Paper Assignment: Drama
Lengths: 3 complete pages plus Works Cited
Format:
All submissions must be typed in Times New Roman 12-point font. They should be double-spaced and have one-inch margins. All papers should conform to the MLA style of documentation and format listed in your handbook. As all papers should quote from primary and secondary sources, all papers should contain a Works Cited page.
Assignment:
For Paper 1, you honed your skills of analysis by looking at literature through a historical lens, and then conducting research to back up your analysis. For this paper, you will expand upon those skills of contextualization by choosing a particular literary theory or approach through which to analyze a play. Then, you are to find at least two works (articles or books) by literary critics or theorists who use the same literary theory or approach as you (they do not necessarily have to discuss the play you have chosen, though). After reading the two works by the critics and thinking about the play, come up with an original argument that focuses on what your literary approach reveals about the play. The words of the play, along with the works by the two critics, should be used to back up the points of your argument. You may choose any play in the drama section of our anthology, including one that we've read.
As a reminder, I've included brief summaries of the literary theories you may choose from (including some ones that are new to the class). For a more complete explanation, review the Week One handout, An Introduction to Literary Theory.
• Language and Structuralism. This approach looks at how words are used as symbols in literature.
• Psychoanalytic. This approach looks at how the concepts of fear and desire are presented in a work of literature. For example, a psychoanalytic approach may consider how these instincts lead the characters to act in a certain way.
• Marxism. Marxist criticism examines how literature reflects the values of the dominant class during the period in which it was written.
• Gender Studies or Feminist Criticism. Gender criticism explores how the categories of male and female are constructed and expressed in literature and culture. Feminist criticism pays particular attention to the roles assigned to women.
• Masculinity Studies. Like Gender Criticism, masculinity studies explore how gender is constructed in literature and culture. Masculinity criticism, however, focuses primarily on the roles assigned to men, and the ways men are permitted (or not permitted) to socialize with each other.
• Critical White Studies. This approach examines how whiteness is constructed alongside and against other racial and ethnic groups.
• New Historicism. New Historicism argues that there is no one unified version of history. Rather, there are many different histories depending on the subject/person in question. These histories often contradict the "traditional" history of a given era or place.
• Black Studies. Race criticism examines the way a culture divides itself along racial lines, and the ramifications of these divisions.
Tips:
No Internet sources (that is, sources that do not originate in print form) should be used for this paper. Scholars use print sources, rather than Internet web pages, because the information contained in print sources has been peer reviewed and checked for accuracy.
The more precise you are with your argument, the better your paper will turn out. The focus of your paper should always remain on your thesis and the play.
You should reference three different works in your paper: the play and two works (articles or books) by scholars who use the same literary theory. To get your thoughts going, you might want to go to Literature Online (via the library website databases) and search for your literary theory, e.g., "psychoanalytic and drama." (Remember to refer to the "Introduction to Print Research" handout from Paper 1.)
There are some standard rules of in-text citation for dramatic works that you should learn. In-text citations of Antigone (and other ancient Greek and Roman dramas) are by line, as in (Sophocles line 1160). In-text citations of Shakespeare are by act, scene, and line, as in (1.3.141), meaning Act I, scene iii, line 141. All other plays are cited by page number, as in (Ibsen 1528).
You are without a doubt smart enough to do this, and to do it well. If you ever get stuck or frustrated, just start writing. Give yourself permission to have bad grammar, to not make sense, and to ramble. It is easier to revise something than to worry over nothing. Remember, writing is difficult for absolutely everyone. The key is to just keep writing.