Measure for Measure
Your first 4 to 5 page (1000 to 1,250 words) essay will be an exercise in close reading of an important passage in Measure for Measure which you will then connect to other key passages that amplify and deepen the theme or question you develop. Choose early. You’ll want to take notes for documentation as you reread. Your paper should have an arguable thesis—shoot for a level two or three thesis Be prepared to defend your thesis and show reasonable progress when you confer with me on that date.
Explore all of the scenes of which Isabella is a part. From the details of these scenes—what she says, what is said to her, what she actually does, how she is viewed by others—analyze Isabella’s character and what it is Shakespeare is able to say through her. What kind of woman is Isabella and what larger themes, commentary, does her character suggest?