Cargando....
|
Mantén pulsado para arrastrar. |
|||
|
Haz clic aquí para cerrar |
|||
Pregunta 1 Informe
Read the passage and answer the question
Here in the station it is in no way different save that the city is busy in its snow. But the old men cling to their seats as though they were symbolic and could not be given up. Now and then they sleep, their grey old heads resting with painful awkwardness on the backs of the benches
Also they are not at rest. For an hour they may sleep in the gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged. who have to walk in the night. Then a policeman comes by on his rounds and nudges them upright.
''You can't sleep here'', he growls.
A strange ritual then begins. An old man is difficult to wake. One man after a slight lurch, does not move at all, droning centre of the hive rather than in some lonely room fulfilled.
The passage conveys a mood of
Detalles de la respuesta
The mood conveyed in the passage is despair. The description of the old men clinging to their seats, sleeping with painful awkwardness, and being nudged upright by the policeman, all evoke a sense of hopelessness and desperation. The use of words such as "ill-nourished" and "aged" also contribute to this mood. The passage paints a bleak picture of the situation of the old men and their struggle to find a place to rest.
Pregunta 2 Informe
The central idea of a story or a poem is the
Detalles de la respuesta
The central idea of a story or a poem is the theme. It refers to the underlying message or meaning conveyed by the author through the characters, plot, setting, and other literary elements. The theme can be a universal truth, a lesson about life, or a commentary on society, among other things. It is what gives the work its depth and significance beyond the surface level plot.
Pregunta 3 Informe
''The strong gongs groaming as the guns born far'' illustrates
Detalles de la respuesta
The phrase "The strong gongs groaning as the guns born far" illustrates onomatopoeia, which is the use of words that imitate the sound they represent. In this case, the words "gongs" and "groaning" imitate the sound of bells ringing, and the word "guns" imitates the sound of explosions. The use of onomatopoeia in this line helps to create a vivid auditory image of a battle, adding to the overall sensory experience of the poem.
Pregunta 4 Informe
Read the passage and answer the question
Here in the station it is in no way different save that the city is busy in its snow. But the old men cling to their seats as though they were symbolic and could not be given up. Now and then they sleep, their grey old heads resting with painful awkwardness on the backs of the benches
Also they are not at rest. For an hour they may sleep in the gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged. who have to walk in the night. Then a policeman comes by on his rounds and nudges them upright.
''You can't sleep here'', he growls.
A strange ritual then begins. An old man is difficult to wake. One man after a slight lurch, does not move at all, droning centre of the hive rather than in some lonely room fulfilled.
''droning'' and ''have'' illustrate
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 5 Informe
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
Read the extract and answer the question
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation.
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done.
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
(Act 1, Scene two, Lines 51 -57)
The speaker intends to return to
Detalles de la respuesta
The speaker in the extract intends to return to France. This is evident from the line "Yet now, I must confess, that duty done. My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France". The speaker had come to Denmark willingly to show his duty in the coronation but now wishes to return to France, seeking the king's gracious leave and pardon.
Pregunta 6 Informe
Pick the odd item out of the options listed
Detalles de la respuesta
The odd item out is "Rhythm". Euphemism, oxymoron, and hyperbole are all figures of speech, which are used in literature and everyday language to create certain effects. Euphemism is a way of expressing something unpleasant or offensive in a more polite or indirect way. Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms are combined for effect. Hyperbole is a figure of speech that involves exaggeration for emphasis or effect. On the other hand, rhythm is a musical term that refers to the pattern of beats or accents in a piece of music, and it is not a figure of speech.
Pregunta 7 Informe
Read the poem and answer the question
''No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
from this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell''
The rhyming pattern of the lines is
Detalles de la respuesta
The rhyming pattern of the lines is "abab". This means that the last word of the first and third line rhymes, and the last word of the second and fourth line rhymes. In this poem, "dead" and "fled" rhyme, as do "bell" and "dwell".
Pregunta 8 Informe
Read the passage and answer the question
Here in the station it is in no way different save that the city is busy in its snow. But the old men cling to their seats as though they were symbolic and could not be given up. Now and then they sleep, their grey old heads resting with painful awkwardness on the backs of the benches
Also they are not at rest. For an hour they may sleep in the gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged. who have to walk in the night. Then a policeman comes by on his rounds and nudges them upright.
''You can't sleep here'', he growls.
A strange ritual then begins. An old man is difficult to wake. One man after a slight lurch, does not move at all, droning centre of the hive rather than in some lonely room fulfilled.
''.... on the backs of the benches'' illustrates
Detalles de la respuesta
The phrase "on the backs of the benches" illustrates personification. This is because personification is the attribution of human qualities to non-human things. In this context, the benches are given the human quality of having a back, which allows the old men to rest their heads on them.
Pregunta 9 Informe
Read the poem and answer the question
''No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
from this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell''
The mood of the poet is one of
Detalles de la respuesta
The mood of the poet is melancholy. The speaker is discussing his death, and the words "mourn," "surly," "sullen," "warning," "vile," and "worms" all contribute to a sense of sadness and gloom.
Pregunta 10 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
And can you, by no drift of circumstance,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet.
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
(Act 111, scene one line, 1-4)
The speaker is
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 11 Informe
''My bounty is as boundless as the sea
My love as deep'' The above lines illustrate
Detalles de la respuesta
The above lines illustrate hyperbole. Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect. In this case, the speaker is using hyperbole to exaggerate the boundlessness of their love by comparing it to the vastness of the sea.
Pregunta 12 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me;
That may be any good thing to be grace to me,
Speak to me;
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or if thou has uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death
Speak of it:
(Act 1 scene one, lines 129-139)
The speaker's mood is one of
Detalles de la respuesta
The speaker's mood is one of anxiety. He is desperate for any information that may be useful to him, even asking a ghost to speak of any knowledge it may have about the country's fate. The urgency in his tone suggests a feeling of anxiety.
Pregunta 13 Informe
Read the poem and answer the question
''No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
from this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell''
The poet uses
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 14 Informe
The recurrence of rhythmic pattern of stress in a poem is
Detalles de la respuesta
The recurrence of a rhythmic pattern of stress in a poem is called "metre". Metre is a musical term that refers to the pattern of beats in a line of poetry. It is created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. The pattern can be regular or irregular, and different types of metre have different names, such as iambic pentameter or trochaic tetrameter. The metre of a poem can greatly affect its mood, tone, and overall impact on the reader.
Pregunta 15 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
And can you, by no drift of circumstance,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet.
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
(Act 111, scene one line, 1-4)
The character being addressed are
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 16 Informe
The major distinctive feature of drama is
Detalles de la respuesta
The major distinctive feature of drama is dialogue. Dialogue is the spoken interaction between characters on stage, and it is what moves the story forward. Unlike other forms of literature, such as prose or poetry, drama is meant to be performed and heard, rather than read. Therefore, dialogue is essential for conveying the characters' emotions, motivations, and relationships, as well as the plot and themes of the play. While setting and plot are important elements of drama, it is through the dialogue that the characters and their conflicts come to life on stage. Epilogue, on the other hand, is a concluding section that follows the main body of a literary work, and it is not a distinctive feature of drama.
Pregunta 17 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to what thy almost blunted purpose
But, look, amazement as thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
(Act 111, scene four, lines 107 -110)
''fighting soul'' implies
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 18 Informe
A poem written in praise of someone or something is
Detalles de la respuesta
An ode is a poem written in praise of someone or something. It is a type of lyrical poetry that expresses deep admiration or reverence for its subject. An ode usually has a complex structure and may contain stanzas of varying lengths and rhyme schemes. It often celebrates the beauty, power, or significance of its subject and is characterized by a highly elevated and formal tone.
