Mid-term Examination

Name:Student NumberARTS & SCIENCE 1A06DR. HOWARD JONESDAY CLASSDURATION OF EXAMINATION: 2 HOURSMCMASTER UNIVERSITY MID-TERM EXAMINATIONDECEMBER, 2011THIS EXAMINATION PAPER INCLUDES 2 PAGES AND 2 QUESTIONS. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FORENSURING THAT YOUR COPY OF THE PAPER IS COMPLETE. BRING ANY DISCREPANCY TO THEATTENTION OF YOUR INVIGILATOR.Section One (40%)Choose two (2) of the following five (5) passages: identify the author, relate the passage to its context,and comment upon aspects of the passage which you consider particularly significant or interesting.A. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.3 Is there any number of his armies? And upon whom doth not his light arise?4How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of awoman?5Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.6How much less man, that is a worm? And the son of man, which is a worm?B.``Hear the word of Lachesis, the daughter of Necessity. Mortal souls, behold a new cycleof mortal life Your genius will not choose you, but you will choose your genius; and let himwho draws the first lot first choose a life, which shall be his destiny. Virtue is free, and as a manhonours or dishonours her he will have more or less of her; the chooser isanswerable -God is justified.`C. A little later he uses an illustration of this statement of his, which is in truth quite neat andappropriate: 'For instance, he says, `if you roll a cylindrical stone over a sloping, steep piece ofground, you do indeed furnish the beginning and cause of its rapid descent, yet soon it speedsonward, not because you make it do so, but because of its peculiar form and natural tendencyto roll; just so the order, the law, and the inevitable quality of fate set in motion the variousclasses of things and the beginnings of causes, but the carrying out of our designs and thoughts,and even our actions, are regulated by each individual's will and the characteristics of his mind.1 of 2 D. It seems to me not unreasonable, therefore, to wish to know whether fortune ever possessessuch power over human affairs or if to her was granted the excessive right to plunge into ruinthe greatest and most illustrious families by her instability and inconstancy. When I contemplatethis I realise that many persons often blame fortune without just cause. And I perceive manywho, fallen on evil days through their own stupidity, blame fortune and complain about beingtossed about by those stormy waves into which the fools have actually cast themselves! Just so,many foolishly attribute their own errors to the power of others. But if anyone wishes toinvestigate carefully what it is that exalts and increases families and also maintains them at ahigh peak of honour and felicity, he will clearly see that men are themselves the source of theirown fortune and misfortune; nor indeed will he ever conclude that the power of gaining praise,wealth, and reputation should be attributed to fortune rather than to ability.E. Hope was the only spirit that stayed therein the unbreakableclosure of the jar, under its rim,and could not fly forthabroad, for the lid of the great jarclosed down first and contained her;this was by the will of cloud-gathering Zeusof the aegis;Section Two (60%)Write an essay on the following:Of the course readings (Coursepack and plays) which do you think would have seemed to itscontemporary audience to be the most pessimistic or disheartening?Important: please note the italicised words.THE END.2 of 2