Episode 951: Once Upon A Time, EN301 Required No Revision

I know I said I would only make one post about GE 2011, but I've been discussing it a bit on Facebook with various friends, with whom I naturally agree and disagree to different extents. The one thing I'm starting to believe is that what Singaporeans secretly want, even if we will adamantly refuse to admit it to anyone, including ourselves, is to have our cake and eat it too, as far as politics is concerned. To elaborate is beyond the scope of this post, and I generally hate talking politics as a rule. I would, well, much rather talk about literature. On that note, let me share an interesting Shakespeare-related discovery I made while browsing through past papers, as one does at this time of the academic year. As recently as 2006, you could take the examination for EN301 without having done any revision and still done incredibly well, as back then, candidates were allowed to answer two Section A questions, instead of having to do one each from Sections A and B. Oh, if only! I may be incredibly lazy, but I like to think I make up for it by being fairly good at spontaneous practical criticism/close reading. Trying to figure out which texts I want to revise, especially for Shakespeare, since there's not much point in re-reading a play at this point if I don't plan to write on it, right? Carol Rutter recommends revising no less than six plays, which sounds about right to me. I'd have gone with four, except that might be hedging my bets too much, unless I somehow manage to find four plays that can be paired with each other in relation to six different themes! I've decided what I want to re-read for EN236, now I just need to decide how they all connect, so that I can actually answer the essay questions.