Some requirements:
Due: Wed., March 7
Also: In addition to the quotations page, which I linked to from the WA page, here are a couple of more links that might help you out with my expectations: ground rules for writing a paper in my Shakespeare Survey course; random things I don't like.
Overview:
The purpose of this paper is to find and discuss an interpretive “problem” in one of the two romances—in their construction, in their language or imagery, in their endings, in their representation of a particular idea or social element, etc. Your paper will need to:
In thinking about problems, Wayne Booth distinguishes between a “condition” (a circumstance, a situation) that leads to identifiable “consequences.” Judiana Lawrence identified a condition in Cymbeline (an overly neat set of reconciliations at the end) that leads to a consequence (a sense of disunity, given the depths of the earlier problems). Using evidence from the play, she showed that the ending is deliberately and self-consciously artificial so as to expose the forced gratifications of romance, generally, and to make us critically aware of our expectations for the genre.
Or, consider Innogen’s discovery of the headless Cloten. This is surely a problematic condition—but be careful. One might be tempted to say the consequence is that Innogen mourns her dead husband and blames Pisanio. But this is a plot consequence; we want to focus on interpretive problems, and therefore we need an interpretive (or perhaps “thematic”) consequence. In this case, the interpretive consequence is that the man who is so seemingly right for her is unrecognizable to her, which suggests that identity in the play might not be essential; or that characters must learn to distrust signs, since they are inevitably deceiving; or perhaps the necessity of death (here, Posthumus’ symbolic death) for characters to grow. We could probably find a number of interpretive consequences for any given condition.
1. Introduction. Your Introduction will describe some aspect of the play that presents a contradiction or tension or irresolution, a condition that leads to an interpretive difficulty. Besides the two mentioned above (an ending that seems not to fit, and a misreading of a sign), you might look for:
2. The body of your paper will consist (first) of one or more paragraphs that look at the problem in one or more specific places in the play, with analysis of specific language from those specific places (notice my annoying repetition of the word specific). From there you need to move to consequence. You might analyze a practical or plot consequence (so, what happens to Innogen as a result of her mistaking of Cloten) but you should do so as a way toward raising the larger interpretive questions and consequences that matter.
Objectives:
Aside from the content, described above, I’ll be looking for:
Paragraph organization
Effective use of quotations:
Close analysis: