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This project asks you to trace one topic (i.e., an element, a motif, a trope, a character type, a situation, an idea, etc.) across 2 of the plays we read in Unit 2: Titus Andronicus, and The Merchant of Venice. Like most writers, Shakespeare’s plays tend to focus on similar or related issues and questions that we see addressed across his entire corpus, but his ideas change and develop over time. Your job is to explore the ways that the MEANING associated with the element/topic you chose develops over the course of different plays and decide what MESSAGE the plays send about the element/topic when considered together. Each play has an individual message, but what message do you understand when you consider both plays together at once? In your discussion of one of the two plays, you must include at least one
secondary source from class, using the skills we’ve practiced in class (like quotation, summary, and engagement). Finally, you’ll consider the way the contemporary film adaptations do or do not share a similar affinity as the plays. Don’t forget to ATTRIBUTE and CITE when you refer to the plays, films, secondary essays, and/or the lesson videos!
Some Useful Definitions
Primary text: a play or film that you are analyzing
Secondary source: a scholar who is discussing the play or film (called “literary criticism”) OR providing new information that isn’t in the play or film (such as theory or historical context)
Cultural & historical contexts: things that happened in real life that may influence how writers write or filmmakers produce films
Literary and cinematic traditions & conventions: techniques and tropes that writers/directors employ inside a primary text (a play or a film) to create narrative art; the set of expectations associated with the genre or text
Details
1) Choose a TOPIC to explore in two plays from Unit 2. You’ll be exploring the same topic in both plays. For example, if your topic is representations of race/ethnicity, then you would explore what CLAIM two of the plays make about race. If your topic is the conventional
working-class sub-plot in comedy, then you would explore what CLAIM two of the plays make about the working-class through the sub-plot.
2) Identify the claim/message of the first play you selected and provide textual evidence and close-reading to support your interpretation.
3) Identify the claim/message of the second play you selected and provide textual evidence and close-reading to support your interpretation.
4) In one of the two above discussions, engage one secondary source from the class as you
develop your argument about the play. Make sure to quote, summarize, and engage the text’s ideas as we practiced in Lessons 3 & 4.
5) Consider both play’s messages together: what do you learn when you consider both the plays’ messages on this topic together? What overall message starts to emerge when you read these two plays next to each other?
6) Consider the film adaptations of the two plays you selected. Compare/contrast the film’s messages with the play’s message, using textual evidence and visual close-reading to explore your claims.
7) Consider both film’s message together: what do you learn when you consider both the films’ messages on this topic together? How do the films, when taken together, compare/contrast to the overall message you noticed in the plays in question 5? What does that suggest to you
about how/why these plays still seem to resonate for contemporary audiences?
Don’t forget to cite all primary texts and any other sources you use with MLA In-Text
Parenthetical Citation and a Works Cited page!
This assignment is designed to address the following Student Learning Outcomes:
Course Outcomes:
• Identify and describe conventions associated with Renaissance theater and with
Shakespeare’s plays;
• Understand and perform literary analysis on Shakespeare’s plays (in oral, written, and media-based formats), paying particular attention to contradictory interpretations and critical debate;
LTWR Outcomes:
• Create clear and compelling communication in writing, speech, and other media;
• Closely analyze texts, applying critical and theoretical approaches;
• Distinguish the local and global contexts of multicultural and international texts and apply
those contexts in textual analysis, utilizing relevant theoretical frameworks.
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