Paper 3
November 19 One-paragraph proposal for the final project.
December 3 December 6 Project completed.
Although writing a formal paper is one option for this assignment, you also have the opportunity to work on a different sort of final project: a web page, a performance, a collaborative paper, a guidebook, or a video would be examples. Here are the criteria for the project:
1. It must be based at least in part on something we have read in class, although you may use other works in addition.
2. Its purpose should be to demonstrate some original interpretation of the text, preferably one informed by some of the critical principles or the theoretical approaches to literature we have discussed. (See the back of your edition of The House of Mirth for extended definitions.) You might instead research and read critical articles on the work.
3. If you decide to do a performance, a web page, or some other creative project, you should be able to articulate your reasons for analyzing the work in this way.You'll need to write a 2-3 page rationale for the project.
Note: You may work with a group of others on this project. All members of the group will receive the same grade.
During the last week of class, you'll be asked to do a presentation (5 minutes per person) on your project. Groups choosing to create a performance will instead present that to the class.
Topics
1. Paper. Write a formal paper (5-7 typed, double-spaced pages) analyzing some aspect of Hamlet or The House of Mirth . You may also address both works in this paper. Sample topics include the following:
2. Web site. Create a web site based on the literature we've read, especially The House of Mirth and Hamlet . Possibilities:
Create a thoroughly annotated hypertext of one chapter or one scene from these works. This would involve analysis, definitions, pictures, and possibly music. Your site should link to related materials on the web.
Instead of analyzing the literary qualities, you might choose to explain the social, political, cultural, and historical contexts of the work. For example, you might create a site that explains the world of The House of Mirth: its rules of etiquette, its food, its sources of wealth, its common cultural references, and so on. For Hamlet , you might consider the context of revenge tragedies, or the actual world of Denmark as opposed to the picture Shakespeare gives of it.
3. Performance.
Perform a scene from Hamlet or to write and perform a play version of some episode from The House of Mirth.
Creatively rewrite a scene (or more than a scene) from either work. What would Hamlet look like in Lily Bart's New York? What would happen if Sigmund Freud were right in the scene, giving the audience real-time commentary on Hamlet's actions and speeches? How would either work sound if rewritten in the style of a modern author?
Create a video. You can tape your live performance or prepare something different. What would a promotional video of Elsinore look like, for example, if all the characters had to work together to create it? Is it possible to make a different play or a different outcome by simply using the speeches in Hamlet but editing them differently?What would the play look like from Claudius's point of view, or Gertrude's?
These are suggestions; you are welcome to propose your own ideas.