence, the poet-heroine Aurora Leigh must become her own mother. In the passage above, Aurora describes the evolution of her thoughts about women. These thoughts begin with the visual image of her dead mother (see line 1) and progress to stereotypes about women that Aurora gets from books, stories and even her own imagination (line 5). This demonstrates the wide range of sources for stereotypes about women (for a mid-nineteenth-century girl). These stereotypes permeate Western culture. Aurora imaginatively projects these stereotypes onto her own mother (3-11). She claims that her mother is alternately transformed into a ghost, fiend, and angel, fairy, witch, and sprite (11). These stereotypes range from good to evil, demonic to angelic, but they seem to skip over the category of human entirely. Aurora can imagine her mother as everything, except a human woman. This is the fallacy of Western stereotypes: both good and bad stereotypes dehumanize women. Furthermore, none of these fantastic stereotypes is a realistic example for Aurora to follow. Although this passage does not explicitly state that Aurora is looking for a role model, the fact that she is looking at her dead mother implies just that. She wants a female example to guide her in life. However, the stereotypes that Western culture offers her are not tenable: Aurora cannot be a ghost, fiend, and angel, fairy, witch, and sprite (11). This is why she needs to create a new example for herself (and her readers). Finally, the statement that her dead mother s face kept the mystic level of all forms (line 9) demonstrates how both good and bad stereotypes merge together in the cultural imagination. The stereotype of the angel seems to be dramatically different from that of the fallen angel (or fiend ), but it s not. The UNREALISTIC angelic expectations that society has for women guarantee failure: no human can be an angel. Thus, angels fall and women are demonized (for being human). The exaggerated, fantastic stereotypes
English 2120 Exam III 8 associated with women lead to an ambivalent and conflated construction of female identity as: the mystic level of all forms (line 9). I would like to argue that through the exercise of imagining her mother in a wide range of stereotypical roles, Aurora recognizes that these stereotypes are unstable and unsuitable for women.
English 2120 Exam III 9 23. Both My Last Duchess and Porphyria s Lover deal with the objectification of women. Identify two examples of objectification in these poems and analyze these examples. Consider the imagery used to represent women and the treatment of the female body. How is this imagery significant? What message is the author trying to convey to readers through the objectification of women in these poems? How does the FORM of the poem (i.e. poetic tropes) impact this message? Both Robert Browning s poems, My Last Duchess and Porphyria s Lover, feature speaking characters literally reduces women to objects. In fact, this essay argues that these dramatic monologues put the reader inside the mind of an abusive man who kills his lover, ultimately transforming the object of his desire into a literal object that can be manipulated. Furthermore, these dramatic monologues force the reader to remain inside the misogynistic mind. Victorian audiences found this poetic trope unsettling because they lacked the interpretive skills to understand it. Critical responses to both of these poems demonstrate that Victorian readers thought Browning was celebrating misogyny and murder. This essay argues that the dramatic monologue was intended to make the reader consider the cultural pervasiveness of misogyny in Victorian culture. In My Last Duchess the last wife of the duke of Ferrara is literally reduced to a painting on the wall. The poem opens with the lines: That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Fr Pandolf's hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Notice the language of the Duke in this passage he addresses the painting as if it were a woman: there SHE stands. Thus, woman and object have become interchangeable in the Duke s mind. In the poem, the Duke tells a story about his life with his wife. He describes her as blushing and smiling for other men. He claims that this action is objectionable because it could signify her infidelity. According to the Duke s monologue, his inability to control his wife s blushes and smiles led him to order her murder. Now he can control who sees those blushes and smiles because he owns the PAINTING of his smiling, blushing wife and he keeps it behind a curtain that only he opens. The fact that the Duke was threatened by an action as innocent as blushing and smiling suggests that he was ultimately threatened by his wife s subjectivity and free will. He cannot bear the fact that she is an independent human being that he cannot completely control (because he was able to control a LOT of his wife s life he kept her cloistered in his ducal palace, riding her pony in circles in the garden however, that was not enough). In the poem Porphyria s Lover a living woman is reduced to a completely passive corpse by her lover. Porphyria s anonymous lover strangles her with her long blond hair after she confesses her love for him. He claims that he did this so that she could remain his pure lover always. Like the Duke of Ferrara, his anonymous speaker wants a woman he can own and control indefinitely. Perhaps more significant, is the shared desire to own and control a woman s purity in these poems. Both of these men are concerned about the ultimate sexual possession of their lovers. The Duke is afraid his wife may be sharing her favors with other men. The anonymous speaker takes this insanity to the next level: he is anxious about taking his lover s sexual favors. In fact, he does not touch or kiss Porphyria until he s killed her.
