Write an essay on concealment as a motif and plot device in Hamlet or Measure for Measure.

This is a research paper for which you must consult at least two secondary sources, preferably relatively recent (i.e. published during the last 25 years or so). Use only scholarly, not popular, sources: that is, articles in refereed journals, such as those you might source through JSTOR, or books published by university presses or academic publishing houses such as Routledge. Include a Works Cited page that lists both primary and secondary sources, in the standard MLA format.

1. Write an essay on the significance of one (1) of the following topics in any of the plays we have read this term:
a. Christianity (traditional Christian worldview and/or Reformation-related issues)
b. justice
c. the uses of authority
d. the relationship between politics and family ties
e. powerful emotion and its effect on judgment
f. sexual behaviour

2. Shakespearean drama frequently suggests a certain conjunction between characters and non-animate matter: elements of landscape are endowed with agency or transformative powers, while props act as extensions of characters. What effect does this have on character and plot development, and resolution in the play of your choice? Choose a play from the second half of the course.

3. Compare Brutus and Caesars wives, Portia and Calpurnia, in Julius Caesar in terms of their contribution to the development of the action, the dramatic effectiveness of their presence in the play, and the possible ways in which they illuminate the main tensions in the play.

4. As we have seen, producers and directors often choose to set Shakepeares plays in periods and locations other than the text suggests. If you were responsible for a production of any one of the plays we have read this term, when and where would you set it? Explain your decision with detailed reference to the text.

5. Write an essay on concealment as a motif and plot device in Hamlet or Measure for Measure.

6. Consider Perditas conversation with Polixenes about flowers, The Winters Tale, IV.iv.70-108. Its obviously not just about horticulture, so what is it about? And how do the ideas being suggested here play out through the rest of the play?

7. It is tempting to read Prosperos this rough magic speech as Shakespeares farewell to the theatre. It is also wholly speculative, since there is no real hint of that in the text. Still, it may be true that the play as a whole is very much about the theatrical endeavor and experience. Agree, partially agree or disagree with this suggestion in a cogent argument with support from the play.

Plays to choose from
Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
As You Like It
As You Like It; begin Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night
Richard II
Henry IV Part One
Henry IV Part One; begin Henry V
Henry V
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Othello
Hamlet
Measure for Measure

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