Forming Habits of Mind - Freshman Englishmoefrosh.weebly.com/.../10248653/english_9_--_semest… · Web view– the word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the

Final Exam Study GuideSecond Semester

FRESHMEN ENGLISHMoeller High School, Mr. Rose

What is a Semester Final Exam?You will soon be taking your final exam for the second semester of the year. This 90-minute examination will test you on all the material we have covered this semester. The grade you receive on the Semester Exam is weighted x4. STUDY!

What should I study for this exam?You will be responsible for all of the following:

1. Themes in Literature: A theme is a broad idea, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas. You should review the following themes which we have studied through various literary works during the second semester. You should understand the concepts and how they are used in the works we’ve studied.

Faustian bargain conscience ambition family tiesdesire to relive youth misuse of science double identity temptationgood versus evil

You will have a number of short answer questions pertaining to literary themes and other literary elements in Romeo & Juliet, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Examples: Explain how Romeo is a tragic hero. Explain how Romeo & Juliet is an ironic tragedy. Identify a theme in Something Wicked, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, etc. and show how the author develops that theme, etc. Review my “Tips on Answering Essay Questions,” which is included in this packet.

2. Literary Elements: You should know how to define and apply all the terms in the handout “Overview of Literary Terms” (see packet) including:

Elements of plotexposition inciting force conflict (5 types) climaxresolution denouement tone mood

Characterizationprotagonist antagonist dynamic character foilstatic character tragic hero

Literary Devices: You will be given a quotation from one of the texts we’ve read and will be asked to identify the literary device that is being used. You will also have a matching section, so you will need to know the definition and how to recognize the device when it is used.

foreshadowing verbal irony situational irony dramatic irony

1 Semester Two Exam Study Guide Mr. Rose

symbolism imagery literary allusion similemetaphor alliteration personification hyperbole

3. Dramatic Terms: Review “Introduction to Drama”:

plot theme character dialoguespectacle convention genre audienceacts/scenes script sets/props monologuesoliloquy aside

Types of Elizabethan Drama: tragedy, comedy, and chronicle history

4. Punctuation: Review the rules for punctuation – refer to the punctuation Powerpoint. It is still available on NetMoeller if you do not already have a copy.

5. Usage: Review the 100 usage rules that we studied. These are still available on NetMoeller if you do not already have a copy.

6. Most Influential Characters: Review your in-class notes on the student character presentations. I will give you a description of a character and you will need to identify who he or she is. Example:

Question: I am known as the strongest man in the world, according to Classical mythology. I completed the “Twelve Labors” and rescued Prometheus. Who am I?

Answer: Hercules

The rest of this document is a study guide that includes the key terms and concepts that you should know for the semester exam.

Good luck.


Literary Terms ReviewI. Elements of Plot

The plot is the “soul of the story,” to which all incidents relate. It consists of one principle action that includes a conflict of some sort. Learn to try to state the plot in one sentence.

Exposition The background about the characters, the setting, and the opening situation is known as the exposition. The exposition usually comes at the beginning of the story – but it may come somewhere in the middle if the conflict is presented first.

Characters (Who) Those who think and act in the story – See section II below

Setting (Where and When) The story’s time and place: It includes concrete aspects of a story such as location, weather, and season. Season can also include abstractions such as ideas, customs, values, and beliefs of a particular time and place.

Opening Situation (What)What is going on in the lives of the characters as the story opens: This is where we first see the characters interact with one another and the setting

Inciting ForceThe event or character that triggers the conflict

ConflictThe conflict is a struggle between opposing forces. The conflicts we encounter can usually be identified as one of five kinds:

Man versus ManConflict that pits one person against another.

Man versus NatureA run-in with the forces of nature. On the one hand, it expresses the insignificance of a single human life in the cosmic scheme of things. On the other hand, it tests the limits of a person’s strength and will to live.

Man versus SupernaturalConflict that pits a person or a community against something of a supernatural origin, e.g. in Doctor Faustus or “The Devil and Tom Walker.”

Man versus SocietyThe values and customs by which everyone else lives are being challenged. The character may come to an untimely end as a result of his or her own convictions. The


character may, on the other hand, bring others around to a sympathetic point of view, or it may be decided that society was right after all.

