Shakespeare on Film Final

Directions: Each of your essays should be a full singled-spaced page. Write in essay format, including a section that sets up, a section that unfolds your argument, and a conclusion. Quote from the text of the play and make sure you provide interpretations of the quotations you use.

Of course, there are literary essays and student papers online that discuss some of these issues, but do NOT use the internet to form your arguments. Your task is to work with the plays themselves. You can make use of any materials on Blackboard.

Metadrama: Choose one of the following (50 points)

1. A Midsummer Night's Dream offers both obvious examples of metadrama (the performance of the play Pyramus and Thisbe) as well as less obvious examples of the play focusing on playacting, drama, playing roles, etc. Write a one-pagers that explores metadrama, focusing on A Midsummer Night's Dream. You can make reference to metadrama in other plays as well, but make A Midsummer Night's Dream your focus.

2. Eavesdropping is a metadramatic device, a sort of "performance" within the play, with either the characters being observed putting on a kind of performance for observers or the person doing the observing behaving as an audience for others. Both Othello and Much Ado About Nothing use scenes in which eavesdropping (listening in on the conversations of other people without their permission) leads characters to make choices that affect their lives.

Using at least three examples, write a one-page essay in which you consider the significance of eavesdropping in this play. What is Shakespeare exploring when so many of the important scenes focus on people either eavesdropping or thinking they are eavesdropping?

3. Consider two of the character is A Midsummer Night's Dream that we often overlook in discussion: Oberon (the king of the fairies) and Peter Quince (the "Rude Mechanical" character who directs the play Pyramus and Thisbe. Each of these characters is important to his section of the story-the events in the forest with the fairies and the play at the wedding celebration. Write an essay in which you consider these two characters as crucial to the play as a "metadrama."

Choose one of the following:

4. Choose a scene from a film we saw this term that you think is essential to understanding the director's interpretation of the Shakespearean play. What does the director do to convey his interpretation? Pay attention to camera movement, how the director frames the action, the actions of the characters, sound, music-whatever you observe. You should use the text of the play as your base, but of course you can look for the scene you choose on YouTube to review it. And remember that all of the plays are on Amazon Prime for you to review.Your chosen scene does NOT have to appear in the printed play.

5. The two comedies we saw, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream, raise questions about what love is-and is not. Write an essay in which you use both plays to explain what you think Shakespeare is saying about romantic love. Be specific. Cite passages from both plays.

6. Both Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream include "supporting" characters that come from the working class: Dogberry and the Watch and the "Rude Mechanicals" who put on the Pyramus and Thisbe play. Write an essay in which you explore what these characters contribute to the larger meaning of the play.

Bonus: Imagine the following plays without one important element:

• Macbeth without the witches

• A Midsummer Night's Dream without the fairies

• Othello without Roderigo

• Much Ado about Nothing without the Sexton

Choose one of the above to work with. How would the play change without this element? Would you still have a good play? What and how might Shakespeare have gained from including this element? (5 points)

Instructions : 

1. Choose one question for each category.

2. Write a full single-spaced page essay in answer to the question.

3. You should use the text or make specific reference to scenes from a film and then interpret them. Do close reading.

4. You cannot and should not paraphrase or quote from internet sources. You will fail the COURSE if you plagiarize. And do NOT come back and ask me for another chance if you do so.

5. Your job is to use the work we've done this term to show you know the plays, that you've thought about the films, and that you've paid attention to the ideas we've talked about in class.

6. Do the small things if you want an A or B. Make sure you identify the play you are writing about. Make sure you explain the characters. Follow MLA rules for quotation. Put all play titles in italics.

We will look at a midterm exam as an example on Tuesday. Be sure that you've viewed A Midsummer Night's Dream and are ready to discuss both comedies.

Your participation will be key to getting through material that will help you on the final.