English 304: Shakespeare: Major Plays
Prof. Boyer
Spring 2003
Your assignment is to write an essay of 4-5 pages, typed, double spaced, on some aspect of one or more of the first three plays we have read: Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Henry IV Part 1 (plus the scenes from Henry IV Part 2). If you wish, you may also write on Henry V. There is no assigned topic (although some suggestions appear below), but in determining what you will write about, you should follow the guidelines in my "Instructions for Short Papers" handout. One or more of your response papers may give you a good starting place for finding a topic. Your essay should develop an interpretive argument about the topic and analyze, in as much detail as possible, the specific evidence within the literary text that supports or complicates your argument. The key to a good paper is to have specifics from the text that support your general conclusions. You should not use outside sources in preparing your paper (although of course any sources you do use must be properly cited to avoid charges of plagiarism). But feel free to use introductions from The Norton Shakespeare, any additional sources for factual or background material, and any other literary texts you may wish to cite.Here are the suggested topics I have been mentioning in class:
1.
The aesthetics and gendering of violence (Titus, but also MND and H4-H5)
2.
Fathers and daughters (Titus/Lavinia, Egeus/Hermia, even Glendower and his daughter)
3.
Fathers and sons (Hal and his father, of course, Hotspur and Northumberland, even Hal and Falstaff, but also Titus and his sons, Lucius and his son, the Indian boy in MND)
4.
The education of a prince (Hal, but perhaps also young Lucius)
5.
Gender roles and issues (how is gender constructed, how does it affect people's behavior, and much more, including marriage)
6.
The place of women, or any other women's issues, including marriage
Your paper must adhere to the course style sheet or to MLA format as presented in the MLA Handbook, including matters of margins, double spacing, handling of quotations, etc. Be sure to follow MLA format for quoting verse. Your paper must include a Works Cited page listing the edition of the play you use and any other sources you cite. (See my home page http://english.sxu.edu/boyer for a link to my "Literature Students' Guide to the MLA Handbook, 5th edition.") Be sure to edit and proofread.Above all, this assignment asks you to consider one or more literary texts, to come up with an idea for analysis, and then to go about analyzing it. Use plenty of evidence from the play, of course, but what I'm most interested in is your idea and the way you develop it. Merely saying that there is something important about a particular scene or speech, or something important about a parallel or a difference between two characters isn't enough. Think closely about the importance, about the parallel or difference, including what it doesn't cover. Keep asking "So what?" That's what both your discussion and the evidence you cite is supposed to tell your readers.
Once you have an idea, I'd suggest doing some freewriting on the idea–get your thoughts written down without worrying about organization, grammar, word choice, or punctuation. Then read through what you have, organizing your ideas by clumping similar things together–this usually works to build the most important point. Then try freewriting on that new point. Ultimately, move to writing a draft.
I am happy to talk about your paper with you at any stage of its development, from topic selection on. Make an appointment to see me, or send me your questions by email.
To understand what I'm trying to get you to do in this assignment, you may find helpful the sets of guidelines from Writing Analytically, 2nd ed., by David Rossenwasser and Jill Stephen (Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000) that are included on the printed version of this assignment.