Man versus SelfInternal conflict. Not all conflict involves other people. Sometimes people are their own worst enemies. An internal conflict is a good test of a character’s values.

Rising ActionA series of incidents that builds from the conflict. It begins with the inciting force and ends with the climax.

ClimaxThe climax is the point in the story when the tension of the conflict reaches its highest point. The outcome of the conflict is about to be revealed.

Falling ActionThe events that follow the climax and describe the results of the climax. Falling action leads to the resolution.

Resolution (or denouement)The resolution is the final outcome of the story. Often resolution involves a change in one or more of the main characters or involves an insight.

II. Characterization

Main charactersThese are the major personalities in a story. They typically changes as a result of what happens to them. A character who changes as a result of what happens to him is referred to in literature as a dynamic character. A dynamic character grows or progresses to a higher level of understanding in the course of the story. As we have seen in the stories we’ve read so far this year, main characters often move from vice to virtue

ProtagonistThe main character in the story

AntagonistThe character or force that opposes the protagonist

FoilA character who provides a contrast to the protagonist

Minor charactersMinor characters have only a supporting role to play in the story. Usually it’s their relationship to the main characters that is most important. Minor characters are sometimes referred to as static characters because they do not change in the course of the story.


III. Point of View

First PersonThe narrator is a character in the story who can reveal only his personal thoughts and feelings and what he sees and is told by other characters. He can’t tell us thoughts of other characters.

Third-Person ObjectiveThe narrator is an outsider who can report only what he or she sees and hears. This narrator can tell us what is happening, but he can’t tell us the thoughts of the characters.

Third-Person LimitedThe narrator is an outsider who sees into the mind of one of the characters.

Third-Person Omniscient The narrator is an all-knowing outsider who can enter the minds of any of the characters.

IV. Tone and Mood

ToneThe author’s attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. Some possible attitudes are pessimism, optimism, earnestness, seriousness, bitterness, humorousness, and joy. An author’s tone can be revealed through choice of words and details.

Mood The climate of feeling in a literary work. The choice of setting, objects, details, images, and words all contribute towards creating a specific mood. For example, an author may create a mood of mystery around a character or setting but may treat that character or setting in an ironic, serious, or humorous tone

IV. Literary Devices

ForeshadowingAn author’s use of hints or clues to suggest events that will occur later in the story. Not all foreshadowing is obvious. Frequently, future events are merely hinted at through dialogue, description, or the attitudes and reactions of the characters. Foreshadowing frequently serves two purposes. It builds suspense by raising questions that encourage the reader to go on and find out more about the event that is being foreshadowed.

IronyIrony is the contrast between what is expected or what appears to be and what actually is.

Verbal IronyThe contrast between what is said and what is actually meant.


Situational IronyThis refers to a happening that is the opposite of what is expected or intended.

Dramatic IronyThis occurs when the audience or reader knows more than the characters know.

SymbolismA person, place or object that has a meaning in itself but suggests other meanings as well. Things, characters and actions can be symbols. Anything that suggests a meaning beyond the obvious. Some symbols are conventional, generally meaning the same thing to all readers. For example: bright sunshine symbolizes goodness and water is a symbolic cleanser. The use of color can also be symbolic. Black is darkness, evil, danger; green symbolizes life, fertility and vitality.

ImageryLanguage that appeals to the senses; descriptions of people or objects stated in terms of our senses.

Literary AllusionAn indirect reference to a well-known literary work that is external to the story. Allusions are commonly made to Biblical events, myths, plays, novels, poems, and movies. Characters’ names, such as Adam or Noah, can sometimes make use of a allusions.

V. Theme The main idea, underlying meaning, or message of a literary work that guides the plot. A theme may be stated, but it is often implied. Four ways in which an author can express themes are as follows:

1. Feelings: Themes are expressed and emphasized by the way the author makes us feel.. By sharing feelings of the main character you also share the ideas that go through his mind.

2. Conversations: Themes are presented in thoughts and conversations. Authors put words in their character’s mouths only for good reasons. One of these is to develop a story’s themes. The things a person says are much on their mind. Look for thoughts that are repeated throughout the story.

