Topics for first essay
These papers should be 6-7 pages in 12-pt. font, double-spaced, single-sided, with 1-inch margins. You are not expected to do any research beyond the material (introductory and critical) in your textbook, but if you do, you are expected to document that research appropriately, using MLA style of formatting. If you are bringing into your discussion any facts at all, you must cite a source for those facts, even if that source is a lecture in this or some other class. If you derive an idea from the plays themselves, cite the lines in the plays where those ideas come from. Writing counts! Your work will be evaluated in consideration not only of your carefully thought out responses but also the clarity and technical accuracy of your writing. Proofread papers (and correct in ink if necessary) before handing them in.
Choose one of the following question sets:
1. Among the plays we have read so far this semester, Medea and A Doll’s House seem to pose the greatest difficulty in terms of identifying–or identifying with –the tragic hero. What specifically can be called “heroic” about Nora Helmer and Medea? What do they have in common? What common aspects of the human condition do they exemplify? Is it necessary for you to approve of the actions of a hero in order to find him or her heroic?
2. Considering that both the dramatists and the original performers of most of the plays we have read so far were men, discuss the ways in which these men construct both male and female representations in their plays. To what extent do they deploy stereotypes, and to what effect? (This question is harder than it looks, and invites serious consideration of the function of gender representation in drama.)
3. If you believe that tragedy (often) expresses, or mirrors, the concerns and anxieties of a community at a moment of crisis, what can you identify as the crisis or concern expressed by any of the playwrights you have read so far? This question invites you to find the issues underlying the plays, detectable through the plays’ representations. Support your essay with specific evidence from the play(s) you choose.
4. In regard to Everyman or Atsumori (choose one), discuss the ways in which the playwright makes use of the stage space (mise en scène) in order to insure his audience’s engagement with the play.
5. Most of the drama we have read so far (Greek tragedy, Japanese drama, Medieval English morality play) in one way or another springs from the religious or philosophical structures of its producing community. Discuss the ways in which this drama both constructs and is constructed by such religious or philosophical foundations. You may choose one cultural group of plays, but for a real challenge, try comparing two groups in this context.
6. Another feature that the Greek, Japanese, and Medieval English plays apparently share is the stylized (formal, artificial, non-realistic, precise, abstract, and largely symbolic) nature of their respective performance techniques. You will have to use your imagination for this one, but if you can visualize how that stylization is performed, attempt a discussion of how such a technique appears to, and affects, its audience.