Essay 2: Comparing two plays
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This 5-6 page assignment (double-spaced, one inch margins, Times or equivalent, size 12 font) will be due in lecture on Thursday, April 7.
Please hand in the hard copy of your essay to the specific box for your section at the front of the lecture hall. You can put your essay in the
box either before lecture starts, or after it ends (i.e. don’t come up to the front of the room during lecture itself). Please also turn in the
assignment through the Turnitin feature on Blackboard. You will not get credit for the assignment if you don’t turn it in online AND in hard
copy. Late papers will be docked 3.5 points per day, starting immediately after lecture on Thursday.
This paper, which asks you to compare two Shakespeare plays, will be primarily assessed in relation to these three qualities: a significant
argument, narrow enough for an incisive paper; strong, sound use of evidence from the text; and clear, logical organization. “A significant
argument” is one that, if read by a peer in our class, would add to his or her understanding and appreciation of the text/texts in question. In
developing your argument, first explore possible ways of reading the text: since literary fictions are inherently ambiguous, there is no
single, determinate meaning towards which literary interpretation is moving. There are, however, interpretations that are more or less
persuasive than others, and an important part of literary interpretation is to weigh one interpretive possibility against another.
Sophisticated literary interpretation often requires the ability to entertain simultaneously a range of different interpretive possibilities.
By “sound use of evidence,” I mean that you should cite the text in order to bolster your claims and to focus the reader’s attention on
specific aspects of language central to your thesis: the language of the texts is your greatest resource in building an argument and proving
it. Shakespeare’s language is rarely straightforward, however, so these quotes should be followed by your own close analysis of the lines.
Finally, this paper should be a critical reaction based on your own careful reading of the text, and no outside reading is necessary. If you do
consult any outside written sources, you should credit all of them in your footnotes, even if you do not directly quote from them.
1. Representation of love. This topic invites you to examine the depiction of love in Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Othello or Macbeth.
Each of these plays offers multiple models of love. Yet in each case love is complicated by a financial, familial, ethical, or other problems
that threaten to compromise the union. Examine TWO or more representations of love, analyzing how and to what ends Shakespeare depicts models
of love: is love physical, spiritual, and emotional? Why does Shakespeare juxtapose frequently opposing models of love?
2. Illusion and reality in Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Othello or Macbeth. Analyze the use of illusion in TWO of these plays, such as in
the dagger scene in Macbeth to the scene with Cassio and Iago in Othello to the cross dressing in Merchant of Venice or Twelfth Night. (I’m
naming only a fraction of the available illusions in these plays). How does illusion function in the play, and why is there so much of it?
3. Dueling/fighting in Twelfth Night, Othello or Macbeth. Each of these plays feature prominent duels or fights. What is the purpose of the
duel? What is its broader role in the play? What might duels reveal about conceptions of masculinity in the play? What might the duel reveal
about social order and how disputes are raised and resolved in the play world? Analyze the role of dueling/fighting in TWO of these plays.
4. Identity. What theory or theories of identity does Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Othello or Macbeth offer us? Is identity based in
certain essential qualities, such as our bodies or spirits? Or does our clothing or location construct identity? For example, do characters
maintain stable identities in these plays, or do their identities change based on costume or physical location? Do the plays offer us multiple
theories of identity? Analyze the theory/theories of identity in TWO of these plays.
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