3. Characters: Themes are suggested through the characters. The main character usually illustrates the most important theme of the story. A good way to get at this theme is to ask yourself the question, what does the main character learn in the course of the story?

4. Actions: The actions or events in the story are used to suggest theme. People naturally express ideas and feelings through their actions. One thing authors think about is what an action will "say". In other words, how will the action express an idea or theme?


VI. Figurative Language

Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language. Any language that goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to furnish new effects or fresh insights into an idea or a subject. The most common figures of speech are simile, metaphor, and alliteration.

SimileA figure of speech which involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, usually with the words like or as. Example: The muscles on his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.

MetaphorA figure of speech which involves an implied comparison between two relatively unlike things using a form of be. The comparison is not announced by like or as. Example: The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

AlliterationRepeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words or within words. Alliteration is used to create melody, establish mood, call attention to important words, and point out similarities and contrasts. Example: wide-eyed and wondering while we wait for others to waken.

PersonificationA figure of speech which gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea. It is a comparison which the author uses to show something in an entirely new light, to communicate a certain feeling or attitude towards it and to control the way a reader perceives it. Example: a brave handsome brute fell with a creaking rending cry--the author is giving a tree human qualities.

OnomatopoeiaThe use of words that mimic sounds. They appeal to our sense of hearing and they help bring a description to life. A string of syllables the author has made up to represent the way a sound really sounds. Example: Caarackle!

HyperboleAn exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point. Example: She’s said so on several million occasions


Introduction to Drama – Review Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy

Aristotle was born in Stagirus, Macedonia, Greece in 384 BC and died 62 years later in 322 BC. He was a student at Plato's Academy and later became one of the greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece. In one of his treatises, The Poetics, he outlines the Six Elements Of Drama, based on the Ancient Greek belief that tragedy was the highest form of drama. This outline has become a guideline for many playwrights throughout history, and is especially emphasized in the works of William Shakespeare. Here is Aristotle’s definition:

“A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.”

Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama

1. Plot – what happens in a play; the order of events, the story as opposed to the theme; what happens rather than what it means.

2. Theme – what the play means as opposed to what happens (plot); the main idea within the play.

3. Character – the personality or the part an actor represents in a play; a role played by an actor in a play.

4. Diction/Language/Dialogue – the word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the actors delivering the lines.

5. Music/rhythm – by music Aristotle meant the sound, rhythm and melody of the speeches.

6. Spectacle– the visual elements of the production of a play; the scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production.

The Modern Elements of Drama

In modern theater, the Elements of Drama have changed only slightly, although you will notice that many of the elements remain the same. The list of essential elements in modern theater are: Character, Plot, Theme, Dialogue, Convention, Genre, Audience.

The first four -- character, plot, theme and dialogue -- remain the same as Aristotle’s list, but the following additions are now also considered essential elements of drama.

5. Convention: These are the techniques and methods used by the playwright and director to create the desired stylistic effect.


6. Genre: Genre refers to the type of play. Some examples of different genres include, comedy, tragedy, mystery and historical play.

7. Audience: This is the group of people who watch the play. Many playwrights and actors consider the audience to be the most important element of drama, as all of the effort put in to writing and producing a play is for the enjoyment of the audience.

Like fiction, drama features characters facing a conflict that sparks a sequence of events organized by the plot. The conflict reaches a climax, or point of greatest intensity, before being solved in the resolution at the end. Unlike fiction, however, a drama is a story written to be performed by actors speaking dialogue, the characters’ words, rather than by a narrator.

Acts and Scenes are the basic divisions of drama. A drama may consist of one or more acts, each of which may contain any number of scenes.

The script, or text, of a play contains dialogue and stage directions. Dialogue is the words the characters say. Stage directions are notes telling how the work is to be performed or staged. Directions are often printed in italics and set off in brackets.

Sets are the constructions indicating where the scene takes place. A set may include such items as painted backdrops and wooden frames.

Props are moveable objects, like a spear or a cup, that actors use onstage.

In performance, these various elements of drama combine to produce the illusion of reality known as dramatic effect. Through this effect, the dramatist explores a theme, or central message about life.

