English 345: Shakespeare, Spring 2004/ Stephan Flores

Writing Assignment: Term Essay, 1600-1850 words (6-7 pp., double-spaced, titled, including at least one point of reference from McEvoy’s Shakespeare: The Basics and one, relatively recent piece of secondary criticism-1980s onward--such as a scholarly essay or book chapter related to the play (s) or topic under discussion—list these citations parenthetically in the body of your essay, and/or in endnotes, and/or in a Works Cited bibliography). I also want to note that you should not submit an essay for this class that you have submitted ( or intend to submit) for a grade in another course, and as always, be careful to cite anyone else’s work that you draw upon.

The Term Essay presents an opportunity to develop your understanding of Shakespeare’s drama, primarily in the context of one or more of the plays on the syllabus and extending from our course of study. You may consider several ways to fulfill this assignment.

The course requirement states that the critical term essay “develops ideas prompted by our study, discussion, and viewing of the plays, by recent scholarship, and by your particular perspectives. I shall attend to the ways that you select, define, and engage questions and contradictions, and to the clarity, imagination, and grace that you demonstrate in presenting your topic, (hypo)thesis, and argument. I do not always expect essays to conclude by "solving" such problems or by "proving" your thesis; I hope that you address interesting topics in thoughtful and useful ways. Please feel invited to confer with me during the writing process.”

Following the description above, the term essay could also incorporate, revise, and develop from any of your previous writing assignments to explore further a particular aspect of a play and the interpretative issues that it poses, or to develop a comparative analysis of specific problems or topics or representational strategies in two or perhaps three of the plays—or compare different interpretations to one play—for example, particular portrayals/uses of ethnicity or outsider figures, gender relations and identities including certain kinds of female figures or attitudes towards masculinity, relations between politics/power/ethics and its rhetorical representation or deployment in language and via dramatic performance, figures of desire and the social possibilities and constraints on desire, identity, and relationships—in other words, consider the range of issues addressed by the study questions on each play, by McEvoy’s arguments, and by your related studies and our discussions.

I mentioned dramatic performance. Though we have viewed film/production excerpts for nearly every play, we have tended to analyze the “text” of each play in terms of its representational and rhetorical structure and strategies in various social, cultural, political contexts, in terms of the ideological issues at stake historically, and in terms of our interests in making “sense” of how we go about understanding the plays and our perspectives and engagement with them and with one another’s ideas and responses. Our consideration of some aspects of production and performance could be developed much further: as a putative “director” you could focus your term essay on specific questions and decisions that would need to be determined and explained for a particular production; or you could analyze a particular performance (via film or via research accounts of other productions, such as in articles or as posted on the class website). You might choose to direct your essay to performers rehearsing a production of the play in question: identify and address some question that these performers might have, an issue that might be bothering them as they prepare to put on the play, and provide explanation, guidance, and direction for production concepts and specific scenes.

If you want to suggest and discuss another approach to fulfilling this assignment, talk to me.

A bit broader background for your reflections on this assignment might prompt you to reflect on the whole semester. Consider responding to a large, overarching question through specific instances, arguments, and claims: What have you learned through this class this semester? What has been most productive or problematic, compelling or constructive (?) or confusing about studying these plays, and posing and exploring the kinds of questions and problems that we have developed over one or more plays? Have particular premises or modes of analysis been particularly useful? What contexts affect your values, observations and claims (for example, what is to be learned or gained in studying Shakespeare/Renaissance England, studying Shakespeare in performance/production and through texts, does such study have value in the college curriculum, in high school? What can one learn about the nature of interpretation, of representation, of ideology, of power, of identities and relations and the social construction of meanings via such study? How have McEvoy or other critics and their approaches/premises/interpretative strategies proved helpful or thought provoking? Have your own critical strategies for making sense of literature and drama developed this semester--how so? why?

I expect that the most interesting and thoughtful essays will tend to convey and describe the play's text in relation to (in support of) an interpretive response by linking how a play and its reader(s) produce its meaning(s), why it does so, and to what purposes and effects. Take care not to define your topic too broadly: if you compare two plays, provide a clear, focused, and useful basis for comparison. As usual, you should consider your audience to be familiar with the play (avoid plot summary), using quotes, paraphrase, and summary primarily to support your analysis; however, if you foreground your critical approach (theoretical perspective)— an essay could focus as much upon the critical approach/methods/theory of analysis as upon the play itself—you will probably rely more heavily on such explanatory (expository) techniques as quotes, paraphrase, and summary.

Finally, please discuss your topic (s) with me and others, and give yourself time to work through several drafts of the essay, and to share a draft with me or with classmates.