W3335x—assignment 2: Critical Condition

Write a short (and, if possible, brilliant) paper on one of the following topics.  (By “short,” I mean 7-10 pp., double spaced; i.e, 2000-3000 words; by “brilliant,” I mean, well . . . at the very least, that you have an argument that is clear, logically developed, supported by specific quotations from the text under consideration—and graced by a clever title.) Quotations should be cited by act, scene, and line numbers parenthetically following the quotation; e.g. (2.4.21). If you want to modify (or, worse, ignore) the assigned topics, you need to get my permission (which I will only reluctantly give and then only if I am blown away by the brilliance of your alternative). The paper is to be turned in on Nov. 27 in class.

1. Compare the role of the Clown in Twelfth Night with that in All’s Well. Do Feste and Lavatch play similar roles in the two plays? How might each be seen as a guide to the play’s major concerns?

2. Think about time in either Comedy of Errors or Twelfth Night and Richard 2 (i.e., you have to write on two plays, one of which is R2); how does it emerge as a thematic concern (and/or dramatic fact) in these plays? Does the genre make a difference to how each play imagines and articulates time?

3. After Henry V, Shakespeare moves away from English history (until his belated return with Henry VIII in 1612). Is there something in the logic of Shakespeare’s understanding of history and the problems of dramatizing it in Henry V that necessitates the move away from English history? (In other words, has he exhausted or exploded the genre of the English history play in ways parallel to what happens in comedy with All’s Well.)

4. “Action is eloquence,” says Volumnia in Coriolanus, and Shakespeare makes effective use of dramatic action to clarify, qualify, and sometimes even contradict what has been spoken. Focusing on a single scene or episode in one of the plays we have read, show how Shakespeare’s stagecraft exploits the resources and demands of the theaters he wrote for. This topic demands being able to visualize the play in performance. It also demands knowing for which theater(s) the play you are looking at was written and something about the physical aspects of that theater. Think about all the issues of staging: blocking, costumes, gestures, props, etc. The scene you focus on should be one that interestingly exploits the theatrical possibilities of thephysical environment.

5. Ben Jonson said that “Language most shows a man; speak, that I may see thee.” Discuss the distinctive habits of language (diction, rhythm, imagery, etc.) that Shakespeare evolves for two characters, each from a different play.