IGNOU MEG 2 British Drama Previous year question paper


IGNOU MEG 2 British Drama Previous year question paper

MEG-2 No. of Printed Pages : 3 

r's.1 MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

0 Term-End Examination 

June, 2011 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer Question no. 1, which is compulsory and any 

four from the remaining questions. All questions carry 

equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to content , in not more than 150 words 

each. 4x5=20 

(a) Such was Pythagoras' thigh, Pandora's tub 

And all the fable of media's charms. 

The manner of our work; 

(b) I hit a blow on the ridge of his skull laid him 

stretched out, and he split to the knob of his 

gullet. 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(c) I keep looking back, as far as I remember 

and I can't think what it was to, feel young, 

really young. 

(d) To die, to sleep; 

To sleep : perchance to dream; ay, there is 

the rub. 

(e) Homo fuge! Within should I fly ? 

If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell'. 

2. Critically examine the elements of Aristolehiss 20 

tragedy in Elizabethan drama (400 words) 

OR 

Discuss the nature of the four temptations that 

Beckett confronts in Murder in the Cathedral (400 

words) 

3. Critically analyse Hamlet as a revenge play (400 20 

words) 

OR 

What is Romantic comedy ? How did 

Shakespeare alter the romantic comedy formula 

in A Midsummer Night's dream ? 

4. "Doctor Faustus is a Tragedy of the Renaissance 20 

and Reformation comment (400 words). 

OR 

Analyse the structure of The Alchemist (400 words) 

MEG-2 2 


5. Examine The Playboy of the Western World as an 20 

"extravagant comedy" (400 words) 

OR 

Comment on the title of the play Look Back in 

Anger (400 words) 

6. How does Shaw attack social snobbery and class 20 

difference in Pygmalion ? (400 words) 

OR 

Outline the changes that Lucky and Pozzo 

undergo during the course of the play Waiting for 

Godot (400 words) 

7. Write short notes on any two of the following is 

not more than 200 words each : 

(a) Chorus in Murder in the Cathedral 

(b) Pegcen Mike 

(c) Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream 

(d) The cheats in The Alchemist 

2x10=20 

MEG-2 3 


I MEG-2 I No. of Printed Pages : 2 

•■r 

00 

(NI 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

December, 2011 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer Question no. 1, which is compulsory and any 

four from the remaining questions. All questions carry 

equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to context, in not more than 150 words 

4 each : x5=20 

(a) This soul should fly from me, 

And I be changed into some brutish beast. 

(b) Well, you're the walking playboy of the 

Western World, and that's the poor man yciu 

had divided to his breeches belt. 

(c) My words fly up, my thought remain below. 

Words without never to heaven go. 

(d) Woman upset everything. When you let 

them into your life, you find that the woman 

is driving at one thing and you're driving at 

another. 

(e) It is not in time that my death shall be 

known ? It out of time that my dicision is 

taken. 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


2. Examine the tradition of the English Morality play. 20 

OR 

Analyse the idea of Martyrdom in murder in the 

cathedral. 

3. Discuss the "grand quarell scene" between 20 

Hermia and Helena in A Midsummer Night's 

Dream. 

OR 

Outline the major themes in Hamlet's soliloquise. 

4. Do you agree with the idea that Doctor Faustus is 20 

a study in the duality of Christian faith ? 

OR 

Comment on the use of alchemy in the Alchemist 

5. Discuss the Playboy of the Western World as a dark 20 

comedy. 

OR 

Analyse the Jimmy - Alison relationship in Look 

Back in anges. 

6. Discuss Doolilttle's criticism of middle class 20 

morality in Pygmalion. 

OR 

Critically examine the structures of Waiting for 

Godot. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the following in 

not more than 200 words each : 

(a) Romantic Comedy 

(b) Shawn Keogh 

(c) Osric 

(d) Lucky 

2x10=20 

MEG-2 2 


No. of Printed Pages : 5 MEG-2 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 09931 

June, 2012 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer Question no. 1, which is compulsory and any 

four from the remaining questions. All questions carry 

equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to the context in not more than 

150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) Let Faustus live in hell 

a thousand years, 

A hundred thousand and 

at last be saved ! 

0, no end is limited to 

damned souls ! 

Why wert thou not a 

creature wanting soul ? 

Or why is this immortal 

that thou hast ? 

1 P.T.O. MEG-2 • 


(b) To be , or not to be , that is 

the question 

Whether 'tis nobler in the 

mind to suffer 

The Slings and arrows of 

outrageous fortune, 

Or to take up arms against 

a sea of troubles, 

And by opposing , end them. 

To die , to sleep - 

No more. 

(c) What a miracle she is ? Set 

all the eyes 

Of court a - fire , like a burning glass, 

And work 'em into cinders ; 

when the jewels 

Of twenty states adorn thee, 

and the light 

Strike out the stars; and that , 

when thy name is mentioned, 

Queens may look pale : 

(d) From this out I'll have 

no want of company when all 

sorts is bringing me their 

food and clothing ( he swaggers 

MEG-2 2 


to the door , tightening his belt ), 

the way they'd set their eyes 

upon a gallant orphan cleft 

his father with one blow to the 

breeches belt. 

