ENG111 -- Introduction to Literature: Beholding Violence in Drama and Film

Prof. Eileen Joy

Summer 2009

FINAL EXAM

Figure 1. Ric Stultz, History of Violence (gouache and mixed media on paper, 2007)

Reflect upon the themes of this course and also upon some of their interrelations:

• betrayal and revenge
• violence
• tragedy
• murder
• rage
• passion/emotions
• images & depiction of violence
• enjoyment of violence
• fear and pity (catharsis)
• moral ambiguity*

*ambiguity = uncertainty, doubt, hesitation over choosing which way to go, possessing more than one possible (and even contradictory) meanings

Devise an essay that explores the RELATION of TWO of these themes through a reading of TWO of the texts from our syllabus (this includes the films, but at least one of your texts MUST be one of the works of literature we have read: theAgamemnon, Medea, Titus Andronicus and/or Macbeth). It is entirely up to you to decide what you want to write about, but you must have a pointed thesis (a main point that you want to argue that is not overly ambiguous or too broad), and your thesis should be supported throughout the essay with close analyses of specific details (gestures and actions of characters in specific scenes) and language of the texts under consideration. Your essay should be approximately THREE typed, double-spaced pages (give or take a few sentences under or over that page length).

Your exam essay should be saved as a .doc [Microsoft Word] or .rtf [Rich Text Format] file and sent to ejoy@siue.edu as an email attachment by Friday, August 7th, at midnight.