Unit I Essay Assignment (due Tuesday 2/17 at 10 a.m.)

Other due dates: Prospectus (via email or hardcopy) Tuesday 2/10

Instructions: Write a 4-7 page (1000-1750 word) essay on Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Strindberg’s The Father, and/or Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. The goal of this argumentative paper is to demonstrate your fluency in original literary analysis and understanding of the features of modern European drama that emerge after close interpretation. Please read the evaluative criteria at the end of this document. 

You are strongly urged to write a comparative paper that treats two of the plays that we have read thus far to encourage argumentative, critical thinking and to discourage plagiarism. You may, however, write an essay just on one of the plays (but not all three). Like most literary interpretive papers, your paper should offer textual support and clearly articulated arguments. Unlike papers treating novels, short stories, or poems, your paper should consider the techniques of theater, including gesture/stage direction, setting, and the possibilities for interpretation that emerge from performance. If you are struggling to find the significance for a thesis (a.k.a. the ‘so what?’ of any good controlling idea), consider the purpose of Naturalist and late nineteenth-century drama; what purpose does it serve, how does it critique society, and why might audiences have been shocked by it?

The following are merely prompts; this means they should prompt you into formulating your own specific questions which you can begin to explore in the prospectus.

Choose one of the following topics:

1. Design your own topic (preferably on two of the dramas we’ve read thus far)! This is strongly encouraged, since students write better essays when they write about something they cherish.

2. Is A Doll’s House a feminist play? Clearly articulate what you mean by feminist. Comparing Ibsen’s drama to Strindberg’s would provide an even stronger case for your argument. You might consider the ways in which these plays treat the nineteenth-century “woman question,” which queries whether or not women engaging in public life can still retain their “femininity.” Alternatively, you might explore the homosocial (female-female, or male-male) relationships in two different plays; does gender equality start with gender alliances, or are groups of men and women divided to begin with (and why)?

3. What is the significance of the religious references in Strindberg’s The Father? How does the play’s central paradox—its portrayal of waning patriarchal control and ardent female religious fanaticism—relate to Strindberg’s purpose in writing it? Why is it called The Father? An interesting comparison could be made to Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, which shows a similar preoccupation with religious signification.

4. What is the tragedy of the ‘modern family’ according to Ibsen, Strindberg, and/or Wilde? Which playwright offers the most plausible ‘solution’ to overcoming and/or avoiding familial tragedy? How are motherhood and fatherhood portrayed? Why is modern marriage in a state of crisis? Why is the modern European drama (as it originated in the nineteenth century) so preoccupied with the issue of parentage and inheritance?

5. What role does class (money and work relations) play in Ibsen, Strindberg, and/or Wilde? Which playwright offers the most socially progressive or critical view of class? What kinds of reform are offered for the working, bourgeois, and/or aristocratic classes? How do these playwrights offer these critiques while still placating mostly bourgeois (or, in Wilde’s case, partially aristocratic) audiences?

Unit II Essay—Early 20th-century Theater

Prospectus for Unit II Essay via email (by Fri. 2/27) or hard copy (in class or office hours--11:15-12:45 pm in 324 Dickson)

Essay due Thursday 3/4 at 10 a.m.

Write an argumentative, analytical, original, and interpretive essay that is documented according to the MLA method on either The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, or O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. The length should be no less than three pages and no more than five (appx. 800-1350 words). Please review the general evaluative criteria and carefully examine your last essay’s strengths and weaknesses.  

The advice given for the last essay assignment holds true here as well: Like most literary interpretive papers, your paper should offer textual support and clearly articulated arguments. Unlike papers treating novels, short stories, or poems, your paper should consider the techniques of theater, including gesture/stage direction, setting, and the possibilities for interpretation that emerge from performance. If you are struggling to find the significance for a thesis (a.k.a. the ‘so what?’ of any good controlling idea), consider the purpose of early twentieth-century drama and the particular ‘tragedy’ of your selected drama or film.

The following are merely prompts; this means they should prompt you into formulating your own specific questions which you can begin to explore in the prospectus (The prospectus outlines your topic, thesis, and working ideas in progress.)

Choose one of the following topics:

1. Choose your own topic and write an essay about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author, or O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock. This is strongly encouraged, since students generally write better essays when they embrace their own original ideas.

2. What is the political subtext of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? How do the setting, camera angles, and costuming narrate yet another level of meaning in the film? Why is the psychoanalytic frame important for understanding the political subtext of the film? The film is on reserve in the Media Lab in Sprague Library’s basement under ENLT 375 (#295).

