Respond to one of the following:

• Discuss your experience with reading the sonnets in this module. What did you expect to get from the sonnets, and in what ways did they surprise you? What were your favorite sonnets (refer to the first line as well as the number) and why?

• In Shakespeare's sources, the character Cornelia (Shakespeare's Cordelia) lives to become queen. Productions in the 18th and 19th centuries also gave the play a happy ending, keeping the major characters alive and staging a marriage between Cordelia and Edgar. Why do you think Shakespeare changed his sources? How does Shakespeare's ending affect your understanding of the play as a whole and/or the major characters? What did you think about it? What might a different type of ending gain or lose?

• The graphic novel and film V for Vendetta reference the story of Guy Fawkes and feature a character who wears a Guy Fawkes mask. Guy Fawkes masks have also appeared with increasing frequency during political protests, and they are worn by members of the group Anonymous. Using information from the textbook's introduction to the early seventeenth century, explain who Guy Fawkes was and why you think England still celebrates Guy Fawkes Day every November 5. How does this relate to Jacobean England (the time during the reign of King James I), and why does the legend (or at least his name and image) resonate so much today?