For Thursday: King Lear, Acts 4-5 & In-Class Response (Paper #3!)

NOTE: See the revised course schedule below if you didn't get it in class on Tuesday, or lost it subsequently. We're changing a few things around to give us more time to read The Tempest, our last play, in the closing weeks. I abolished Paper #3 and made it a simple in-class response on Thursday, which you should get full points for--just remember to bring your book! Also, both Paper #2 and #3 (the in-class writing) have been reduced to 10 pts. each, since I made them both shorter, easier assignments. That makes the final assignment worth 30 pts, but it's not designed to be a killer assignment by any means. I think you'll enjoy it! I plan to assign it to you next week, so stay tuned...

Here are some idease to consider for the final acts:

* How do the characters' views of fate and the gods change as the play goes on? Lear, Gloucester, Kent, and all the old order seem to believe implictly in fate, revenge, and the forces of Juno. Do they still? Especially given that this is a tragedy and ends tragically!

* How do you read the scene where Edgar pretends to lead his father over the edge of a cliff? Is this a big joke? Is it a moment of comedy in the tragedy? Or is it meant to be deeply moving?

* What is Edmund's endgame in act 5, especially since he's seducing both sisters and playing them off of each other? IS this his plan, or is he falling victim to his own schemes and self-destruction? Has he become Macbeth at last?

* What happens to the Fool after Act 3, since he never returns to the play? Also, why does Cordelia return to the play only after the Fool vanishes? Does she play the role of the Fool for Lear (sort of like Caroline plays the role of wife/daughter for her father in A Thousand Acres?). 

* By the end of the play, who are the villains? Who are the heroes? Who is redeemed? Who is damned? Are any of these questions easy to answer? 

(RE) REVISED COURSE SCHEDULE FOR THE LAST WEEKS

NOVEMBER

T 5      Film Continued / Paper #2 due by 5pm

R 7      Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 1

 

T 12    Shakespeare, King Lear, Acts 2-3

R 14    Shakespeare, King Lear, Act 4-5 (In-Class Response is Paper #3!)

 

T 19    Wells, William Shakespeare, Chapters 6 & 8

R 21    Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 1

 

T 26    Shakespeare, The Tempest, Acts 2-3

R 28    THANKSGIVING BREAK

 

DECEMBER

T 3      Shakespeare, The Tempest, Acts 4-5

R 5      Class Wrap-Up

 

FINAL EXAM PRESENTATIONS: TBA