Due: Friday, June 3.
Submission guidelines: Submit by email before midnight (kevin.curran@unil.ch). The essay should be in Word format and the file title should be your last name (i.e. Johnson.doc). I will return graded essays to you by email with comments inserted using the Word comments feature.
Length: 2,000 (approx.)
The major
assignment of the course, the Research Paper should demonstrate:
(1) that you have read the relevant play or plays you're writing on
closely.
(2) that you know how to advance a focused, clear argument and support it
with evidence.
(3) that you know how to position that argument in relation to
the ideas of other critics. (Please engage with at least one piece of criticism)
(4) that you know how to analyze literary texts
in a way that is responsive to cultural and historical context.
(5) that you know how to document sources and quotations properly. (Please follow the MLA Handbook for matters of documentation and style.)
Also, of course:
(6) your research
paper is expected to be free from basic problems of grammar and spelling.
You may choose to write on any topic that relates to our course his semester. If you don't already have something in mind, below are some (very broad) areas of inquiry to help you start thinking.
Any play (or plays) in relation to a specific acting company
Any play (or plays) in relation to a specific theater
Drama and print
The material conditions of performance
Spectatorhip
Drama and politics (best to focus on a specific context or event)
Gender and sexuality (including either, or both, femininity and masculinity)
Drama and the Global Renaissance (Tamburlaine?)
Drama and urban experience
The city and/as the stage
The the development of tragedy
The ethics of tragedy
Sources and analogues (native, continental, classical, Biblical)
Drama and the history of emotions
Drama and the senses