Types of DramaThe ancient Greeks developed drama, creating two basic types of plays:

I. Tragedy A tragedy shows the downfall or death of the tragic hero, or main character. In ancient Greek drama, the hero was an outstanding person brought low by a tragic flaw, a mistaken action, defect, or vice of a character. A chorus, or group of performers, sang, danced, and commented on events. The hero’s downfall was meant to bring about a catharsis, or calming release of tension, in the audience.

William Shakespeare’s tragedies differ from Greek tragedies in several ways. In Shakespearian tragedy, the hero has greater free will, or power of choice, and reveals more of an inner life. There is no formal chorus, but one or more characters may comment on the action. Patterns of imagery, or sensory language, reinforces themes.

II. ComedyIn contrast to tragedy, a comedy ends happily after an amusing series of predicaments. If tragedy senses human greatness, comedy emphasizes human faults and the weaknesses of society itself.


Types of Dramatic SpeechIn addition to dialogue involving conversations between two or more characters, dramatists use these types of dramatic speech:

Monologue: a character speaks at length to silent listeners

Soliloquy: a character alone on stage reveals private thoughts to the audience

Aside: a character briefly expresses private thoughts to the audience that other characters on stage cannot hear.

How to Read a PlayWhen you think about a play, you probably think about going to watch the drama being acted out upon the stage, but plays are first written down by the playwright as scripts. The dramatic and verbal aspect of a play is very important, but you can also enjoy reading it. Here's how to read and enjoy a play.

1. Pre-Read: Read any criticism or introduction included in the publication you are studying. They will suggest ideas and approaches to interpreting the play that you may find helpful later. Read them a second time when you've finished reading the play.

2. Identify Genre: Find out the genre of the play; that is, whether it's a tragedy, a comedy, a romance, a satire, etc. You will then know how the play will most likely end.

3. Count the Acts: Determine how many acts the play has. That will give you clues about what should be happening in each part. Generally, a traditional play will set the scene (exposition), introduce a problem (conflict), follow that problem to its logical conclusion, reach the final conflict (climax) and then offer a resolution. This could happen in anywhere from one to five acts.

4. Get to Know the Characters: Write up a chart of characters and how they are related to one another, particularly if it is a play with representatives from several social strata: keep in mind, for example, who is a king and who is merely a minor duke.

5. Try to Summarize Plot: Write short summaries of the action as you are reading through it; some plays depend on very intricate, twisted plots to reach their resolutions.

6. Visualize the Drama: Imagine costumes, sets, noises and times of day/night as you read.

7. Read Aloud: Read as much as you can of the play aloud; it will help you decide what the character's tone and attitude is.

Elizabethan Drama


Popular drama had its beginnings in England with the miracle, mystery, and morality plays of the Middle English times. But it wasn’t until the late 16 th century that drama became a literary art form.

Despite being one of the most horrible despots in the history of the Western world, Queen Elizabeth I was a strong supporter of the arts. It was during her reign (1558-1603) that drama flourished in England. During her reign, some playwrights were able to make a comfortable living by receiving royal patronage. There was a great deal of theatrical activity at Court, and many public theatres were also built on the outskirts of London.

Theatre was a popular pastime, and people of all walks of life attended. Although women were not allowed onstage, they did attend performances and often made up a substantial part of the audience. The theatre also drew many unsavory characters, including pickpockets, cutpurses, and prostitutes. Because of the perceived bad influence of the theatres, the Puritans were vocally opposed to them and succeeded in shutting them down in 1642.

Some of the most important playwrights come from the Elizabethan era, including William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Christopher Marlowe. These playwrights wrote plays that were patterned on numerous previous sources including the Greek tragedy, Seneca's plays, Attic drama, English miracle plays, morality plays, and interludes. Elizabethan tragedy dealt with heroic themes, usually centering on a great personality who is destroyed by his own passion and ambition. The comedies often satirized the fops and gallants of society. The characters, however, were of native origin, and reflected the spirit and the interests of the Englishmen of that day.

In Elizabethan drama the dialogue was written in verse. All of Shakespeare’s plays – except a few comic scenes done in prose – are written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines. Some scenes close with a rhymed couplet.

