Essay questions for groups 2, 3 and 4.

Theatre

Answer on one of the following questions. Students must submit an essay of between 1,500 and 2,000 words. Submission deadlines can be found in the freshman student handbook.

Q1. In Oedipus the King can we attribute any fault to the central characters for their actions or are they entirely blameless and merely victims of the gods’ play?

Q2. “What’s Hecuba to him, or he to her,
That he should weep for her?” (Ham. 2.2.494-5)
Discuss the idea of role-playing in Hamlet.

Q3. “Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in’t?” (Ham. 3.2.226)
Discuss the significance of the play-within-the-play in Hamlet.

Q4. Discuss Iago’s motivations in Othello. Does he deserve any sympathy for the actions he takes? Is he merely an opportunist attempting to advance his career or are his actions entirely malevolent?

Q5. Discuss Miller’s challenge to the notion of heroic action in Death of a Salesman.

Q6. Discuss Synge’s depiction of an Irish rural community in Playboy of the Western World. Does Synge use irony to challenge stereotyping?

Q7. In Endgame, how does Beckett satirise the ritualistic element of contemporary society?

Q8. In any two plays from Michaelmas Term, discuss the idea of unrequited love.

Q9. Discuss genre in relation to any three texts from the course and address and defend why each play adheres to such classification.

Q10. Classifying drama into genres over-simplifies and demerits the power of that drama. Discuss.

Rory Loughnane
loughnrv@tcd.ie