自考英美文学比过资料

1、1. Why is Hamlet so impressive in Shakespeare' s Hamlet?The hero Hamlet in Shakespeare s play Hamlet is noted for his hesitation to take his revenge,his melancholy nature of action only to deny possibilities to do anything.He came to know that his father was murdered by his uncle who became king

2、.He hated him so deeply that he wanted to kill him.But he loved his widowed mother shi later married his uncle,this made him deep in trouble,when he planned to kill his uncle,and he was afraid to hurt his mother.And also,when everything was ready for him to kill his uncle,he forgave him for his uncl

3、e was praying to God for his crime.Thus he lost the good chance.Hamlet represented humanism of his time.2. Why is Jone Milton the greatest writer of his time?In his life,Milton shows himself a real revolutionary,a master poet and a great prose writer.He fought for freedom in all aspects as a Christi

4、an humanist,while his achievements in literature make him tower over all the other English writers of his time and exert a great influence over later ones.3.Shakespeare is the master of English drama.He wrote all together 38 plays in his life.Discuss the four periodsof his dramatic career,his views

5、on literature,the characteristics of his characters,plot and language. Shakespeare s four periods of dramatic career:The first period of Shakespeare s dramatic career was one of apprenticeship.He wrote five history plays(e.g.Henry W ),four comedies(e.g.The Comedy of Errors).ln the second period,Shak

6、espeare s style and approach became highly individualized.He wrote five histories(e.g.HenryIV ),sixcomedies(e.g.The Merchant of Venice)and two tragedies(e.g.Romeo and Juliet).His third period includes his greatest tragedies(e.g.Hamlet)and his so-called dark comedies(e.g.Measure for Measure).The last

7、 period includes his principal romantic tragicomedies(e.g.The Tempest). Shakespeare s views on literature:He holds that literature should be a combination of beauty,kindness and truth,and should reflect nature and reality. The characteristics of Shakespeare s characters:His major characters are neit

8、her merely individual ones nor type ones,they are individuals representing certaintypes.Each character has his or her ownpersonalities;meanwhile,they may share features with others.The characteristics of Shakespeare' splot:Shakespeare' s plays are well-known for their adroit plot constructio

9、n.Shakespeare seldom invents his own plots;instead,he borrows them from some old plays or storybooks,or from ancient Greek an Roman sources. The characteristics of Shakespeare s language:The language is his subtle instrument.Shakespear can write skillfully in different poetic forms,like the sonnet,t

10、he blank verse,and the rhymed couplet.He has an amazing wealth of vocabulary and idiom.His coinage of new words and distorition of the meaning of the old ones also create striking effects on the reader.4. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare' s great tragedies.Try to discuss the social significances of

11、Hamlet and analyze the character Hamlet.The social significance of Hamlet:The play is Shakespeare ' s most detailed expose of a corrupted court “ an unweeded garden" in which there is nothing but “ a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours ” .By revealing the power-seeking,the jostling f

12、or place,the hidden motives,the courteous superficialities that veil lust and guilt,Shakespeare condemns the hypocrisy and treachery and general corruption at the royal court. The character of Hamlet:Hamlet is neither a frail and weak-minded youth nor a thoughtsick dreamer.He has none of the single-

13、minded blood lust of the earlier revengerst is not because he is incapable of action,but because the cast of his mind is so speculative,so questioning and so contemplative that action ,when it finally comes,seems almost like defeat,Trapped in a nightmare world of spying,testing and plotting,and appa

14、rently bearing the intolerable burden of the duty to revenge his father ' s death,Hamlet obliged to inhabit a shadow world,to live suspended between fact and fiction,language and action.His life is one of constant role-playing,examining the nature of action only to deny its possibility,for he is

15、 too sophisticated to degrade his nature to the conventional role of a stage revenger.By characterizing Hamlet,Shkespeare successfully makes a philosophical exploration of life and death.Hamlet is also a humanist,a man who is free from medieval prejudices and superstitions.He has an unbounded love f

