letteratura inglese del 5 anno, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica letteratura inglese del 5 anno e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! INGLESE JANE AUSTEN 1) What was the situation for Victorian women like? Women hadn’t many choices, they cared about the family, the house, the marriage. They could have property but when they married, it passed to their husband. The only respectable jobs open to women were either being a governess or companion to a lady 2) What is the most important novel by Jane Austen and what does it deal with? The most important novel is “Pride and Prejudice” and it deals with Victorian society, the structure of the classes, the behaviours of England’s gentry, and marriage. 3) Why was marriage so important for a woman in the 19th century? Marriage is important for economic stability, and it can take a certain sum on the woman. She received income from the interest which matured on it during her life and it could be inherited by her children. 4) Explain the beginning of Pride and Prejudice: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”. It’s the point of view of the man, a rich man married a wife. With this beginning we know that this novel talks about marriage, irony and this is a thing that all people know. MARY SHELLEY 1) Why do we say that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is considered both a development of the Gothic novel and an early example of science fiction? The novel is both an example of Gothic novel and science fiction. A Gothic novel contains many elements of horror, death, combination of real and unreal, mystery and fear. The setting could be dark forest, castles, desolate places. The Gothic element can be also found in the ugliness of the monster and the use of highly emotional language. It is also considered science fiction because it includes the cruel treatment of the monsters and scientific themes and it also uses technology . It also went against nature. 2) What is the story of Frankenstein? Victor Frankenstein was a scientist who wanted to discover the secret of creating and giving life. So he locked himself in his laboratory and there he assembled some parts of corpses to make his creation. He brings life to the monsters but when he discovers what he did he runs away. Later Victor found out that the creature killed his brother. The monster tells of a moment when he saved a little girl who had fallen into a stream but a man who’s probably the father shot him and he changed his behaviour and he asked for revenge. He asks forgiveness for revenging himself and he asks Victor to create an another creature to end his solitude. Victor decided to destroy everything and the creature was furious so he killed his best friend and his wife Elizabeth. Victor followed the monster to the North Pole but he died before he could kill him. The monster is found over Victor’s body while is crying. 3) In 1816 in Switzerland, Mary Shelley started to think of a story: it was the birth of her novel. In which way are the experiments of Dr Darwin connected to this novel? In 1816 in Switzerland Mary Shelley and her husband became the neighbors of Lord Byron and he made a suggestion and he proposed to write a ghost story. The experiments of Darwin is connected to the novel because during the conversation of Lord Byron and Mr Shelley, they talked about Darwin and they said that he preserved a piece of vermicelli in a glass and they began to move so a corpse can be reanimated and the parts of a creature might be assembled and given life. 4) Why is the monster associated to a modern Prometheus? Prometheus was a Titan who created man from clay and then he stole fire from Gods to give it to mortals. And he was punished for it. 5) What happens actually when, as Mary Shelley says, “he muttered some inarticulate sounds”? This is a phrase from text two chapter 15 and it means that the monster tries to speak but he can’t because he doesn’t know how to do it. 6) Why does the monster suddenly change his opinions towards the humans? The monster changes his opinions when he saves the little girl and the man shoots him. The monster feels a sense of injustice of the behaviour of men to the monster which suggests a negative idea of the nature of human relationship and the position of man in society and his promises become a revenge for anguish that he suffers. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 1) What are the main physical and behavioural differences between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the contrapposition of good and evil. Dr Jekyll is good, has a virtuous life, has a handsome face, white and well-shaped hands, larger, taller and older. Mr Hyde is evil, is deformed, pale and dwarfish, lighter, shorter, younger and he has got dark and hairy hands. 2) Why does Dr Jekyll leave the laboratory and go to his bedroom after the transformation? He leaves the lab because there is no mirror in the laboratory so he goes to the bedroom to see himself. 3) Why does Mr Hyde commits suicide? Because he ran out of ingredients so he can’t be returned to Dr Jekyll. 4) Where did Robert Louis Stevenson spend his final years of life? He spent his final years in Samoa OSCAR WILDE 1) Comment one of the following epigrams by oscar Wilde: - There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all. : for the author all books are the same. - Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life. : the author lives life like a work of art - The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. : when we have a tentation, we need to satisfy it. - Pleasure is the only thing one should live for. : we should live with pleasure and we shouldn’t refuse a tentation. 2) Explain the essential points of Wilde’s aestheticism. Wilde is an aesthetic and he lives life like a work of art. The artist represents the creator of beautiful things, the art is used only to celebrate beauty and pleasure and virtue and vice are used by the artist as raw material in his art. 3) What do you know about the plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray and what does the portrait stand for? It is set in London at the end of the 19th century. The main characters are Dorian Gray, Lord Henry and Basil Hallward. Dorian Gray represents the ideal of youth and beauty. Lord Henry is a brilliant talker who promotes a kind of Hedonism (the search of pleasure rather than the celebration of art) and he influences Dorian and Basil Hallward is the painter who makes a portrait of Dorian. Basil makes a portrait of Dorian, Dorian wants an eternal life of youth and lives for pleasure and he is scared about the idea of losing his youth and beauty so he sells his soul. These desires are satisfied. The painter finds his secret and Dorian kills him. Dorian wants to free himself from the portrait that is getting old so he stabs it but in doing so he kills himself. At the moment of death, the portrait returns to its original purity and Dorian turns into a withered, wrinkled and loathsome man. 4) Why is Dorian Gray considered immoral? He was considered immoral because he lives a life with pleasure and sin. 5) What happens when Dorian Gray sees his portrait for the first time? He was speechless, completely still, listlessy (without energy) and he became reddish and a look of joy came into his eyes. 6) What happens at the end of The Picture of Dorian Gray? Dorian wants to free himself and he destroys the portrait but he kills himself and he becomes a ugly and old man and the portrait returns to its original purity.