3. What is Jane’s role in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari? How does male rivalry and competition shape the distorted gender roles in the film? What does the film perhaps indicate about (the dangers of) desire and passion? The film is on reserve in the Media Lab in Sprague Library’s basement under ENLT 375 (#295).

4. What does Six Characters in Search of an Author reflect about Pirandello’s theory of drama? How do the setting, characterization, and stage directions inform an understanding of Pirandello’s performance theory? What might this concept of the stage reveal about Pirandello’s idea of what it means to be an individual (i.e., a three-dimensional person) in modern society? Why is Pirandello so critical of traditional stage practices?

5. What does the fractured narrative of family tragedy mean in Six Characters in Search of an Author? What kinds of information does each family member attempt to perform or silence? What is the tragedy of this play—familial trauma, or the inability to coherently express it? Why does Pirandello employ such an avant-garde style?

6. Analyze the female roles in Pirandello’s drama. What view of femininity do the leading lady, the stepdaughter, mother, and Mme. Pace represent? Why are these female figures important for an understanding of the drama’s point (and what is this)?

7. Analyze the title of O’Casey’s play, Juno and the Paycock, and its relation to underlying oppositions and polarities in the drama. You might focus on the motif of the divine vs. bestiality; work vs. leisure; capitalism vs. socialism; female vs. male; life vs. death; or war vs. peace (suggestion: analyze just one pair). Does O’Casey suggest that humanity will always struggle between two poles, or does his play hint that there is hope for a ‘third way’ (and what is this)?     

8. How does O’Casey combine tragedy and comedy, creating a tragicomedy? In what ways does the comic inform the tragic, and vice versa? Why is Joxer’s role integral for an understanding of O’Casey’s (political? social?) message (and what is this)?  

9. What does motherhood mean in O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock? How do all the different mothers—Mrs. Boyle, Mrs. Tancred, the Virgin Mary, and Mary—relate to each other? Why is motherhood, as O’Casey characterizes it, integral to understanding the meaning of the tragedy (and what is this)? Is this message hopeful/transcendent or pessimistic/critical?

10. What is the role of work, occupation, and money in Juno and the Paycock? How do economics make people act in O’Casey’s world? Why is class central to unraveling the meaning of the tragedy (and what is this)?

11. Other ideas for O’Casey: see interpretive questions for Thursday 2/25, L. 12 but remember that papers are evaluated on their originality (i.e., not just regurgitation of discussions).

Unit III Essay Assignment:

Performing Modern European Theater (due Thursday 4/22 at 10 a.m.)

- Thursday 4/8 Prospectus detailing your paper topic and approach (or Friday 4/9 via email)

Instructions: Write a 5-7 page (1300-1750 words) essay on either Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Genet’s The Maids, or Churchill’s Cloud 9 that incorporates research on performance history. So in addition to formulating a clearly articulated argument that carefully focuses on one aspect of a drama, you must conduct library research that will inform your understanding of the text’s performance. You might consider the play’s limitations and possibilities as a performance; its stage history and/or commercial success; and/or dramaturgical and production decisions that influence the audience’s understanding of the play. If you are so inclined, you may alternatively conduct genre research (i.e., tragicomedy, tragedy, comedy, melodrama, operetta). A session with a research librarian will be conducted on April 8th in 110 Sprague to facilitate this research, which should be cited according to the parenthetical MLA format and thus include a Works Cited.

In addition to the general evaluative criteria used to evaluate previous essays, this essay will be evaluated on the quality of its research and sophisticated understanding of modern European theater in performance. Research may draw on professional reviews, casting decisions, production notes, scholarly papers, etc. and should come from a reliable source (i.e., not solely from the internet, though sources may be found through online library databases). At least one source must be used. You are encouraged, but not required, to make connections to plays we read in the previous two units or among this unit’s dramas, while maintaining a clear focus. The following questions are very general, but you are expected to specify your paper topic and develop a focused, original argument.

1. Choose your own topic (highly recommended). The only restriction is that you still incorporate theater research.

2. What issues about authority and oppression does Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Genet’s The Maids, or Churchill’s Cloud 9 raise? How does performance [of one of these plays] make this motif concrete? Why does Beckett, Genet, or Churchill focus on authority and oppression, and how are they defined? 

3. Beckett titles his play a “tragicomedy.” In what ways does Beckett merge the comic with the tragic? How do audiences perceive Waiting for Godot—as a tragedy, comedy, or tragicomedy (and what do these terms mean in Godot)?

