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English 3900 critical response topics, fall 2015

Note that critical response essays have a 250 word minimum and must be typed. Avoid plot summary or straightforward retelling of "what happens" in the play your address—see nugget 1.

Format your response according to MLA guidelines for margins, spacing, name, date, etc., headers, etc. as outlined on my "simple stuff" page. Critical responses not following "simple stuff" guidelines will be handed back ungraded. Also note that while students taking the class in Cochran and Warner Robins are to email me critical responses, Macon students must submit their work printed on paper, not sent as email attachments.

Works cited pages are unnecessary for critical responses—unless you are using an edition of a particular play different from that in our Norton text, in which case a works cited page is required. Even without works cited pages, do still follow the MLA conventions for documenting quotations as explained on my quotations page.

3.1 Due Tuesday, December 8 at the final exam: Explain which two plays on our syllabus this semester you think it's most essential that I use again next time I teach this class: give very specific reasons why.  In a separate paragraph (at least) also explain which two plays you think I should drop from the syllabus in future Modern Drama courses, here too being very specific in your reasoning. 


On deck:

 


Previous critical response topics—no longer valid for submission.

1.1 Due Thursday, August 20: Strindberg is often considered (mildly) modernist in his rejection of dramatic tradition. In the 19th century, the predominant dramatic mode was melodrama, with evident tendencies to sensationalism and exaggerated extremes in largely stock characters (angelic selfless heroine, dastardly villain, virtuous and courageous hero, etc.). Strindberg claimed that his characters were more complex, being compounded in varying measures of both "virtue and vice." How do Julie and Jean both bear this out? That is, how are both characters admirable and yet far less than admirable at the same time? Include at least two quotations pertaining to each character in your analysis.

1.2 Due Tuesday, August 25: A little dramatic role-playing here: after you finish reading the play, compose an entry in Nora's diary dated one year after the conclusion of the play, focusing mainly on her thoughts about leaving Torvald and her children. Avoid simply speculating or fantasizing wildly without grounding in the play itself: support your interpretation of Nora's attitude with at least two quotations from the play (these would be most naturally her recalling of specific dramatic moments, of course).

1.3 Due Thursday, August 27: The role of Hedda has been coveted by actresses ever since it was first produced, partly because of the complexity of the character and the challenges and possibilities of bringing out a range of qualities in performance. She can be seen as evil incarnate or as helpless and misunderstood. Do you think that she is a victim of society or an example of one of society's greatest problems? Or perhaps something else? Include at least four quotations from the play supporting your claims.

1.4 Due Tuesday, September 1: Consider the significance of the subtitle of The Importance of Being Earnest: what does Wilde mean by "a trivial play for serious people," and how does this subtitle impact how we should interpret the play? Elaborate, including at least three quotations to support your interpretation.

1.5 Due Thursday, September 3: Open assignment: taking care to avoid plot summary, respond to whatever strikes you as interesting or significant in Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. Include at least three quotations to support your observations.

1.6 Due Tuesday, September 8: Choose one:
a) George Bernard Shaw was famously a socialist. How does Shaw's comic Pygmalion offer serious criticism of his capitalistic and highly class-conscious English society in the 1910s? Include at least four quotations to support your claims.

b) After reading the play, watch the 1964 film adaptation of Pygmalion, My Fair Lady, and discuss the significance of any scenes deleted, altered, or added to Shaw's version in the film. Include at least one quotation from each scene you discuss (you may quote either the play or the film, as you like).

1.7 Due Thursday, September 10: In one or two paragraphs, discuss the importance of the stage setting in either or both Trifles and Souls Gone Home, and in one or two additional paragraphs discuss the importance of specific props, costumes, or physical actions in either or both plays. Include at least four quotations, total, illustrating your claims.

1.8 Due Tuesday, September 15: Machinal is an expressionistic playexpressionism in drama typically involves the use of external objects, events, and stage elements to convey the inner experience of a particular character. How do sounds ("soundscape") and other stage elements serve to express the inner experiences of the Young Woman in this play? Give examples, including quotations, from two or more different episodes to support your observations.

1.9 Due Thursday, September 17: Open assignment: avoiding plot summary, and considering at least some matters from beyond the play's first few pages, write about whatever strikes you as interesting or significant in Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. Include at least three quotations to illustrate your observations.

