EL 2804 – EUROPEAN LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION

Date : 22/04/2008 Dept. No. Max. : 100 Marks

Time : 1:00 – 4:00

Answer any EIGHT of the following choosing FOUR from each section: (8×5=40)

SECTION – A

Comment on the significance of the following lines:

Helmer: My dear Nora, I can forgive the anxiety you are in,
although really it is an insult to me. It is, indeed. Isn’t
it an insult to think that I should be afraid of a starving
quill-driver’s vengeance? But I forgive you nevertheless,
because it is such eloquent witness to your great love for me.

Mrs. Linde: Nils, how would it be if we two shipwrecked people
could join forces?

Krogstad: What are you saying?

Mrs. Linde. Two on the same piece of wreckage would stand a
better chance than each on their own.

Nora: Both you and I would have to be so changed that–. Oh, Torvald,
I don’t believe any longer in wonderful things happening.

Helmer: But I will believe in it. Tell me! So changed that–?

Nora: That our life together would be a real wedlock. Goodbye.
(She goes out through the hall.)

4. Had the false Trojan never touch’d my shore!”
Then kiss’d the couch; and, “Must I die,” she said,
“And unreveng’d? ‘T is doubly to be dead!
Yet ev’n this death with pleasure I receive:
On any terms, ‘t is better than to live.
These flames, from far, may the false Trojan view;
These boding omens his base flight pursue!”
The pious prince was seiz’d with sudden fear;
Mute was his tongue, and upright stood his hair.
Revolving in his mind the stern command,
He longs to fly, and loathes the charming land.
What should he say? or how should he begin?

SECTION B

“He’s lying there, absolutely dead as a doornail.” Who does the charwoman refer to? Explain the imagery and its significance to the character intended.
“For ’tis the hope of parents they may rear A brood of sons submissive, keen to avenge Their father’s wrongs, and count his friends their own”. Explain the implications of the lines and the irony of the speaker.
“Two corpses, one in death. His marriage rites Are consummated in the halls of Death: A witness that of ills whate’er befall Mortals’ unwisdom is the worst of all”.

Who does Eurydice refer to in the lines and explain the relevance of the universal truth highlighted in the same.

Explain the importance of the term of ‘Recognition’ in Poetics.
Explain the following terms according to Aristotle: 1) Medium of Imitation, 2) Object of Imitation and 3) Mode of Imitation.
Attempt an essay on any FOUR of the following questions choosing TWO from each section: (4×15=60)

SECTION A

Is the play A Doll’s House to be viewed as a study of female hysteria or as a metaphor for individual freedom?

Analyze the portrayal of Odysseus’ heroic trait Métis (cunning intelligence) and his most evident flaw Hubris (arrogance/pride) in Homer’s Odyssey Book IX.

Ovid’s metamorphosis provides a mythical key to extreme forms of behaviour’. Elucidate.
Examine Gorky as a fervent advocate of Russia’ social, political and cultural transformation as reflected in his classic Mother.
Discuss the key concepts of existentialism as reflected in Sartre’s Nausea.

SECTION B

Discuss the following aspects: Romance, Chivalry, Delusion, Enchantment, and Imagination with reference to the novel, Don Quixote of La Mancha.
The Book of Job from the Old Testament of the bible and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka are allegorical delineations of the existence of man in the profane world irrespective of time. Discuss.
Discuss the conflict and the contrast in the characters, Antigone and Creon with references from Antigone.
Attempt an analysis on the characters and themes of any one of the works of art prescribed under the sections prose, play and fiction.

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