Humanities 220:19 Professor Celia A. Easton Final Exam Dec. 21, 1998

Write all your answers in your blue book. You may keep these examination questions.

The manner in which you express yourself affects my response to your essays. If I must figure out what you are trying to say, you haven't effectively answered the question. Remember to cite CONCRETE EXAMPLES, making your response as DETAILED as possible. Explain context, even when you are not explicitly requested to do so. Although I do not ask you to regurgitate information from the background lectures, your ability to assimilate such information into your discussion of the texts will enhance your answers.

Part I. Choose five of the following short answer questions, and write a FULL answer for each in clear, understandable prose. Each answer is worth 12 points (60 points total). Length=a long paragraph or page (in small bluebook), depending on the size of your handwriting. Remember, answer everything that is IMPLIED by the question. For example, in question 7 you need to give specific examples from the text of "madness" and "sanity." DO NOT REWRITE THE QUESTIONS WHEN YOU WRITE YOUR ANSWERS.

 

1. Cite two examples of stories of traitors from Dante's Inferno (they may be from separate cantos) and explain the "contrapasso" of their punishment.

2. How and why do Cornwall, Goneril, Regan, and Edmund die in King Lear?

3. Cite two examples of stories from Lady Justice's section of Christine's Book of the City of Ladies and explain what they represent for the city.

4. How does Edmund's "Bastard" speech reveal Machiavellian attitudes?

5. Cite two stories of virtuous wives from Christine's Book of the City of Ladies and explain what section they belong in and what they represent for the city.

6. Why is Paolo silent in Dante's Inferno ?

7. Why do we have more sympathy for "madness" than "sanity" in King Lear?

8. On what issue might Dante and Luther agree?

Part II Choose one of the following long essay topics. Again, be very well organized, and make thoughtful points about the argument you construct. Where the first part of this exam pretty much tested your knowledge of the texts, this part tests your ability to make interpretive assertions, not just repeat class discussion. (40 pts.) Length=as long as it takes you to be thorough yet precise.

1. In this essay consider the nature of "justice." How would Dante, Christine, and Shakespeare define "justice"? Base your answer on a reading of their works. For Shakespeare, assume that his definition coincides with the views of the sympathetic characters, or contrasts with the unsympathetic characters. Do their views have any points of agreement or disagreement?

2. In this essay, consider Machiavelli's notion of "fortune." In what way would Dante, Christine, and Shakespeare agree or disagree with Machiavelli's definition and attitude toward "fortune"?

Part III.  Cumulative Question (choose one)

1.  Explain how "Common Era" writers (for this course, Augustine, Dante, Christine, Shakespeare) reflect values of "justice" derived from both the "classical" and the "biblical" (both Hebrew and Christian) traditions.

2.  Although all the writers in this course except Christine fall under the category of "dead white men," explain how the readings for this course provide a critique of points of view some people associate with "dwm," such as male supremacy, racism, and imperialism.