Discussion questions (week 9)

Discussion questions are back! In case you have forgotten their rules, my expectations are as follows:

• Before discussion you will spend about an hour reviewing your notes, rereading portions of the play, and thinking through answers to these questions.
• You will type and print your answers so that, in theory, I might be able to call on you in discussion on Friday and you will be ready with an answer. (Historically, I haven't called on people; still, I like having this as a threat.)

There are two questions for this week:

1. Take any speech in H5 as your own -- it doesn't have to be as long as the Archbishop's speech that we looked at on Friday, but it should be at least 30 lines. Look at the speech for four things:
   1. How and why does it use repetition?
   2. How does it try to persuade its audience?
      
   3. In a more general sense, how does it suggest the techniques by which language asserts power?
   4. How does the speech respond to, create, and transform metaphors that exist elsewhere in the scene or the play?
      
   
   
   
2. Put together an outline of Henry V by act, noting the setting, main characters and main action for each scene. This should take about ten minutes. Spend fifteen or twenty minutes thinking about the logic of this organization. Why does Shakespeare fly us around so much? Why do we jump to the French side when we do? Why do we get scenes with the barfolk when we do? Why do we get scenes with Katherine and Alice when we do?
   

Essay 2 assignment

Here, in case you wanted it, is a PDF of the assignment for the second mini-essay and the second essay.

Following the plot

I realize that our discussion on Friday was more than a bit fragmented. If you are baffled by Henry V, let me suggest three techniques that might help you tackle the text a bit more easily:

1. Read a summary of the play before or at the same time that you read the script. Prof. Dubrow has written study guides for each of the plays we are tackling this semester, which are all online here. If you are interested in detailed scene-by-scene summaries there are, obviously, dozens of options out there. After a quick survey of the options, I have to say that I prefer the Cliffs Notes scene-by-scene summaries of Henry V, available for free online, which seem generally more accurate and articulate than other versions I could easily find. (Ignore their pedantic "commentary," of course.)
   
   
2. It is usually ideal to read the script before watching a movie adaptation of the play so that your reading isn't influenced by any one interpretation of the text. Still, if you are having trouble understanding the characters, arguments, or plots of Henry V it might be worth watching a movie version before you have finished reading, so that the play seems like more than page after page of dull political speeches.
   
   
3. I know I've been advocating this every week, but I'm serious: if you get the audiobook versions of these plays and listen to them either when you're just walking around campus or if you sit down and listen to the audio while you follow along in the script you will become far, far more comfortable with the content of the plays.

It goes without saying, I hope, that the single best way to master any of these plays is to reread them -- twice, if that's possible. Remember that you will be responsible at 7:30 pm on Dec. 21st for every line of Henry V. Unless you have an eidetic memory you won't be remembering every line after one quick reading.

Germaine Greer on Shakespeare's wife

If you are into podcasts and what we know about the biography of Shakespeare, you might want to check out Germaine Greer's aggressive defense of Anne Hathaway in this podcast from the Guardian Unlimited Book Club. As with any Shakespeare biography -- and Greer acknowledges this in the podcast -- we have to be more than a little suspicious of claims that cannot, ultimately, be rooted in any sort of evidence. Still, this is worth a listen if you have the time and inclination.

Office hours this week

To clarify the 800 emails I've been sending out in the last few days, my office hours for this week (and this week only) are

• Noon to 2 pm on Tuesday in the Open Book Cafe (on the first floor of College Library)
  
• 3:30 to 5:30 pm on Thursday at the Fair Trade Coffee House
  

Reviewing for the midterm

The midterm that is coming up this Thursday is going to be fairly difficult. Prof. Dubrow and I have done what we can to prepare you for it, but the rest of the work lies with you: we expect your exam essay to prove that you have taken the time to master the texts we have covered so far. How, though, do you prepare for an essay exam?

Here, loyal blog readers, is how I would prepare:

1. Begin by reviewing your notes. Type up a list of terms and a list of themes that have come up in regard to MSND, MoV, and the sonnets. Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions about terms or themes.
   
2. Look in your notes for hints about how to read passages from these texts: in what ways, for example, has Prof. Dubrow discussed the theme of time in the sonnets?
3. Next, review the texts themselves. This doesn't have to be time-consuming if you approach the rereading process carefully:
   • Don't reread everything -- you won't pick up much that way; instead, spend your time on one or two carefully-chosen scenes for each play, and maybe on three sonnets.
     
   • Choose scenes that seem like they could be useful for answering any sort of question about the play, and, if you can, choose scenes that haven't yet been covered in class and that you think will distinguish you from your peers.
     
   • Really get to know those scenes and those sonnets inside and out: how can you use that theme to discuss substitution? protection? exchange? time? desire? the performance of gender? the problems and advantages of the theatre? of comedy? of lyric?
   • If you are the sort of person who can, memorize a line or two from each scene. There's nothing more impressive than seeing a well-used quotation in an essay exam -- as long as you're not just tossing it in there because, dammit, you've memorized the thing, but because it has some real value for your argument.
     
4. Once you've done this, get together with one or two classmates. (If you want to form a study group but don't have any likely partners on whom to call, let me know and I can send an email out to both discussions.)
   • With your study group, hash out as many thematic connections as you can between the texts.
     
