JUNE 2018
YOU SHOULD RESPOND TO
BOTH SECTIONS,
A AND B, AND CHOOSE ONE QUESTION FROM EACH SECTION:
Section A (70%)
Choose
one of the following questions:
1. Discuss the issue of forgiveness or mercy in the
Tempest and the
Merchant of Venice. In your answer you should refer to the notions of justice and/or revenge, and take into consideration the relations of power that permeate the plays and in the context of which the issues of forgiveness and mercy arise. (questions of gender, race, religion, economics or other depending on the play).
2. Focusing on
King Lear and
Othello, discuss comparatively the significance of the disruption of the established order and hierarchy (ex. State, familial, racial or gender, depending on the play), and whether order is restored resolving all issues that had disturbed social stability.
3. Focusing on
Othello and the
Tempest, discuss from a critical perspective what is involved in the concept of ‘non-human’ and the ‘unnatural’. You are expected to explain why the ‘human’ aspect of a character- ie. Othello, Desdemona, Caliban and others- or a specific social group, is in question, why some beings are excluded from the ranks of humanity, are marginalized, ignored or considered ‘unnatural’.
Section B (30%)
Choose
one of the following questions:
1. Discuss the ideas represented by the King of France in
King Lear.
2. Discuss the dramatic and symbolic role of the handkerchief in
Othello.