1.10 Due Tuesday, September 22: Read the Norton headnote on Brecht carefully, especially the paragraphs on Brechtian "estrangement" (mostly on pp. 682-83), and then discuss how The Good Woman of Setzuan accomplishes different sorts of "estrangement," and through them offers important insights about life (i.e. beyond the world of the play). You may want to quote the headnote, and you must include at least three quotations from the text of the play.

1.11 Due Thursday, September 24: Comment on how The Maids presents the "serving class" in a different light from most literature you have read that portrays servants and their masters (though it's not literature, if you've watched Downton Abbey, you might include this TV show in your response). Include at least three quotations from the play to substantiate your claims.

1.12 Due Tuesday, September 29: Examine the characters of Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski as they are developed in the first five scenes: in particular, consider how both can be seen as representing larger types or "classes" of Americans. Include at least two quotations on each character, with your total of four including at least one quotation from three different scenes (two per character; overall, with quotations from three different scenes).

1.13 Due Tuesday, October 6: After completing the play, discuss different ways that Stanley's statement that he is "one-hundred-per-cent American" can be seen as true, in positive ways and negative. Consider different ways that Stanley may be representative of modern Americans, or of the twentieth-century United States more generally. Include three or more quotations, with at least two from different scenes in the second half of the play (Scenes 6-11).

2.1 Due Tuesday, October 13: Choose a specific passage or two from the first half of Death of a Salesman, quote the passage(s), and analyze closely Miller's commentary on the American dream. You might consider specifically how Miller appears to consider the American dream in the 1940s radically different from what it was or meant in earlier times.

2.2 Due Thursday, October 15: Death of a Salesman is clearly a tragedy, but Willy, the tragic hero, cannot truly be said to experience the moment of "recognition" that Aristotle says is essential to tragedy. Explore different ways that Biff has the crucial insight regarding the protagonist's "tragic error in judgment," and include at least three quotations in your discussion. You may want to consider Biff's comments after the funeral as your starting point.

2.3 Due Tuesday, October 20: Open assignment on Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Avoid plot summary, quote the play at least four times, and above all, try to get at specific themes, or statements about the human condition, that Beckett presents in this absurdist drama.

2.4 Due Thursday, October 22: Choose one; do not address both:
a) Pinter's plays can all be seen as exploring issues of dominance or power: who has it, who wants it, and how is it achieved or maintained. Examine two or three different exchanges in The Homecoming that illustrate this concern with dominance or power, including at least three quotations (total) to support your claims.

b) Consider both sides of this question: Is Ruth, in Pinter's The Homecoming, a victim or a victimizer? Include at least one quotation on each side of the debate, totalling at least three quotations in all.

2.5 Due Tuesday, October 27: What specific aspects of Sam Shepard's Buried Child distinguish it as appreciably "American"? What does the play suggest about American culture and values? Include at least four quotations to illustrate your claims.

2.6 Due Thursday, October 29: Discuss themes (statements about life, society, etc.) in Cloud Nine on two of the following fronts: imperialism, politics, gender, race, or sexual liberation, including four quotations in all, with at least two from each act.

2.7 Due Tuesday, November 3: Open assignment on Glengarry Glen Ross: comment on whatever strikes you as interesting or intriguing; avoid plot summary and include at least four quotations in your analysis.

2.8 Due Tuesday, November 10: Discuss Wilson's portrayal of manhood or masculinity in Fences: in particular consider Troy's relationships with his sons, and also consider how Troy's race is a crucial factor in his notions of what it means to be a man. Include at least three quotations.

2.9 Due Thursday, November 12: Only after reading to the very end of the play, consider how Hwang's M. Butterfly both portrays and then deconstructs or undercuts stereotypes about men and women, and the West and the East, including at least four quotations to support your claims.

2.10 Due Tuesday, November 17: Macon students only: Open assignment on Parks's The America Play: write about whatever strikes you as interesting or significant in the play, avoiding plot summary and including at least three quotations.

2.11 Due Tuesday, December 1: Choose one; do not address both:
a) Explore Stoppard's commentary on knowledge in Arcadia's first act. Discuss different aspects or facets of knowledge he brings to our attention, and include at least three quotations to support your observations.

b) Discuss Stoppard's use of two different time-frames in the first half of Arcadia: how are the two periods integral to any particular theme(s) of the play? Note that "theme" here means "a statement about life, society, the human condition, etc." Include at least three quotations to illustrate your claims.

2.12 Due Thursday, December 3: Open assignment on the second half of Arcadia. Avoid plot summary, and include at least three quotations. If you wish, you might continue exploring either of the topics for Act I.