16、or the world rather than heaven.He cherishes a profound reverence for man and a firm belief in man' s power over destiny.5. What are the common features of Defoe' s four minor novels?And what are their social significances? Defoe' s four minor novels deal with the personal historyof some

17、 hero or heroine,usually a whole,a pirate,a pickpocket,a rogue or some other criminal.Their history is traced from their unfortunate childhood,through their many vicissitudes in life,to their final prosperity or repentance and death.The all-powerful influence of material circumstances or social envi

18、ronment upon the thoughts and actions of the hero or the heroine is highlighted.The struggle of the poor unfortunate for mere existence,mixed with their desire for great wealth,comes into conflict with the social environment which prevents them from obtaining the goal under circumstances and thus fo

19、rces them into criminal actions or bold adventures.The group of the four novels clearly manifest Defoe ' s deep concern for the unfortunate in his society.They are the first literary works devoted to the study of problems of the lower-class people.6. Daniel Defoe' s Robinson Crusoe is a very

20、 influential novel in the enlightenment period of English literature .It depicts Crusoe as a figure of middle class who makes successthrough his own hard work.Discuss the social reason why the novel becomes so successful.Robinson Crusoe is supposedly based on the real adventure of an Alexander Selki

21、rk who once stayed alone on the uninhabited island Huan Fernandez for five years.Factually,the story is an imaginationn the story the author describes inviting plots of Robinson Crusoe who survives and lives quite well on an island after the shipwreckn Robinson Crusoe,Defoe traces the growth of Robi

22、nson from a naive and artless youth into a shrewd and hardened man,tempered by numerous trials in his eventful life.The realistic account of the successful struggle of Robinson here is a real hero:a typical eighteenth century English middle-class man,with a great capacity for work,inexhaustible ener

23、gy,courage,patience and persistence in overcoming obstacles,in struggling against the hostile natural environment .He is the very prototype of the empire builder,the pioneer colonist.Robinson Crusoe is an adventure story in the spirit of the time.So when it was published,people all liked that story,

24、and it became an immediate success.7. Robinson Crusoe is Defoes s first novel and also his masterpiece.Discuss the change and growth of Crusoe and the characteristics of him.The growth of Robinson Crusoe:Robinson Crusoe changes a lot with his experience and adventures.When he ran away from home,he w

25、as an inexperienced teenager and a young man full of bright fancies about the future.He naturally chose going to sea,because in those days it meant a chance to live a chivalrous life,to see the wonders of the world and to make a fortune.Since then he had a lot of adventures and he also grew from a n

26、aive and artless youth into a shrewd and hardened man,tempered by numerous trails in his eventful life. The characteristics of Robinson Crusoe:Robinson Crusoe is a real hero:a typical eighteenth-century English middle-class man,with a great capacity for work,inexhaustible energy,courage,patience and

27、 persistence in overcoming obstacles,in struggling against the hostile natural environment.He is new man a man sure of himself and sure of being able to establish himself anywhere in the world.He is a man of new age,in which doubt and uncertainty are replaced by hope and confidence.Robinson Crusoe i

28、s the enterpriser of this age.He is ready to command nature,his enemy,and to found his colony beyond the seas.He is a merchant-adventurer,interested in material profits.He is the colonist,the empire builder.Robinson Crusoe is an embodiment of the spirit of individual enterprise and colonial expansio

29、n of the rising bourgeoisie.8. “A Modest Proposa” is a satire written by Swift and it is generally yaken as a perfect model of satire.Gulliver' s Travels is Swift' s masterpiece.Based on them,discuss why Swift is a master satirist.Swift has the talent of being a prose satirist.In his life,he

30、 wrote many satires.They are A Tale of a Tub,The Battle of the Books,The Drapier' s Letters,Gulliver ' s Travels and “A Modest Proposalw .The first two books are on corruption in religion and learning and they established his name as a satirist.Gulliver ' s Travels is one of the mosteffe

