Final Project: due no later than December 6th!

English 3213: Shakespeare

Final Project: Ten-Minute Shakespeare

For your ‘final exam’ so to speak, I want you to take a cue from The Reduced Shakespeare Company, and prepare a ten-minute version of one of the plays from class. While this is a humorous idea, it also tests how well you know a given play, and what the essence of the play’s themes and characters truly consist of. What would a ten-minute Othello or Twelfth Night look like? How could you compress most of the general theme, plot, and language into a single short scene?

Your final project should consist of two parts:

·       A 5-7 page script (since 1 page = 2 minutes of reading time) composed solely from the lines of the play you choose. Don’t add any lines, but pick and choose what parts of the play you want to present so we can see the skeleton of the story & a few of its characters.

·       A short Epilogue (1-2 pages), where you explain what you hoped to achieve in this drastic reduction of the play. Why did you make the choices you made, and what ‘story’ does this version tell, since you had to leave so much of it out?

Remember, you’re going to have to take a LOT of the play out. You can’t preserve every character, plot, and incident. But you can show us some aspect of the play that will give us a taste of the actual thing. You don’t have to use an entire speech, or an entire conversation, but edit it as you see fit. For example, you could focus solely on the journey of a single character, or a single theme, or a single relationship. Or you can give several little snapshots. But try to make it coherent, and include stage directions (the original or your own) so we see how the different moments go together.

Have FUN with it. You can make a tragedy seem more like a comedy, or vice versa. I will only grade this by how well we can still see some aspect of the story in your version, as well as how some of the great lines are preserved. I’ll also look at how thoughtful you are in your Epilogue and what kind of method went into your madness.

DUE NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6^th BY 5PM

Class This Week: No More Reading! But Class Continues...

 I forgot remind everyone to come back to class on Wednesday, even though there's no scheduled reading. We finished the plays, so now we're going to look ahead to our final activity. Should be interesting... :) 

I'm in the process of grading everyone's Paper #2. They should all be returned to you by Friday at the latest, though some of you will get them earlier. Remember that you can revise any paper in class for a higher grade if you wish. 

Let me know if you have any questions. See you on Wednesday (tomorrow)! 

For Monday/Wednesday: Antony and Cleopatra, Acts 2-3 (see Note)

NOTE: I'm going to push the paper back to next Monday, so we can actually finish the play this week. That way, you'll also have the weekend to write the paper. So here are questions for Acts 2 & 3, and you can turn them in as late as Wednesday. You only have to read Act 2 for Monday (since that's probably all we'll have time to discuss, anyway). We will do an in-class response over Act 3 on Wednesday as well, but I thought it would be easier to give you more time on the questions. 

Answer TWO or ONE, depending on your time, interest, and inclination: 

Q1: How would you stage Act 2, Scene 5, particularly the scenes with Cleopatra and the Messenger? Is this a scene of high comedy, where Cleopatra loses it and acts like a spoiled child? Or is this a deeply tragic scene, where she realizes that the one hold she had over Antony’s affections is lost? Use a line or two to support how you think we’re supposed to read (and stage) this scene.

Q2: When Enobarbus tells the Romans (Maecenas and Agrippa) about Cleopatra, he switches from verse to prose: why does he do this? Also, examine this speech—what does he think about Cleopatra? Does he consider her Antony’s “exotic” whore? Or does he hold her in respect and awe? 

Q3: Though Rome is notoriously racist in its views towards Cleopatra and Egypt, is the same true of Antony? Does he love her in spite of her race, or is he ‘color blind’ when it comes to his affections? How does Act III offer us a definitive portrait of their relationship, especially once the chips are down (after the disastrous naval battle)?

Q4: What role does Enobarbus seem to embody in the play, particularly in Acts 2 and 3? Though he is one of Antony’s most loyal supporters, even he is looking for a way out by the end of Act 3. Is he another Shakespearean Fool? Or is he more like Iago, plotting secretly against Antony?

For Friday: Antony and Cleopatra, Act 1

Answer TWO of the following as usual, or go to town with ONE if you really have a good idea: 

Q1: In many ways, this is a play about acting, and no one acts more extravagantly as Cleopatra. As Enobarbarus (her servant) says about her, "I have seen her die twenty times upon poor moment" (1.2). Why does she spend so much of her time with Antony in 'costume' rather than being more 'real'? Does he, like Othello, not appreciate a Sonnet 130 woman? Conversely, why might a woman like Cleopatra view life as a performance? 

Q2: How do the Romans in the play, such as Caesar, regard Antony's behavior? Though he's a great warrior and clearly a great lover (to win Cleopatra's affections), what makes him seem 'unmanly' to them? Do people in Egypt share the same opinion? Does he? 

Q3: After seeing the great love that Othello and Desdemona had for each other (at least in Acts 1-2), is the same true for Cleopatra and Antony? Are they madly, passionately in love, or is it more a power play? Is he using her for political advantage? Is she? How does their language in Act 1 betray their emotions? 

Q4: How does Shakespeare create the 'setting' of Egypt through his language? In other words, how does he give his audience a sense of Egyptian atmosphere through the way the Egyptians speak and act? In Shakespere's day, they wouldn't have much in the way of sets or props, so the language, alone, would make people believe they were in a different country. What makes Egypt 'sound' differently than Rome or Romans? How does he create this illusion (Act 1.2 is a good example).