Respond to each of the following questions in complete sentences and be sure to support your responses with clear explanations and specific examples from both the play and the poem.
Please compose your responses on a separate sheet of lined paper.
“We Wear the Mask” and “A Doll House”
I. Find the passage in A Doll’s House that reflects the title of the attached poem (I recommend you look in Act I for an appropriate passage, but you are free to select a passage from throughout the play.)
· Who is the speaker? To whom is he/she speaking?
· How does this passage relate to the play and/or to the characters: Nora, Torvald, Dr. Rank, Krogstad, Mrs. Linde?
II. Relate the passage to the poem “We Wear the Mask”
· What themes are similar in both?
· What does the speaker in the poem believe about wearing masks?
Remember that speaker does not necessarily mean author. It is the
voice, or persona of the poem, almost like a narrator and gives as
opinion, view, or commentary on a particular issue.
III. Give your reaction to the poem. (Be honest.)
· Do you agree/disagree with what the poem (the entirety of the poem) says? Why? Why not?
· Have you ever worn a mask? Do you know of anyone who has?
We Wear the Mask
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, -
this debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
- Paul Laurence Dunbar