LIT-2300 Intro to Literature - Exam 2 (D)

Author of “Death of a Salesman”

Arthur Miller

Author of “Doctor Faustus”

Christopher Marlowe

Author of “The Glass Managerie”

Tennessee Williams

Author of “Beauty”

Jane Martin

Author of “Fences”

August Wilson

Author of “Hamlet”

William Shakespeare

Author of “Trifles”

Susan Glaspell

Plot of “Death of a Salesman”

Portrays the downfall of Willy Loman, a struggling salesman whose delusions of success and denial of reality destroy his career, family, and sense of self.

Plot of “Doctor Faustus”

The main character begins to regret his pact with Lucifer, but Mephistophilis distracts him with visions of the Seven Deadly Sins. His fleeting repentance fades, confirming his continued damnation.

Plot of “The Glass Managerie”

A family trapped in poverty and illusion struggles with their fading dreams as the son longs to escape, the mother clings to the past, and the daughter retreats into her fragile world of glass figures.

Plot of “Beauty”

Two cousins, one beautiful and one intelligent, are granted the chance to trade qualities by a mysterious figure. Their choice exposes the emptiness of envy and the illusion that external perfection guarantees happiness.

Plot of “Fences”

A former baseball player turned garbage collector battles racial barriers and personal bitterness, straining his family as he struggles to define manhood and legacy. The story reveals how pride and regret can fence people off from those they love.

Plot of “Hamlet”

A prince seeks revenge for his father’s murder by his uncle, who has seized the throne and married his mother. His pursuit of justice spirals into madness, deception, and death for nearly all involved.

Plot of “Trifles”

While men dismiss a murder as trivial, two women uncover the emotional abuse that drove the wife to kill her husband. Their silent understanding exposes gender bias and the power of overlooked details.

Quote: “I know what stillness is.”

Mrs. Peters, Trifles

Quote: “ I wish you’d seen Minnie Foster when she wore a white dress with blue ribbons and stood up there in the choir and sang…Oh, I wish I’d come over here once in a while! That was a crime! That was a crime! Who’s going to punish that?”

Mrs. Hale, Trifles

Quote: “Forgive me, dear. I can’t cry. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t cry.”

Linda, Death of a Salesman

Quote: “I think hell’s a fable.”

Faustus, Doctor Faustus

Quote: “What will not I do to obtain his soul!”

Mephistophilis, Doctor Faustus

Quote: “All pretty girls are a trap, a pretty trap, and men expect them to be.”

Amanda, The Glass Managerie

Quote: “Yes I know — the tyranny of women!”

Amanda, The Glass Managerie

Quote: “Somebody needs to build your confidence up and make you proud instead of shy and turning away and — blushing — somebody ought to — ought to — kiss you”

Jim, The Glass Menagerie

Quote: “I go to the movies because — I like adventure.”

Tom, The Glass Menagerie

Quote: “You’ll never forgive me. I bet that was your favorite piece of glass.”

Jim, The Glass Menagerie

Quote: “Its okay, now he’s like all the other horses.”

Laura, The Glass Menagerie

Quote: “Some people build fences to keep people out…and other people build fences to keep people in.”

Bono, Fences

Quote: “I tool all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams, and buried them inside you.”

Rose, Fences

Quote: “Sometimes when he touched, he bruised. And sometimes when he took me in his arms he cut.”

Rose, Fences

Quote: “What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, or to the dreadful summit of the cliff…”

Horatio, Hamlet

Quote: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, though canst not then be false to any man.”

Polonius, Hamlet

Quote: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”

Marcellius, Hamlet

Quote: “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.”

Ghost, Hamlet

Quote: “Rest, rest, perturbed spirit! … O cursed spite that ever I was born to set it right!”

Hamlet

Quote: “As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on…”

Hamlet

Quote: “By indirections find directions out”

Polonius, Hamlet

Quote: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”

Polonius, Hamlet

Quote: “The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”

Hamlet

Quote: “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all”

Hamlet

Quote: “It shall be so, madness in great ones must not unwatched go.”

King, Hamlet

Quote: “O, my offense is rank! It smells to heaven.”

King, Hamlet

Quote: “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.”

King, Hamlet

Quote: “…That I essentially am not in madness, but mad in craft.”

Hamlet

Quote: “O, from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!”

Hamlet

Quote: “To cut his throat i’ the church.”

Laertes, Hamlet

Quote: “Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Horatio, Hamlet

Mrs. Wright (Minnie Foster)

Once cheerful and full of song, she becomes emotionally suffocated by her joyless marriage, ultimately rebelling through murder.

Mrs. Hale

A perceptive neighbor who condemns men’s ignorance and empathizes deeply with Mrs. Wright’s loneliness.

Mrs. Peters

The sheriff’s initially meek wife who gains courage and moral insight through her understanding of Mrs. Wright’s suffering.

County Attorney (George Henderson)

A condescending investigator whose arrogance blinds him to the real evidence.

Sheriff (Henry Peters)

Represents the male legal authority who dismisses the domestic space as insignificant.

Lewis Hale

A well-meaning but blunt farmer whose discovery of the crime begins the investigation.

