Responses
Response questions were posed on a weekly basis to the USM Rebels class. By clicking around on this page, you can read some interesting notions about Shakespeare's Hamlet (H1, H2, H3), Milton's Paradise Lost (M1), Blake's Proverbs of Hell (B1), Matthew Lewis's The Monk (L1, L2), Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (C1), and Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (BR1, BR2, BR3).
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What's
most interesting to you about the way the second generation replays similar
situations in Wuthering Heights? Does the second generation convincingly
resolve a problem from the first generation? To tackle those broad questions
in a focused way, concentrate on a specific detail from the later narrative
(Chapters 18 - 34) that echoes and revises a specific detail from the
first generation.
Sample responses:
1,
2, 3,
4
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Response question BR 2 -
Heathcliff's an orphan - but, as a character, how closely is he related to the Byronic hero? Make specific connections between the Byron reading and WH to consider how Bronte might be revising an element of Byron's poems.
Sample responses:
1,
2, 3,
4,
5,
6
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Based on what you're read so far of Wuthering Heights (you should be through chapter 10 by Monday), what is most interesting to you about the way Bronte frames the story of Heathcliff and Catherine? In your answer, compare her framing to Coleridge's in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
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Response
question C1
The Mariner blesses those slimy watersnakes,
the Albatross drops off his neck - so why doesn't the Rime end
after Part 4? In your answer, focus on a detail in the last half of Coleridge's
poem that tellingly echoes and revises a detail from Part 1, 2, 3, or
4.
Sample responses:
1,
2,
3,
4
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The Monk ping-pongs back and forth between the Ambrosio-Antonia story and the Raymond-Agnes story. Identify a specific parallel (a similar action, character, setting, or effect) that runs between these two plotlines - the more surprising, the better.
Think about how this parallel serves to reveal interesting similarities or differences between the two plotlines. What subtle message might it be suggesting about Ambrosio’s plunge into sin?
Sample responses: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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Looking back on The Monk, what was the most damnable decision Ambrosio made? Quote it, and then consider it in the light of his punishment in the final chapter of the novel. In what interesting ways is that punishment appropriate or inappropriate?
Sample responses: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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Scan the Proverbs of Hell in MHH.
Choose one that echoes a theme or image in Hamlet, and write
a paragraph exploring that echo. How might Blake be revising Hamlet?
Choose another proverb that echoes a theme or image in Milton's PL
1, and write a second paragraph on that echo.
Sample responses:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5
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Concentrate on one interesting simile in PLI. Does it undermine Satan or ironically support him? How might this simile modify your opinion of his rebellion?
Sample responses: 1,
2,
3,
4
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Pol. [Aside] Though this be madness, yet there is method in't. (II.ii.201)
Pick a line of Hamlet's in Act II that seems crazy but actually has an underlying purpose. What is that purpose? Is it an effective way for Hamlet to rebel? Be as specific as possible.
Sample
responses : 1,
2,
3
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Read Gertrude’s description of Ophelia’s death carefully (IV.vii.164-182). What is most surprising to you about this speech? How does Ophelia’s suicidal madness reflect on Hamlet’s performance of madness? Make sure you use quoted details from the play in your answer.
Sample
responses (excerpts indicated by ellipses...):
1,
2,
3,
4,
5
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What to you is the most interesting change in Hamlet in Act V? To answer that, find a quote or detail in Act V that mirrors one from earlier in the play.
Sample
responses: 1,
2,
3,
4
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