MB UNIUD

PROVA DI VERIFICA

1. Explain what the main theme of The Dead and of the final episode in Joyce’s Ulysses, Penelope.

In “The Dead” the protagonist Gabriel start san inner voyage which takes him to change from a selfish man to a more open-minded individual. He “discovers” death in all its shapes and becomes self-aware of his mortal nature. He sees his wife half asleep and starts thinking about the party he has just left and the boy who died for his wife’s love. In the last episode of “Ulysses”, Penelope, the writer focuses his attention one aspect of human being’s life: flesh. He has already spoken about all aspects, both physical and metaphysical, of human experience and in the last episode he affirms that the answer to the quest that all people start is Penelope. The voyage of Ulysses (Leopold Bloom) and Penelope (Molly Bloom) ends in bed where the two characters finally meet again .

2. The interior monologue is a narrative technique, the dramatic monologue a poetical technique and still they have some points in common. Discuss providing examples from the texts you studied.

Both dramatic and interior monologues have has their aim to represent and try to write what crosses the mind of a person. While in the dramatic monologue the speaker is separate from the poet, in the interior monologue there is the poet’s point of view through character’s words and actions. As we can read in Tennyson’s Ulysses, the hero is a kind of representation of himself but with his own thoughts and experiences.

3. Why did T.S. Eliot say that Joyce the mythical method in his Ulysses?

T. S. Eliot said Joyce used the mythical method to give coherence to the chaos of text which represented the chaos of human life.

4. What are the most relevant connections between Puritanism and The Victorian Age?

Puritanism was an attitude of the people who followed strict values and a strong religious moral. In the Victorian Age people believed in the power of industrialization therefore they strongly believed in progress and had values which recalled the Puritan ones.

5. Who used the dramatic monologue for the first rime and to what purpose?

The first who used the dramatic monologue is Alfred Lord Tennyson who creates a silent relationship between speaker and listener through a poetical technique.

6. What is the difference between a Shakespearian monologue and a dramatic monologue?

Critics say that something of Tennyson’s Ulysses is taken from Hamlet’s interior monologue. But in the case of Shakespeare he wants to convey an existential condition and Hamlet is set into a specific place in a specific time. On the other side Ulysses is set into an unknown place and we don’t know who is audience is.

7. Why does is the stream of consciousness technique difficult to follow by an ordinary reader?

In the stream of consciousness all linkers or verb forms to introduce the character’s speech are erased. For this reason an ordinary reader finds it difficult to read the text even because if anyone gets lost in the text he must start reading from the beginning again. It’s truly a stream of thoughts which shot the reader’s mind creating chaos.

8. Explain the role of the woman in The Victorian Age.

As we can read from Browning’s “My Last Duchess”, the Victorian woman had to stay home and take care of the family. Her social life was restricted and subdued to her husband’s one.and the man was the one who worked or had social interactions. The woman did everyday the same things in a never-ending circle.

9. What makes Mrs. Dolloway a typical expression of The Victorian Age and still a different one?

Mrs. Dolloway represents a Victorian woman because of her attitudes to everyday life. She thinks about doing her things without stopping even in front of the return of an old friend which represents an event.

10. Referring to “To the Lighthouse” do you consider Mrs. Ramsay a modern or a traditional woman? Support your argumentation with reference to the text.

I think Mrs. Ramsay is a modern woman who reveals her power on men. She seems to be the weakest one but, as we can read in the text, she represents fertility while her husband is fragile and barren. She supported her husband even when in despair and represents the “lighthouse”, the centre of the family.

11. Mr. Ramsay, Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses and Leopold Bloom. Which do you consider the odd out and why?

The odd one is Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses. Even if the three men in a certain sense star a voyage, Bloom and Mr. Ramsay are put near their wives and the role of the woman is very important. Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses is alone and has to give his conclusions as an internal process.