FIRST ESSAY ASSIGNMENT FOR ENGLISH 154
First due date: Saturday, September 20th at midnight
Final due: Saturday, October 4th at midnight
Shakespeare wrote his plays to be performed before a live audience, not to be pored over in a library. We read and study Shakespeare’s works to help us understand them better, but to fully appreciate them, we need to see them on the stage or screen. Your first assignment is to write a personal essay in which you explain how watching the play A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM helped you achieve a better understanding of what Shakespeare had originally written.
You are free to write about any aspect of the film version of this play starring Kevin Kline. What follow are some suggestions you can follow, but the format and content of this essay are up to you. Here are the only rules you must follow:
· Do not summarize the plot in your essay; assume I already know the play.
· Do cite lines or sections in the play; back up your conclusions from the text.
· Avoid using lengthy quotations; cite the act, scene and line number and quote the first line in the text of your essay.
· Be sure to underline the title of the play.
· Come up with a title for your essay.
· Proofread your work before you submit it. Be sure to double-space!
The following are only suggestions of what you might cover:
1.) What does the film show us about why characters speak and behave as they do?
A. Age
B. Appearance
C. Costume
D. Speech
E. Mannerisms
2.) What does the film reveal about relationships among the characters?
A. Attractions
B. Hostilities
C. Social differences
D. Motives
E. Changes in the relationships during the play
3.) How did the way the film was made add to your understanding of the play?
A. Setting in both place and time
B. Music
C. Special effects
D. Director’s cuts and use of cameras
E. The way the director put the different scenes from the text together in the film
4.) How did the film help me to understand one particular scene especially well?
First due date: Saturday, September 20th at midnight
Final due: Saturday, October 4th at midnight