Required Texts
- Individual volumes of the Signet Shakespeare (NO you may not use a different edition; every different edition is a different play)
- an I-clicker, to be present (along with you) at every class
Films are available online in course Gauchocast. They are also on reserve in Kerr Hall for viewing there in the Kerr Hall Digital Editing Lab, Room 2160A (hours of operation, with extended hours during midterms and finals). The Reserve Viewing room is now downstairs, 1126 Kerr Hall, part of the Digital Editing Lab. To verify the films are on reserve and not out go to the Kerr Hall Learning Lab Website and click on "Professor" (then "Fumerton" and then the specific film on reserve). Thanks to Professor Mark Rose for his suggestions, and for the caveat, "None of them is Shakespeare's play, but they are all interesting film adaptations and can help to suggest the possibilities of the plays."
- Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, The Taming of the Shrew (1967). Interesting, if strange, parallels with their dramatic real-life marriage. Captures well the rough-and-tumble exuberance of the Native Festive comedic tradition.
- BBC production of The Taming of the Shrew (1981), directed by Jonathan Miller. John Cleese is a deadly serious Petruchio and the play moves toward a taming that is about Puritanical self-control.
- William Woodman, Richard II (1992)
- BBC/Time-Life Shakespeare, Richard II (1981). The best of a pretty mediocre lot of films of the play. Still waiting for an imaginative director to turn it into a hit.
- Michael Hoffman, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999). Bicycles and phonographs replace the exoticism of the East in this 19th c modernization of the play. Kevin Kline steals the show as Bottom.
- Max Reinhardt, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). Classic, though peformed in a sentimental Victorian vein, with hundreds of pretty fairies, lots of music, etc..
- Peter Hall, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1981). Royal Shakespeare Company, including Diana Rigg, Helen Mirren, and Judy Dench. Smart and unsentimental revisionist version of the play.
- Actor Shakespeare Theater segments of The Merchant of Venice (1986), featuring Patrick Stewart (reading versions of speeches of Shylock) and Lisa Harrow (reading versions of speeches by Portia). Excellent for gaining different perspectives on the roles.
- Laurence Olivier, The Merchant of Venice (1973). Filmed version of a stage production with setting in Edwardian England.
- Michael Radford, The Merchant of Venice (2004). Star-filled cast (Al Pacino as Shylock, Jeremy Irons as Antonio, Joseph Fiennes as Bassanio). Shylock as a "heavy."
- Michael Almereyda, Hamlet (2000). Takeover of a medieval Danish throne is rendered as corporate takeover in modern New York. Ethan Hawke plays a muted Hamlet. Interesting use of technology.
- Laurence Olivier, Hamlet (1948). Classic. Expressionistic film style with Freudian interpretation.
- Kenneth Branagh, Hamlet (1996). Brilliant recent Hamlet which plays entire Hamlet text uncut. Clearly the most important film Hamlet since Olivier's.
- Franco Zeffirelli, Hamlet (1991), with Mel Gibson as hunky, pent-up Hamlet and Glenn Close as his mother, Gertrude. Heavy on Freudian interpretation.
- Gregory Doran, Hamlet (2016), starring David Tennant as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as both Claudius and the ghost of King Hamlet, is featured in PBS's Great Performances: http://www.pbs.org/video/1473795626/
Online Resources
First Paper:
This short essay (3-4 pp, double space, in Times Roman 12 font) is due in your TA’s mailbox (South Hall 3421) and uploaded in Gaucospace by Monday May 9th at 2 pm. It requires you to write an original argument through a detailed analysis of a single word that focuses on its appearance in 1 or up to 3 passages in the Signet edition of the play and argues its significance for our understanding of the play.
To complete this assignment, in addition to your hardcopy Signet edition of the play, you will need 2 online sources:
1) The OpenSourceShakespeare’s Concordance of Shakespeare’s Complete Works. On this site go to the Advanced Search page:
http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-advanced.php
Don’t type your word into the upper right-hand corner, or you will get results for all plays. Rather, type it in under Advanced Search. Under Works, select Midsummer Night’s Dream. Now for the Keywords, select the search type. You first want to search by “Exact keyword,” which you then type in on a line. It’s also fun to search “All or part of the keyword” but you might end up with too many results, or not. Find out. For instance, if you ask for the exact word “moon” in MND, you get 22 results. If you ask for “All or part of the keyword,” you get 38 results, like “moonlight,” which is a manageable number. But the exact word “see” gives you 33 results whereas searching for “see” as part of a larger word gives you a close-to unmanageable (for a short paper at least) 69 results. So in this case, in most cases, it might be wisest to focus on the exact form of the word.
2) The Oxford English Dictionary. This site is available from any campus computer, or off-campus, with a UCSB login. Once at the site, you can type in any word, and it will give you the results of the word’s meanings in order in which they appeared historically, with dated examples. By using this site, you will learn all possible and not possible meanings of the word you are interested in, up to 1595, when Midsummer Night’s Dream was likely written. Be alert to whether a word’s meaning is given and used by Shakespeare in its form as a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb—grammatical usage can change meaning.
Now you are ready to select a word from the list below and begin to work on your paper:
- Choose one of the words we provide below, and, using the online Shakespeare Concordance, locate all instances where that word appears in the play and read the passages provided for you. Begin to shape an idea for an argument or thesis about the implications of that word for our understanding of a MND.
- Now find out its OED historically specific meanings (all meanings of the word up to the date of c. 1595 are fair game if they make sense in the context of your argument and the play, though you need to be careful about whether the word is being cited by the OED and also used by Shakespeare (or below) as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb (or multiple ways).
- Select just one or up to three passages in which the word appears that are especially supportive of the argument you are forming.
- Write an argument based on a close analysis of the word’s significance in that one or up to three passages you have chosen to focus on (you may briefly reference other occurrences of the word if doing so is crucial to advancing your argument). Make sure for this part of the paper that you switch to the Signet edition of MND. If you do not, you are in danger of making an argument about words and punctuation that aren’t in our version of the text. The Concordance is extremely helpful for us in finding occurrences of words, but make sure the argument you make in your paper is based on the word’s usage in your Signet classic edition of the play.
Words you may select to write about (with the number of passages they appear in their exact form in in the play in parenthesis) are:
Tongue (12)
Ass (6)
Eye (16)
One (29)
True (22)
Heart (20)
Death (13)
Time (10)
Day (15)
Child (8)
Fair (55)
Sweet (42)
Marry (6)
Being (9)
Imagination (3)
Double (5)
If you wish to select a word different from one of the ones listed above, you must clear your choice with your TA well in advance of the due date of the paper (contact your TA by Monday, May 2nd and don’t forward until you hear from him/her).
Read the more detailed guidelines below to ensure that you write a good paper:
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.
PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC HONESTY ARE TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY BY UCSB AND ALL INSTRUCTORS.
IT RESULTS IN SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES AND CAN LEAD TO FAILURE OF THIS COURSE. DON'T DO IT. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DOING IT.
TO BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR: PLAGIARISM IS THE PRACTICE OF TAKING SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK OR IDEAS AND PASSING THEM OFF AS YOUR OWN. THIS INCLUDES JUST A SINGLE THOUGHT, PARAGRAPH, OR SENTENCE. IF YOU DRAW ON SOMEONE ELSE'S IDEA OR WORDS, YOU MUST CITE THEM IN A FOOTNOTE.
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