LOYOLA COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS), CHENNAI – 600 034
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M.A. DEGREE EXAMINATION – ENGLISH LITERATURE
FOURTH SEMESTER – APRIL 2008
EL 4811 – SHAKESPEARE – CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATION
Date : 16/04/2008 Dept. No. Max. : 100 Marks
Time : 9:00 – 12:00
SECTION A
I Annotate the following passages. ( 10 x 2 = 20)
- … Oh brawling love, oh loving hate
Oh any thing of nothing first create!
Oh heavy lightness, serious vanity,
2.It is an honour that I dream not of
3.Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare,
It is enough I may but call her mine
4.Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme
5.Only look up clear;
To alter favour ever is to fear.
Leave all the rest to me.
6.We fail?
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And we’ll not fail.
7.Never till this day
Saw I him touched with anger so distempered,
8.A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains,
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost.
9.That I did love the moor to live with him…
…my heart’s subdu’d
Even to the very quality of my lord.
- A liberal hand: the hearts of old gave hands,
But our new heraldry is hands, not hearts.
SECTION B
II Answer any FIVE of the following questions in about 100 words each. (5 x 8 =40)
11.Analyse Henry IV as a historical play.
12.Comment on the element of disguise in the play As you Like It.
13.How appropriate is the theme of Taming of the Shrewd in the present context.
14.Modern society’s craving for fame and poplularity is, in a way, equal to
King Lear’s self-love. Discuss.
15.Bring out the contrasting aspects of today’s corrupt love and Romeo and Juliet’s
-genuine love.
16.Macbeth is not an individual; he is the representation of a progressing society.
-Illustrate.
17.Compare and contrast Ferdinand and Miranda with Romeo and Juliet.
18.Discuss the character Iago as an anti-hero.
SECTION C
Answer the following essay questions in about 400 words each. 2 x 20 = 40
19.The expression “ survival of the fittest” is nothing short of Macbeth’s vaulting ambition
-leading to murders. Elucidate. (or)
Which of the four detailed plays prescribed to you is more contemporary in its theme?
Make a detailed analysis of your choice.
20.Othello is more loyal to love and possessiveness than to Desdemona. Illustrate.
(or)
Ferdinand and Miranda’s love episode is an artistic touch of Shakespeare as an all
-time best playwright to show that love conquers all human ill passions.