Troy Maxson

A proud, bitter ex-baseball player who battles racism and his own failures, ultimately alienating his family through stubbornness.

Rose Maxson

Troy’s loyal but wounded wife who embodies resilience, forgiveness, and the sacrifices of Black womanhood.

Cory Maxson

Troy’s ambitious son who clashes with his father’s bitterness as he pursues football and independence.

Gabriel Maxson

Troy’s war-injured brother whose childlike faith and trumpet symbolize spiritual freedom.

Jim Bono

Troy’s loyal friend and moral mirror, warning him against infidelity and pride.

Lyons Maxson

Troy’s older son who chases his dream as a jazz musician, representing freedom from his father’s limits.

Raynell Maxson

Troy’s young daughter who brings hope and renewal to the fractured family at the play’s end.

Willy Loman

A delusional salesman chasing the American Dream, whose self-deception leads to tragedy.

Linda Loman

Willy’s devoted wife who endures quietly, embodying love, patience, and emotional strength.

Biff Loman

Willy’s disillusioned son who recognizes his father’s false dreams and seeks authenticity.

Happy Loman

The younger son who inherits Willy’s shallow values and pursuit of empty success.

Charley

Willy’s practical neighbor who offers friendship and financial help without judgment.

Bernard

Charley’s studious son who becomes successful through discipline rather than charm.

Ben

Willy’s idealized brother who symbolizes the ruthless success Willy never achieved.

Howard Wagner

Willy’s employer who coldly dismisses him, representing capitalism’s lack of empathy.

The Woman

Willy’s mistress whose affair destroys his relationship with Biff and symbolizes moral decay.

Hamlet

The melancholic prince torn between revenge and morality, whose introspection paralyzes him.

Claudius

The cunning, power-hungry uncle whose fratricide and guilt drive the play’s corruption.

Gertrude

Hamlet’s mother, loving yet morally weak, caught between her son and new husband.

Ophelia

Innocent and obedient, she becomes a tragic victim of male manipulation and madness.

Polonius

The meddling courtier whose schemes reflect hypocrisy and political servility.

Laertes

Hot-headed and loyal, he mirrors Hamlet’s quest for revenge but with less hesitation.

Horatio

Hamlet’s loyal friend and the play’s moral compass who survives to tell the story.

The Ghost (King Hamlet)

The spirit of the murdered king demanding vengeance and truth.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Hamlet’s shallow school friends used as pawns by Claudius.

Dr. Faustus

A brilliant scholar whose ambition for limitless knowledge and power leads to damnation.

Mephistophilis

The cunning demon who manipulates Faustus while revealing the pain of lost grace.

Good Angel

The voice of Faustus’s conscience, urging repentance and divine mercy.

Bad Angel

The tempter who lures Faustus toward sin and despair.

Lucifer

The Prince of Hell who seals Faustus’s fate and delights in his fall.

Wagner

Faustus’s clever servant who imitates his master’s arrogance and dabbling in magic.

Tom Wingfield

The play’s narrator and restless dreamer who longs for escape from his stifling home.

Amanda Wingfield

Tom’s domineering yet loving mother, clinging desperately to Southern gentility.

Laura Wingfield

Tom’s shy, fragile sister who retreats into her world of glass animals to avoid reality.

Jim O’Connor

The “gentleman caller” whose brief visit awakens and then crushes Laura’s romantic hopes.

Carla

A plain but kind-hearted woman who envies her beautiful friend and struggles with insecurity.

Bethany

A stunning, successful woman who secretly despises her beauty and longs for meaning.

The Genie

A sardonic supernatural figure who grants both women’s wishes, exposing the emptiness of envy.

Dramatic question

The primary unresolved issue in a drama as it unfolds. Is the result of artful plotting, raising suspense, and expectation in a play’s action as it moves toward its outcome.

Climax

The moment of greatest intensity in a story, which almost inevitably occurs toward the end of the work. Often takes the form of a decisive confrontation between the protagonist and antagonist.

Foreshadowing

In plot construction, the technique of arranging events and information in such a way that later events are prepared for, or shadowed, beforehand.

Symbolism

Using a person, place, thing or idea to suggest meanings beyond the literal sense. Can contain multiple meanings and interpretations.

Theme

A generally recurring subject or idea conspicuously evident in a literary work.

Sililoquy

In drama, a speech by a character alone onstage in which he or she utters his or her thoughts aloud.

Aside

A speech that a character addresses directly to the audience, unheard by the other characters on stage, as when the villain in a melodrama chortles: “Heh! Heh! Now she’s in my power!”

Stage business

Nonverbal action that engages the attention of an audience.

Tragedy

A play that portrays a serious conflict between human beings and some superior, overwhelming force. It ends sorrowfully and disastrously, an outcome that seems inevitable.

Comedy

A literary work aimed at amusing an audience. In traditional comedy, the protagonist often faces obstacles and complications that threaten disaster but are overturned at the last moment to produce a happy ending.

High comedy

A comic genre evoking thoughtful laughter from an audience in response to the play’s depiction of the folly, pretense, and hypocrisy of human behavior.