Pregunta 19 Informe
The major genres of Literature are
Detalles de la respuesta
The major genres of Literature are Poetry, Drama, and Prose. 1. Poetry is a form of literary art that uses language to evoke emotions and express ideas, often with a musical quality. Poems can be structured in many ways, such as rhyme, meter, or free verse. 2. Drama is a form of literature that is intended to be performed on stage in front of an audience. It includes plays, musicals, and operas, and often explores complex themes and issues through dialogue and action. 3. Prose refers to any written or spoken language that is not poetry or drama, and includes many forms such as novels, short stories, essays, and biographies. Prose typically follows a more straightforward narrative structure and can be either fiction or non-fiction. These three genres have different forms and techniques for expressing ideas and emotions, and are essential in understanding and appreciating literature.
Pregunta 20 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me;
That may be any good thing to be grace to me,
Speak to me;
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or if thou has uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death
Speak of it:
(Act 1 scene one, lines 129-139)
The character being addressed is
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 21 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
And can you, by no drift of circumstance,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet.
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
(Act 111, scene one line, 1-4)
The response given to this speech indicates that the attempt was
Detalles de la respuesta
Based on the given excerpt, the attempt made to get information from the person referred to was not successful. The speaker seems to be frustrated by the situation and is asking if there is any way to get information about the person's behavior, which is causing disturbance and confusion. The fact that the question is being asked suggests that the attempts made so far have not been successful.
Pregunta 22 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
And can you, by no drift of circumstance,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet.
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
(Act 111, scene one line, 1-4)
The enquiry is about
Detalles de la respuesta
The enquiry is about Hamlet. The speaker is asking whether there is any way to find out from Hamlet himself why he is behaving in such a confused and disturbed manner, which is causing great discomfort to himself and others. The use of phrases like "turbulent and dangerous lunacy" suggests that the speaker is deeply concerned about Hamlet's mental state and is seeking answers to help him.
Pregunta 23 Informe
Unrhymed iambic pentametre lines illustrate
Detalles de la respuesta
Unrhymed iambic pentameter lines illustrate blank verse. Blank verse is a type of poetry that consists of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. This means that each line has ten syllables with a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (iambic). Blank verse is often used in Shakespeare's plays and is sometimes referred to as "Shakespearean verse." It is commonly used in dramatic and epic poetry and provides a natural and rhythmic flow to the language without the constraints of rhyme.
Pregunta 24 Informe
The timing and location of a literary work is
Detalles de la respuesta
The timing and location of a literary work is known as the setting. Setting refers to the time, place, and social environment in which the events of a story take place. It can include physical surroundings, historical time period, cultural context, and even the weather. Setting is important because it can create a sense of atmosphere, provide context for the characters' actions and motivations, and establish the mood or tone of the story.
Pregunta 25 Informe
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the poem and answer the question
What a morning!
The sound of guns was everywhere
The city was trapped,
I heave a mournful sigh-
Rebels!
Boom Boom Boom!
The heart pants at the sound of the blast
Lord! When will all this end?
This is the fourth day.
You say you are free
Oh no, you are not
You are trapped-
A prisoner in your own home.
The song is everywhere.
What next?
Food - water - a hiding place
Far from the sound of the gun.
''Boom Boom Boom'' is an example of
Detalles de la respuesta
"Boom Boom Boom" is an example of onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which words imitate the sounds they describe. In this poem, the phrase "Boom Boom Boom" imitates the sound of gunfire, creating a more vivid and immersive reading experience for the reader.
Pregunta 26 Informe
The limerick
Detalles de la respuesta
A limerick is a form of poetry that is always light and humorous. It consists of five lines and follows a strict rhyming pattern, with the first, second, and fifth lines rhyming with each other, and the third and fourth lines rhyming with each other. Limericks are often nonsensical, and they frequently use wordplay and puns to create humor. They do not have a serious subject matter, and they do not use lofty language.
Pregunta 27 Informe
''But at my back I always hear
Time's winged chariot hurrying near'' illustrates
Detalles de la respuesta
The lines "But at my back I always hear / Time's winged chariot hurrying near" illustrates a metaphor. The speaker is comparing time to a chariot with wings, suggesting that time is moving quickly and relentlessly, and it is catching up with the speaker from behind. The metaphor helps to convey a sense of urgency and the inevitability of the passing of time.
Pregunta 28 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me;
That may be any good thing to be grace to me,
Speak to me;
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or if thou has uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death
Speak of it:
(Act 1 scene one, lines 129-139)
The speaker is
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 29 Informe
''Poetry gets bored of being alone. It wants to go outdoors to chew on the winds''
The dominant figure of speech in the above lines is
Detalles de la respuesta
The dominant figure of speech in the above lines is personification. Personification is a figure of speech in which human qualities are attributed to non-human entities or objects. In the given lines, poetry is personified as wanting to go outdoors and chew on the winds, which is a human characteristic, and thus, it is an example of personification.
Pregunta 30 Informe
Pick the odd item out of the options listed
Detalles de la respuesta
The odd item out is "a man for all seasons". The other three options relate to family, parenting, and death, while "a man for all seasons" is the title of a play by Robert Bolt, and does not have a direct connection to these themes.
Pregunta 31 Informe
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the poem and answer the question
What a morning!
The sound of guns was everywhere
The city was trapped,
I heave a mournful sigh-
Rebels!
Boom Boom Boom!
The heart pants at the sound of the blast
Lord! When will all this end?
This is the fourth day.
You say you are free
Oh no, you are not
You are trapped-
A prisoner in your own home.
The song is everywhere.
What next?
Food - water - a hiding place
Far from the sound of the gun.
The theme of the poem is
Detalles de la respuesta
The theme of the poem is war. The poem describes the sounds of guns and blasts that were heard everywhere, and how the city was trapped by rebels. The persona in the poem expresses sadness and worry about the situation, and feels like a prisoner in their own home. The poem talks about the need for food, water, and a hiding place far from the sound of the gun, indicating the danger and violence of war.
Pregunta 32 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to what thy almost blunted purpose
But, look, amazement as thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
(Act 111, scene four, lines 107 -110)
The character being addressed is
Detalles de la respuesta
The character being addressed is Hamlet. This is clear from the context of the excerpt, where the speaker is urging Hamlet to intervene as his mother's conscience is being affected by the play they have just watched. The use of the words "thy almost blunted purpose" further confirms that the speaker is addressing Hamlet, as he is referring to Hamlet's delayed revenge on his father's murderer.
Pregunta 34 Informe
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
Read the extract and answer the question
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation.
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done.
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
(Act 1, Scene two, Lines 51 -57)
The speaker is
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 35 Informe
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
Read the extract and answer the question
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation.
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done.
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
(Act 1, Scene two, Lines 51 -57)
The speaker is addressing
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 36 Informe
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the poem and answer the question
What a morning!
The sound of guns was everywhere
The city was trapped,
I heave a mournful sigh-
Rebels!
Boom Boom Boom!
The heart pants at the sound of the blast
Lord! When will all this end?
This is the fourth day.
You say you are free
Oh no, you are not
You are trapped-
A prisoner in your own home.
The song is everywhere.
What next?
Food - water - a hiding place
Far from the sound of the gun.
The second stanza refers to
Detalles de la respuesta
The second stanza refers to the uncertainty of life. The sound of guns and the blasts make the heart pant at the uncertain future. The poet wonders when all this chaos and violence will come to an end. The phrase "This is the fourth day" suggests that the violence has been going on for some time, which contributes to the sense of uncertainty and insecurity. The stanza ends with the speaker acknowledging that they are not free, but rather trapped in their own home, and seeking basic necessities such as food, water, and a hiding place.
