Take the characters in Oedipus Rex and Medea, and consider the following:
- Who is the protagonist? Defend your choice.
- Why do they do what they do? Are they self-motivated, or manipulated by outside forces?
- Are they capable of change or growth? Why or why not?
- Do their actions impact others? If so, who and how?
- Which characters are tragic, and which are merely pathetic?
(Plays discussed: Oedipus Rex and Medea)
- Lysistrata and Oedipus: a study in contrasts
- Both Oedipus and Lysistrata had well-defined goals. In what ways did their goals dictate the paths each took?
- What differences did you see in the way their journeys played out, and to what extent were these differences due to their temperaments?
- How did the structure of each play enable or impede your understanding of the story?
- Why did one fail, and the other succeed?
(Plays discussed: Oedipus Rex and Lysistrata)
- Sakuntala and Everyman: teaching morality
These two plays are essential lessons for the audience, taught in very different ways.
- Name at least three lessons from each play, say why you think these lessons were important.
- In what ways are the lessons similar across cultures?
- Why do you think they were structured so differently?
- Can you boil the lessons of each play down to three sentences?
(Plays discussed: The Recognition of Sakuntala and Everyman)
- A Renaissance Man
- What kind of things does Faustus desire?
- Why do you think he wants those things?
- Does Marlowe allow Faustus to achieve his goals?
- Why/ why not?
(Play discussed: Doctor Faustus)
- Love and Other Drugs
- Compare Hippolyta’s relationship with Theseus and Oberon’s relationship with Titania.
- Why does Oberon want Titania to give him the child?
- What does Bottom say about the nature of love?
- What kinds of love does Shakespeare describe? Which characters are emblematic of which kind of love?
(Play discussed: A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
- Tartuffe
- Why is the play named for a character who doesn’t appear until Act III?
- In what ways were your opinions of Tartuffe formed before his arrival?
- How do you think Orgon is changed by Tartuffe’s betrayal?
- What purpose does Cleante serve?
- What is the deus ex machina?
(Play discussed: Tartuffe)
- Love Suicides
- Take a moment and compare this play to Oedipus Rex. What similarities can you find?
- How does Tokubei compare to Oedipus as a tragic hero?
- Are you able to see any other options for Ohatsu and Tokubei?
- Given the opportunity, how would you rework the end of the play?
(Plays discussed: The Love Suicides at Sonezaki and Oedipus Rex)
- That’s the Way
- What do Mirabell and Fainall have in common?
- What does each man want?
- Compare the actions each takes to achieve their goals.
- What’s the deus ex machina?