Instructions: Each
student is required to write a one-page response at the end of each section
of the course to the following questions. You should keep the question
in mind throughout our period of study of each book: jot down some
notes and ideas throughout the section, think about the question and its
implications. Then write your response at the end of our time of
study, and save your response as an HTML file (titled question1, question2,
question 3, etc.) in your personal web folder for the course.
Section I
Love as Tragedy: Shakespeare's
Romeo
and Juliet
Consider the following statement about this play by Shakespeare scholar Joseph Bryant:
"Shakespeare's real miracle . . . was Juliet, transformed from an adolescent arrogantly eager to outdo her elders to an appealing child-woman, barely fourteen, who learns to mix courage with her innocence, yet falls victim to a world that only briefly and unintentionally but fatally treats her as a plaything."
How is Juliet so "transformed"? Is she the most courageous of the play's characters? Does she maintain her innocence? And how, or why, does she fall victim to the world?
Due by 5 p.m.,
Friday, September 21
To
view student responses, click here.
Section II
The Girl's Story: Austen's
Pride
and Prejudice
One scholar has stated that "Austen's fictional technique depends crucially
on the reader as an active interpreter, not just a passive consumer, of
detail." What do you think this might mean? How do we participate
in Austen's novel as we read it, and why might this be important?
Due by 5 p.m.,
Friday, October 5
To view
student responses, click here.
Section III
Love as Comedy: Shakespeare's
Twelfth
Night
"The most fundamental distinction the play brings home to us is the difference between men and women. To say this may seem to labor the obvious; for what love story does not emphasize this difference? But the disguising of a girl as a boy in Twelfth Night is exploited so as to renew in a special way our sense of the difference." (C.L. Barber, Shakespeare's Festive Comedy)
Discuss the implications of Barber's suggestion. How does Twelfth Night emphasize, in a special way, the differences between the sexes?
Due by 5 p.m.,
Friday, October 19
To view
student responses, click here.
Section IV
The Cosmic View: The
Poetry of W.B. Yeats
Due by 5 p.m.,
Friday, November 16
To view
student responses, click here.
Section V
Never Grow Up: Swift's
Gulliver's
Travels
Due by 5 p.m.,
Friday, December 7
To view
student responses, click here.