Three types of Elizabethan dramas prevailed:

I. The Chronicle History

Of the various forms which this drama took, the first to reach a culmination was the so-called Chronicle History. This is represented by the Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, the greatest of the predecessors of Shakespeare; and Shakespeare himself produced some ten plays belonging to the type. These dramas reflect the interest the Elizabethans took in the heroic past of their country, and before the vogue of this kind of play passed, nearly the whole of English history for the previous three hundred years had been presented on the stage.

As a form of dramatic art, the Chronicle History had many defects and limitations. The facts of history do not always lend themselves to effective theatrical representation, and in the attempt to combine history and drama both frequently suffered. But surprisingly often the playwrights found opportunity for such studies of character as that of the King in Marlowe’s tragedy, for real dramatic structure as in Shakespeare’s Richard III, or for the display of beautiful rhetoric and national exultation as in Henry V. II. Elizabethan Tragedy


Closely connected with the historical plays was the early development of tragedy. In the search for themes, the dramatists soon broke away from fact, in favor of imaginative narrative. While the work of Seneca accounts to some extent for the prevalence of such features as ghosts and the motive of revenge, the form of tragedy that Shakespeare developed from the experiments of men like Marlowe was really a new and distinct type. Such classical restrictions as the unities of place and time, and the complete separation of comedy and tragedy, were discarded, and there resulted a series of plays which, while often marked by lack of restraint, of regular form, and of unity of tone, yet gave a picture of human life as affected by sin and suffering which in its richness, its variety, and its imaginative exuberance has never been equaled.

The greatest master of tragedy was Shakespeare, and in tragedy he reached his greatest height. Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth are among his finest productions, and they represent the noblest pitch of English genius. Of these, Hamlet was perhaps most popular at the time of its production, and it has held its interest and provoked discussion as perhaps no other play of any time or country has done. This is in part due to the splendor of its poetry, the absorbing nature of the plot, and the vividness of the drawing of characters who marvelously combine individuality with a universal and typical quality that makes them appeal to people of all kinds and races. But much also is due to the delineation of the hero, the subtlety of whose character and the complexity of whose motives constitute a perpetual challenge to our capacity for solving mysteries.

II. Elizabethan Comedy

In the field of comedy, Shakespeare’s supremacy is hardly less assured. From the nature of this kind of drama, we do not expect in it the depth of penetration into human motive or the call upon our profounder sympathies that we find in tragedy; and the conventional happy ending of comedy makes difficult the degree of truth to life that one expects in serious plays. Yet the comedies of Shakespeare are far from superficial. Those written in the middle of his career, such as As You Like It and Twelfth Night, not only display with great skill many sides of human nature, but with indescribable lightness and grace introduce us to charming creations, speaking lines rich in poetry and sparkling with wit, and bring before our imaginations whole series of delightful scenes. The Tempest does more than this. While it gives us again much of the charm of the earlier comedies, it is laden with the mellow wisdom of its author’s riper years.

Seldom in the history of the world has the spirit of a period found so adequate an expression in literature as the Elizabethan spirit did in the drama; seldom can we see so completely manifested the growth, maturity, and decline of a literary form. But beyond these historical considerations, we are drawn to the reading of Shakespeare and his contemporaries by the attraction of their profound and sympathetic knowledge of mankind and its possibilities for suffering and joy, for sin and nobility, by the entertainment afforded by their dramatic skill in the presentation of their stories, and by the superb poetry that they lavished so profusely on their lines.


Tips on Answering Short Response Questions Sample Short Answer Test Questions & Answers

The following pointers provide an excellent guide to help you understand what I expect from your answers to the essay questions I give you on unit exams:

1. Your answers must be written in complete sentences and in a well-crafted paragraph.

2. Your answers should directly address the question. Use a thesis statement.3. Answers must refer directly to the text of the story to support the thesis.4. Do not assume your reader has any knowledge of the story. You must explain

everything.5. Be specific in your answers – again, reference the text to support your answers.6. Do not use extensive quotations. Keep quotations brief or paraphrase – put your

answers in your own words.7. Always refer to characters and specific settings by their proper names. 8. Use proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar – it counts.

The following sample questions include exemplary student responses. Again, this should give you a good idea about what I expect from your answers.

