British Literature & Composition

Spring 2012 Exam Study Guide

Grendel ◦ Grendel has been terrorizing the hall of Herot for

12 years. King Hrothgar calls on Beowulf to help.◦ Beowulf waits for Grendel to come to the hall one

evening for his nightly feeding, then Beowulf and Grendel fight.

◦ Beowulf defeats Grendel by tearing off his arm. ◦ The wounded Grendel returns to his marsh. ◦ Grendel’s arm is hung up in the hall as a trophy.

Beowulf and the Monsters

Grendel’s mother ◦ She goes to the hall and takes back her son’s

arm.◦ Then she kills one of the king’s closest friends to

avenge her son’s death. ◦ Beowulf goes to the marsh and fights her. He

delivers a blow to her neck which kills her. ◦ Beowulf then cuts off Grendel’s head.

Beowulf and the Monsters

The dragon◦ Beowulf returns to his home, and eventually

becomes king. He rules in peace and prosperity for 50 years.

◦ Then a dragon begins terrorizing the countryside, so Beowulf, now an old man, faces the dragon.

◦ Beowulf is unable to defeat the dragon alone, so Wiglaf joins Beowulf in the fight. Together, they defeat the dragon, but Beowulf is seriously wounded.

◦ The dying Beowulf leaves the kingdom to Wiglaf as a reward for his loyalty.

Beowulf and the Monsters

After the three rioters discover the gold, they come up with a plan to carry the gold away.

Two of them will guard the gold, while the other goes to get provisions (bread and wine).

While the third is getting provisions, the other two come up with a plan to murder him and split the gold between the two of them.

Meanwhile, the third one comes up with a plan to murder the other two by poisoning their drinks.

When the third one rejoins the other two, they kill him and then drink the wine to celebrate, so they die as well.

The moral of the story: the love of money is the root of all evil.

“The Pardoner’s Tale”

Italian or Petrarchan◦ 14 lines; two-part structure◦ Octave (first eight lines) abbaabba◦ Sestet (last six lines) cdcdcd or cdecde

English or Shakespearean◦ 14 lines◦ Three quatrains (four-line units) abab cdcd efef ◦ Final couplet (2 rhyming lines) gg

Spenserian◦ Similar to English with three quatrains and one

couplet◦ Interlocking rhyme scheme abab bcbc cdcd ee

Sonnets

Macbeth Lady Macbeth

Conflicts Internal: whether or not to kill the king; haunted by Banquo after ordering him killed; External: vs. his wife; vs. fate or supernatural; vs. Macduff

Internal: driven insane by her guilt over her involvement with all the murders;External: vs. her husband

Motivations To be king; to gain power To be queen; to gain power

Outcomes Killed by Macduff on the battlefield

Dies due to her guilt (we assume she committed suicide)

The Tragedy of Macbeth

At the beginning of the play, the three witches hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis (which he already is), then Thane of Cawdor and King hereafter.

Shortly after this, Macbeth is given the title of Thane of Cawdor, which inspires to make the third prophecy come true by killing King Duncan so he could become king.

The Tragedy of Macbeth

In Act Four, three apparitions appear to Macbeth First – An armed head tells Macbeth to beware Macduff

◦ This is fulfilled when Macduff kills Macbeth Second – A bloody child tells Macbeth that “none of

woman born shall harm Macbeth”◦ This causes Macbeth to dismiss the first apparition, until

Macbeth learns that Macduff was not “born of woman”, but was ripped from his mother’s womb (C-section)

Third – a child crowned with a tree in his hand tells Macbeth he shall “never be vanquished until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him.”◦ This is fulfilled when Macduff’s army camouflage themselves

with tree branches, so it looks like the forest is moving.

The Tragedy of Macbeth