English 212 Final Exam Study Guide

Take the midterm in class on MONDAY, April 21 from 12:00-1:50. !!!THIS IS A DIFFERENT DAY AND TIME FROM NORMAL CLASS TIME!!! Bring an extra pen or pencil to the test. You will have nothing on your desk except the test. 

Consider doing a study session with friends. Look carefully at your notes. Look at moments in the plays we talked about in class. Visualize the films we looked at. Remember the names of characters.  

Part One. Fill blanks. 30%. These will be plot questions. Example: When Lear finds his two older daughters not living up to their agreement, he leaves the shelter of civilization and goes out in a _________________. Prepare by remembering what happens in the plays. Our plays are Much Ado About Nothing (film), The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet (film), King Lear (including film), Othello (film). 

Part Two. Identification 30%. Read the passage and identify the play and who speaks to whom. Example: In Belmont is a lady richly left./And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,/Of wondrous virtues. Sometimes from her eyes/I did receive fair speechless messages. Name the play, who speaks to whom, under what circumstances? Again, our plays are Much Ado About Nothing (film), The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet (film), King Lear (including film), Othello (film). You’ll be tested on key passages, not obscure ones. 

Part Three. Essay 40%. Do this part either at home as a typed, formal 500+ word paper, or on the back of the test in ink or pencil. Write a brief essay response on one of the prompts below. If you choose the hand-written option, prepare by outlining in advance and by memorizing any quotations you’ll use for evidence. You won’t be able to look at notes during the test, and you won’t be able to add pages to the test. Remember to write an introduction and a conclusion and to proofread carefully.   

A. Like Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, King Lear and Othello are Shakespearean tragedies (as opposed to comedies or histories). What elements make Othello and Lear tragedies? What distinguishes them from comedies and histories? Are there any similarities between the tragedies and the comedies and histories? 

B. Define Shakespearean women, with emphasis on Much Ado, Lear, The Tempest, and Othello. This can be an addendum to an essay you may have written on a similar topic earlier, but it should not repeat the earlier essay.   

C. From evidence in King Lear, trace the sight-eye-vision references. What do they add up to? 

D. Shylock (a Jew) and Othello (a Moor) are external to the mainstream of their societies. How do their “differences” function in the two plays? What advantages might Shakespeare gain from using characters who are outsiders?