Pregunta 37 Informe
Read the passage and answer the question
Here in the station it is in no way different save that the city is busy in its snow. But the old men cling to their seats as though they were symbolic and could not be given up. Now and then they sleep, their grey old heads resting with painful awkwardness on the backs of the benches
Also they are not at rest. For an hour they may sleep in the gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged. who have to walk in the night. Then a policeman comes by on his rounds and nudges them upright.
''You can't sleep here'', he growls.
A strange ritual then begins. An old man is difficult to wake. One man after a slight lurch, does not move at all, droning centre of the hive rather than in some lonely room fulfilled.
'',....gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged....'' infers
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 38 Informe
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the poem and answer the question
What a morning!
The sound of guns was everywhere
The city was trapped,
I heave a mournful sigh-
Rebels!
Boom Boom Boom!
The heart pants at the sound of the blast
Lord! When will all this end?
This is the fourth day.
You say you are free
Oh no, you are not
You are trapped-
A prisoner in your own home.
The song is everywhere.
What next?
Food - water - a hiding place
Far from the sound of the gun.
The atmosphere of the poem implies
Detalles de la respuesta
The atmosphere of the poem implies danger and confusion. The use of words such as "sound of guns," "trapped," "rebels," "blast," and "prisoner" create a sense of danger and unease. The repetition of "Boom Boom Boom" further emphasizes the chaos and violence. The speaker's mournful sigh and the question "Lord! When will all this end?" suggest a feeling of hopelessness and despair. Overall, the poem portrays a disturbing and tense atmosphere of a city caught up in conflict and violence.
Pregunta 39 Informe
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
Read the extract and answer the question
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to what thy almost blunted purpose
But, look, amazement as thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
(Act 111, scene four, lines 107 -110)
The speaker is
Detalles de la respuesta
The speaker is the Ghost. In this passage, the Ghost is reminding Hamlet about his purpose for revenge and urging him to focus on it. The Ghost then directs Hamlet's attention to his mother's distress, asking him to intervene and prevent her from feeling guilty.
Pregunta 40 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to what thy almost blunted purpose
But, look, amazement as thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
(Act 111, scene four, lines 107 -110)
''blunted purpose'' implies
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 41 Informe
A short introductory speech delivered as part of a play is called
Detalles de la respuesta
A short introductory speech delivered as part of a play is called a "prologue". The prologue is typically spoken by a character called the "chorus" at the beginning of the play, and it serves to set the scene, provide some background information, and introduce the major themes or conflicts that will be explored in the play. The prologue can also help to establish the tone of the play and engage the audience's attention from the start.
Pregunta 42 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
And can you, by no drift of circumstance,
Get from him why he puts on this confusion,
Grating so harshly all his days of quiet.
With turbulent and dangerous lunacy?
(Act 111, scene one line, 1-4)
The character being discussed is
Detalles de la respuesta
The character being discussed is Hamlet. The speaker is asking if there is any way to find out why Hamlet is behaving in a confused and disturbed manner, and if there are any specific reasons behind his recent erratic behavior.
Pregunta 43 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
Do not forget: this visitation
Is but to what thy almost blunted purpose
But, look, amazement as thy mother sits:
O, step between her and her fighting soul:
(Act 111, scene four, lines 107 -110)
The speech is made in the
Detalles de la respuesta
The speech is made in the Queen's closet. In the lines preceding the given extract, Hamlet has just seen his father's ghost and is following it to speak with him, and in the lines following the extract, Hamlet and his mother are discussing his behavior. Therefore, it can be inferred that Hamlet is in his mother's chambers or closet, making the speech to himself or to the ghost.
Pregunta 44 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me;
That may be any good thing to be grace to me,
Speak to me;
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or if thou has uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death
Speak of it:
(Act 1 scene one, lines 129-139)
During the speech,
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 45 Informe
Read the extract and answer the question
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice,
Speak to me;
That may be any good thing to be grace to me,
Speak to me;
If thou art privy to thy country's fate,
Which, happily, foreknowing may avoid,
O, speak!
Or if thou has uphoarded in thy life
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth,
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in death
Speak of it:
(Act 1 scene one, lines 129-139)
The speech is made after
Detalles de la respuesta
The speech is made after the appearance of the ghost. The speaker is Hamlet, who is addressing the ghost of his father, asking him to speak if he has any knowledge that could be helpful to Hamlet. Hamlet is urging the ghost to reveal any secrets about his death or the political situation in Denmark. The speech highlights Hamlet's desire for revenge and his desperation for answers.
Pregunta 46 Informe
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
Read the extract and answer the question
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation.
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done.
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
(Act 1, Scene two, Lines 51 -57)
The other character present at the scene is
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 47 Informe
UNSEEN PROSE AND POETRY
Read the poem and answer the question
What a morning!
The sound of guns was everywhere
The city was trapped,
I heave a mournful sigh-
Rebels!
Boom Boom Boom!
The heart pants at the sound of the blast
Lord! When will all this end?
This is the fourth day.
You say you are free
Oh no, you are not
You are trapped-
A prisoner in your own home.
The song is everywhere.
What next?
Food - water - a hiding place
Far from the sound of the gun.
''The song is everywhere'' refers to
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 48 Informe
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet
Read the extract and answer the question
Your leave and favour to return to France;
From whence though willingly I came to Denmark,
To show my duty in your coronation.
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done.
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward France
And bow them to your gracious leave and pardon.
(Act 1, Scene two, Lines 51 -57)
''Duty'' in the extract refers to
Detalles de la respuesta
Pregunta 49 Informe
The elegy
Detalles de la respuesta
The elegy is a type of poem that has a mournful tone and is written to lament the death of a person or a group of people. It is not fixed to a specific pattern of lines, nor is it necessarily set in the countryside. While the elegy may sometimes mention heroic deeds of the person being lamented, it is primarily focused on expressing sorrow and grief.
Pregunta 50 Informe
Read the passage and answer the question
Here in the station it is in no way different save that the city is busy in its snow. But the old men cling to their seats as though they were symbolic and could not be given up. Now and then they sleep, their grey old heads resting with painful awkwardness on the backs of the benches
Also they are not at rest. For an hour they may sleep in the gasping exhaustion of the ill-nourished and aged. who have to walk in the night. Then a policeman comes by on his rounds and nudges them upright.
''You can't sleep here'', he growls.
A strange ritual then begins. An old man is difficult to wake. One man after a slight lurch, does not move at all, droning centre of the hive rather than in some lonely room fulfilled.
This style of writing is
Detalles de la respuesta
The style of writing in this passage is narrative. The author is describing a scene in a train station and telling a story about the old men who are sleeping and being woken up by a policeman. The language used is descriptive and paints a picture in the reader's mind, rather than presenting an argument or explaining a topic (expository) or writing in the form of a letter (epistolary).
Pregunta 51 Informe
AFRICAN POETRY
Examine the poet's use of images in "Songs of Sorrow I and II".
Kofi Awoonor's "Songs of Sorrow (I and II)" is an elegiac lament rooted in Ewe dirge tradition. The poet builds his grief through a sustained sequence of images drawn from nature, the body, death and the traditional world, and these images give the poem its mournful, brooding power.
Images of desolation and isolation
Images of death and decay
Images of obstruction and helplessness
Animal and traditional imagery
Effect of the imagery. These images work cumulatively to dramatise a grief that is both personal and communal. By fusing nature, death and tradition, Awoonor makes the reader feel the weight of a sorrow that seems as vast as the ocean and as inescapable as death itself. The imagery is the very medium through which the elegy achieves its haunting emotional force.