English 2120 Exam III 10 The anonymous speaker expresses some anxiety about Porphyria coming to stay with him that night. He thought she would stand him up. Again, like the Duke of Ferrara, this anonymous speaker seems to be threatened by a woman s subjectivity and free will. He does not want Porphyria to be able to change her mind. While Victorian critics and readers may have read this poems as an endorsement of misogyny, I believe Browning is attempting to force his reader to confront the way these murderer s views are related to repressive Victorian laws. The dramatic monologue puts the reader inside the mind of the murder. This uncomfortable position has the potential to lead readers to analyze their own objectification of women (the similarities between their thoughts and the murders thoughts).
English 2120 Exam III 11 24. Think about the films we watched in this class. How does the silver screen utilize the imagination of the viewer along with cinematic tropes to create a fantastic imaginary space in which the plot of the movie may unfold? Both Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) are films create alternative worlds for the viewer. Think about the way these alternative worlds are created with tropes such as backdrop, set, costuming, special effects, sound track, and dialogue. Write three to five paragraphs on the way ONE of these tropes impacts the viewer and generates a (temporary) fantastic space in which the film's plot can take place. Compare and contrast the use of this trope in film with the use of this trope (or lack of this trope) in The Tempest (to create a fantastic world). Special effects play an important part in creating the magical worlds of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone (2001) and The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001). This is a stark contrast to the minimalistic construction of a fantastic world in William Shakespeare s drama The Tempest (1611). This essay analyzes the difference between the construction of a fantastic space in these twenty-first century dramas and Shakespeare s seventeenth century play. In Harry Potter, special effects are particularly important for transitional moments in the drama, such as the moment that Hagar leads Harry Potter from present-day London to the parallel magical world of Diagon Alley. Hagar touches a plain brick wall with his (hidden) wand and the brick wall dissolves into a doorway (and closes itself behind them). This doorway is a special effect and it makes the transition from the ordinary to the fantastic seem magical for the viewer. In The Lord of the Rings, special effects are particularly important for creating the impossible characters that define Middle Earth as a fantastic place. Since the setting in this film is largely natural (i.e. it is often filmed against the natural New Zealand backdrop), it is transformed into a fantastic space because it is inhabited by creatures like Gollum. Gollum is a computer-animated figure (that is transposed over the actor, who is wearing a special suit). Gollum is not a creature that can be in an ordinary world, thus he makes Middle Earth fantastic. By contrast, the fantastic is created with WORDS in Shakespeare s play. The special effects available to Shakespeare and his troupe were minimal at best. For example, the opening tempest scene would have been created with crashing symbols and actors acting as if they were on a storm-tossed ship. Moreover, since the Globe theater (where this was most-like performed) was an open-air theater, spectators would likely be trying to imagine the magical tempest in the middle of a sunny (or, not stormy) day. The actors words, bodies, and actions would creating the storm by providing the audience with the clues they need to imagine the setting. Furthermore, since this tempest is later revealed to be a performance by the sprite Ariel, this tempest is a fantastic setting. In Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, the fantastic setting was frequently constructed with the use of special effects. These effects make the alternate worlds of these films seem realistic for the viewer. By contrast, the fantastic is hardly visible for the viewer in Shakespeare s Globe. However, in both of these dramas, the viewer needs to suspend disbelief to participate in and enjoy the fantastic world. Even though special effects make the transitions between modern London and Diagon Alley seem realistic - a seamless shift that makes the reader feel as if it may actually be possible the viewer still needs to suspend reality to accept this magical shift. Thus, the social contract in the theater both the Globe and the cinema remains relatively unchanged.
English 2120 Exam III 12 Word Bank The Tempest Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring My Last Duchess Porphyria's Lover Aurora Leigh The Raven William Shakespeare J.K. Rowling J.R.R. Tolkien Robert Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning Edgar Allen Poe 1611 The Globe Theatre Prospero Miranda Antonio Ariel Caliban Ferdinand Alonso Sebastian Gonzalo Stefano Trinculo Francisco and Adrian Boatswain End Rhyme Meter Alliteration Repetition