• Attendance and participation in discussion sections (more than one unexcused absence will result in a penalty and can result in failing the course).

• Attendance and participation in lecture (more than two unexcused absences will result in a penalty and can result in failing the course). Attendance and participation will be taken via your answering at least 2 questions with your i>clicker. If you forget your i>clicker you are not present!

• One short paper (3-4 pp.). On A Midsummer Night's Dream. Paper topics will be distributed; you may choose your own topic only upon consultation with your TA. Due Monday May 9, 2 pm., in your TA's mailbox as well as online in Gauchospace. FOR SPECIFICS OF THE PAPER see "Study Materials."
  

• Second Paper OR Contemporary Revision & Performance

(due Friday, June 3, at 3 pm. in your TA's mailbox and uploaded to Gauchospace)

Second Paper (7-8 pages)

Instructions:

• ·         Choose one of the topics offered below on either The Merchant of Venice or Hamlet (You may only choose a different topic with the consultation and approval of your TA.)
• ·         Make an original and non-obvious argument (a thesis) about the topic.
• ·         Support your thesis with solid evidence. Quote the play frequently and pay attention to the details of the language you quote (telling words, repetitions, meter, rhyme, imagery, tone, punctuation, etc.)
• ·         You must incorporate and interact with the Oxford English Dictionary within your argument.
• ·         If your argument hinges on key terms (such identity, gender, equivocation, motherhood, etc.), then be certain to define your working definitions for all of the essay prompts.
• ·         Secondary sources are recommended but not required.  
• ·         You need not answer every question posed in the topic suggestions. They are there to provoke thought.

Prompts:

1) Where have all the mothers gone? Discuss the absence of mothers in The Merchant of Venice or Hamlet (making sure to include in your discussion any notable exceptions where mothers are, in fact, present). What opportunities does the absence of the mother offer the dramatist and his characters? What steps into the place of the absent mother? What conditions allow for a mother to be present, and, in her presence, what influence does she have on the play?

2) Discuss the role of two separate spaces in one play. For example, you might discuss a city versus a space outside of the city, an interior space (such as a home or other building) versus an exterior one (such as a garden, the streets, a graveyard, the sea), two different kinds of interior spaces (bedroom, rampart, courtroom, hall, grave, ship, etc.) Whatever your selection, choose one double-spaced framework rather than discussing several. How are the two spaces separated? What happens in one space that doesn’t happen in the other and vice versa? What are some differences in social and/or personal structure and relations? How do the two spaces interact?

3) Characters use various means of disguising themselves and/or their intentions. Do these disguises mask or reveal identity? What about disguises that are not literally disguises or "costumes" (i.e. hidden agendas, apparent changes of personality, equivocation, irony, flattery, indirection, etc.)? Examine one character’s use of disguise in The Merchant of Venice or Hamlet, whether literal or metaphorical, direct or indirect, to see what it tells us about the nature of identity in the play. Be sure to define your terms. 

OR

Contemporary Revision Assignment

This alternative assignment allows students either as an individual or groups of up to five (all members must be from the same section) to revise and perform a scene/monologue from one of the plays covered this quarter. Your primary goal is to revise a scene or monologue (in order to convey a meaningful interpretation of the language and action of the scene) while maintaining the same meaning or significance—as you interpret it.

 Consider the following questions:

• What would this scene/monologue look like today?
• Where would you re-place the scene/monologue?
• What changes might you make to language or dress?

 Memorization is NOT required. Rehearsal and thoughtfulness are.

 Requirements:

Each student must submit the following:

                         1) Copy of revised script (per group).

It is acceptable to use the language as it is, but that means your performance is thoughtfully attuned to an interpretation of that language, and you should turn in a marked up copy of Shakespeare’s language with “actor’s notes” that inform how you will perform that language. 

                         2) a 3-Page Synthesis Essay (per individual and individually, not group written)

The synthesis essay requires that students justify and explicate their production decisions and executions. Why have you revised this scene in this way? What are the effects of this revision on the original? What in the original language suggested this interpretation would be meaningful or important? 

This essay must also incorporate the Oxford English Dictionary in a way that informs your revisionary process or interpretation of your selected scene/monologue. Scholarly articles are recommended but not required. Provide a reading of the original passage using the OED and explain why/how the word(s) you examined in the OED informed your performance.  

Students will be assessed on the follow categories:

I.        Reflection: Consider the difficulties in "translating" Shakespeare into a contemporary setting. What about the process of writing, rewriting, and performing? How did you and your group come to decide on the analogous relationships? How much of this is creative license? Was your re-vision truly translatable?

II.      Synthesis: Consider the choices you and your group made in removing Shakespeare from the Renaissance and imposes the work in the present. What effects resulted from the changes to the script? Did it also alter the significance or meanings? Are the original and the revision comparable or two separate animals? Name and explain a theme that your performance attempts to develop, and explain why that is different from or true to an original theme in the play.

III.    OED Analysis: Students’ essays must demonstrate that careful close reading informed the choices they made in their performance. Using the OED and other close reading skills, explain how specific instances in the original language led you to make the performance choices you made.                                                   

3) Students have the option of performing the revision live or videotaping it. Either submission is acceptable, but if you submit a videotape, you should send either a Youtube link or digital file to your TA by 8 pm, Wednesday June 1. All live performances unless otherwise arranged (and some taped performances) will occur or air on Thursday, June 2. Performances should be not exceed 8-10 minutes.

• Test on Taming and Richard II in class on Tuesday, April 26.

• Final Exam covering all the plays in the course. The exam will be given only on the assigned day and at the assigned time: Wednesday, June 8, 12-3 pm., in Girvetz 1004.