(e) There's hardly a moment 

when I'm not - watching 

and wanting you . I've got 

to hit out somehow . Nearly 

four years of being in the 

same room with you , night 

and day , and I still 

can't stop my sweat break - 

ing out when I see you 

doing -- something as ordinary 

as leaning over an ironing 

board. 

2. Discuss critically the modernity of Elizabethan 20 

tragedy. (400 words) 

OR 

How did Shakespeare alter the Romantic 

Comedy formula in A Midsummer Night's 

Dream ? (400 words) 

MEG-2 3 


3. Dr. Fanstus stands for the Renaissance man ? Is 20 

this a fair assessment of his character ? 

(400 words) 

OR 

It is through Subtle that Ben Jonson has exposed 

and satirized the cheats and swindlers who 

flourished in his age. ( 400 words ) 

4. Bring out the full significance of the play within 20 

play in Hamlet. (400 words) 

OR 

Make a critical assessment of Jimmy - Alison 

relationship in Look Back In Anger. 

(400 words) 

5. Examine critically The Play boy of the Western 20 

World as a Dark Comedy. (400 words) 

6. Examine the interaction of the two tramps, 20 

Estragon and Vladimir, in waiting for Godot. 

(400 words) 

OR 

Is Shaw's Verbal humour only funny, or is it also 

instructive ? Illustrate your answer with examples 

from Pygmalion. (400 words) 

MEG-2 4 P.T.O. 


7. Write short notes on any two of the following 

in 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) Martyrdom in Murder in the Cathedral 

(b) Renaissance spirit in Elizabethan comedy 

(c) Lucky in waiting for Godot 

(d) Helen in Dr. Faustus 

MEG-2 5 


No. of Printed Pages : 4 MEG-2 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

December, 2012 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer Question no. 1, which is compulsory and any 

four from the remaining questions. All questions carry 

equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to the context, is not more than 

150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) --- a s imagination bodies forth 

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 

Turns them to shapes, and gives to aery 

nothing 

A local habitation and name. 

(b) Give me that man 

that is not passion's slave, and I will wear 

him 

In my heart's core, ay in my heart of heart, 

As I do thee-- 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(c) I am a young beginner, and am building 

Of a new shop, and it like your worship; 

just, 

At corner of a street. 

(Here's the plot on't) 

And I would know by art, 

sir, of your worship, 

Which way I should make my door, by 

neeromancy, 

And, where my selves. And, which 

should be for boxes. 

And, which for pots. 

(d) I rage and shout my head off, and every one 

thinks = poor chap!" or = What an 

objectionable young man?" But that girl 

there can twist your arms off with her 

silence --- 

I want to be there when you groved. I want 

to be there, I want to watch it. I want the 

front seat. 

(e) Vladimir : Charming evening we are 

having. 

Estragon : Unforgettable 

Vladimir : And it's not over. 

Estragon : Apparently not. -- 

Estragon : It's awful. 

Vladimir : Worse than mine. 

Estragon : The circus. 

MEG-2 2 


2. Comment on the senecan influence over the 20 

Elizabethan tragedy. (400 words) 

OR 

Bring out the role of the fairies in A Mid Summer 

Night's Dream. (400 words) 

3. Examine the Renaissance and Reformation 20 

strains in Dr. Faustus. (400 words) 

OR 

The tragedy of Hamlet is the tragedy of a man 

obsessed with melancholy. Examine it critically. 

(400 words) 

4. What makes the Alchemist so popular among 20 

theatre groups both in the Elizabethan and the 

Modern age. (400 words) 

OR 

Examine the playboy of the Western world as an 

extravagant comedy and bildungsroman. 

(400 words) 

OR 

Bring out the element of misogyny in Look Back In 

Anger. (400 words) 

5. What is so unique about the structure of Waiting 20 

for Godot ? Illustrate from the text. (400 words) 

OR 

Bring out the role that the chorus plays in 

Murder in the Cathedral. (400 words) 

MEG-2 3 P.T.O. 


6. Was Bernard Shaw a romantic? Is the element of 20 

romance in. the play in harmony with the 

ideology of Pygmalion ? (400 words) 

OR 

Discuss, the unity of time, place and action in 

Elizabethan comedy. (400 words) 

7. Write short notes on any two of the following 

in not more than 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) Horatio in Hamlet 

(b) Significance of dream. A Midsummer Night's 

Dream. 

(c) The Angry young men 

(d) The theatre of the Absurd 

MEG-2 4 


No. of Printed Pages : 3 MEG-2 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

O ENGLISH 

0\ 

O Term-End Examination 

June, 2013 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer Question No. 1, which is compulsory and any 

four from the remaining questions. All questions carry 

equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to context in not more than 150 words 

each : 4x5=20 

(a) Her lips suck forth my soul: 

See where it flies ! 

Come, Helen, come, give me 

my soul again. 

(b) Your vows to her and me, 

put in two scales, 

will even weigh; and both as 

light as tales. 

(c) There is a ship now, coming 

from Ormus, 

That shall yield him such a 

commodity 

of drugs - This is the west, and 

this the south ? 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(d) If then last nature in thee 

bear it not, 

Let not the royal bed of 

Denmark bell 

Adien, adien, adien, remember me. 

(e) Nearly four years of being in the same room 

with you, night and day, and I still can't 

stop my sweat breaking out when I see you 

doing something as ordinary as 

leaning over an ironing board. 