31、ctive and devastating criticisms and satires of all aspects in the then English and European life socially,politically,religiously,phlosophically,scientifically,andmorallyts social significance is great and itsexploration into human nature profound.Swift ' s satire is usually masked by an outwar

32、d gravity and an apparent earnestness which renders his satire all the more powerful.In “ A Modest Proposalw ,by suggesting that poor Irish parents sell their one-year-old babies to the rich English lords and ladies as food,Swift is making the most devastating protest against the inhuman exploitatio

33、n and oppression of the Irish people by the English ruling class.The apparent eagerness,sincerity and detachment of the author adds force to the bitter irony and biting sarcasm.So he is a master of satire.9. What are the characteristics of the Romantic literature.Please discuss the above question in

34、 relation to one or two examples.A. In poetry writing,the romanticists employed new theories and innovated new techniques,for example,the preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads acts as a manifesto for the new school.B.The romanticists not only extol the faculty of imagination,but also

35、elevate the concepts of spontaneity and inspiration.C.They regarded nature as the major source of poetic imagery and the dominant subject.D.Romantics also tend to be nationalistic.10. What are Austen' s writing features?Jane Austen is one of the realistic novelists.Austen ' s work has a very

36、 narrow literary field.Her novels show a wealth of humor,wit and delicate satire.11. Discuss the artistic features of Shelley s poems?A.Percy Bysshe Shelly is an intense and original lyrical poet in the English language.B.His poem are full of classical and mythological allusions.C.His style abounds

37、in personification and metaphor and other figures of speech.D.He describes vividly what we see and feel,or expresses what passionately moves us.12. How do you describe the writing style of Jane Austen?What is the significance of her works?Jane Austen is a writer of the 18th century though she lived

38、mainly in the 19th century.She holds the ideals of the landlord class in politics,religion,and moral principles.Austen ' s main literary concern is about human beings in their personal relationships.Austen defined her stories within a very narrow sphere.13.ln Pride and Prejudice,Austen ' s m

39、otivation,and her attitude to the motivation.Motivation A:to pursue material interest through marriage:Miss Bingley and Charlotte Lucas are examples of this kind.B.to seek sensual pleasure and beauty:Lydia and Mr.Bennet are examples of this kind.C.to search for true love and also take personal merit

40、s and financial position into consideration:Elizabeth Bennet is a typical example of this kind. Austen celebrated the third kind of motivation of marriage while criticizing the first two wrong motivations.14. Elizabeth Bennet,the heroine in Pride and Prejudice,is often regarded as the most successfu

41、l character created by Jane Austen.Make a brief comment on Elizabeth ' s character.Elizabeth is clever,alert,and observant.She is more or less charitable than Jane in recognizing the characters of Bingley' s sisters.She recognizes Mr.Collins' character in his letter and after meeting him

42、 turns down firmly and with dignity his patronizing proposal.She is able to match wits with Darcy several times and with Colonel Fizwilliam,earning their respect and admiration. Fearless and frank,not rattled by the attack of Lady Catherine de Bourgh,she wins a noteble victory,sending her Ladyship a

43、way completely routed.She is independent but not infallible in her judgmenttaken in by the charm of the worthless Wickham.She cannot be blamed for misjudging Darcy.She shows flexibility,discernment,and honesty of mind when she reads Darcy ' s defence in his letter and admits the justice of much

44、of what he says.Thus beginning to lose her prejudice against him.She recognizes and values true worth when she encounters it in Jane,the Gardiners,and,near the end of the novel,in Darcy.She sees more clearly than her father the dangers of sending Lydia to Brighton.She is able to control her emotions

45、 at times of stress when she first encounters Darcy at Pemberley;when she realizes that she loves Darcy and has good reason to fear that she has lost him,she waits without repelling for time to bring a solution.She is witty,fun-loving,recognizing humour in herself and in others,but ridiculing only f

