MA in ENGLISH LiTERaTURE QUESTIONS

ENGLISH—2009

Subject Code : 1151 (Chaucer and Shakespeare)

Time-4 hours Full marks—100

[N.B.— All questions are of equal value. Answer question No. 1 and four others.]

1.   Locate and explain any four of the following:—
(a)   Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see: She has deceived her father and may thee.

(b)   Be not afeared, this isle is full of noises
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
He hadde maad ful many a marriage
Of yonge wommen, at his owne cost.

(c)   Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend,
More hideous when thou showest thee in a child
Than the sea-monster.

(e)  O it is excellent
To have a giant’s strenght, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

(f)     Wommenes counseils been ful oft colde
Wommenes counseils broughte us first to wo
And made Adam from Paradys to go
There as he was ful merye and wel at ese.

(g)   Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother’s hand
O life, of croun, of queen, at once dispatched.

(h)   Criseyde gan all his chere espyen
And let so soft it in her herte sinke.

2. (a) Comment on Chaucer’s use of humour and irony in The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.

Or
(b)How does Chaucer give human attributes to the animals in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale?
Or
(c)  Show in what ways Chaucer’s Troilus and Creseyde transcends the literary convention.

3. (a) Show how the ghost acts as a powerful driving force in Hamlet.

Or
(b) To what extent is Hamlet an unconventional revenge play?

4. (a) Do you think that Othello was a victim of credulity and jealousy?

Or
(b) Write a note on Shakespeare’s use of intrigues in Othello:

5. (a) What is the role of Foal in king Lear? Why does he disappear so mysteriously?

Or
(b) Give a description of the storm scene in King Lear with a critical note on its significant

6. (a) Discuss   the   theme   of colonisation   as   depicted   in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Or
(b) Attempt a comparison and contrast between Caliban and Ariel in The Tempest.

7. (a) Will you consider Measure for Measure as a dark comedy?

Give reasons for your answer.
Or
(b) The conclusion of Measure for Measure does not adequately resolve the complex moral issue the play presents. Justify.