2. Discuss the main features of Elizabethan tragedy. 20 

(400 words) 

OR 

Critically examine Ben Jonson's comedy of 

Humours (400 words) 

3. Analyse the structure of Hamlet. (400 words) 20 

OR 

How does Jonson produce the illusion of reality 

with respect to alchemy ? (400 words) 

4. Do you think tragic irresolution is the strength of 20 

Doctor Faustus ? (400 words) 

OR 

How did Shakespeare alter the Romantic Comedy 

formula in A Midsummer Nights Dream ? 

(400 words) 

MEG-2 2 


5. Comment on themes and issues that show raises 20 

in Pygmalion ? (400 words) 

OR 

Comment on the title, The Playboy of the Western 

World. (400 words) 

6. Discuss Waiting for Godot as an existentialist play. 20 

(400 words) 

OR 

Comment on Becket's silence after the fourth 

temptation in Murder in the Cathedral. 

(400 words) 

7. Write short notes on any two of the following 

(200 words each) 2x10=20 

(a) Chorus in Murder in the Cathedral 

(b) Theatre of Realism 

(c) Eliza 

(d) Angry young man 

MEG-2 3 


MEG-02 No. of Printed Pages : 3 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

December, 2013 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer Question No. 1, which is compulsory, and any 

four from the remaining questions. All questions carry 

equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following poems/ 

passages with reference to the context in not more 

than 150 words : 4x5=20 

(a) My words fly up, my 

thoughts remain below : 

words without thoughts never 

to heaven go. 

(b) Helen, whose beauty caused 

Troy to burn, will do 

the same for faustus ; the 

immortality offered by 

the kisses of a demon lover is an 

eternity in hell. 

(c) A woman who utters such depressing and 

disgusting sounds has no right to be 

anywhere - no right to live 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(d) Was not all the knowledge of the Egyptians 

writ in mystic symbols ? 

Speak not the scripture oft 

in parallels ? 

(e) " and I not knowing at all there was 

the like of you drawing nearer, like the stars 

of God." 

2. Examine the role of the Renaissance in the growth 20 

of Elizabethan drama (400 words) 

OR 

Analyse the basic plot of romantic comedy 

(400 words). 

3. Describe critically "To be, or not to be" in the 20 

context of Shakespeare's Hamlet (400 words). 

OR 

What aspects of Jacobean society have been 

depicted in Jonson's The Alchemist ? (400 words). 

4. Analyse the role of Mephistophilis in Doctor 20 

Faustus (400 words). 

OR 

Discuss the significance of the pastoral in A 

Midsummer Nights Dream. (400 words) 

5. Discuss critically the Alison-Jimmy relationship 20 

in Look Back in Anger. (400 words) 

OR 

Discuss the comic conventions in Pygmalion 

(400 words). 

MEG-2 2 


6. Analyse the structure of Waiting for Godot 20 

(400 words). 

OR 

What is the role played by the Chorus in Murder 

in the Cathedral ? (400 words) 

7. Write short notes on any two of the following : 

(200 words each) 2x10=20 

(a) Lucky 

(b) Miracle Plays 

(c) Pegeen 

(d) Prick 

MEG-2 3 


No. of Printed Pages : 4 2838 MEG-02 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

June, 2014 

MEG-02 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer Question no. 1, which is compulsory and any four 

from the remaining questions. All questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 4x5=20 

passages with reference to context, in not more 

than 150 words each: 

(a) His faith is great; I cannot touch his soul; 

But what I may afflict his body with I will 

attempt, which is but little worth. 

(b) Why should you think that I should woo in 

scorn? 

Scorn and derision never come in tears. 

Look when I vow, I weep; and vows-so born, 

In their nativity all truth appears. 

MEG-02 1 P.T.O. 


(c) To be, or not to be, that is the question: 

Whether' tis nobler in the mind to suffer 

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 

And by opposing, end them. 

(d) I'm only a common ignorant girl: 

and in my station I have to be careful. 

There can't be any feelings between the like 

of you and the like of me. 

(e) 0, what else, sir? 

And that you'll make her royal with the stone, 

And empress; and yourself king of Bantam. 

2. "The Alchemist" is a satire on human follies 20 

and foibles." Discuss, 

OR. 

Discuss 'Doctor Faustus' as essentially a 

Renaissance tragedy. 

MEG-02 2 P.T.O. 


3. The chorus in Murder in the cathedral, 20 

reflects the growth in Thomas Becket. 

Discuss. 

OR. 

What is the significance of 'dream' in the title 

of the play A Midsummer Night's Dream? 

4. Discuss 'Hamlet' as a tragedy. 20 

OR. 

Discuss The Play boy of the Western World 

as a folk play. 

5. Does Shaw's use of myth contribute to the 20 

enrichment of Pygmalion? Justify your 

answer. 

OR. 

Discuss Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot 

as a tragicomedy. 

MEG-02 3 P.T.O. 


6. What is your understanding of the concept 20 

of the 'angry young man' in the play Look 

Back in Anger? Explain. 

OR. 

Critically examine the role of Renaissance 

in the growth of the Elizabethan Drama. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the following 2x10=20 

in not more than 200 words each: 

(a) Claudius. 

(b) Bottom 

(c) Eliza 

(d) The Theatre of the Absurd 

*** 

MEG-02 4 P.T.O. 


