Instructions for paper:
FIRST, choose one of the topics offered below on The Merchant of Venice.
1. Déjà vu. The same question asked for paper one but this time applied to The Merchant of Venice:
Write about the significance of a single word (and its variants) in The Merchant of Venice. To do this, go to the Advanced Search page of the online Concordance for Shakespeare's works (a concordance tells you what words reappear in a work or works you select the database to search): http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-advanced.php. Select the drop-down for The Merchant of Venice, experiment with some searches of words that have caught your eye as you have read the play. Remember to search by the base of a word, since it could appear in different spellings or formats. For instance, if you are interested in the word "fairly," you should try searching by "fair". That search brings up 32 results, which include "fair” (the most often used form of the shortened version), “fairest,” “fairer,” “affairs,” and “fairness.” In each case, whatever word root you search, the Concordance gives you the passage and place in the play where the word occurs. After you find a word you think you want to write about, clear it with your TA. Then start your research and writing of your essay. Important: You do not need to reference every passage the Concordance cites. On the contrary, you should focus on just a few instances of the word that prove a thesis about how Shakespeare uses that word to develop an idea in the play. In choosing your word and any variations upon it, be sure to consult the meaning(s) of the word as used at the time of the play, which are explained in the Library’s online Oxford English Dictionary (OED), explained above.
2. Explore the significance of "vision" in The Merchant of Venice, both as a word and as a concept (idea, metaphor, etc.).
3. Unpack the significance of one (1) father/daughter or father/son relationship in The Merchant of Venice.
4. Explore the concept of "risk" in The Merchant of Venice.
5. Discuss the concept of comedy specifically in regards to Launcelot in The Merchant of Venice.
SECOND, Make an original and interesting argument (a thesis) about the topic.
THIRD, Back up your thesis with solid evidence. Quote the play frequently and pay attention to the details of the language you quote (telling words, repetitions, meter, rhyme, imagery, tone, punctuation, etc.)
You need not answer every question posed in the topic suggestions. They are there to provoke thought.
NOTE (AGAIN): Whatever essay topic you choose from the options offered below, it is important that you build your argument based on a close analysis of the language used by a character or surrounding an image or scene in the play. The only way to do this properly is to use the official dictionary that is consulted by all English scholars: The Oxford English Dictionary, or OED. This dictionary gives you all the possible meanings of a word, as well as examples of its use throughout history. You can tell from the date of the first example given in the OED whether or not the meaning of the word the dictionary gives was in fact still or not yet in use in Shakespeare’s time. Do not trust open source OED websites. Go to the official OED through the UCSB Library’s portal. You may sign into the official OED by going to UCSB Library’s online portal, signing in, going to “Articles and databases,” clicking on “O,” and then scrolling down to Oxford English Dictionary. Then you just type in the word as it is spelled in the play. One more NOTE (AGAIN): you may need to type in more than one version of the word to see meanings of variants on the root of the word (see below re: searching the Shakespeare Concordance online, which is different from the OED but also an important resource). If you have problems, or are unclear about these instructions, EMAIL YOUR TA!
FIRST, choose one of the topics offered below on The Merchant of Venice.
1. Déjà vu. The same question asked for paper one but this time applied to The Merchant of Venice:
Write about the significance of a single word (and its variants) in The Merchant of Venice. To do this, go to the Advanced Search page of the online Concordance for Shakespeare's works (a concordance tells you what words reappear in a work or works you select the database to search): http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/search/search-advanced.php. Select the drop-down for The Merchant of Venice, experiment with some searches of words that have caught your eye as you have read the play. Remember to search by the base of a word, since it could appear in different spellings or formats. For instance, if you are interested in the word "fairly," you should try searching by "fair". That search brings up 32 results, which include "fair” (the most often used form of the shortened version), “fairest,” “fairer,” “affairs,” and “fairness.” In each case, whatever word root you search, the Concordance gives you the passage and place in the play where the word occurs. After you find a word you think you want to write about, clear it with your TA. Then start your research and writing of your essay. Important: You do not need to reference every passage the Concordance cites. On the contrary, you should focus on just a few instances of the word that prove a thesis about how Shakespeare uses that word to develop an idea in the play. In choosing your word and any variations upon it, be sure to consult the meaning(s) of the word as used at the time of the play, which are explained in the Library’s online Oxford English Dictionary (OED), explained above.
2. Explore the significance of "vision" in The Merchant of Venice, both as a word and as a concept (idea, metaphor, etc.).
3. Unpack the significance of one (1) father/daughter or father/son relationship in The Merchant of Venice.
4. Explore the concept of "risk" in The Merchant of Venice.
5. Discuss the concept of comedy specifically in regards to Launcelot in The Merchant of Venice.
SECOND, Make an original and interesting argument (a thesis) about the topic.
THIRD, Back up your thesis with solid evidence. Quote the play frequently and pay attention to the details of the language you quote (telling words, repetitions, meter, rhyme, imagery, tone, punctuation, etc.)
You need not answer every question posed in the topic suggestions. They are there to provoke thought.
NOTE (AGAIN): Whatever essay topic you choose from the options offered below, it is important that you build your argument based on a close analysis of the language used by a character or surrounding an image or scene in the play. The only way to do this properly is to use the official dictionary that is consulted by all English scholars: The Oxford English Dictionary, or OED. This dictionary gives you all the possible meanings of a word, as well as examples of its use throughout history. You can tell from the date of the first example given in the OED whether or not the meaning of the word the dictionary gives was in fact still or not yet in use in Shakespeare’s time. Do not trust open source OED websites. Go to the official OED through the UCSB Library’s portal. You may sign into the official OED by going to UCSB Library’s online portal, signing in, going to “Articles and databases,” clicking on “O,” and then scrolling down to Oxford English Dictionary. Then you just type in the word as it is spelled in the play. One more NOTE (AGAIN): you may need to type in more than one version of the word to see meanings of variants on the root of the word (see below re: searching the Shakespeare Concordance online, which is different from the OED but also an important resource). If you have problems, or are unclear about these instructions, EMAIL YOUR TA!
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