Madurai Kamraj University (MKU) 2004 M.Phil English , - Question Paper

M.PHIL DEGREE EXAMINATION, APRIL 2004
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) SPARKY. Ha, there’s nobody to hear us. You’re safe as a bloody
blockhouse out here—I’m on the scentry, boy, I’m your protection.
ATTERCLIFFE. (irritably) You make sure you are then. Go on.
Keep watching
SPARKY. (returns to his guard) Ah, Ha-ha . . . or did you think
he could hear you? (He gestures towards the boxes). May be, may be . . . I thought I heard him laugh.
ATTERCLIFFE. Steady, boy.

b) MICK. Funny? Why?
DAVIES. Well . . . he’s funny . . .
MICK. What’s funny about him?
(Pause)

c) VLADIMIR. We’re waiting for Godot.
ESTRAGON. (despairingly) Ah! (Pause) You’re sure it was here?
VLADIMIR. What?
ESTRAGON. That we were to wait.

d) MRS. LINDE. And you’ve never told your husband?
NORA. Of course not! Good heavens, how could I? He, with
his strict principles! Besides, you know how men are. Torvald would obtain it embarrassing and humiliating to learn that he owed me anything. It would upset our whole relationship.

e) GEORGE. If you were married to Martha you would know what
it means. (Pause) But then, if I were married to your spouse I would know what that means, too . . . wouldn’t I?
NICK. (After a pause). Yes.

f) My life is my own – I haven’t sold it off to anyone for a job? My will is
my own. My wishes are my own. No 1 can kill these. No one! I will do
what I like with myself and my life! I’ll decide!
II. Answer any 2 of the subsequent. (2 × 10 = 20)

a) Comment on the Brechtian features in Sergeant Musgrave's Dance.
b) Elucidate The Caretaker as a Comedy of Menace.
c) “Orton certainly ranks as a modern pioneer in the comedy of manners” – explain with particular reference to Loot.
d) “Waiting for Godot may be viewed as a challenge addressed to our baffled minds and wracked souls” – explain.
e) Discuss A Doll's House as a realistic play.


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

a) Discuss Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as an Absurd Play.
b) Write a critical note on Caligula.
c) “Every type of theatre represents a particular type of operation performed upon the audience, and Brechtian originality consisted in his determination to perform a various operation on them” – explain with special reference to Galileo.
d) “For Tendulkar the primary compulsion is and always has been humanistic. Man’s fight for survival, the varied moralities by which people live, the social position of women, the covert or overt violence in human beings, these are his abiding concerns. They appear in his play in various forms.” explain with special reference to Silence! The Court is in Session.
e) Discuss the appropriateness of the title A Patriot for Me.

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Earning:   Approval pending.