MEG-2 No. of Printed Pages : 3 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

December, 2014 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 

passages with reference to context, in not more 

than 150 words each : 4 x5=20 

(a) I hit a blow on the ridge of his skull, laid 

him stretched out, and he split to the knob 

of his gullet. 

(b) Have you not done tormenting me with 

your accursed time ! ... One day, is that not 

enough for you, one day he went dumb, ... 

one day we were born, one day we shall die, 

the same day, the same second ... 

(c) 0 God, 

If thou wilt not have mercy on my soul 

Yet, for Christ's sake, whose blood hath 

ransom'd me 

Impose some end to my incessant pain. 

Car- .1r- 1=1 *al 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(d) Such an act 

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, 

Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose 

From the fair forehead of innocent love 

And sets the blister there. 

(e) You do advance your cunning more and more. 

When truth kills truth, 0 devilish-holy fray ! 

These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er ? 

Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing 

weigh. 

2. Write a note on Comedy of Humours with special 

reference to Ben Jonson's The Alchemist. 20 

OR 

Attempt a critical appreciation of Doctor Faustus 

as dramatic poetry. 

3. Delineate the nature of the four temptations that 

Becket undergoes in the play Murder in the 

Cathedral. 20 

OR 

What are the common points between the main 

play and the Mechanicals' play in Shakespeare's 

A Midsummer Night's Dream ? 

4. Write a critical note on Hamlet's attitude 

towards Claudius in the play Hamlet. 20 

OR 

Write an essay on imagery in J.M. Synge's 

The Playboy of the Western World. 

MEG-2 2 


5. How does Shaw denounce social snobbery and 

class distinctions in his play Pygmalion ? 20 

OR 

Discuss Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot as an 

Existentialist play. 

6. Give a brief character-sketch of Jimmy in 

Osborne's Look Back in Anger. 20 

OR 

Discuss the salient features of the mature 

Elizabethan tragedy. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the following in 

not more than 200 words each : 2 x10=20 

(a) Beatrice 

(b) Subtle 

(c) Higgins 

(d) Eliot's views on Poetic Drama 

MEG-2 3 17,000 


MEG-21 No. of Printed Pages : 4 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME. IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

June, 2015 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to the context, in not more than 150 

words each : 4 x 5=20 

(a) Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned ? 

And canst thou not be sav'd. 

What boots it then to think of God or heaven ? 

Away with such fancies, and despair; 

Despair in God, and trust in Belzebub. 

(b) Such an act 

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty, 

Calls virtue hypocrite, takes off the rose 

From the fair forehead of innocent love 

And sets the blister there, make marriage vows 

As false as dicers' oaths - 0, such a deed ... 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(c) From this out I'll have no want of company 

when all sorts is bringing me their food 

and clothing (he swaggers to the door, 

tightening his belt), the way they'd set 

their eyes upon a gallant orphan cleft his 

father with one blow to the breeches belt. 

(d) It is not in time that my death shall be known; 

It is out of time that my decision is taken 

If you call that a decision 

To which my whole being gives entire consent. 

I give my life 

To the law of God above the law of Man. 

(e) But, you see, I was the only one who cared. His 

family were embarrassed by the whole business. 

Embarrassed and irritated ... We, all of us 

waited for him to die ... Every time I sat on the 

edge of his bed, to listen to him talking or 

reading to me, I had to fight back my tears. At 

the end of twelve months, I was a veteran ... you 

see, I learnt at an early age what it was to be 

angry — angry and helpless. And I can never 

forget it. I knew more about — love ... betrayal 

... and death, when I was ten years old than you 

will probably know all your life. 

MEG-2 2 


2. Bring out the interplay of the Renaissance and 

Reformation strain in Elizabethan tragedy. 

(450 words) 20 

OR 

What is the basic plot of Romantic Comedy ? Why 

does it end in feasting and dancing ? (450 words) 

3. Bring out the enormous significance of the 

soliloquies in Hamlet. (450 words) 20 

OR 

Discuss The Alchemist as a classical tragedy in 

which unities of time, place and action are strictly 

followed. (450 words) 

4. Make a critical assessment of Jimmy - Alison 

relationship from a feminist perspective. 

(450 words) 20 

OR 

Examine The Playboy of the Western World as an 

extravagant comedy and bildungsroman. 

(450 words) 

5. Bring out the full significance of the title Waiting 

for Godot. (450 words) 20 

OR 

How is Pygmalion, an early 20th century play set 

in England meaningful to you in India at the end 

of the millenium ? (450 words) 

MEG-2 3 P.T.O. 


6. What is the role of the chorus in Murder in the 

Cathedral ? (450 words) 20 

OR 

Discuss the gender issues in A Midsummer 

Night's Dream. List the many instances of 

Shakespeare's sympathy for women in the play. 

(450 words) 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following : 2x10=20 

(a) Dr. Faustus as the tragedy of a 

Renaissance man 

(b) Lucky in Waiting for Godot 

(c) Gertrude in Hamlet 

(d) Prof. Higgins in Pygmalion 

MEG-2 4 16,000 


No. of Printed Pages : 4 I MEG-2 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

_J I_ December, 2015 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to the context, in not more than 150 

words each : 4x5=20 

(a) Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss. 

Her lips suck forth my soul: see, where it flies ! 

Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again. 

Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips, 

And all is dross that is not Helena ! 

