ywould Lear and Caliban bring down upon those they curse? What might analternative to cursing be? At what point do Lear and Caliban stopcursing, and why?2. Two Flashbacks: Hermia and Helena's Childhood and Hamlet I andFortinbras's CombatThink about the circumstances that lead to these two narratives of thepast. How is each gendered? How is the experience each one recordsdifferent from that of the play in which it appears? Does the worlddescribed in the sketches still exist in the world of the play? What hassuperseded the girlhood friendship and the chivalric combat?3. Shipwreck in two of the following plays: "Comedy of Errors," "TheWinter's Tale," "The Tempest"In what way does a shipwreck mark the end of tragedy and the beginning ofcomedy in two of these plays?4. The Cause of Death: Mamillius in "The Winter's Tale" and Titania'sVotary in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."What do we know about the circumstances of these two deaths? What arethe natural causes of each death? Does either the boy or the young womanin any sense deserve to die? Is their death a punishment? Why do youthink death figures in these two plays when neither is a tragedy?5. Allusions to Women in "Hamlet": Niobe (1.2.149), Hecuba (2.2481ff.),Jepthah's daughter (2.2.392) , Nero's mother (3.5.364)Ophelia and Gertrude are the only women in the play, but there areallusions to all the females listed above. Look up each of them in theappropriate dictionary: mythological, classical and biblical. In whatrespect are they all associated with different forms of reproduction? Dothey bear any relation to Ophelia and Gertrude?N.B. If you prefer to write on a topic of your own choosing, please emailme a paragraph stating what you would like to write on. If the topic isfeasible for this course and this length of paper, I will happily approve Ophelia's chanting in the "mad" scenes is a parody of the OTstory of Jepthah's daughter, who "bewailed her virginit...
