English 102 (Love)
Researched
Analysis of Measure for Measure
4-6
pages / 3+ sources
DUE:
April 30
Follow
all instructions for the formatting of major assignments established on the
class-policy handout.
For
this essay, you have several options. Each one involves developing an argument
that will require copious textual evidence from the play. Each also requires
the use of several sources to advance your analysis/argument. Note that for some
if not all of the choices, the narrative that emerges from Shakespeare’s
Sonnets 127–130 could provide a useful interpretative lens (although you do not
need to go in this direction).
Your
options are:
1)
Claudio essentially tells Lucio that Isabella has good rhetorical skills
(1.3.68–70), and she employs these skills in her first talk with Angelo (2.2). Offer
a rhetorical analysis of the arguments she makes (with occasional prompting
from Lucio) to try to convince Angelo to spare her brother’s life. Then, discuss
what the play seems to say about rhetoric or its limits, given the way events
unfold.
2)
Discuss the character/motivations of ONE the two “rulers” in the play, the Duke
(Vincentio) OR Angelo, blending several psychological/sociological sources
(popular and/or academic) into your analysis. Provide a reasonable evaluation
of the more and less generous interpretations of the character you choose based
on his rhetoric throughout the play.
3)
Measure for Measure is in part a play about the justice system. Discuss
what Shakespeare seems to be saying about the law and how justice is meted out
in the play’s culture. What is Shakespeare encouraging audiences to recognize
and consider? As you examine specific lines/scenes, blend three useful sources (literary
criticism, historical, sociological, etc.) into your essay.
4)
I’m open to your choosing your own topic related to the areas of inquiry
discussed in 1–3 above. If you go this route, please get your topic approved at
least one week before the due date. Three sources must be used in your
analysis.
Be
certain that your essay has 1) an opening that generates interest and properly
introduces the work you are going to discuss; 2) a substantial thesis at the
end of your introduction paragraph that establishes your main point (or points)
and your main supporting ideas; 3) body paragraphs in which you support the
thesis in a logical, tightly organized manner (provide ample textual evidence
and avoid simple plot summary); and 4) an eloquent conclusion.
Style Guide: Writing about Drama
Follow all quotations from a play with an Act, scene, and line notation:
Thus, “Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, / Which we ascribe to heaven” (1.1.208–09), means that the quote is from Act 1, scene 1, lines 208 and 209. As above, when quoting more than one line of
verse, be sure to put slashes between each line, skipping a space before and
after the slash. (If the quoted passage
is prose, as in the Duke’s instructions at 3.1.230–248, there is no need for
any slashes.) Also, make sure that the
quoted text is exactly as it appears
in the original.
Here’s an example of a single line of verse quoted: Helen’s assertion that “All’s well
that ends well” (4.4.35) must therefore be taken with a grain of salt.
Here’s an example of two lines of verse quoted:
The King clearly says that he values Helen when he insists that he, and
by extension all of France, has “lost a jewel of her, and our esteem / Was made
much poorer by it” (5.3.1–2).
When you quote more than two or three lines, indent the entire passage (a
process often referred to as “block quoting”), and be sure to maintain in tact
each separate line of verse. Do not
put quotation marks around the indented passages (in these situations quotation
marks should only appear if they are in the original). At the end of the indented passage (or the
line below, if necessary), include an Act, scene, and line notation. In the following example, I have begun with a
line of my own writing, then indented the quotation, then returned to the
margin and picked up once more with my own writing. Note that in the quote I have used an
ellipsis mark to show lines that have been cut (that is, the ellipsis mark indicates
that neither the first nor last line are quoted in full—if both of those lines
had been quoted in full, the ellipsis marks would be unnecessary):
Helen then offers the following
metaphor:
…’Twas
pretty, though a plague,
To see him every hour,
to sit and draw
His
arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
In our heart’s table…(1.1.88–91)
Here Helen’s lines indicate that her
desire for Bertram is based on…
Use the present tense when writing about what happens in a play: Helen decides [not
“decided”] to try to get Bertram by way of curing the King.
Underline or italicize the titles of plays:
All’s Well That Ends Well or All’s Well That
Ends Well
If you need or want to interpolate your own words into a quotation, use
brackets:
Bertram insists that “in fine / Her [Diana’s] infinite cunning with her
modern grace / Subdued me to her rate” (5.3.215–17).
In supporting claims in your essays, you obviously will need to quote or
refer to various sections of the plays.
Where your points about areas of text are self-explanatory, you may
refer to specific lines parenthetically without quoting them. For example, you might write:
Othello’s claims that he
unintentionally won Desdemona with the stories of his past adventures (1.3.127-168)
gives the sense of a relationship that begins with Desdemona’s sympathy and
compassion.
Not quoting such self-explanatory lines will allow you to save space for
more analysis. However, do not attempt
to use this method to fudge over lines you don’t fully have a grasp of. The meaning of lines cited in this way
must be obvious.