(b) We'll put on those shall praise your excellence 

And set a double varnish on the fame 

The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, 

together, 

And wager o'er your heads: he, being remiss, 

Most generous and free from all contriving, 

Will not peruse the foils; ... 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(c) The children of perdition are, oft-times 

Made instruments even of the greatest works. 

Beside, we should give somewhat to man's nature, 

The place he lives in, still about the fire, 

And fume of metals, that intoxicate 

The brain of man, and make him prone to passion. 

(d) But when it comes to business, to the life 

that she really leads as distinguished from 

the life of dreams and fancies, she likes 

Freddy and she likes the Colonel; and she 

does not like Higgins and Mr. Doolittle. 

Galatea never does quite like Pygmalion: his 

relation to her is too godlike to be altogether 

agreeable. 

(e) Why, why, why, why do we let these women 

bleed us to death ? Have you ever had a 

letter, and on it is franked 'Please Give 

Your Blood Generously' ? Well, the 

Postmaster-General does that, on behalf of 

all the women of the world ... There aren't 

any good, brave causes left ... No, there's 

nothing left for it, me boy, but to let yourself 

be butchered by the women. 

MEG-2 2 


2. Discuss the features of revenge tragedy in 

Elizabethan England. (450 words) 20 

OR 

How is a Romantic comedy different from a 

comedy of humours ? (450 words) 

3. Bring out the nature of tragic conflict of Faustus. 

(450 words) 20 

OR 

The tragedy of Hamlet is the tragedy of 

irresolution and inaction. Do you agree with the 

assessment ? (450 words) 

4. What role does Subtle play in Ben Jonson's The 

Alchemist ? (450 words) 20 

OR 

Dreams play an important role in A Midsummer 

Night's Dream. Discuss with reference to the 

play. (450 words) 

5. The Playboy of the Western World is neither 

a comedy nor a tragedy. Discuss critically. 

(450 words) 20 

OR 

What is your understanding of the concept of the 

"angry young man" and its implications in the 

context of Look Back in Anger ? (450 words) 

MEG-2 3 P.T.O. 


6. What is so commendable about the structure of 

Waiting for Godot ? Illustrate with reference to 

the text. (450 words) 20 

OR 

Attempt a feminist reading of the chorus in 

Murder in the Cathedral. (450 words) 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following : 2x10=20 

(a) Use of myth in Pygmalion 

(b) The agony of Dr. Faustus 

(c) Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream 

(d) Lucky in Waiting For Godot 

MEG-2 4 19,000 


No. of Printed Pages : 3 MEG-21 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

June, 2016 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to the context, in not more than 

150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) 0, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven, 

It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, 

A brother's murder ! 

(b) When I behold the heavens, then I repent, 

And curse thee, wicked Mephistophilis, 

Because thou halt depriv'd me of those joys. 

(c) Why should you think that 

I should woo in scorn ? 

Scorn and derision never come in tears. 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(d) I hit a blow on the ridge of his skull, laid him 

stretched out, and he split to the knob of his 

gullet. 

(e) Was not all the knowledge 

Of the Egyptians writ in mystic symbols ? 

Speak not the Scriptures oft in parables ? 

2. Discuss the aspects of Jacobean society reflected 

in Jonson's plays. 20 

OR 

Discuss The Alchemist as a satirical comedy. 

3. Critically examine Dr. Faustus as a Renaissance 

Tragedy. 20 

OR 

Discuss the role played by the Mechanicsls, 

especially Bottom, in A Midsummer Night's 

Dream. 

4. Examine Hamlet as a revenge play. 20 

OR 

Discuss Hamlet as a Shakespearean tragic hero. 

5. Do you think Shaw's Pygmalion is critical of 

social snobbery and class distinctions ? Give a 

reasoned answer. 20 

OR 

Examine The Playboy of the Western World as a 

folk play. 

MEG-2 


6. What changes do Pozzo and Lucky undergo in the 

course of Waiting for Godot ? 20 

OR 

What is the significance of the fourth temptation 

in Murder in the Cathedral ? 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following : (200 words each) 2x10=20 

(a) Freddy 

(b) Estragon 

(c) Alison 

(d) Ophelia 

MEG-2 3 21,000 


No. of Printed Pages : 3 I MEG-21 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

" 1 9 64 December, 2016 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Annotate any four of the following passages with 

reference to the context, in not more than 

150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) List, list, 0 list ! 

If thou didst ever thy 

dear father love ... 

Revenge his foul and most 

unnatural murder ... 

(b) I keep looking back, as far as 

I remember, and I can't think 

What it was to feel young, 

really young. 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(c) They know and do not know, 

what it is to act or suffer 

They know and do not know, 

that action is suffering 

And suffering is action. 

(d) Our youth and strength with 

drinking the elixir, 

And so enjoy a perpetuity 

of life and lust. 

(e) Thou traitor, Faustus, I arrest thy soul, 

For disobedience to my sovereign Lord. 

2. Discuss T.S. Eliot's views on poetic drama. 20 

OR 

Discuss the basic plot of Romantic Comedy with 

reference to A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

3. Critically analyze Hamlet's soliloquies in the 

play. 20 

OR 

What is the role played by the swindlers and the 

Dupes in The Alchemist ? 