46、olly,nonsense,and inconsistencies.She recognizes the follies of her own family and their shortcomings as well as their virtues. She is considerate of others but quite unaffected of asserting herself when occasion demands.She has a playful and unaffected manner,sunny disposition,natural animation,sen

47、se of fun,and sweet reasonableness.Sheis ready to laugh at herself and everything save “ what is wise and good ” .She shows a sense of humour by telling what Darcy has said about her at the Meryton ball.15. What are the features of Charles Dickens ' novels?A.Dickens ' novels offer a most com

48、plete and realistic picture of the English bourgeois society of his age.B.Dickens is a petty bourgeois intellectural.C.Almost all his novels have happy endings.D.His novels tell much of the experiences of his childhood.E.Dickens is a great humorist.16. “ Let it not be supposed by the enemies of the

49、system' that,during the period of his solitary incarceration,Oliver was denied the benefit of exercise,the pleasure of society,or the advantages of religious consolation” What do you think Charles Dickens intends to say in the above ironic statement taken from Oliver Twist?A.The statement is a t

50、ypical example of irony.What Dickens intends to say is just the opposite of the sentence ' s literal meaning.B.For the " benefit" of exercise,Oliver was whipped every morning in a stone yard;for the “ pleasure" of society,he was carried every other day into the dining hall and flo

51、gged as a public warning and example to the boys;and as for the “ advantages of religious consolation,he was kicked into the apartment every evening at prayer time and listened to the boys ' prayer to be guarded against his sins and vices.C.The ironic statement is,in fact,a bitter denunciation a

52、nd fierce attack at the brutal,inhuman treatment of the poor orphan by the workhouse authority.17. Emily Bronte used a very complicated narrative technique in writing her novel Wuthering Heights.Try to tell Bronte' s way of narration briefly.A.Emily Bronte starts the story from towards the end w

53、hen Heathcliff is master of both Wuthring Heights and Thrushcross Grange and little Cathy and Hareton are still in his clutch,and then goes back to the very berinning and moves back and forth as the occasion requires.B.Most of the story is told by Nelly,Catherinr ' s old nurs,to Mr.Lockwood,a te

54、mporary tenant at Thrushcross Grange.C.Part of it is told by Mr.Lockwood himself,and part through Catherine' s diary and Isabella' s letters to Nelly.18. Taking Wuthering Heightsinto consideration,do you think Heathcliff' s accusation of Catherine' s betrayal can be justified?lf you

55、think so, what reason does Catherine have to betray Heathcliff and their love?A.Heathcliff ' s accusation can be justified.B.The reason of her betrayal may be:(1)The fancy she felt for Linton,that is,she was attracted by Linton ' s pleasant personality,his rich knowledge,and his elegant mann

56、ers.(2)Her vainglory made her desire a kind of upper-class life and social status.(3)She was afraid that she might suffer poverty and be degraded if she had got married to Heathcliff.(4)She fancied if she got married to Linton,she might have the means to help Heathcliff in getting a good education a

57、nd becoming a gentleman so that they could be united without being degraded.19. How are naturalism and criticism reflected in Hardy ' s novels?An his woks,man is shown inevitably bound by his own inherent natureand hereditary traits which prompt him to go and search for some specific happiness o

58、r successand set him in conflict with the environment.The outside nature the natural environment or Nature herself is shown as some mysterious supernatural force.B.Though naturalism seems to have played an important part in Hardy ' s works,there is also bitter and sharp criticism and even open c

59、hallenge of the irrational,hypocritical and unfair Victorian institutions,conventions and morals which strangle the individual will and destroy natural human emotions and relationships2O.Based on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte,discuss the theme of her works,the image of woman protagonists and the com

60、prehensive sense for contemporary society.A. Charlotte' s works are all about the struggle of an individual consciousnesstowards self-realization,about some lonely and neglected young women with a fierce longing for love,understanding and a full,happy life.B.All her heroiness' highest joy arises from some sacrifice of self or some human weakness overcome.C.The image of woman protag