Objective
Let's see if this course has made you a more informed/happier consumer of culture and if it has given you a way of talking and arguing about literature. What do you make of Doran's Royal Shakespeare Company production of Julius Caesar?
The Project Itself
This production of the play is surprising: it is anachronistic (it takes place now); it is moved from Europe to Africa; and has an all-Black cast. (A cast like this was uncommon in the UK until very, very recently.) The depiction of Brutus is more complex than in traditional productions as is the depiction of Caesar.
As I pointed out in one of the lectures, the play was always anachronistic--Shakespeare makes clocks strike the hour in ancient Rome! So anachronism in itself isn't a problem. The question is--does this anachronism work? Does this production teach us anything about the play? Is it an interesting and/or worthwhile interpretation of Julius Caesar?
In order to decide whether this version does justice to the text, concentrate on one scene--Act 3, scene 2--and one part of that scene--the two funeral orations. These are the most famous moments in this justly famous play and on their own, they tell us a lot about the conflicts that Shakespeare's text presents. .
So, look at the way the movie depicts the speeches: where are the characters standing? Where do they stand in relation to the plebeians who are listening to them and, in Antony's cse, in relation to Caesar's body? How do they speak? How loud are they? How fast do they speak? How do the plebs react to them? What lines get the plebs going? What lines make the people change their minds?
In other words, think about both the words of the play and the performance of those words and the setting in which they are performed.
Is the movie a fair depiction of the text of this part of the play? Why and how is it fair? Why and how is it unfair? (You will have to decide first whether or not it is indeed fair.)
Does the movie show us aspects of Antony or Brutus that we might not see when we read the play for ourselves?
These are just preliminary hints and questions: they are meant to stimulate your thinking about this topic. You don't have to answer all of them, but you would do well to answer some of them. The important things here will be the accuracy of your thesis, the clarity of your argument and the strength of your evidence.
The Nitty-Gritty
The paper should be
- a minimum of 1000 words;
- double-spaced in 12pt type;
- in .docx format;
- adorned with your name on the first page
- written in standard English, with regular punctuation.
Things to Remember
Remember to watch your grammar and your word choice. If need be, keep your sentences short--you are less liable to make errors that way.
Remember that book and film titles are written in italics.
Remember that this is ungrammatical: "When reading, the play is difficult to understand." The play is not doing the reading. (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/mechanics/dangling_modifiers_and_how_t_correct_them.html)
Remember the difference between it's and its. Remember where apostrophes actually go.