MEG-2 2 


4. "Homo, fuge : Whither should I fly ?" Analyze 

Dr. Faustus in the context of this statement. 20 

OR 

Comment on the Titania-Oberon plot in 

A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

5. What do you understand by the angry young 

man' in the context of Look Back in Anger ? 20 

OR 

What according to Shaw are the social 

implications of the different modes of English 

speech ? 

6. In Waiting for Godot, the irrationality of human 

experience is transferred to the stage. Comment. 20 

OR 

Critically analyze the role of the chorus in 

Murder in the Cathedral. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following (200 words each) : 2x10=20 

(a) Bottom 

(b) Christy 

(c) Osric 

(d) Time in Waiting for Godot 

MEG-2 3 24,000 


I MEG-2 No. of Printed Pages : 3 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

7:306 

Term-End Examination 

June, 2017 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

A rote : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory. 

Attempt any four of the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 

pal3sages with reference to the context, in not 

more than 150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) 0, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven, 

It had the primal eldest curse upon't 

A brother's murder ! Pray can I not. 

':'hough inclination be as sharp as will. 

(b) Galatea never does quite like Pygmalion : 

relation to her is too godlike to be 

alt( )gether agreeable. 

(c) Wha t boots it then to think of God or heaven ? 

Away with such fancies and despair; 

Despair in God, and trust in Beelzebub ... 

Abjure this magic, turn to God again. 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(d) Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. 

Down in the hole, lingeringly, the 

gravedigger puts on the forceps. We have 

time to grow old. The air is full of our 

cries. But habit is a great deadener. 

(e) Thou speak'st aright 

I am the merry wanderer of the night. 

I jest to Oberon, and make him smile 

When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, 

Neighing in likeness of a filly foal 

And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl. 

2. Discuss The Alchemist as a comedy of character 

and event. 20 

OR 

Examine Doctor Faustus as a tragedy of neu rosis 

and relate it to the predicament of contemporary 

man. 

3. Critically examine the role of the chorus in Eliot's 

Murder in the Cathedral. 20 

OR 

Critically examine the significance of dreams in 

A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

MEG-2 2 


4. Discuss Hamlet as a revenge tragedy. 20 

OR 

Discuss The Playboy of the Western World as a 

bildungsroman that portrays the development of 

the central character. 

5. "Pygmalion hinges on the contrast of characters." 

Critically comment. 20 

OR 

"Beckett rejects the received logic of form and 

conventional structure." Critically comment. 

6. Discuss the Romantic and Modernist conceptions 

of character in the presentation of Jimmy as the 

play's protagonist. 20 

OR 

Discuss the formulation of Elizabethan tragedy 

with reference to the prescribed plays. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following in not more than 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) Hamlet's Soliloquies 

(b) Romantic Comedy 

(c) Higgins 

(d) The concept of character in modern drama 

MEG-2 3 21,000 


I MEG-21 No. of Printed Pages : 4 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

06401 December, 2017 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory. 

Attempt any four of the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 

passages with reference to the context, in not 

more than 150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) But you have no idea how frightfully 

interesting it is to take a human being and 

change her into a quite different human being 

by creating a new speech for her. 

(b) ... the spring, the summer, 

The childing autumn, angry winter, change 

Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world, 

By their increase, now knows not 

which is which. 

And this same progeny of evils comes 

From our debate, from our dissension; 

We are the parents and original. 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(c) 0, that this too too solid flesh would melt 

Thaw and resolve itself into a dew ! 

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 

His canon `gainst self-slaughter ! 

(d) Why then, belike we must sin, and so 

consequently die. 

Ay, we must die an everlasting death. 

What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera, 

"What will be shall be" ? Divinity, adieu ! 

(e) They know and do not know, what is it to 

act or suffer 

They know and do not know that action 

is suffering 

And suffering is action. 

2. "The issues with which he chose to deal were 

among the most deeply ingrained preoccupations 

of his age." Discuss with reference to Ben 

Jonson's The Alchemist. 20 

OR 

Tragic irresolution is the dramatic strength of 

Doctor Faustus. Discuss. 

MEG-2 2 


3. Critically comment on Eliot's Christian 

perspective with reference to Murder in the 

Cathedral. 20 

OR 

Discuss A Midsummer Night's Dream as a 

romantic comedy. 

4. Discuss the play-within-the-play and metaphors 

of theatre with reference to the plot of Hamlet. 20 

OR 

Discuss the role of J.M. Synge in the Irish 

Dramatic Movement with special reference to The 

Playboy of the Western World. 

5. Discuss Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot as an 

existentialist play. 20 

OR 

Was Shaw a romantic ? Is the element of romance 

in Pygmalion in harmony with the ideology of 

Bernard Shaw. 

MEG-2 3 P.T.O. 


6. Characters in Look Back in Anger are enmeshed 

in class and gender issues. Discuss. 20 

OR 

Examine the concept of the hero in modern drama 

with reference to the prescribed plays. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following in not more than 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) The Theatre of the Absurd 

(b) Claudius 

(c) The Comedy of Humours 

(d) Mephistophilis 

MEG-2 4 21,000 


I MEG-21 No. of Printed Pages : 3 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

June, 2018 16676 

MEG-2 : BRITISH. DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory. 

Attempt any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 

passages with reference to the context, in not 

more than 150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, 

No touch of bashfulness ? What, will you 

tear. Impatient answers from my gentle 

tongue ? 