Detalles de la respuesta
Kofi Awoonor's "Songs of Sorrow (I and II)" is an elegiac lament rooted in Ewe dirge tradition. The poet builds his grief through a sustained sequence of images drawn from nature, the body, death and the traditional world, and these images give the poem its mournful, brooding power.
Images of desolation and isolation
Images of death and decay
Images of obstruction and helplessness
Animal and traditional imagery
Effect of the imagery. These images work cumulatively to dramatise a grief that is both personal and communal. By fusing nature, death and tradition, Awoonor makes the reader feel the weight of a sorrow that seems as vast as the ocean and as inescapable as death itself. The imagery is the very medium through which the elegy achieves its haunting emotional force.
Pregunta 52 Informe
NON-AFRICAN POETRY
Examine the theme of rejected love in Marvel's "To His Coy Mistress".
Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is a metaphysical carpe diem poem in which the speaker urges a reluctant lady to yield to his love. The "rejection" in the poem is the mistress's coyness, her holding back of love, and the whole argument is the speaker's response to this rejection: a persuasive attempt to overcome it before time destroys them both.
The situation of rejected love
First movement: if there were endless time
Second movement: the pressure of time and death
Third movement: seize the day
Conclusion. The theme of rejected love shapes the poem as a sustained argument against refusal. The mistress's coyness represents love denied or delayed, and the speaker answers it with wit, hyperbole and the sober reminder of death to persuade her that love postponed is love wasted. Marvell thus turns a lover's rejection into a brilliant meditation on time, desire and mortality.
Detalles de la respuesta
Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" is a metaphysical carpe diem poem in which the speaker urges a reluctant lady to yield to his love. The "rejection" in the poem is the mistress's coyness, her holding back of love, and the whole argument is the speaker's response to this rejection: a persuasive attempt to overcome it before time destroys them both.
The situation of rejected love
First movement: if there were endless time
Second movement: the pressure of time and death
Third movement: seize the day
Conclusion. The theme of rejected love shapes the poem as a sustained argument against refusal. The mistress's coyness represents love denied or delayed, and the speaker answers it with wit, hyperbole and the sober reminder of death to persuade her that love postponed is love wasted. Marvell thus turns a lover's rejection into a brilliant meditation on time, desire and mortality.
Pregunta 53 Informe
NON-AFRICAN PROSE
RICHARD WRIGHT: Black Boy
Comment on the theme of racism in the novel.
Racism is the dominant theme of Richard Wright's Black Boy. The autobiography records how a Black child growing up in the American South is shaped, threatened and almost broken by a society built on white supremacy and racial oppression.
The daily reality of segregation
Violence and fear
Economic oppression
The psychological damage
Richard's response
Conclusion. Through his own experiences, Wright exposes racism as a pervasive evil that starves, terrorises and dehumanises Black people. Black Boy is both a personal story and a searing indictment of racial injustice in America.
Detalles de la respuesta
Racism is the dominant theme of Richard Wright's Black Boy. The autobiography records how a Black child growing up in the American South is shaped, threatened and almost broken by a society built on white supremacy and racial oppression.
The daily reality of segregation
Violence and fear
Economic oppression
The psychological damage
Richard's response
Conclusion. Through his own experiences, Wright exposes racism as a pervasive evil that starves, terrorises and dehumanises Black people. Black Boy is both a personal story and a searing indictment of racial injustice in America.
Pregunta 54 Informe
NON-AFRICAN DRAMA
NIKOLAI GOGOL: The Government Inspector
Compare the characters of the Mayor and Anna Andreyevna.
In Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, the Mayor (Anton Antonovich) and his wife, Anna Andreyevna, are a memorable comic pair. Though husband and wife, and alike in vanity and ambition, they are also sharply contrasted in their chief preoccupations.
Similarities.
Differences.
Dramatic significance. The pairing sharpens Gogol's satire. Through the Mayor, Gogol ridicules official corruption and hypocrisy; through Anna, he mocks social vanity, snobbery and empty affectation. Their shared humiliation at the end, when the deception is exposed, completes the comic and moral lesson.
In conclusion, the Mayor and Anna Andreyevna are alike in vanity, ambition and gullibility, but differ markedly in focus and temperament: he is the cunning, corrupt and fearful official, she the frivolous, flirtatious and status-hungry wife. Together they embody the follies Gogol sets out to satirise.
Detalles de la respuesta
In Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, the Mayor (Anton Antonovich) and his wife, Anna Andreyevna, are a memorable comic pair. Though husband and wife, and alike in vanity and ambition, they are also sharply contrasted in their chief preoccupations.
Similarities.
Differences.
Dramatic significance. The pairing sharpens Gogol's satire. Through the Mayor, Gogol ridicules official corruption and hypocrisy; through Anna, he mocks social vanity, snobbery and empty affectation. Their shared humiliation at the end, when the deception is exposed, completes the comic and moral lesson.
In conclusion, the Mayor and Anna Andreyevna are alike in vanity, ambition and gullibility, but differ markedly in focus and temperament: he is the cunning, corrupt and fearful official, she the frivolous, flirtatious and status-hungry wife. Together they embody the follies Gogol sets out to satirise.
Pregunta 55 Informe
AFRICAN DRAMA
JOE DE GRAFT: Sons and Daughters
Compare and contrast the roles of Hannah and Fosuwa in the play.
Pregunta 56 Informe
AFRICAN DRAMA
ATHOL FUGARD: Sizwe Bansi is Dead.
Discuss the dramatic techniques employed in the play.
Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, created with John Kani and Winston Ntshona, is remarkable for its bold and inventive dramatic techniques. Written to protest against apartheid's pass laws, the play uses a spare, flexible theatrical form that draws the audience directly into its argument.
Direct address to the audience. The play opens with Styles delivering a long monologue straight to the audience about his life at the Ford factory and his photographic studio. This direct address breaks the fourth wall, creating intimacy and turning the spectators into confidants who are made to think about the injustices described.
The play-within-a-play and role-playing. The drama is built on layers of role-playing. The two actors take on multiple characters, shifting swiftly from one to another. Styles becomes the photographer; the man being photographed reveals himself as Sizwe Bansi and then re-enacts, with Buntu, the discovery of the dead man and the assumption of a new identity. This doubling and enactment allow a two-man cast to present a whole world.
Non-linear structure and flashback. The action does not run in simple chronological order. It moves from Styles' studio into a flashback that recounts how Sizwe came to sit for his photograph, then works forward again. This fluid handling of time keeps the focus on ideas rather than mere sequence of events.
Minimal, suggestive staging. The set is deliberately bare, a few props such as a camera, a chair and the crucial passbook. This economy, along with mime and improvisation, forces the audience to use its imagination and concentrates attention on the human situation and its political meaning.
Use of the photograph and storytelling. The taking of the photograph frames the whole play and becomes the device through which Sizwe's story is told. Storytelling, monologue and re-enactment combine so that narration itself becomes dramatic action.
Elements of the epic (Brechtian) theatre. By addressing the audience directly, exposing the mechanics of role-play and inviting judgement rather than mere emotional absorption, the play works in the manner of epic theatre, using the stage as a platform for social protest.
Humour within protest. Fugard mixes comedy, especially in Styles' lively monologue, with serious political comment, so that laughter draws the audience in before the harsh realities of the pass system strike home.
In conclusion, the dramatic techniques of Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, direct address, role-playing, play-within-a-play, flashback, minimal staging and epic-theatre devices, are perfectly suited to its purpose, allowing two actors to mount a powerful and engaging protest against the dehumanising laws of apartheid.
