Shakespeare Sexual Desire
Option 1: Sexual Desire. Present an argument about the representation of sexual desire in any two of the final three plays on the syllabus (Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest). Some questions you may wish to consider are: What do the plays present as healthy vs. unhealthy sexual desire? What is the relationship in the plays between sexual desire and social relationships, such as family, politics, marriage, friendship, etc. How do characters talk about their sexual desires and what is the relationship in the plays between desire and language? How do the physical bodies of the actors playing these character affect the presentation of sexual desire? After thinking broadly about these and any other questions that suggest themselves to you, winnow down to a narrowly focused argument that you can support in 4-5 pages.
Option 2: Low Comic Characters. Each of the final three plays on the syllabus features characters who exemplify a broad, coarse, buffoonish humor that is sometimes called “low comedy”: Dogberry and the watch in Much Ado About Nothing, Sir Toby and his drinking buddies in Twelfth Night, and Trinculo and Stefano in The Tempest. Present an argument about the low comic characters from any two of these plays. Some questions you may wish to consider are: What differentiates these characters from the other characters in the plays and in what ways are they similar to the other characters? Do these characters offer perspectives on important themes for the plays that are different than the perspectives offered elsewhere in the plays? How do the scenes that feature these characters fit into the larger structures of the plays? How do these characters fit into the social worlds depicted in the plays, and what does their presence suggest about these worlds? After thinking broadly about these and any other questions that suggest themselves to you, winnow down to a narrowly focused argument that you can support in 4-5 pages.
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