And by opposing end them?” Questions:
A. Who is the writer of this work? What’s the title of the work? William Shakespeare, HAMLET
B. What does the phrase “to take arms against a sea of troubles” mean? To take up arms against troubles that sweep upon us like a sea.
C. How do you understand the quotation “To be, or not to be -that is the question”? Whether to live on in this world or to die is a question. It reflects Hamlet’s dilemma and has become the eternal questioning of human action. 81. “Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, Thou mak’st thy knife keen; but no metal can, No, not the hangman’s axe, bear half the keenness Of thy sharp envy.”
Questions: A. Identify the author and the title of the play from which this part is taken. William Shakespeare; The Merchant of Venice
B. What figure of speech is used in this quoted passage? PUN 双关 C. What idea does the passage express?
The Jew makes his knife keen on his soul and even an axe is not as keen as his envy.
This
Indicates that the Jew (Shylock) is a cruel man.
III. Questions and Answers (24 points in all, 6 for each)
82．William Shakespeare is one of the most remarkable playwrights the world has ever known. (1)Name his four greatest tragedies.
(2)What are the characteristics of the four tragedies in common? (3)Briefly summarize each hero’s weakness of nature.
82 A. Shakespeare’s four greatest tragedies are: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and
Macbeth.
B. They some characteristics in common. Each portrays some noble hero, who faces the injustice of human life and is caught in a difficult situation and whose fate is closely connected with the fate of the whole nation. C. Each hero has his weakness of nature:
Hamlet, the melancholic scholar-prince, faces the dilemma between action and mind;
Othello’s inner weakness is made use of by the outside evil force;
the old king Lear who is unwilling to totally give up his power makes himself suffer from
treachery and infidelity;
Macbeth’s lust for power stirs up his ambition and leads him to incessant crimes.
83. Working through the tradition of a Christian humanism, Milton wrote Paradise Lost, intending to expose the ways of Satan and to “justify the ways of God to men.” What is Milton’s fundamental concern in Paradise Lost?
83. A. At the center of the conflict between human love and spiritual duty lies
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Milton’s fundamental concern with freedom and choice;
B. The freedom to submit to God’s prohibition on eating the apple C. and the choice of disobedience made for love.
84. The following passage is taken from The Merchant of Venice. Read it carefully and find the dramatic irony it contains. Use it as an example to illustrate what
dramatic irony is. (034)
“Bassanio: Antonio, I am married to a wife
Which is as dear to me as life itself; But life itself, my wife, and all world, Are not with me esteem’d above thy life; I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all Here to this devil, to deliver you.
Portia: Your wife would give you little thanks for that, If she were by to hear you make the offer.” Answer:
84. A. When the audience is aware of a discrepancy between a character's perception
of his or her own situation and the true nature of that situation, that is dramatic irony.
B. In the given example, Portia, Bassanio's newly-married wife, disguised herself as the lawyer to take charge of the case. Portia herself and the audience know all this, but Bassanio is ignorant of it. So when Bassanio offers in front of his disguised wife to sacrifice her in order to deliver Antonio, he makes himself behave in a ridiculous way in the eyes of the audience. Thus an effect of dramatic irony is achieved.
IV. Topic Discussion(20 points in all, 10 for each)
85. Briefly discuss William Shakespeare's artistic achievements in characterization, plot construction and language.
85. A. Shakespeare’s major characters are neither merely individual ones nor type
ones; they represent certain types; they are individuals representing certain types. By employing a psycho-analytical approach, Shakespeare succeeds in exploring the characters’ inner world. Shakespeare also portrays his characters in pairs. Contrasts are frequently used to bring vividness to his characters.
B. Shakespeare seldom invents his own plot; instead, he borrows them from old plays or story-books, from ancient Greek or Roman sources. In order to make the play more lively and compact, he would shorten the time and intensify the story. There are usually several clues running through the play, thus providing the story with suspense and apprehension.
C. Shakespeare can write skillfully in different poetic forms, such as the sonnet, the blank verse and the rhymed couplet. He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom. His coinage of new words and distortion of the meaning of the old works also creates striking effects on the reader. 1. Please state Shakespeare's views on the Renaissance literature.
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