Detalles de la respuesta
Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, created with John Kani and Winston Ntshona, is remarkable for its bold and inventive dramatic techniques. Written to protest against apartheid's pass laws, the play uses a spare, flexible theatrical form that draws the audience directly into its argument.
Direct address to the audience. The play opens with Styles delivering a long monologue straight to the audience about his life at the Ford factory and his photographic studio. This direct address breaks the fourth wall, creating intimacy and turning the spectators into confidants who are made to think about the injustices described.
The play-within-a-play and role-playing. The drama is built on layers of role-playing. The two actors take on multiple characters, shifting swiftly from one to another. Styles becomes the photographer; the man being photographed reveals himself as Sizwe Bansi and then re-enacts, with Buntu, the discovery of the dead man and the assumption of a new identity. This doubling and enactment allow a two-man cast to present a whole world.
Non-linear structure and flashback. The action does not run in simple chronological order. It moves from Styles' studio into a flashback that recounts how Sizwe came to sit for his photograph, then works forward again. This fluid handling of time keeps the focus on ideas rather than mere sequence of events.
Minimal, suggestive staging. The set is deliberately bare, a few props such as a camera, a chair and the crucial passbook. This economy, along with mime and improvisation, forces the audience to use its imagination and concentrates attention on the human situation and its political meaning.
Use of the photograph and storytelling. The taking of the photograph frames the whole play and becomes the device through which Sizwe's story is told. Storytelling, monologue and re-enactment combine so that narration itself becomes dramatic action.
Elements of the epic (Brechtian) theatre. By addressing the audience directly, exposing the mechanics of role-play and inviting judgement rather than mere emotional absorption, the play works in the manner of epic theatre, using the stage as a platform for social protest.
Humour within protest. Fugard mixes comedy, especially in Styles' lively monologue, with serious political comment, so that laughter draws the audience in before the harsh realities of the pass system strike home.
In conclusion, the dramatic techniques of Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, direct address, role-playing, play-within-a-play, flashback, minimal staging and epic-theatre devices, are perfectly suited to its purpose, allowing two actors to mount a powerful and engaging protest against the dehumanising laws of apartheid.
Pregunta 57 Informe
AFRICAN POETRY
Discuss the characteristics and effects of the storm in "An African Thunderstorm".
David Rubadiri's "An African Thunderstorm" describes the approach and arrival of a violent tropical storm over an African village. The poet uses the storm both literally, as a natural phenomenon, and symbolically, so that its characteristics and its effects on people and place carry wider meaning.
Characteristics of the storm
Effects of the storm
Symbolic effect. Many readers see the storm as a symbol of the disruptive, unstoppable arrival of colonialism or of sweeping change in Africa, something powerful, foreign in direction (from the west) and beyond the villagers' control. The mounting tension that ends with "the pelting march of the storm" leaves the reader with a sense of an overwhelming force about to break upon a defenceless community.
Conclusion. Through vivid simile, sound and movement, Rubadiri makes the storm both a real event and a metaphor. Its violent characteristics and the fear and confusion it causes give the poem its dramatic energy and its deeper resonance.
Detalles de la respuesta
David Rubadiri's "An African Thunderstorm" describes the approach and arrival of a violent tropical storm over an African village. The poet uses the storm both literally, as a natural phenomenon, and symbolically, so that its characteristics and its effects on people and place carry wider meaning.
Characteristics of the storm
Effects of the storm
Symbolic effect. Many readers see the storm as a symbol of the disruptive, unstoppable arrival of colonialism or of sweeping change in Africa, something powerful, foreign in direction (from the west) and beyond the villagers' control. The mounting tension that ends with "the pelting march of the storm" leaves the reader with a sense of an overwhelming force about to break upon a defenceless community.
Conclusion. Through vivid simile, sound and movement, Rubadiri makes the storm both a real event and a metaphor. Its violent characteristics and the fear and confusion it causes give the poem its dramatic energy and its deeper resonance.
Pregunta 58 Informe
NON-AFRICAN PROSE
RICHARD WRIGHT: Black Boy
Discuss the relationship between Richard and the members of his family.
Richard Wright's Black Boy is an autobiographical account of the author's harsh childhood and youth in the American South. The relationship between Richard and members of his family is generally strained, marked by hunger, misunderstanding, violence and religious conflict, and this troubled family life shapes his rebellious, independent character.
Richard and his father
Richard and his mother
Richard and his grandmother and relatives
The nature of the relationship
Conclusion. Richard's relationship with his family is largely one of conflict and alienation, softened only by his tender, sorrowful love for his suffering mother. The coldness, violence and religious rigidity he meets at home drive him toward self-reliance and eventual flight to the North, making his family experience central to his development.
Detalles de la respuesta
Richard Wright's Black Boy is an autobiographical account of the author's harsh childhood and youth in the American South. The relationship between Richard and members of his family is generally strained, marked by hunger, misunderstanding, violence and religious conflict, and this troubled family life shapes his rebellious, independent character.
Richard and his father
Richard and his mother
Richard and his grandmother and relatives
The nature of the relationship
Conclusion. Richard's relationship with his family is largely one of conflict and alienation, softened only by his tender, sorrowful love for his suffering mother. The coldness, violence and religious rigidity he meets at home drive him toward self-reliance and eventual flight to the North, making his family experience central to his development.
Pregunta 59 Informe
AFRICAN PROSE
BUCHI EMECHETA: The Joys of Motherhood.
How important is Mama Abby to Nnu-Ego's survival in the city?
In Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood, Nnu Ego moves from rural Ibuza to the harsh, money-driven world of colonial Lagos. Mama Abby, though a minor character, plays an important part in helping Nnu Ego endure the hardships of city life.
Who Mama Abby is
Her importance to Nnu Ego's survival
Qualifying the claim
Conclusion. Mama Abby is important as a friend, adviser and fellow survivor who softens the cruelty of Lagos for Nnu Ego. She embodies the female solidarity that sustains women in a hostile city, even though Nnu Ego's endurance remains, finally, her own.
Detalles de la respuesta
In Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood, Nnu Ego moves from rural Ibuza to the harsh, money-driven world of colonial Lagos. Mama Abby, though a minor character, plays an important part in helping Nnu Ego endure the hardships of city life.
Who Mama Abby is
Her importance to Nnu Ego's survival
Qualifying the claim
Conclusion. Mama Abby is important as a friend, adviser and fellow survivor who softens the cruelty of Lagos for Nnu Ego. She embodies the female solidarity that sustains women in a hostile city, even though Nnu Ego's endurance remains, finally, her own.
Pregunta 60 Informe
AFRICAN PROSE
ISIDORE OKPEWHO: The Last Duty
Discuss the horrors of war in the novel.
Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty is set against the background of the Nigerian Civil War, and the horrors of war run through the entire novel. Rather than describing battlefields, Okpewho shows how war corrupts a small community, Urukpe, and destroys the lives of ordinary people caught in its grip.
False accusation and unjust detention
Exploitation and moral collapse
Ethnic hatred and division
Suffering of the innocent
Physical and psychological damage
Conclusion. Okpewho presents war not as heroic combat but as a corrupting force that ruins innocent lives, unleashes greed and ethnic hatred, and destroys families. Through the fate of Oshevire, Aku and their community, the novel becomes a powerful condemnation of the horrors and futility of war.
Detalles de la respuesta
Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty is set against the background of the Nigerian Civil War, and the horrors of war run through the entire novel. Rather than describing battlefields, Okpewho shows how war corrupts a small community, Urukpe, and destroys the lives of ordinary people caught in its grip.
