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The document is an examination paper for the course ENG 412: Introduction to Shakespeare at the University of Botswana for the 2005/2006 academic year. It includes instructions for answering two questions from a selection that covers themes and analysis of Shakespeare's works, specifically focusing on plays such as The Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar. The paper consists of multiple questions requiring critical thinking and textual analysis, along with passages for interpretation.

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4 views3 pages

00 27 002749.001.b1611618

The document is an examination paper for the course ENG 412: Introduction to Shakespeare at the University of Botswana for the 2005/2006 academic year. It includes instructions for answering two questions from a selection that covers themes and analysis of Shakespeare's works, specifically focusing on plays such as The Merchant of Venice and Julius Caesar. The paper consists of multiple questions requiring critical thinking and textual analysis, along with passages for interpretation.

Uploaded by

jtkv8dwqjp
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
2005/2006 FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS

FRONT PAGE

COURSE N0: ENG 412 DURATION: 2 HOURS DATE: NOV/DEC 2005

TITLE OF PAPER: INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

TITLE OF EXAMINATION: BA (HUM) LEVEL 400

MORNING/DAY/AFTERNOON/EVENING

INSTRUCTIONS:

ANSWER TWO QUESTIONS ONLY.

DO NOT OPEN THIS PAPER UNTIL YOU HAVE


BEEN TOLD TO DO SO BY THE SUPERVISOR No. of pages 3
Answer TWO questions ONLY.

1. “Shakespeare is irrelevant to us in Africa.” React to this observation in light of


your experience as an ENG 412 student.

2. Is it enough to consider The Merchant of Venice a comedy? Discuss fully with


examples from the play.

3. “Men at some time, are masters of their fates.” Comment on Cassius’s


observation in light of your reading of Julius Caesar and The Merchant of Venice

4. Read the following passage and answer questions that follow.

Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world 1


Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time, are masters of their fates. 5
The fault (dear Brutus) is not in our Stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Caesar: What should be in that Caesar?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together: yours, is as fair a name: 10
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well:
Weigh them, it is heavy: Conjure with ém,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
Now in the names of all the Gods at onc e,
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, 15
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham’d.
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of Noble Bloods.
When went there by an Age, since the great Flood,
But it was fam’d with more than with one man?
Now is Rome indeed, and room enough, 20
When there is in it one only man.
O! you and I have heard our Fathers say,
There was a Brutus once, that would have brook’d
Th’eternal Devil to keep his state in Rome
As easily as a King. 25

a. In about 100 words, summarize what the speaker is saying.[25]


b. Explain in your own words the following phrases as used in the passage.
i. He doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about…(lines 1-3)
ii. Men at some time, are masters of their fates.
The fault…is not in our Stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings. (lines 5-7) [25]
c. What is the speaker’s attitude towards his subject or the person spoken about?
In your discussion, you should pay particular attention to the speaker’s use of
imagery. [25]
d. What rhetorical devices does the speaker use to persuade the person he is
talking to? Pay particular attention to his use of language. [25]

5. Read the following passage and answer questions below it.

To bait fish withal; if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced
me, hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my
nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies—and what’s his
reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,
senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same
winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us,
do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a
Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his
sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge? The villainy you teach me I will
execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

a. Comment on the mood of the speaker. In your discussion you should pay
particular attention to his use of language, including literary devices.[50]

b. By relating the passage to the whole play, critically assess how the
speaker’s obsession with revenge is naïve, thus leading to his down
fall.[50]

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