Madurai Kamraj University (MKU) 2005 M.Phil English , - Question Paper

M.PHIL DEGREE EXAMINATION, APRIL 2005

Second Semester

PAPER III -- MODERN ENGLISH DRAMA

Time: three hours Max. Marks: 60

I. Critically comment on the thematic and stylistic features of any 4 of the subsequent passages. Your comment should be specific and should deal, among other things, with aspects like kind of writing, syntax, diction, special devices used, special effects created, tone, level of style etc. four × five = 20 marks

a) Up he goes and no 1 knows
How to bring him downwards
Dead man’s feet
Over the street
Riding the roots
And crying down your chimneys.

b) DAVIES. I used to know a bootmaker in Action. He was a good mate to me.
PAUSE.
You know what the bastard monk stated to me?
PAUSE.
How many of more Blacks you got around here then?

c) ESTRAGON (violently). I’m hungry!
VLADIMIR. Do you want a carrot?
ESTRAGON. Is that all there is?
VLADIMIR. I might have a few turnips.

d) NORA. I told you, no; I won’t have it.
I’ll accept nothing from strangers.
HELMER. Nora—can I never again be more to you than a stranger?
NORA. (Picks up her bag) Oh, Torvald—then the most awesome of all
Would have to happen.

e) GEORGE. (tenderly) I have the right, Martha. We never spoke of it: that’s
all. I would kill him anytime I wanted to.
MARTHA. But why? Why?
GEORGE. You broke our rule, baby. You mentioned him . . . you
mentioned him to someone else.

f) BENARE. Let’s leave everyone behind, I thought, and go somewhere
far, far away – with you! . . . Yes, I like you very much . . . You’re very nice, indeed. And shall I tell you something? You are a very pure and good person. I like you.
II. Answer any 2 of the subsequent. (2 × 10 = 20)

a) Sergeant Musgrave's Dance displays more of Arden’s individuality, but
it’s more eclectic in its origins – explain.
b) “In The Caretaker, Pinter presents amusing situations but the implications
are menacing” – explain.
c) “People are profoundly bad, but irresistibly funny.” How much of
this dramatic philosophy of Orton has been presented in Loot?
d) “In Waiting for Godot the era of dismay and discouragement obtains its most
incisive and poignant theatrical expression” – Substantiate.
e) “In A Doll's House, Ibsen was not so much the suffragist that
Strindberg thought him as a man arguing for a maximum of individual realization in a provided social context”—Discuss.


III. Answer any 2 of the following: (2 × 10 = 20)

a) Discuss Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as a criticism of American life.
b) Camus’ plays represent, in the unfolding of his thought, a moment of tragic lucidity” – explain with special reference to Caligula.
c) “Bertold Brecht was nothing if not the creator of a new theatre” – explain with reference to Galileo.
d) Discuss the play within the play in Silence! The Court is in Session as an extension of reality.
e) “Taken as a whole, Osborne’s plays are fired by a sense of negative patriotism, a disgust for the current quality of life in Britain counterbalanced by an affection for such things as the loyalties of nineteenth century military life as in A Patriot for Me” – explain.

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Earning:   Approval pending.