False accusation and unjust detention
Exploitation and moral collapse
Ethnic hatred and division
Suffering of the innocent
Physical and psychological damage
Conclusion. Okpewho presents war not as heroic combat but as a corrupting force that ruins innocent lives, unleashes greed and ethnic hatred, and destroys families. Through the fate of Oshevire, Aku and their community, the novel becomes a powerful condemnation of the horrors and futility of war.
Pregunta 61 Informe
NON-AFRICAN DRAMA
ROBERT BOLT: A Man For All Seasons
Examine the characters of Sir Thomas More and Master Cromwell.
In Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell function as moral opposites. Their contrasting characters dramatise the central conflict of the play: the struggle between individual conscience and the ruthless demands of state power.
Sir Thomas More
Master Thomas Cromwell
Conclusion. More and Cromwell embody the play's great opposition of conscience against corruption. More's incorruptible integrity ennobles him even in death, while Cromwell's ambition reduces him to an instrument of tyranny. Through this contrast, Bolt affirms the enduring value of moral principle.
Detalles de la respuesta
In Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell function as moral opposites. Their contrasting characters dramatise the central conflict of the play: the struggle between individual conscience and the ruthless demands of state power.
Sir Thomas More
Master Thomas Cromwell
Conclusion. More and Cromwell embody the play's great opposition of conscience against corruption. More's incorruptible integrity ennobles him even in death, while Cromwell's ambition reduces him to an instrument of tyranny. Through this contrast, Bolt affirms the enduring value of moral principle.
Pregunta 62 Informe
NON-AFRICAN POETRY
How effective is Housman's use of Imagery in "To An Athlete Dying Young?".
A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" mourns a young sportsman who dies at the height of his fame. Housman's imagery is highly effective because it fuses the images of triumph and death, using the language of athletic victory to explore the idea that dying young preserves glory that life would otherwise fade.
Images of triumph and celebration
The central paradox: the road to the grave
Images of the fading laurel
Images of darkness, night and the shady runners
Effectiveness. Housman's imagery is effective because it is unified and paradoxical: images of running, victory, laurels and processions are turned to serve a meditation on death. By clothing a grim theme in the bright language of sport, he makes the consolation, that early death fixes glory forever, both persuasive and poignant.
Detalles de la respuesta
A. E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" mourns a young sportsman who dies at the height of his fame. Housman's imagery is highly effective because it fuses the images of triumph and death, using the language of athletic victory to explore the idea that dying young preserves glory that life would otherwise fade.
Images of triumph and celebration
The central paradox: the road to the grave
Images of the fading laurel
Images of darkness, night and the shady runners
Effectiveness. Housman's imagery is effective because it is unified and paradoxical: images of running, victory, laurels and processions are turned to serve a meditation on death. By clothing a grim theme in the bright language of sport, he makes the consolation, that early death fixes glory forever, both persuasive and poignant.
Pregunta 63 Informe
AFRICAN PROSE
BUCHI EMECHETA: The Joys of Motherhood.
Comment on the theme of gender discrimination in the novel.
Gender discrimination is a central theme in Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood. Through the life of Nnu Ego, the novel exposes how patriarchal Igbo and colonial society values men above women and reduces a woman's worth to her ability to bear, especially male, children.
The preference for male children
Women as property and childbearers
Unequal burdens between husband and wife
Polygamy and male privilege
Conclusion. Emecheta indicts a society in which a woman is valued only as a bearer of sons and a servant of men. Nnu Ego's lonely, unrewarded death dramatises the cruelty of gender discrimination, and the novel becomes a powerful protest against the injustice done to women.
Detalles de la respuesta
Gender discrimination is a central theme in Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood. Through the life of Nnu Ego, the novel exposes how patriarchal Igbo and colonial society values men above women and reduces a woman's worth to her ability to bear, especially male, children.
The preference for male children
Women as property and childbearers
Unequal burdens between husband and wife
Polygamy and male privilege
Conclusion. Emecheta indicts a society in which a woman is valued only as a bearer of sons and a servant of men. Nnu Ego's lonely, unrewarded death dramatises the cruelty of gender discrimination, and the novel becomes a powerful protest against the injustice done to women.
Pregunta 64 Informe
AFRICAN DRAMA
ATHOL FUGARD: Sizwe Bansi is Dead.
Discuss the use of symbols in the play.
In Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, symbols carry much of the play's meaning. Through a few powerful objects and names, Fugard exposes the dehumanising machinery of apartheid and the desperate struggle of black South Africans to survive with dignity.
The passbook (the dompas). The most important symbol is the passbook that every black man is forced to carry. It stands for the whole apartheid system of control: it dictates where a man may live and work, and without the right stamp he is denied employment and can be arrested or expelled. The passbook reduces a human being to a set of official entries, symbolising the state's power to define, restrict and dehumanise black life.
The photograph. The photograph that Sizwe has taken in Styles' studio symbolises identity, memory and the wish to be remembered as a real, dignified person. It is the means by which Sizwe sends proof of himself to his family, an assertion of individual existence against a system that treats black men as anonymous units of labour.
The name Sizwe Bansi. The hero's name is itself symbolic. Suggesting the strength or the people of the nation, it represents black South Africans as a whole. When Sizwe is forced to abandon his own name and take that of the dead Robert Zwelinzima in order to obtain work papers, the title "Sizwe Bansi is dead" symbolises the death of black identity and manhood under apartheid: a man must bury his very name to survive.
The dead man and the new identity. Robert Zwelinzima's corpse and the pass taken from it symbolise how the system compels the living to trade away their true selves. Survival demands a kind of self-erasure, a symbolic death of the individual so that the body may go on living and working.
Styles' photographic studio. The studio symbolises a small space of freedom and self-assertion. In having their pictures taken, ordinary black people record their dreams and dignity, momentarily controlling their own image in a society that otherwise denies them agency.
Significance. Together these symbols dramatise the central conflict between the individual's humanity and a state determined to erase it. They allow Fugard to make an abstract political injustice concrete, immediate and deeply moving.
In conclusion, the passbook, the photograph, the name Sizwe Bansi, the dead man's identity and the photo studio all function as potent symbols through which Fugard exposes the cruelty of apartheid and the heavy cost at which black South Africans preserve their lives and dignity.
Detalles de la respuesta
In Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, symbols carry much of the play's meaning. Through a few powerful objects and names, Fugard exposes the dehumanising machinery of apartheid and the desperate struggle of black South Africans to survive with dignity.
The passbook (the dompas). The most important symbol is the passbook that every black man is forced to carry. It stands for the whole apartheid system of control: it dictates where a man may live and work, and without the right stamp he is denied employment and can be arrested or expelled. The passbook reduces a human being to a set of official entries, symbolising the state's power to define, restrict and dehumanise black life.
The photograph. The photograph that Sizwe has taken in Styles' studio symbolises identity, memory and the wish to be remembered as a real, dignified person. It is the means by which Sizwe sends proof of himself to his family, an assertion of individual existence against a system that treats black men as anonymous units of labour.
The name Sizwe Bansi. The hero's name is itself symbolic. Suggesting the strength or the people of the nation, it represents black South Africans as a whole. When Sizwe is forced to abandon his own name and take that of the dead Robert Zwelinzima in order to obtain work papers, the title "Sizwe Bansi is dead" symbolises the death of black identity and manhood under apartheid: a man must bury his very name to survive.
The dead man and the new identity. Robert Zwelinzima's corpse and the pass taken from it symbolise how the system compels the living to trade away their true selves. Survival demands a kind of self-erasure, a symbolic death of the individual so that the body may go on living and working.
