Explain why it is a metaphor and example of it being used, its affect -Write in the form of the passage analysis Paper 1: Passage analysis from either a prose or poem -2 hour Paper 2: Comparative study -2 hours Look up literary and drama terms in all plays Stage directions and McCarthyism Sample Questions: “In plays, no one arrives on or leaves from the stage without contributing in some way to the complexity of the play. ” Considering two or three plays you have studied, compare the impact on meaning of some arrivals and departures from the stage.
Or (b) What dramatic techniques have playwrights used to convey ideas and/or beliefs in two or three plays you have studied, and how effective have they been? Arthur Miller uses an allegory, which is the Salem Witch Trials as the McCarthyism concept from the 1950s. Just as the puritan citizens are accusing any civilian as a witch, any person, including the author himself had been accused of being a Soviet Russian during the Red Scare. He uses this play to introduce his beliefs and ideas regarding both the Red Scare and the witch trials and how absolutely absurd they were.
He closely related the witch trials to the “show trials” he was placed under in the 50s. Explore the ways in which dramatists have made use of monologues and/or soliloquies in at least two plays you have studied. 2. Plays employ various kinds of structural divisions such as prologues and epilogues, act and scene divisions, even carefully placed intermissions. Discuss the dramatic uses made of these divisions in at least two plays you have studied. 3. “A play should make you laugh or should make you cry. With reference to at least two plays you have studied, discuss the methods playwrights use to generate emotional response in their audiences. Commentaries: 1. An adequate to good answer will select some significant monologues and/or soliloquies from at least two plays and compare the ways in which these speeches are used by the dramatists. A good to excellent answer may offer closer scrutiny of the selected monologues and/or soliloquies, examining closely various ways in which dramatists use such speeches to impact their dramas as a whole and offering a closer analysis of the uniqueness of each dramatist’s approach. . An adequate to good answer will identify appropriate conventions that separate aspects of at least two plays and will compare some of the ways in which these divisions affect the dramatic presentation of the plays. A good to excellent answer may offer more specific detail regarding the types of divisions that occur in the plays and distinguish more closely how the choices of each dramatist lead to the effectiveness of particular aspects of the drama. 3.
An adequate to good answer will identify some methods by which at least two dramatists generate emotional responses and offer supportive detail for how such methods work, comparing the choice of methods employed by the dramatists and/or the outcomes achieved. A good to excellent answer may offer a more in-depth and detailed discussion of the methods employed by dramatists to generate emotion, clearly evaluating the uniqueness of generating emotion in the separate dramas, and offering, perhaps, a distinction between comedy and tragedy.
An adequate to good literary commentary will: • Grasp the basic situation of the tobacco selling/buying and the economic situation of the passage • note the anticipation and tension of the various members of the family • Identify the particular attitudes of the mother, the father and the narrative voice in relation to each other in this situation • Follow the implications of the use of the “ticket” in the transactions • Understand the conclusion of the morning’s event. A very good to excellent literary commentary may also: Probe the gestures and words of each of the characters for what they reveal of both background and situation and the writer’s efficiency in the techniques of characterization • Note the role that adjectives and adverbs play in delineating the content and tone of the passage • Discuss the alternating attention of the narrator to each of the parents, and their own interactions • Explore the way language is used to acquaint the reader with the particular practice of tobacco trading. An adequate to good literary commentary will: • Identify the central character and his situation in the park • Note the transition provided by lines 20–21 Offer some interpretation of the two final stanzas and their relation to the main description • Comment on the word choice and its effects • Note the use of parenthesis and its connection to the poem’s thought and feeling. A very good to excellent literary commentary may also: • Explore in detail the way in which natural imagery is used to characterize the central figure • Evaluate the use of hyphenated words in the poem • Offer a well-supported interpretation of the last two stanzas, connecting them persuasively to the earlier part of the poem. * Remember to comment on the author’s use of language, style and structure.
