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Once again, please write an essay of around 2000 words (around 8 pages; not less than 7, and probably not more than 10) on one of the topics below: 1. Compare the relationships between husband and wife in Macbeth and Othello. Make specific references
1. Compare the relationships between husband and wife in Macbeth and Othello. Make specific references to the texts of each play. As suggested in number 2, above, try to avoid airy generalizations. Comments like “of course, women always got treated a lot worse a long time ago” do not constitute criticism or interpretation. They might constitute observations, but to anyone who has read any history or literature, they’re pretty dubious as observations, too. OR, since this topic seems so liable to external generalizations, let’s broaden the topic idea out a bit. If you wish, you could consider, broadly, the theme of loyalty/disloyalty (between military characters or friends, say) or fidelity/infidelity (between spouses or lovers, say) in two plays from the latter part of the course. Make your foci clear in your title and your introduction.
2. Write a comparative essay in which you analyse the film (video/dvd) adaptation of a play on this course; for example, the character of Hamlet in the play and in the film version with Mel Gibson. Use specific references from both the text and the film. Many, many adaptations exist—run your adaptation choice and area of focus by your tutor first. How do you write about literature vs. film? Remember that each medium is different, not simply better or worse. Read the play, watch the movie, make notes on differences and similarities. Study your notes. See if you can see a thesis in those notes. Or, begin writing, starting with the most important comparisons you think can be made. Once you get going, perhaps a thesis will emerge which will then allow you to write your introduction (which usually needs to be written or rewritten as the last part of your paper, anyway). Obviously, you can’t write about all the differences and similarities you see. Therefore, you should go with those you think are most interesting or important. What those are, though, are up to you.
Here is a URL for a contemporary article on adaptation theory: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2220/is_2_45/ai_n6143332
Dozens of books on adaptations exist. Here are a few key ones:
Bluestone, George. Novels into Film. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2003. (Not held by AU.)
Cartmell, Deborah, and ImeldaWhelehan, eds. Adaptations : from Text to Screen, Screen to Text. London: Routledge, 1999. (The “Introduction” is very useful. This item is not held by the AU library. However, AU does have in its ebary Cartmell’s Talking Shakespeare into the Millenium, which includes some articles on film adaptations of Shakespeare.)
McFarlane, Brian. Novel to Film : an Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. (Held by AU.)
3. What is the relationship between love and death in Antony and Cleopatra and Othello? Give specific references from the texts of each play. (Works by Bradley and Harbage, listed in the “Supplementary Materials List” in your black 324 manual, may be of use to you here.)
4. Adapt topic number 4, above, for this section of the course content. However, if you did this topic for your second assignment, kindly do not adapt it again for your third assignment.
Notes: In your efforts for each of these essays, attempt to come up with a kind of guiding thesis or argument that you can use. After you’ve done some noting, drafting (jotting some paragraphs), and so on, a good thesis may emerge. But if you get in a situation in which you find yourself writing: “Othello and Macbeth both love their wives, but then something bad happens and that wrecks their lives” and then proceed to do a chronological summary of the plays, you’ve got a problem. You need to go for insight and analysis, not summary and description. You need to develop a perspective on the plays that will allow you to analyse the plays, not summarize them. You need to go in and take control of the plays and tell your audience what you think is important and why, and not slavishly recite the plot. This could take a while to materialize, but it will, if you think about it.
As with any assignment in English, please submit a correctly (MLA) formatted Works Cited page with your assignment. MLA format is used in pretty well every AU course guide in English, as well as pretty well any book (including all of your Shakespeare texts) you may encounter in English studies at AU or anywhere else. Some information re: MLA style can be found from the essay-writing link on the AU Centre for Language and Literature homepage at http://www.athabascau.ca/cll/essaywrite.html (as well as in the MLA Handbook itself and in most grammar books on the market today). Here is a link on MLA style: http://library.athabascau.ca/help/mlastyle.php . But I would go back to the first link, before, and check out MLA Guide and look up “quoting drama.” You could also look at your own Signet editions for how they do parenthetical documentation and just emulate them. . .why anyone would just freestyle up her/his own wrong mannerisms when there are dozens of standard correct examples right in front of him/her is. . .something I cannot fathom. Please note that MLA form, like any other documentation system, evolves over time because textuality evolves over time. Therefore, old AU manuals may not show up-to-date form. You can go here: http://www.english.ucalgary.ca/student/Studentinfo.html for instructions on how to prepare an essay (format, documentation), as well as for assistance on grammar issues. If your marker points out that you use commas improperly, or that you have sentence fragments, then contact that marker, and/or go to the University of Calgary site–and/or to any number of other sites, such as http://owl.english.purdue.edu (and/or see http://library.athabascau.ca/help.php )–and get help!
Did you know that you can even submit drafts to AU’s own write-site? What an awesome chance to get some help, even if you’re already a great writer. Check that essaywrite/cll site up there.
There are hundreds of grammar books/writing manuals available on the market. If you do not possess one, you are essentially committing yourself to never improving your writing. Accountants use calculators; doctors use stethoscopes; writers use writing handbooks. Whales use krill. Every major publishing house publishes a writing manual, hence the hundreds on the market. A few good titles are given below:
Aaron, Jane E., and Murray McArthur. Little, Brown Compact Handbook. 2nd Canadian edition. (may be newer ones) Toronto: Pearson, 2003.
Finnbogason, Jack, and Al Valleau. A Canadian Writer’s Guide. Scarborough, ON: Nelson, 1998. (Newer versions available. This manual is comparatively cheap.)
Harbrace Handbook for Canadians. 5th ed. (may be newer ones) Toronto: Harcourt, 1999.
Dr. Corey Coates
Plagiarism is, sadly, a serious problem in this course. Read the note on plagiarism in your AU manual. You must cite everything that influences your work, including, obviously, the web. If you have questions, ask.
Number of students disciplined/failed for plagiarism since September 10, 2005: 10
**Please note, your tutor does not participate in the scheduling of exams, arrangement of transcripts, and so on. For these topics, you must begin by consulting the relevant pages in your black AU manual, starting on pages 17 and 27, respectively. The AskAU function on the AU website, or the “search” box, or the AU phone/email helpdesk may be helpful to you—they certainly are to me.
Tip: go straight to the text in your writings, and stay there. Opening with airy generalizations about “society” or “today’s world” or “ideal parents” and so on, simply distracts your reader and detracts from the impact of your writing. Go to the texts, and your argument and thesis, as soon as you possibly can, and stay there. Use the kinds of essays you see in your Shakespeare editions, if you like, as guides.
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