Topics:

The topics for this essay will address the following learning outcomes: you will articulate an argument about the meaning and structure of the work and you will incorporate other critical strategies and approaches (ideas from the supplemental readings) to your analysis. Depending on which topic you choose, this essay brings together the play, as well as Marxist readings, historical documents, and other critical approaches. In other words, you will be writing about the play, as well as analyzing the ideas presented in selected accompanying material. In addition to referencing the essays and commentary, your essay needs to include detailed discussion of passages of the play (explication, “close reading” ) to support your argument.

Choose one of the following:

1). On Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House: Consider whether “A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife” supports or challenges Witham and Lutterbie’s “A Marxist Approach to A Doll House.” In this essay, your argument will need to take into account Witham and Lutterbie’s discussion about human behavior and socioeconomic conditions and the circumstances and behaviors of characters from A Doll House. Does the relationship of Marcus and Ulrike, as portrayed in “A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife,” support or challenge their Marxist views of the characters’ behavior, and how does this also relate to the behavior of characters from A Doll House? Essay must be focused and supported with explication of A Doll House.

2). On Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll House and the document “A Nineteenth-Century Husband’s Letter to His Wife.” Read the discussion on historical criticism in Chapter 55, “Critical Strategies for Reading” (pgs. 2038-39). How do you think a new historicist would use this letter to shed light on the relationship and marriage of the Helmers? Present a focused argument in which you compare the similarities and differences you find between Marcus and Torvald Helmer—do their tones differ?— taking into account what the letter may reveal about the time period. Essay must be supported with explication of passages from the play.

3). On Hamlet: Compare Sandra K. Fischer’s view of Ophelia’s madness in “Ophelia’s Mad Speeches” with Joan Montgomery Byles’s treatment in “Ophelia’s Desperation.” Explain why you think they complement or contradict one another. The essay needs to state whether the two essays work together, or present opposing explanations about Ophelia—is it possible that they can both be applied to the play, or no? How so, or why not? The essay must use explication (“close reading”) of passages of the play to support your answer. (Note: as you can see in these essays, there are many interpretations of Ophelia’s behavior—both of these writers start their essays by giving some views by other people, be sure that you are quoting the views of Byles and Fischer when you are comparing their essays).

4). On Hamlet: In “Ophelia’s Desperation,” Joan Montgomery Byles considers how Ophelia’s “sense of self seems… defined and controlled by the men in her life.” Can Byles’ analysis of Ophelia’s place “embedded in Elizabethan sexist society” be applied to Gertrude, the other woman in the play? There are a number of aspects about Gertrude that can be addressed in this topic: be sure to have a focused argument, and that your argument is supported by “close reading” / explication of speeches from the play—do not just summarize the characters’ actions.

Length: 6-8 pages, double-spaced.

Requirements:

To fulfill the assignment, essay needs to do the following:

• 1). Present a clear, focused argument that invites inquiry (nothing so obvious that an essay doesn’t need to be written to explore your stance and reading of the play).
• 2). Include explication (“close reading”) of key passages to support your argument: Support your position with discussion of the essay and explication of the play. Essay should show that you have carefully studied and analyzed the play, and in your close reading / explication of passages, you are giving reasons to support your argument.
• 3). Demonstrate your understanding of the issues and positions of the essay, as well as the play.
• 4). Incorporate what you have learned from earlier essays about the use and explication of quotations for evidence. Don’t “pad” the essay with unnecessary quotes, and if you are quoting, quotations need to be discussed in detail (explicate thoroughly).
• 5). Quotes from Hamlet that are in lines should be treated as quotes of poetry when quoting in text. Check MLA format for a Shakespeare play.
• 6). Follow MLA format, including: in-text citations for plays and essays, works cited, and overall presentation of essay (page numbers, title, etc.)

Note:

You do not need to do any research beyond your reading of the essays and plays in our textbook. If you do consult any other sources, and take ideas from other sources, these must be documented using MLA style documentation.