PREVIEW OF FINAL EXAMINATION
English Renaissance Drama
You must deal with each of these plays in the course of this exam. Be sure to take this requirement into account as you plan your answers.
Volpone, The Duchess of Malfi, The Changeling, A New Way to Pay Old Debts
Part I. Essay question — choose one (80 minutes–60 points)
In your answer, write a careful introduction that explains what your focus will be and leads up to a strong thesis. Give at least two examples from each play as evidence for your argument.
A. Disintegrating family ties are central to the plots of Volpone, The Duchess of Malfi, The Changeling, and A New Way to Pay Old Debts. Compare and contrast the nature and significance of impaired kinship bonds in at least two of these plays.
OR
B. Criminal behavior in Volpone, The Duchess of Malfi, The Changeling, and A New Way to Pay Old Debts puts personal relationships and the civic institutions that are supposed to regulate them at risk. Compare and contrast the kinds of crime that occur in at least two of these plays, concentrating on their nature and significance.
Part II. Stage Directions– choose two (20 minutes–10 points each)
On the relatively bare stage of the Tudor and Stuart theaters, without any of the technical resources that today’s audiences take for granted, playwrights still managed to create striking effects. In a full paragraph for each response, indicate when and where the moments you select occur and explain how their theatrical impact contributes to the meaning of the play.
Part III. Names—choose two (20 minutes—10 points each)
Whether the plays are explicitly allegorical or not, English Renaissance drama abounds in carefully chosen character names. In a full paragraph for each response, identify author and play and then explain the significance of the names you select for comment.
