Posted: February 6th, 2017

Answer one question from each group, each answer must be at least 150 words:

Read the play Wit and complete the requirements for posting in the ‘Wit’ discussion thread.

Answer one question from each group, each answer must be at least 150 words:

Group 1: Pick one of the questions below and respond. (Please be sure to pick unanswered questions before duplicating choices.) Remember to also respond to a peer’s posting.

1. What is the relationship between the humorous and the serious in this play? Where was humor present, and what function did it seem to fulfill in the play?

2. How did you feel about Vivian? Did you like her? Would you have liked her if she didn’t have cancer? Would you have liked her as a teacher or colleague? How does how you feel about Vivian impact your overall reaction to the play?

3. What is this play about? (This may be a harder question than it seems.)

4. What, if anything, did you learn about cancer in this play?

5. Why do you think the playwright had her protagonist (Vivian) be a literature professor? And why Donne? And why a professor with the type of personality that she has?

Group 2: Pick one of the questions below and respond. (Please be sure to pick unanswered questions before duplicating choices.) Remember to also respond to a peer’s posting.

1. What, if anything, does this play suggest about the relationship between life and death?

2. How would you describe the behavior of the hospital staff toward Vivian? What is the significance of this in the play?

3. Compare and contrast Jason and Susie. How are their differences important to the play?

4. Think about, and comment upon, any or all of the following topics with regard to this play:

a. The objectification of a person in a research environment.

b. The relationship between research and humanity

c. An intellectual response to life and death and an emotional response to life and death.

5. What challenges do you see in staging a live production of this play? What challenges do you see in transforming the play into a motion picture?