(b) 'Tis the secret 

Of nature naturized 'gainst all infections, 

Cures all diseases coming of all causes; 

A month's grief in a day; a year's in twelve; 

(c) Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives' 

tales. 

(d) But, you see, I was the only one who cared. 

His family were embarrassed by the whole 

business. Embarrassed and irritated. 

(e) Suppose we repented "Our being born". 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


2. What aspects of Jacobean society are depicted in 

Ben Jonson's The Alchemist ? 20 

OR 

Critically analyze Dr. Faustus as a Renaissance 

tragedy. 

3. Discuss the theme of martyrdom in Murder in the 

Cathedral. 20 

OR 

Analyze Shakespeare's treatment of women in 

A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

4. Revenge is the central theme of Hamlet. Discuss. 20 

OR 

Discuss the farcical elements in The Playboy of 

the Western World. 

5. What are the social implications of the different 

modes of English speech ? Answer with reference 

to Shaw's Pygmalion. 20 

OR 

Critically analyze Lucky's speech in Waiting for 

Godot. 

MEG-2 2 


6. Discuss Look Back in Anger in the context of the 

angry young man'. . 20 

OR 

What do you understand by the 'modernity' of 

Elizabethan tragedy ? 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following in not more than 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) Hermia 

(b) Eliot's 'The Three Voices of Poetry' 

(c) Widow Quin 

(d) Horatio 

MEG-2 3 26,000 


No. of Printed Pages : 4 I MEG-21 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

D 1. S? 1. December, 2018 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 

passages with reference to the context, in not 

more than 150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) To die, to sleep; 

To sleep : perchance to dream : 

ay, there's the rub. 

(b) Homo fuge! Whither should I fly ? 

If unto God, he'll throw me down to hell. 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(c) There are cruel steel traps lying about 

everywhere, just waiting for rather mad, 

slightly satanic and very timid little 

animals. Right ? 

(d) They know and not know, 

what it is to act or suffer 

They know and not know, that 

action is suffering 

And suffering is action. 

(e) 0, good sir! 

There must be a world of ceremonies pass, 

you must be bathed, and fumigated, first; 

2. Discuss the illusion of reality with regard to 

alchemy as the central motif in The Alchemist. 20 

OR 

Dr. Faustus attempts to depart from a comedy of 

evil to become a tragedy of human heroism. Do 

you agree ? Give a reasoned answer. 

MEG-2 2 


3. Comment on the significance of the fourth 

temptation in Murder in the Cathedral. 20 

OR 

How does Shakespeare alter the romantic comedy 

formula in A Midsummer Night's Dream ? 

4. "Claudius rather than Hamlet is the protagonist 

of the play." Do you agree ? 20 

OR 

"The Playboy of the Western World is a play about 

the instinctive desire to rebel against tradition." 

Discuss. 

5. Analyse the comic conventions in Pygmalion. 20 

OR 

Comment on the structure of Waiting for Godot. 

6. What is the significance of the title of the play 

Look Back in Anger ? 20 

OR 

Critically examine the role of the Renaissance in 

the growth of Elizabethan drama. 

MEG-2 3 R T.O. 


7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following in not more than 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) Morality Play 

(b) Mephistophilis 

(c) Bottom 

(d) Colonel Pickering 

MEG-2 4 18,500 


No. of Printed Pages : 4 I MEG-21 

.MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAM:ME IN 

ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

•-`14 F t 

June, 2019 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 

passages with reference to the context, in not 

more than 150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) To be, or not to be : That is the question — 

Whether %is nobler in the mind to suffer 

The slings and arrows of outrageous 

fortune, 

Or to take up against a sea of 

troubles, 

And, by opposing, end them ? To die, to 

sleep — 

No more ... 

MEG-2 1 P.T.O. 


(b) But you have no idea how frightfully 

interesting it is to take a human being and 

change her into a quite different human being 

by creating a new speech for her. It's filling up 

the deepest gulf that separates class from class 

and soul from soul. 

(c) Ho11 hath no limits, nor is circumscribed 

In one self-place; for where we are is hell, 

And where hell is, there must we ever be : 

(d) Have you not done tormenting me with your 

accursed time ! ... One day, is that not enough 

for you, one day he went dumb ... one day we 

are born, one day we shall die, the same day, 

the same second ... 

(e) If we shadows have offended, 

Think but this, and all is mended, 

That you have but slumbered here 

'While these visions did appear. 

And this weak and idle theme, 

No more yielding but a dream, 

Gentles, do not reprehend; 

If you pardon, we will mend : 

MEG-2 2 


2. Ben Jonson's The Alchemist attempts to capture 

the spirit of his age. Comment. 20 

OR 

Discuss Dr. Faustus as a tragedy. 

3. Examine critically the idea of martyrdom in 

Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. 20 

OR 

"Celebrating love within the institution of 

marriage." Is it an apt description of 

A Midsummer Night's Dream ? Discuss. 

4. Discuss Hamlet as a revenge play. 20 

OR 

"The Playboy of the Western World is a play about 

rebellion. Comment. 

5. Critically comment on the character of Eliza in 

Pygmalion. 20 

OR 

Discuss Waiting for Godot as a play that presents 

the existentialist crisis of modem man. 

MEG-2 3 P.T.O. 


