Directions: Write a one-page essay to answer 2 of the 4 questions. You can quote from the plays; please cite Act and scene in your essays. Do NOT do internet research or quote Shakespeare scholars. Your task is to interpret the plays and films on your own. Total is 100 points.

Question 1

Here is a description of a "tragic hero" based on Aristotle's ideas about drama:

• A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities.

• This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering.

• But the hero struggles mightily against this fate and this cosmic conflict wins our admiration.

• Because the tragic hero simply cannot accept a diminished view of the self and because of some personality flaw, the hero fails in this epic struggle against fate.

• This tragic drama involves choices (free will) and results in a paradox --- Is it Fate or Free Will which is primarily responsible for the suffering in the hero's life (and in our lives in light of our own personal tragedies)? Though fated the hero makes choices which bring about his destruction.

• In addition, tragic drama usually reveals the hero's true identity. Oedipus --- instead of being the proud savior of Thebes --- discovers that he is the cause of the city's plague, the killer of his father and the husband of his mother.

• The hero's suffering, however, is not gratuitous because through great suffering the hero is enlightened. Such heroes learn about themselves and their place in the universe. Pride is chastened. Though destroyed the hero is at peace intellectually.

• Tragic doom is both public (the State) and private (a family tragedy as well) and usually sexual transgressions are involved in some way.

• We are energized by witnessing this eternal drama for it encompasses the fate and "stuff" of all humans from kings and queens to paupers.

As for paupers, in his famous editorial for the NY Times, Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller argues that the common person is also capable of tragic stature in so far as each one of us seeks a true identity and a personal dignity.

Choose two of these characteristics and test whether they apply to the two Shakespearean "heroes" from Othello and Macbeth. Do the ancient ideas about tragic heroes apply to these two Shakespeare plays?a

Make sure your discussion is in essay format and that you ground your points and observations in the written texts of the plays. You can, of course, refer to the two films we saw in class. However, don't confuse the film with the play. The film is always an interpretation of the play and may or may not be faithful to what Shakespeare wrote.
 
Question 2

Justin Kurzel's interpretation of Macbeth steps outside the depiction of the murder of Macduff's family at his castle in Fife, which is the way it is written in the original play. Instead, Kurzel depicts that the family is brought back to Macbeth's castle (Dunsinane) and burned at the stake in front of a crowd of people that includes Lady Macbeth.

Write an essay in which you consider Kurzel's decision to alter the play and what he gains or loses by interpreting and presenting the play in an unexpected way.

Question 3

Iago or Macbeth represent two of the most dangerous and perhaps evil characters in Shakespeare. Write an essay that considers what Shakespeare might be saying about human nature through these two characters.

Pay attention not just to their actions but to how others see and describe them in the plays. Again, you should ground your answer in the language of the plays but you can refer to the films as interpretations of the plays.

Question 4

Write an essay in which you explore the role of prejudice (racial, cultural or religious) in Othello.

Would you say this issue is central to understanding the play or just one aspect of understanding the characters and their actions?

You will need to cite specific passages from the play to support your argument.

Bonus: Interpret this frame from Othello.