Study Questions

Sonnet

Soliloquy

Comedies, Histories, Tragedies

"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day"

  Questions for 1. Group Discussion and Journal ; 2. Application and Wild Association

    1. This poem is an extended comparison between the speaker's lover and a summer's day. According to the first two lines, how is the speaker's lover UNLIKE a summer's day?
    2. Lines three through eight point out a number of negative characteristics of summer. Identify them.
    3. Lines nine through fourteen offer a view of the lover's many contrasts with nature. How is she better than a summer's day?
    4. What will keep her young forever? What does this poem suggest about the value of art?
    5. Identify the metaphors, personification, and hyperbole in this sonnet. 
    6. Try to feel and describe the effects pf spondaic (double stress) rhythm in line 3, as opposed to the predominantly iambic rhythm in other lines, esp. ll. 4, 7-8 and 13-14..

2. Application and Wild Association
 

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"That Time of Year Thou Mayest in Me Behold"

Questions for 1. Group Discussion and Journal

1. logical structure The three quartrains repeat the words "in me" ("in me behold"; "In me thou see'st"; "In me thou see'st"), and the final couplet carries this idea ("This thou perceiv'st") to a conclusion (which makes thy love more strong...").  What does the listener see in the speaker, that makes the former loves the latter more? 
--If the final couplet presents a kind of carpe diem argument, how is this poem different from a typical carpe diem poem? 

2. metaphor and imagery

      • Metaphors
    1. In the first quatrain, what season of the year does the speaker compare himself to? Is the speaker old or young? How does the speaker feel about growing old?
    2. In the second quatrain, what time of the day does the speaker compare himself to? How is he like twilight? How is night like "death's second self"?
    3. In the third quatrain the speaker compares himself to the dying of a fire. How is his old age like a "glowing fire"?
    4. In the final couplet the speaker again addesses "thou."  Who is he talking to? What is their relationship? What does he think will be the result of the listener's "perceiving" that his life is nearing its end?

      As you may have found out, what the listener sees in the speaker is aging and the coming death, which is compared to autumn, sunset and dying fire respectively in the three quartrains.  Around each of these metaphors, again, images and metaphors cluster.

      • Clusters of metaphors & images
    5. In each set of images/metaphors, some worth close analysis. How is "Bare ruined choirs"(l. 4) related to autumn trees?  What does "Death's second self" (l. 8) refer to?  Why does fire lie "on the ashes of his youth" (l. 10)? 
    6. Is there anything common among these three sets of images?  (Are there any common images of, say, light or heat in the poem?  Do the images remind us of the past youth, or suggest death, or both?) 
      Do the metaphors of aging--i.e., autumn, sunset and dying fire--suggest any kind of development (clue: in terms of the length of the three phenomena)? 

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Courting sonnet from Romeo and Juliet

  Questions for 1. Group Discussion and Journal; 2. Application and Wild Association
    1. This brief excerpt from the play is a poem by itself. What is the form of this poem? Notice that Romeo speaks the first quatrain, Juliet the second, and they alternate lines in the final six lines.
    2. In the first quatrain Romeo uses religious imagery when describing his relationship to Juliet. Romeo thinks that his hands may have treated Juliet too roughly, so what does he offer to do?
    3. In the second quatrain Juliet continues the religious imagery. How does she respond to Romeo's offer? What would she rather do?
    4. In line 101 Romeo repeats his offer, and in the following line Juliet again politely and teasingly rejects his offer. How does Romeo a third time try to persuade Juliet to kiss him?
    5. What decision do the two lovers make in the final couplet?  Why does Juliet say "You kiss by th'book"?

Readings in Context:

a. Before the sonnet (their first conversation),  Romeo, like Byron in "She Walks in Beauty," compares Juliet to light or jewels at night and describes her as "true beauty," "beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear" (I.5 ll. 43-52  video).  What kind of love (at first sight) is this?  Religious and pure?  Rashful?  Bear in mind that Romeo goes to the ball to find his girlfriend Rosaline, but not Juliet. 

b. The use of religious metaphors, their tryst at night, as well as the fact that their love is forbidden, put Romeo and Juiliet in the tradition of religious and courtly love (Cf. Traditional Concepts of Love) 

 

2. Application and Wild Association

Compare and contrast the ways Romeo courts Juliet in this sonnet with the ways used by  the speaker respectively in Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" and Donne's "The Flea." 

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Soliloquy from Macbeth, Act V Scene V

 
Questions for 1. Group Discussion and Journal; 2. Application and Wild Association
2. Application and Wild Association--Time, Life and Aging

Readings in Context:
We need to read the whole play to understand why for Macbeth life is emptied of significance.  It suffices now to know what before Act five, Macbeth has gone through a rise to power and then a serious downfall, during which he commits one murder after another and goes through some psychological struggles, too.  In other words, his life is an eventful one, but why is it "a tale told by an idiot"?  This is a question for you to keep in mind, but not  to answer now. 

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Comedies, Histories, Tragedies

The Merry Wifves of Windsor

  1. Who are these people? This play is full of in-jokes for those who have read Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V. In these other plays, Sir John Falstaff is the boon companion in trouble-making of the heir to the throne of England, Prince Hal (eventually Henry V). Falstaff is something of a tutor in mischief to the young prince, and almost everyone in England except Jack and his cronies wish that the fat older man would leave the young heir alone. Hal himself operates in a rather ambivalent mental state towards Jack, knowing that he must eventually discard the older man's openly parasitic friendship yet also appreciating Falstaff for the elements of unpredictability and carnival which he introduces into the younger man's life. Shakespeare and most audiences operate in similar modes towards Jack. Falstaff's cronies are also in the other plays. Pistol is noteworthy for his melodramatic and often incomprehensible rantings. By the beginning of Henry V, he will have married Mistress Quickly, who appears as Falstaff's sometime-mistress in the two Henry IV plays, wherein she is also running a brothel. Nym will be outraged by this marriage, as he too has designs upon the lady; he and Pistol will squabble in the opening scenes of that play. Bardolph of the red face will appear in Henry V as the lousy thief which he is accused of being in Merry Wives; indeed, he will be caught stealing in a time of martial law and be executed by Hal, in spite of old acquaintance. In Henry IV, Part Two, Shallow will be just as much of a provincial idiot as he appears in this play, if not more stupid.
  2. This play is full of models of gentlemanliness. Act one, scene one opens with Shallow demanding his rights as a gentleman. In his opinion, what makes him a gentleman? How does he think a gentleman behaves? Notice how in this scene Shallow's claim is played off against those of Sir Hugh Evans and Slender. What makes these two men "gentle"? All three characters are concerned with the behavior of Sir John Falstaff. How does Falstaff uphold the standards of gentlemanly behavior? Does he uphold these standards? What does his knighthood enable Jack to do in his own mind? How is this played off against the setting of the play in Windsor--i.e. what is Windsor known for in this play?
  3. Why is Shallow angry at Falstaff in 1,1? What has Falstaff done to him? Think about what the wives do to Falstaff in act 5. How are the two events related?
  4. Late in 1,1, Shallow tries to talk to Slender about arranging a match between Slender and Ann Page. Note Slender's strange, evasive reaction. Why is Slender being so coy and bashful? Who normally would be expected to respond in this way to a proposed marriage? What does Slender's name suggest about his masculine attributes? How does Slender try to impress Ann later in this scene?
  5. Look at the relationships between masters and servants in this play. How does Falstaff treat his servants? How does Slender? Dr. Caius? This relationship is comparable (but not exactly equal) in contemporary terms with the husband-wife relationship. How do the husbands treat their wives? How does Dr. Caius treat his mistress? What is Shakespeare saying about the respective duties of masters and servants, and husbands and wives?
  6. Who are all the suitors of Ann Page? Who is the primary supporter of each candidate? How do they all compare as potential husbands for her? Whom does the lady prefer? Is he the best choice? Who should arrange her marriage? Who tries to arrange it? Why?
  7. How do Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford react to Falstaff's "love letter"? What does this tell you about them? What does Falstaff offer them? What do they do to him when he first meets them? Why is this appropriate? What happens to him the second time? Why is this also appropriate? And the third time?
  8. What would happen if Frank Ford actually encountered Falstaff with his wife at either of her first two attempted meetings with Falstaff? What does this tell us about how a husband should deal with his wife? Notice how the other men in the play regard Ford's jealousy. How do they talk about his behavior towards his wife? What is Ford's plan when he goes to Falstaff in disguise as Brook? Is this a wise plan?
  9. Note how Dr. Caius is often associated with the body (which he treats as a physician), while Sir Hugh, as a clergyman, is associated with the soul. What does it mean when the two are tricked into a fight in Act 3? Note that this is the center, both physically and thematically, in a five act play. Why put this fight here? Do they even want to fight? How do they settle their problems? How does this compare to the plot about the wives and Falstaff?
  10. Who is the Host and what is he doing in this play?
  11. Why are there so many stolen horses in this play? What does the horse represent in the symbolism of this age? (Hint: remember Redcross Knight's horse in The Faerie Queene? No? How about Plato's horses in the Phaedrus? No? Then you're on your own!)
  12. What is the ruse played on Falstaff in Act 5? Fairies generally punish people in mild ways for harmless but inappropriate behavior--Cf. Lyly's Endimion, Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, and Jonson's The Alchemist--but these are phony fairies. Why? Why not use real ones? How does the ruse with all the phony Ann Pages dressed as fairies relate to the trick played on Falstaff here? Whom do Slender and Caius get when they unmask their Anns? Why? Why is this appropriate for each of them? Why is it especially interesting in a sixteenth-century, English play anyway?

