Business Paper

In a two page paper (double-spaced), choose a short part of a scene from Henry V and compare how it is written in Shakespeare's play (as presented by our Pelican editors) with how it is portrayed in Sir Laurence Olivier's film adaptation. Discuss the part of the scene you choose in terms of how the story is presented to the audience; how, in a sense, the story is sold or marketed to them. What do Shakespeare's and Olivier's choices tell you about what they expect their audiences to like (and thus pay to see)? How do Shakespeare and Olivier respectively try to gain their audiences' goodwill (and thus their business)?

This is not a research project. Do not use outside sources to tell you about the audience conditions in Shakespeare's or Olivier's time. The purpose of this assignment is to analyze Shakespeare's play and Olivier's film yourself, not to report on a historian's conclusions about them. Use the play and the film to make logical inferences about the audience. What must or might be true about Shakespeare's and Olivier's audience because of the content in the play and the film?

You can choose to write about something in the play that the movie significantly alters. You can even choose something in the play that is not in the movie or something in the movie that is not in the play and discuss the reason for the omission or addition. Or you can choose a part of a scene that the Olivier movie adapts faithfully from the play, so to speak-a scene that does not depart significantly from the text of Shakespeare's play-and consider how moving the words and the scene from a theatrical to a cinematic medium alters even a close adaptation of the same material. But, whatever you choose, be detailed and specific. Use a quotation from the part of Shakespeare's play you are discussing. If you discuss different dialogue in the Olivier film, quote that too (or provide a reasonably accurate paraphrase). If you discuss the way Olivier visually portrays or stages something, describe it in close detail. Tell me what you see on the screen.

(If you are discussing an omission from or addition to the play in Olivier's film, you won't be able to quote material absent from the play or describe material absent from the film. But you can write specifically, with explicitly explained logic, about how the play or film would be different if it included the absent material.)

The Olivier film is available to check out at the reserve desk on the second floor of the Marriott Library. You can also log into the Marriott Library's website and view the film online. I suggest you make a brief note of as many differences from Shakespeare's play as you notice, while watching the film, so that you can then review these notes and decide which observation to discuss in detail.