Styles' photographic studio. The studio symbolises a small space of freedom and self-assertion. In having their pictures taken, ordinary black people record their dreams and dignity, momentarily controlling their own image in a society that otherwise denies them agency.
Significance. Together these symbols dramatise the central conflict between the individual's humanity and a state determined to erase it. They allow Fugard to make an abstract political injustice concrete, immediate and deeply moving.
In conclusion, the passbook, the photograph, the name Sizwe Bansi, the dead man's identity and the photo studio all function as potent symbols through which Fugard exposes the cruelty of apartheid and the heavy cost at which black South Africans preserve their lives and dignity.
Pregunta 65 Informe
NON-AFRICAN DRAMA
ROBERT BOLT: A Man For All Seasons
Examine the play as a conflict between king Henry's desires and More's principles.
Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons is essentially the dramatisation of a conflict between the will of a king and the conscience of a man. King Henry VIII's personal desires collide with the moral and religious principles of Sir Thomas More, and the tragedy grows out of More's refusal to surrender his integrity to royal power.
Henry's desires. The King is determined to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, who has borne him no male heir, in order to marry Anne Boleyn. When the Pope refuses to grant an annulment, Henry breaks with Rome and has himself declared Supreme Head of the Church of England. His desires are for a new marriage, a legitimate son, and absolute acknowledgement of his authority. He craves not merely obedience but approval, and above all the approval of the one man whose goodness he respects, Thomas More.
More's principles. More, a devout Catholic and Lord Chancellor, cannot in conscience accept the King's divorce or his claim to headship of the Church, which he believes belongs to the Pope. Yet he does not openly rebel. He resigns his office, withdraws from public life and takes refuge in silence, refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy while giving no reason. His principle is that a man must not act against his own conscience, for "when a man takes an oath, he is holding his own self in his own hands like water".
The nature of the conflict. The clash is therefore between raw political power and private conscience, between what the state demands and what the individual believes to be right. Henry and his agents, chiefly Thomas Cromwell, cannot tolerate More's silence, for his very refusal to endorse the King is a loud reproach. Power seeks not only compliance but the surrender of the soul, and this More will not give.
The pressure and the outcome. More is pressed on every side: by Cromwell's cunning, by the threats of the Duke of Norfolk, by the pleas of his own family, and finally by the perjury of the ambitious Richard Rich, whose false testimony secures More's conviction. Sentenced to death, More at last breaks his silence to affirm his faith, and he goes to the scaffold rather than betray his conscience.
Significance. The conflict makes the play a study of integrity under tyranny. Against the compromisers, Rich, Cromwell, even the pragmatic Norfolk and Wolsey, More stands as the man who will not bend, "a man for all seasons", whose selfhood is inseparable from his conscience. His death is a defeat in worldly terms but a triumph of principle.
In conclusion, the play is indeed a conflict between King Henry's desires and More's principles: the King's craving for divorce, an heir and total supremacy meets the immovable conscience of a man who chooses death over self-betrayal, and in that collision Bolt affirms the supreme value of personal integrity.
Detalles de la respuesta
Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons is essentially the dramatisation of a conflict between the will of a king and the conscience of a man. King Henry VIII's personal desires collide with the moral and religious principles of Sir Thomas More, and the tragedy grows out of More's refusal to surrender his integrity to royal power.
Henry's desires. The King is determined to divorce his wife, Catherine of Aragon, who has borne him no male heir, in order to marry Anne Boleyn. When the Pope refuses to grant an annulment, Henry breaks with Rome and has himself declared Supreme Head of the Church of England. His desires are for a new marriage, a legitimate son, and absolute acknowledgement of his authority. He craves not merely obedience but approval, and above all the approval of the one man whose goodness he respects, Thomas More.
More's principles. More, a devout Catholic and Lord Chancellor, cannot in conscience accept the King's divorce or his claim to headship of the Church, which he believes belongs to the Pope. Yet he does not openly rebel. He resigns his office, withdraws from public life and takes refuge in silence, refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy while giving no reason. His principle is that a man must not act against his own conscience, for "when a man takes an oath, he is holding his own self in his own hands like water".
The nature of the conflict. The clash is therefore between raw political power and private conscience, between what the state demands and what the individual believes to be right. Henry and his agents, chiefly Thomas Cromwell, cannot tolerate More's silence, for his very refusal to endorse the King is a loud reproach. Power seeks not only compliance but the surrender of the soul, and this More will not give.
The pressure and the outcome. More is pressed on every side: by Cromwell's cunning, by the threats of the Duke of Norfolk, by the pleas of his own family, and finally by the perjury of the ambitious Richard Rich, whose false testimony secures More's conviction. Sentenced to death, More at last breaks his silence to affirm his faith, and he goes to the scaffold rather than betray his conscience.
Significance. The conflict makes the play a study of integrity under tyranny. Against the compromisers, Rich, Cromwell, even the pragmatic Norfolk and Wolsey, More stands as the man who will not bend, "a man for all seasons", whose selfhood is inseparable from his conscience. His death is a defeat in worldly terms but a triumph of principle.
In conclusion, the play is indeed a conflict between King Henry's desires and More's principles: the King's craving for divorce, an heir and total supremacy meets the immovable conscience of a man who chooses death over self-betrayal, and in that collision Bolt affirms the supreme value of personal integrity.
Pregunta 66 Informe
AFRICAN DRAMA
JOE DE GRAFT: Sons and Daughters
Examine the major conflicts in the play.
Joe de Graft's Sons and Daughters is built upon a series of interlocking conflicts that dramatise the tensions within a Ghanaian family and, more broadly, between generations and value systems. These conflicts drive the plot and carry the play's central concerns about parental control, personal freedom and the worth of the arts.
Conflict over career and vocation. The principal conflict is between James Ofosu, the father, and his children over their choice of careers. Ofosu, an ambitious and well-meaning parent, wants his children to become respectable professionals such as lawyers, engineers and doctors. His children, however, are drawn to the arts: George longs to be a painter and Maanan to be a dancer. This clash between practical, money-minded ambition and artistic aspiration is the backbone of the play.
Generational conflict. Bound up with the career dispute is a wider conflict between the older and younger generations. The parents believe they know what is best and expect obedience, while the children assert their right to choose their own paths. The play questions how far parents should impose their will on their offspring and champions the young people's desire for self-determination.
Conflict between the arts and materialism. On the level of ideas, the play stages a conflict between a materialistic view of success, which values only lucrative, prestigious professions, and a belief in the dignity and value of artistic vocations. De Graft uses the family quarrel to argue that painting and dancing are worthy callings, not idle or shameful pursuits.
Conflict introduced by Lawyer Bonu. An external conflict is generated by the scheming Lawyer Bonu, a false friend who covets Ofosu's property and manipulates events for his own gain. His treachery, especially during Ofosu's absence, threatens the family and sharpens the drama, setting greed and dishonesty against family loyalty.
Internal and moral conflict. There is also inner conflict, particularly for the mother, Hannah, who is torn between loyalty to her husband's wishes and sympathy for her children's dreams. This divided loyalty adds emotional depth to the play's web of tensions.
Significance. Through these conflicts, de Graft explores the proper relationship between parents and children, the freedom of the individual to choose a vocation, and the value of the arts in society. The eventual movement towards understanding suggests the possibility of reconciling authority with freedom.
In conclusion, the major conflicts in Sons and Daughters, over careers, between generations, between materialism and the arts, and the treachery of Lawyer Bonu, together shape the play's action and express its central themes of parental control and personal freedom.
Detalles de la respuesta
Joe de Graft's Sons and Daughters is built upon a series of interlocking conflicts that dramatise the tensions within a Ghanaian family and, more broadly, between generations and value systems. These conflicts drive the plot and carry the play's central concerns about parental control, personal freedom and the worth of the arts.
Conflict over career and vocation. The principal conflict is between James Ofosu, the father, and his children over their choice of careers. Ofosu, an ambitious and well-meaning parent, wants his children to become respectable professionals such as lawyers, engineers and doctors. His children, however, are drawn to the arts: George longs to be a painter and Maanan to be a dancer. This clash between practical, money-minded ambition and artistic aspiration is the backbone of the play.
Generational conflict. Bound up with the career dispute is a wider conflict between the older and younger generations. The parents believe they know what is best and expect obedience, while the children assert their right to choose their own paths. The play questions how far parents should impose their will on their offspring and champions the young people's desire for self-determination.
Conflict between the arts and materialism. On the level of ideas, the play stages a conflict between a materialistic view of success, which values only lucrative, prestigious professions, and a belief in the dignity and value of artistic vocations. De Graft uses the family quarrel to argue that painting and dancing are worthy callings, not idle or shameful pursuits.
Conflict introduced by Lawyer Bonu. An external conflict is generated by the scheming Lawyer Bonu, a false friend who covets Ofosu's property and manipulates events for his own gain. His treachery, especially during Ofosu's absence, threatens the family and sharpens the drama, setting greed and dishonesty against family loyalty.
Internal and moral conflict. There is also inner conflict, particularly for the mother, Hannah, who is torn between loyalty to her husband's wishes and sympathy for her children's dreams. This divided loyalty adds emotional depth to the play's web of tensions.
Significance. Through these conflicts, de Graft explores the proper relationship between parents and children, the freedom of the individual to choose a vocation, and the value of the arts in society. The eventual movement towards understanding suggests the possibility of reconciling authority with freedom.
In conclusion, the major conflicts in Sons and Daughters, over careers, between generations, between materialism and the arts, and the treachery of Lawyer Bonu, together shape the play's action and express its central themes of parental control and personal freedom.
Pregunta 67 Informe
AFRICAN PROSE
ISIDORE OKPEWHO: The Last Duty
Discuss the view that Aku is a tragic character.
In Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty, Aku, the wife of the detained Oshevire, can rightly be seen as a tragic character. Set during the Nigerian Civil War, the novel places her in an impossible situation in which loyalty, survival and the pressures of war combine to destroy her peace and reputation.
Her situation invites tragedy
The forces that trap her
The tragic outcome
A balanced view
Conclusion. Aku is a tragic character because a decent woman, striving to protect her family and remain faithful, is crushed by war, poverty and the predatory power of men. Her downfall arouses the pity and waste that mark true tragedy.
Detalles de la respuesta
In Isidore Okpewho's The Last Duty, Aku, the wife of the detained Oshevire, can rightly be seen as a tragic character. Set during the Nigerian Civil War, the novel places her in an impossible situation in which loyalty, survival and the pressures of war combine to destroy her peace and reputation.
Her situation invites tragedy
The forces that trap her
The tragic outcome
A balanced view
Conclusion. Aku is a tragic character because a decent woman, striving to protect her family and remain faithful, is crushed by war, poverty and the predatory power of men. Her downfall arouses the pity and waste that mark true tragedy.
Pregunta 68 Informe
NON-AFRICAN DRAMA
NIKOLAI GOGOL: The Government Inspector
Examine three comic scenes in the play.
Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector is a comic masterpiece full of ridiculous situations that satirise corruption, vanity and folly. Three scenes in particular stand out for their comic power.
1. The bribing of Khlestakov by the officials. One of the funniest sequences occurs when the corrupt town officials come, one after another, to offer Khlestakov money, believing him to be the dreaded inspector. Each nervous official, the Judge, the Postmaster, the Charity Commissioner and others, sidles in to press a "loan" upon him, while Khlestakov, at first bewildered, quickly grasps the situation and cheerfully takes all he can get. The comedy lies in the officials' terror and clumsy flattery and in Khlestakov's growing boldness as the bribes pile up. It exposes the universal corruption of the town in a stream of laughter.
2. Khlestakov's simultaneous courtship of Anna and Marya. A scene of delicious farce is Khlestakov's love-making to both the Mayor's wife, Anna Andreyevna, and her daughter, Marya, almost in the same breath. He flings extravagant compliments at the mother, then, when she steps aside, drops to his knees before the daughter, and is nearly caught switching from one to the other. The absurd speed of his flattery, and the vanity of both women in believing him, make the scene irresistibly funny while satirising social pretension and empty gallantry.
3. Khlestakov's boasting about his life in St Petersburg. Emboldened by wine and the officials' awe, Khlestakov launches into wild, self-glorifying lies, claiming intimacy with ministers, authorship of famous works and management of whole government departments. His boasts grow more and more preposterous, yet the terrified officials swallow every word. The gap between his real insignificance and his monstrous exaggerations, and the gullibility of his listeners, produces high comedy and lays bare the officials' cowardice and self-interest.
Overall effect. These scenes generate laughter not merely for its own sake but in the service of satire. Each ridiculous situation exposes the greed, cowardice, vanity and stupidity of the provincial officials and of the impostor who dupes them, so that comedy becomes a weapon of social criticism.
In conclusion, the bribing of Khlestakov, his double courtship of mother and daughter, and his grandiose boasting are three richly comic scenes through which Gogol both delights his audience and satirises the corruption and folly of society.
Detalles de la respuesta
Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector is a comic masterpiece full of ridiculous situations that satirise corruption, vanity and folly. Three scenes in particular stand out for their comic power.
1. The bribing of Khlestakov by the officials. One of the funniest sequences occurs when the corrupt town officials come, one after another, to offer Khlestakov money, believing him to be the dreaded inspector. Each nervous official, the Judge, the Postmaster, the Charity Commissioner and others, sidles in to press a "loan" upon him, while Khlestakov, at first bewildered, quickly grasps the situation and cheerfully takes all he can get. The comedy lies in the officials' terror and clumsy flattery and in Khlestakov's growing boldness as the bribes pile up. It exposes the universal corruption of the town in a stream of laughter.
2. Khlestakov's simultaneous courtship of Anna and Marya. A scene of delicious farce is Khlestakov's love-making to both the Mayor's wife, Anna Andreyevna, and her daughter, Marya, almost in the same breath. He flings extravagant compliments at the mother, then, when she steps aside, drops to his knees before the daughter, and is nearly caught switching from one to the other. The absurd speed of his flattery, and the vanity of both women in believing him, make the scene irresistibly funny while satirising social pretension and empty gallantry.
3. Khlestakov's boasting about his life in St Petersburg. Emboldened by wine and the officials' awe, Khlestakov launches into wild, self-glorifying lies, claiming intimacy with ministers, authorship of famous works and management of whole government departments. His boasts grow more and more preposterous, yet the terrified officials swallow every word. The gap between his real insignificance and his monstrous exaggerations, and the gullibility of his listeners, produces high comedy and lays bare the officials' cowardice and self-interest.
Overall effect. These scenes generate laughter not merely for its own sake but in the service of satire. Each ridiculous situation exposes the greed, cowardice, vanity and stupidity of the provincial officials and of the impostor who dupes them, so that comedy becomes a weapon of social criticism.
In conclusion, the bribing of Khlestakov, his double courtship of mother and daughter, and his grandiose boasting are three richly comic scenes through which Gogol both delights his audience and satirises the corruption and folly of society.
¿Te gustaría proceder con esta acción?