    from http://www.jetlink.net/~massij/wssq/mwives.html

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Much Ado About Nothing

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Twelfth Night

  1. Disguises are common in this play, even occurring where they are not necessary--consider Feste disguise when Malvolio cannot even see him (Act IV). Who wears disguises and when? What purposes do these disguises serve? How do they relate to each other?
  2. Malvolio humiliates himself publicly long before he assumes his disguise as allegedly requested by Olivia. What personality trait(s) are the source of his vulnerability to this kind of joke? How do the other characters see themselves? How well do they understand their own motives?
  3. What is the purpose of the clown Feste in this play? Why does Shakespeare use a fool? What does folly represent in this world? What is foolish about each character and how do we respond as audience members to these different types of foolishness?
  4. How does Sir Toby differ from Feste? How does Sir Andrew differ from them both?
  5. What does Orsino opening speech have to do with the play?
  6. This play has several elements in common with other plays which we will read in this course--disguising, a fool, a disguised woman, madness, self-absorption, among many others. Keep track of these traits and watch for them as we progress through this course. How do they appear here in a comedy, as opposed to their representations in tragedy or in romance?

From J.M. Massi's study questions for the play

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1 Henry IV

Study questions about the play from JM. Massi's page.

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Henry V

  1. Most of the criticism of this play centers on whether Hal has become a good person or a bad person. Consider his unjust war on France along with his ability to save the English from a destructive civil war. Is Hal good or bad? Does he have the right to perpetrate the actions of this play? 
  2. Consider the French in this play. Are they good or bad? Weak or strong? Do they deserve what they get? 
  3. Consider Kate's English language lesson at III, iv. Why does she not just hire an interpretor? 
  4. Why does Shakespeare include the representatives of all the British Commonwealth countries--Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England--in this play? 
  5. Why does Falstaff die offstage? Why are the tavern gang still roaming around in this play? 
  6. What is the function of the Chorus in this play? Is the Chorus honest? 
  7. Shakespeare's audience would know that Hal died a few years after Agincourt and his son lost most of the French holdings. How does this knowledge affect one's perceptions of the play? 
  8. Why does Hal engage in so much playacting in this play? What is the purpose of the trick with the gloves (gages)?

from http://www.jetlink.net/~massij/wssq/h5.html

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Hamlet

  1. There are a million questions relevant to this play. I have selected my favorites. Don't be fooled into thinking that these represent the only important issues in this play. "If we had world enough and time..." Images to watch: poison, infection, revenge, secrecy, the arras, madness.
  2. Consider the ghost. Should Hamlet believe him? Is he really Hamlet's dad? How does your belief in him affect your reading of the play? 
  3. Is there really a ghost at all? Even if an actor portrays him (as is usually done), how do you know that he is really therefor Hamlet? Does the ghost ask Hamlet to do anything that has not already occurred to Hamlet? Is Hamlet sane? Are we watching/reading real, historical events or simply a play within Hamlet's mind? 
  4. What exactly does the ghost order Hamlet to do? How well does Hamlet follow orders? 
  5. Compare the 3 men of action--Hamlet, Laertes, Fortinbras--of this play. How successful is action versus contemplation in this play? 
  6. Consider Hamlet's "friends"--Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
  7. Consider the Claudius-Gertrude relationship. Did Gertrude know of Claudius' murder of her first husband? What (if anything) is Gertrude guilty of in the play?
  8. Watch out for the enormous amount of play-acting within the play. Many characters are forced to put on an act. How does all of this relate to the play-within-a-play in Act III? Why is this mini-play at the center (literally) of Hamlet? 
  9. In the performance of the play-within-the-play, Hamlet assumes that a guilty man, seeing his guilt enacted before him in a drama, will be forced to somehow display his guilt. Is this reasonable? This happens to be a belief of many of the Puritan drama critics of Shakespeare's age; they fear that the sight of evil on a stage will force the audience to go out and commit evil. The playwrights responded by saying that the sight of goodness would cause goodness and the sight of evil would shame a person into confessing his crime. What does Shakespeare seem to think? 
  10. $1,000,000. Question--What, exactly, is rotten in the state of Denmark? 
  11. How does Ophelia relate to Hamlet? What is her purpose in the play? Does he really ever love her? 

    from http://www.jetlink.net/~massij/wssq/hamlet.html

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Shakespeare, 16th century the English Renaissance dramatist, actor, and poet, study questions, Introduction to Literature (Spring, 1999)