   • Make up essay questions -- How does X relate to Y? is a good format, where X and Y are themes -- and trying to find the most interesting ways to answer them with reference to the details (NOT THE PLOT) of the two plays and the sonnets.
   • Talk through a list of details -- metaphors and other imagery, rhythmic styles (e.g. the chant-like meter of the fairies in MSND), symbols, famous ("If you prick us, do we not bleed?" etc.) and not-so-famous lines, etc. -- from the plays and sonnets that you might be able to use for a whole range of essay questions.
   • Then sit down and write out a whole essay. Give yourselves 40 minutes, with 5 minutes for planning an outline, and share the results with the group. What are some strong tactics that you used? How might you organize your time more effectively?
     
   
   

Free audio of Shakespeare monologues

Librivox is a project dedicated to creating and publishing online free audio versions of public domain texts. Although they don't seem to have any complete Shakespearean texts, they do have a number of monologues and a couple dozen sonnets. While not a perfect resource -- Librivox texts are read by volunteers, and hence the quality of their recordings varies -- this might be the tool you need to keep the language, themes, and emotional affect of these texts at the front of your mind as you prepare for the midterm.

Discussion questions (week 7)

In preparation for the midterm next week, our discussion on Friday will function as a sort of mini-review. To this end, I'd like you to come to class having completed three review-centric tasks:

1. Write up a list of the terms that Heather has put on the board, and their definitions. I'd like to spend the beginning of discussion reviewing terms you're unsure about.
   
   
2. Write up a list of the themes that pertain to MSND, the sonnets, MoV, and H5. These lists should include those themes Heather has put on the board or suggested in her lectures, but don't stop there -- add to these lists any themes you find striking or persuasive but which haven't come up in class.
   
   Pay particular attention to the themes that apply to multiple texts -- again, these may or may not be themes that Heather has put on the board.
   
   
3. MOST IMPORTANTLY, write an essay question in the style of Heather's examples. You can download the essay questions Heather wrote for last year's midterm here (PDF). Notice that these questions usually
   1. Require comparison either between plays or within a single play
   2. Connect to ideas Heather has raised in lecture once or twice, but not to issues central to those lectures
   3. Ask you to connect a theme (e.g. the role of power in politics and in relationships) to a technique (e.g. closure, pairing, mirroring, etc.)
      
   
   

Essay 2: a preview

Your second essay isn't due for two months. That sounds like a good thing, but since it will be due at the very end of the semester you might want to begin thinking about it now so that you don't find yourself crushed by all the work you have to do in the last week of classes.

You will be able to write on any one or two performances (cinematic or theatrical) of any of the plays we read from now until the end of the semester: The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Macbeth, or The Tempest.

Although I reserve the right to change the wording in the next month, the essay topic will look more or less like this: 

How does this performance respond to the themes of the play? What themes does it emphasize? What themes does it ignore? What themes does it add? As a scholar of Shakespeare, why do / don't you feel that this interpretation was successful?

In your analysis, take into consideration at least two of the following:

• Directorial decisions, including the setting
• Actors' interpretations of their roles
• Blocking, intonation, and other features of actors' performances
• Costume design, scenery and stage design, music, lighting, and (if applicable) camera work

Your essay should focus on a single performance, but you are welcome to refer occasionally to a second performance if you feel you can make your point more successfully through comparison.

Watching, listening to, and studying the plays

If you spend as much time plugged into an iPod as I do, you might find it useful to grab audiobook versions of Shakespeare's plays to listen to during your spare time. The plays were not meant to be read as though they were novels, so there is a lot you can pick up just listening to a good performance, even if you can't see it.

The Madison Public Library is an extraordinary resource for Shakespeare audiobooks and movies. Its location nearest to campus is just off State Street nearish the capital.

Once you get a library card, the MPL has an online text-reservation system that works sort of like a free Amazon. Once you look up your book (here is one audiobook version of MoV, to give an example) you can click on Request Item, enter your library card number, and then the item will be delivered to the library location of your choice and held under your name for a week.

From what I have been able to tell, the MPL has a deeper selection of Shakespeare audiobooks and movies than our University libraries have. If you want to watch a version of Merchant of Venice that Four Star Video doesn't have, then MPL will probably have it. (And for free.) Just remember to keep the checkout receipt from the library so that you have physical evidence to show me.

Emailing me your essay -- some formatting notes

These are not critically important notes. If you have already sent me your essay you're done and can breathe easily, perhaps take a day off from thinking about Shakespeare.

1. I have Word 2003 for the Mac, which means that I can't read Word 2007 documents or convert them into a format in which I can read them.
   
   To help me out here, please save your essay as a .DOC or as a .RTF (Rich Text Format) file. This is as simple as opening your essay up in Word, choosing Save As... from the File menu, and choosing either Word 97-2003 Document or Rich Text Format from the Save As Type drop-down box.
   
   Here are directions from the Microsoft website. The process is almost exactly the same no matter what word-processing program you use.
   
   
2. So that I don't drown in files named Essay 1.doc, I'd really appreciate it if you could save your essay as [Surname] 1.doc -- if I were to turn an essay in to myself, it would be Shapiro 1.doc... and I would be crazy.
   
   
3. If the essay doesn't come in exactly at 5:00 then that's completely fine. Don't push this too far, but if your essay is half an hour late then that isn't something to be stressed out about.