IH 51, section 601

Final Examination Preparation

Fall, 2003

Works covered on this examination:

For the essay, you need to have read all the works studied this term with some care. You should have some sense of common questions, e.g. how the various authors might view topics like the role of women in society; deception in argument; heroism; virtue and warfare, among other topics. You should know the basic figures referred to in the study guides (when we've used these) or those discussed in class in works without study guides. There will be no "trick" questions, but it will pay to review class notes, discuss the various classes with your friends in a study group, and review the argument of each work.

Detailed questions on Othello will concern only Acts 1-3.

The short answer questions will be based on texts covered since the midterm examination:

Holy Qur'an: Surah 1, The Exordium, and Surah 2 to verse 120.

Bhagavad Gita,

Galileo, Starry Messenger

Machiavelli, The Prince

Shakespeare, Othello

Examples of short answer questions:

What is the importance of the image of  "the path" in the Koran

What animals must the Prince resemble in Machiavelli? Why?

List two major deeds of Cesare Borgia

What is Galileo's explanation of the secondary light on the moon?

A historian of science remarks that "Galileo,...could not explain why ... Jupiter could move in its orbit without losing its four encircling companions, any more than...how the earth could move through space and not lose its one encircling moon." Why would Galileo have trouble with these questions?

What is Iago's opinion of "reason"?

How does Roderigo die in Othello?

How does Emilia die in Othello?

Long question. You'll be asked to choose one from a few quotations from Machiavelli and Shakespeare and to answer questions like: provide a 5 line summary of this passage, mention key themes or repeated words, explain why they are there in the text, discuss the arguments used in the text, the metaphors or similes, the roles of different characters, and similar questions. Finally, you'll be asked to write an essay using this and other texts. Examples of essays:

How would Machiavelli appraise the careers of three of the following characters: Achilles, Socrates, Moses, Jesus, or Othello?

Discuss Machiavelli's theory of human nature. Machiavelli clearly bases his findings on a particular notion of human nature. Compare this theory or notion with the ideas of human nature found in three other works we've studied this term.

Othello is only one of a number of "strangers" we have encountered in our readings. Sometimes strangers come from abroad like Othello, sometimes they are home-grown. Write a substantial essay discussion at least three such strangers in works we've read this term. Be sure to discuss both the strangers and the way society treats them.

Write an essay on deception in at least three of the books we have read. Be sure to consider the way it is used by different characters, and to discuss occasions when it may be good to deceive someone.