6. Gender and class conflict are central to Look Back 

in Anger. Discuss. 20 

OR 

Elizabethan tragedy focuses on character, not 

circumstance. Comment. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following in not more than 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) The Split Personality of Doctor Faustus 

(b) Experimentation in Modern Drama 

(c) The Theatre of the Absurd 

(d) Comic Spirit in Modern Drama 

MEG-2 4 23,000 


MEG-21 No. of Printed Pages : 4 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME IN 

ENGLISH 

-72971 Term-End Examination 

December, 2019 

MEG-2 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 hours Maximum Marks : 100 

Note : Answer question no. 1, which is compulsory and 

attempt any four from the remaining questions. All 

questions carry equal marks. 

1.. Critically comment on any four of the following 

passages, with reference to the context, in about 

150 words each : 4x5=20 

(a) 0 that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, 

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 

His canon 'gainst self-slaughter ! 

(b) I shall make a duchess of this 

draggle-tailed guttersnipe. 

RAFr.-2 1 P T 0 


(c) Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damn'd ? 

Canst thou not be sav'd ? 

Despair in God, and trust in Beelzebub. 

Now go not backward, Faustus; be resolute : 

Why waverest thou ? 

(d) They know and do not know, what it is to 

act or suffer. 

They know and do not know, that action is 

suffering 

And suffering is action. Neither does the 

actor suffer 

Nor the patient act. But both are fixed ... 

(e) Will you believe antiquity ? Records ? 

I'll shew you a book, where Moses and his 

sister, 

And Solomon have written of the art; 

Ay, and a treatise penn'd by Adam — 

2. Discuss the differences between Shakespearean 

comedy and Jonsonian comedy with reference to 

the prescribed plays in your course. 20 

OR 

Critically examine Doctor Faustus as a tragedy of 

human heroism. 


3. Discuss the notions of martyrdom and temptation 

with reference to modern times in Eliot's Murder 

in the Cathedral. 20 

OR 

Comment on the use of the play within the play 

in A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

4. Discuss the significance of Hamlet's soliloquies 

with reference to the soul-searching he 

undergoes. 20 

OR 

The Playboy of the Western World illustrates the 

changed concept of comedy in the modern world. 

Discuss. 

5. Pygmalion examines class and gender difference 

in a comic perspective. Critically comment. 20 

OR 

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot presents 

before us the existentialist crisis of modern man. 

Comment. 

iAtra D T fl 


6. Critically examine the concept of the angry young 

man with reference to the character of Jimmy in 

Look Back in Anger. 20 

OR 

Examine the concept of tragic flaw with reference 

to Elizabethan tragedy. 

7. Write short notes on any two of the 

following in about 200 words each : 2x10=20 

(a) Laertes-Hamlet Clash 

(b) Renaissance Comedy 

(c) Class Conflict in Shaw's Drama 

(d) Poetic Drama 

RAF0.2) 


MEG-02 No. of Printed Pages : 4 

MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAMME 

IN ENGLISH 

Term-End Examination 

MEG-02 : BRITISH DRAMA 

Time : 3 Hours] [Maximum : Marks : 100 

Note: Answer question no. 1 which is compulsory. 

Answer any four from the remaining questions. 

All questions carry equal marks. 

1. Critically comment on any four of the following 

passages with reference to the context, in not 

more than 150 words each: 4X5=20 

) 'Tis now the very witching time of night, 

When churchyards yawn and hell 

Itself breathes out contagion to this world. 

Now could I drink hot blood, and do 

Such bitter business as the bitter day 

Would quake to look on 

MEG-02/ . 


(b) Now, Faustus, must 

Thou needs be damned and canst thou not 

be saved 

 Despair in God, and trust in Belzebub: 

Now go not backward : no, Faustus be 

resolute. 

(c) One day, when I'm not longer spending my 

days running a sweet-stall, I may write a book 

about us all It'll be recollected in fire and 

blood. My blood. 

(d) We have only to conquer 

Now, by suffering. This is the easier victory. 

Now is the triumph of the cross. 

(e) Women upset everything. When you let them 

into your life, you find that the woman is 

driving at one thing and you're driving at 

another. 

2. The Alchemist is a satire on human follies and 

foibles. Discuss. 20 

OR 

Examine Doctor Faustus as a tragedy of the 

aspirational Renaissance man. 

(2) MEG-02/ 5700 


Comment on the nature of the four temptations 

that Beckett confronts. 

OR 

The Mechanicals' play is inextricably related to 

the main plot of A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Illustrate. 

4. How do Hamlet's soliloquies contribute to the 

play? 20 

OR 

Discuss The Playboy of the Western World as 

an extravagant comedy. 

5. Critically comment on the verbal comedy in 

Pygmalion. 

OR 

Discuss the salient features of Elizabethan 

tragedy with examples. 

6. How do the characters in Look Back in Anger 

function as sites for a discussion of class and 

gender issues? 

OR 

Discuss Waiting for Godot as an Absurd play. 

MEG-02/ 5700 (3 ) P.T.O. 


Write short notes on any two of the following in 

about 200 words each. 2x10=20 

(a) Religious beginning of Elizabethan drama 

(b) The theatre of the Absurd 

(c) The element of fantasy in A Mid Summer's 

Night Dream. 

(d) Characterization in the comedy of Humours. 

-X- 

(4) MEG-02/ 5700 

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