4. Cross-dressing and role doubling are theatrical conventions employed by Churchill, sometimes (unlawfully) practiced by Godot productions, and considered for The Maids. What effects does this gender bending have on the plot, themes, and characters of one of these plays? How does one of these author’s (and more importantly, their directors’) use of cross-dressing and role doubling effectively illuminate the theme of oppression (colonial, economic, and/or sexual)?

5. How does the tragedy of family that we first experienced with the Scandinavian Naturalists transform into tragicomedy in post-1945 theater? In what ways does a post-1945 author contrast realism with theatricalism? Is the ultimate effect less or more tragic?

6. How do work and professions define (or fail to inform) characters’ identities? What questions about class relations does Beckett, Genet, or Churchill raise?

Please note:

- You should have an original title for your essay

- These are prompts, designed to prompt you into thinking about your own writing. You should revise and specify the exact kinds of questions your essay will be addressing.

- Please avoid plot summary. Focus, instead, on specific motifs (symbols, repetitions, allegories) and narrative techniques (position of narrator, genre conventions) and clearly articulate their interpretation/meaning.

- Cite information according to MLA (author #) and include a Works Cited.

- Struggling for vocabulary? Take a look at this page about Vocabulary for Literature and Writing.

• Please simply staple, number, and label each page with your last name (no cover pages or booklets). Include a title. 
  
• Papers should be no longer or shorter than the length assigned and submitted on time. Use twelve-point type, in Times New Roman or CG Times (or 10 pt. in Veranda, etc.). Late papers will result in grade reductions. Never submit a paper without proofreading it carefully.
• Late papers will be penalized.
• Please carefully proofread your paper; grammatically sloppy papers will have points deducted.
• In order to avoid plagiarism and to guide your readers in following your sources, please cite texts according to MLA standards. You may use outside sources but are not required to do so. If you do use outside sources, please be sure to cite them properly.
  

• Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: Definition of Plagiarism (from Student Handbook)

  "Plagiarism means the use of another's words as if they were your own, and the unacknowledged incorporation of those words in one's own work offered for credit.  The following guidelines for written work will assist the student in avoiding plagiarism:

              a) General indebtedness for background information and data is acknowledged by inclusion of a bibliography of all works consulted.

              b) Specific indebtedness for a particular idea, or for a quotation of four or more words from another text, is acknowledged by footnote reference to the actual source.  Quotations of 4 -5 words or more from a text are indicated by the use of quotation marks."

  Honesty is expected of you.  It is expected that the work you hand in will always be your own, and that you will never copy sentences, phrases, paragraphs or whole essays from any other person's work, for that is plagiarism.  Plagiarism is dishonest, and against both University policy and my own.  If you are ever unclear about how to cite another person or author's ideas, come see me or consult the staff in the Writing Center.  We can help you do this correctly.  It's important to understand that plagiarism is a big deal in this university and in my class.  Don't make this mistake.  Students who are caught plagiarizing will fail the course and be referred to the Dean of Student's office for disciplinary sanctions.

  
  
• This paper will be evaluated according to the strength and clarity of its argument, validity of its support, and originality of its conclusions. In addition, evidence of each student's ability to communicate these ideas in writing weighs considerably on the final evaluation. Therefore, you are encouraged to engage in peer-review and extensive proofreading.
  

• Students are encouraged to make use of the University Writing Center, located in Dickson Hall 285 (655-7442); students are benefited most by making an appointment, but drop-in hours are also available. I am more than willing to provide extra help and extra office hours! Please come to my regular office hours in Dickson Hall 324 or email me at nielsenw@mail.montclair.edu for an appointment.

Performance Presentation Assignment

• 4-5 Groups of 4-5 people

• 10-15 minute dramatizations

• R 4/22: Group organization day

• T 4/27: Rehearsals/sign-up for order

• R 4/29: Performances

The assignment is to arrange a 10-15 minute dramatization of your assigned play. I suggest doing one scene. Or, you may write your own scene, such as a prologue or sequel to one of the plays. In order to substitute for our lack of scenery, you can have someone perhaps describe what the scenery would entail before the brief sketch begins. 

I. Sean O’Casey, Juno and the Paycock: Keriann, Marlon, Nancy, Christine

II. Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot: Donna, Lisa, Jessica, Dwana

III. Jean Genet, The Maids: Theresa, Robyn, Daniela, Jolanta

IV. Oscar Wilde, Importance of Being Earnest: Rebecca, Jennifer, Mickey, Kristin, Elizabeth,

James