1. Simile and metaphor are two ways of making a comparison of two dissimilar things – either by using the verb "to be" (metaphor) or “like” and “as” (simile). In Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury often uses similes and metaphors to compare ordinary (or extraordinary) objects to animals or insects. Identify three instances of this and explain the effect of the similes/metaphors. In other words, why does Bradbury use them?

One example of an object being compared to an animal is the terrifying Mechanical Hound. This hound can be programmed to track and kill a person. It has some characteristics of a real dog; for example, it “sniffs” and “growls.” Another example is the snakelike machine that saves Mildred’s life. This invention slides down into her stomach and sucks out poison. It even has an “eye” that allows its operator to see inside the stomach. A third example is Mildred’s radio earpieces. These tiny devices are compared to a wasp hidden in its nest. Bradbury uses these similes and metaphors to show what the technology has become. People’s lives are ruled by their machines. rather than just using the technology, people depend on it entirely. It is almost as if the machines have life within them. The comparison to animals/insects shows us that the technology almost has a life of its own.

2. Symbol is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. What is the “White Clown” and what does he represent or symbolize in Fahrenheit 451?

The “White Clown” is a symbol of superficial happiness in the dystopia of Fahrenheit 451. He is a vacuous television character in a program of the same name. People throughout this society seem to love him and his show to the point that anyone who willingly misses viewing the program on his parlor walls becomes suspect. In one particularly tense domestic moment in the Montag household


Mildred and Guy are in the midst of a serious conversation when the phone rings. It is one of Mildred’s vacuous lady friends and they’re talking about getting together to watch the White Clown. After the phone conversation, Mildred is dismayed that Guy will not be watching the White Clown with her. He asks his wife if she “loves” the White Clown. She does. Then Guy asks Mildred if the White Clown loves her. Mildred is stunned by the question and speechless. Although Bradbury never describes the White Clown or explains what the program is about, he gives the reader the sense that it really doesn’t matter, and Mildred doesn’t seem to be able to define why she likes the show; she just knows it makes her “happy.” Since the character is a “clown,” the reader likely pictures the character as an oaf or buffoon. And since the “clown” is white, he’s some sort of innocent buffoon – certainly not evil, just a vacuous saphead who would never cause anyone any heartache, and never make the viewer think deeply or reflect on anything beyond the White Clown himself. Overall the White Clown is arguably the best single representation of the dystopia as a whole.

3. Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. Although the narrator of Billy Budd rarely alludes to the Bible explicitly, the novel contains many implicit allusions to the imagery, language, and stories of the Bible, creating a sustained parallel between Billy's story and Christ's Passion, the story of Christ's suffering and death on the cross. Explain how Billy Budd can be read as a Christian allegory.

Billy Budd can be read as a Christian allegory when compared to Christ’s Passion. Billy is the Christ-like figure, Claggart a Judas, and Captain Vere a sort of Pontius Pilate. Billy is a fine specimen of manhood, described by Melville as the perfect sailor. He willingly accepts injustices, such as being impressed into service in the British Navy, and he refuses to be a party to evil when tempted to take part in the planning of a mutiny. Claggart, however, is jealous of Billy, and falsely accuses him of a capital crime. Like Jesus, Billy is falsely accused; he is innocent of wrongdoing. Because of a reflexive tick, Billy accidentally kills Claggart with a blow to the head. In the end, through an unjust trial, Captain Vere – like Pontius Pilate – sentences Billy to death. Billy not only dies for the sins of others, he willingly accepts his unjust punishment.

4. Setting involves the time and place in which a story takes place. Explain the role of the Pyncheon house in The House of the Seven Gables. What is it like and how does it contribute to the overall mood and the central themes?

The Pyncheons’ house is covered in the shadows of its past. The house was built on land which was taken from a man convicted of wizardry. Colonel Pyncheon, who had the house built, may have brought false charges against the supposed wizard in order to procure his land. Also, the house was built over the grave of the hanged wizard. Thus, the house has a gloomy and ghostly ambience. This is one leading factor in the gloomy and apprehensive mood of the whole novel. The house also plays a part in the theme of how the past influences the present and the future.


Documents

Forming Habits of Mind - Freshman Englishmoefrosh.weebly.com/.../10248653/english_9_--_semest… · Web view– the word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the