Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

by Ann-Marie Macdonald

Start Free Trial

Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) Questions and Answers

In Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), how does Constance use Desdemona and Juliet for the alchemical process of turning “base metals into gold”? Discuss with specific references to the play.

What dramatic and thematic purposes are served by the Dumb Show to open the narrative?

Discuss the function and effect of having the actors play three or four roles in Goodnight Desdemona (Goodnight Juliet).

How does Ann-Marie MacDonald undermine gender stereotypes in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)?

In act 2, scene 2 of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Macdonald's Iago enters carrying two buckets of filth. Discuss the dramatic and thematic purposes of this device.

MacDonald's play Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) is a comedy that incorporates two times, two places, and two perspectives; the play contrasts Shakespeare's verse with modern prose and patriarchal England with a feminist North American present. Discuss how the tension between these competing perspectives generate humor.

How is Desdemona represented in Ann-Marie MacDonald's "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)"? 

What is the purpose of the animal imagery of the mouse in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)?

What elements of gullibility are present in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)?

Like Shakespeare in Othello, MacDonald employs highly significant animal imagery. Compare her use of the “mouse” in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) with one of the dominant animal images (or a chain of related animal images) in Shakespeare.

In Act II, scene ii of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), MacDonald's Iago enters carrying two buckets of filth. Discuss the dramatic and thematic purposes of this device.

What is the significance of the final scene where all of the actors are together on stage with their costumes in a process of transformation that is not complete “Until each actor wears an odd combination of her or his various costumes.”

Compare an evil mastermind in Shakespeare's Othello and MacDonald's Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet).

In both Othello and in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses the device of fateful mistakes to develop the tragic action. Can similar kinds of mistakes be said to happen in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) but to comic ends instead? Compare MacDonald’s use of this device with one of the “mistakes” in Othello.

How does MacDonald turn her antiheroine into a heroine in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)?

Swordplay is used in both Othello and Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). Discuss how this device is used to different ends in each play.

What are events that occur in "Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet" that have to do with feminism?

In both Othello and in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses the device of fateful mistakes to develop the tragic action. Can similar kinds of mistakes be said to happen in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), but to comic ends instead?

Discuss the function and significance of Constance's red tongue

What is the significance of Constance's red tongue?

Swordplay is used in both Othello and Goodnight Desdemona. Discuss how this device is used to different ends in each play.

Shakespeare uses fateful mistakes to develop the tragic action. Can similar kinds of mistakes be said to happen in MacDonald's work but to comic ends instead?

In Act II, scene ii of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), MacDonald's Iago enters carrying two buckets of filth. Discuss the dramatic and thematic purpose of this device.