Thursday, July 18, 2013

Drama


English and Literature
Paper instructions:
Write an essay of around 600-750 words about one of the following three assignment options:
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Option 1: Choose any two plays we have read this quarter: Medea, The Cherry Orchard, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Six Characters in Search of an Author. Consider how any one or two dramatic devices listed below operate within each to develop the playwright’s theme. (Use the same term for discussion of each play) Your essay could show similarity of the function of these mechanisms in two seemingly different plays, or you might examine how different applications affect each play (for example, character development or form of dialogue), providing an analysis of what those differences contribute to the audience’s experience of the play’s meaning. 
· character, role(s) and/or motivation
· form (tragedy, tragicomedy, comedy)
· dramatic conventions such as soliloquy, chorus, aside, or dramatic monologue
· plot action and conflict (Make sure you don’t simply summarize the plot–this needs to be analytic)
In this piece, your thesis is focusing on the dramtic devices and how they work, what you think they contribute; the plays will function as your examples of this.

Option 2: In The Cherry Orchard or Six Characters in Search of an Author, how does the title illuminate the central issue of the play? Pay special attention to the action: scenes that involve the cherry orchard, or what the characters are doing, not just what they’re saying. How does the play’s’ action center on these concepts? Does the meaning of the title change for you as a result of the plot or dramatic action? If these become at all symbolic, is the symbolic concept perceived the same way to all characters? To the audience? If the title subjects are seen literally, what other ideas open up for the audience? 
This assignment option asks you to focus on one play; your discussion may also involve other dramatic issues and devices, but center on how it all serves the central concept represented by the title.

Option 3: Choose either Medea or A Midsummer Night’s Dream and look at the plot structure of the play and the dialogue of the characters to respond to the following questions, relevant to the play you choose:
The term ‘hubris’ means “exaggerated pride or self-confidence,” and in Greek tragedy often points specifically to an attitude toward the gods which results in the protagonist’s downfall. Considering the play Medea, was the title character simply a pawn of fate, or did her own action lead to the conclusion of the play? Examine the observations of the chorus and other characters, as well as the elements of plot and history that come to light through the play. How do action and character development relate?
Similarly, in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Review Aristotle’s definition of comedy, as well as the supplemental material on comedic heroes, structures, and motives. How do these apply to this play? What do you make of the characterization? 

Whichever option you choose, write your paper so that its thesis offers a clear point that focuses and unifies your well-documented application of the terms. Your supporting discussion should provide ample evidence, logical interpretation, and clear connection between your observations and analysis.
Be sure that specific evidence in the form of quotations from the text backs up all of your major points. This evidence must come from your application of the terms and their definitions to the text of the individual plays. Each quotation should be properly documented by placing the appropriate page or verse number in parentheses at the end of the quotation. (Review the MLA page attched to the module under Course References)
Do not, however, expect quotes to carry the message of your paper. Your job is to offer sufficient explanation of all quotes so the reader understands how you are meaning to apply them. Also, check that you connect your ideas back to your thesis with sound reasoning. 

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