World of Shakespeare:

The World of Shakespeare: Final Exam Review Sheet

Your final exam will ask you to answer 5 of 7 questions based on the plays and sonnets that we read in this course. To assist you in remembering, you may bring in one sheet of notes to remind you of specific plays and characters.

We read the following: Othello, Hamlet, The12th Night, Measure for Measure, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet (selections) and selected sonnets.

The following prompts are possible questions to consider (hint, hint):

Examine the relationship in terms of a timeline between Desdemona and Othello. Please make sure to examine the end of their relationship, and how specifically Othello believes she has not been faithful.


Please read the first page of each play. How is the opening in each play important to the story? Does it bring you in and make you interested? How? Please have specific examples from at least 3 plays.

Talk about what makes a Shakespearean tragedy. Please examine one tragedy in your study group and discuss how it fits.

Please define the following literary devices that Shakespeare uses:
Alliteration, simile, metaphor, reversed word, reversed sentence construction, classical allusion, personification, inflection, stress, aside, using language to show class and status in the play. Sonnet

Character can be defined by how one handles power. Look at 3 characters and make a list how each handles power.

Discuss the use of comedy in his plays. What ideas and specific plays hold up well and still make us laugh. Please use specific scenes in your discussions.

Please review important information on Shakespeare. Please work to define what we know about him. If you had to write his obituary, what would you list about his life?

Define a Shakespearean Sonnet. What did his sonnets reveal about him that his plays may not have? Pick a sonnet and be familiar enough with it that you could reference it in an answer.