English 205 -- Fall 2008
Washington State University

I. IDENTIFICATIONS. [Total 26 points; answer 13 for 2 points each.]

You know, identify the character who says, "To be or not to be"; or who is responsible for "Complots of mischief, treason, villainies" -- that kind of question, only harder. These "words like daggers" will be inflicted individually and intracerebrally during the scheduled class period: Friday, October 24th. "The readiness is all."

II. QUOTATIONS. [Total 50 points; answer 10 for 5 points each.]

A combination of identification and, more importantly, significance questions will follow quotations from Titus Andronicus, Hamlet, and other relevant materials from the middle weeks of the semester, chosen for their importance in our discussions over key points. Again, if you have read the plays and paid attention in class, only a close review of notes should be necessary for preparation. Otherwise, "O, horrible, O horrible, most horrible!": "you recount your sorrow to a stone."

III. TAKE-HOME POUND-OF-FLESH ESSAY. [Total 24 points.]

Answer the following question thoroughly and precisely, to about two (2) pages, double-spaced. Answers should be virtuoso pieces of brilliance manifested in impressive eloquence, with facile reference to specifics from the Shakespearean texts, rather than just "Words, words, words."

What's new?

[That is, describe your frame of mind about Shakespeare and your expectations regarding a university Shakespeare course before this semester began (or, if you had taken one already, then before that class). What facet of Shakespeare, emerging since the start of this semester has changed or modified your prior impression of this field of study? How has Shakespeare and/or this semester so far met or defied your expectations, and what is the significance of this experience? I'm not looking for an early course evaluation here, nor flattery, but rather a reflective moment on the critical thinking component of this portion of your educational experience at WSU while it is, ideally, happening.]

IDENTIFICATIONS
Identify the character or thing referred to (underlined) in the following.

"Some devil whisper curses in my ear,
And prompt me that my tongue may utter forth
The venemous malice of my swelling heart!"

"Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen...."

He had "Half of the number that King Priam had."

"Pray can I not, / Though inclination be as sharp as will."

"you are a fishmonger."

"The tribunes hear you not, no man is by,
And you recount your sorrow to a stone."

* * *

QUOTATIONS
Answer completely but concisely the following.

"Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred."

What play is represented in these lines?
Who is the mother?
What classical work is the source for this episode of parental cannibalism?

"Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection; they yawn at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts...."

Identify the play and the character referred to as "her."
What is ironic about this treatment of her speech inside the play, and what is ironic about it outside (that is, in scholarly interpretation)?

"Dost thou think Alexander look'd a' this fashion I' th' earth? . . . And smelt so? pah!"

What is happening in the drama?
Explain how this moment indicates a more mature development in the character than we've seen before.