Essay 3: Renaissance Literature/Twelfth Night
word count: 800-900
Use a 5-paragraph essay structure:
Introduction: Give a brief summary of the piece. End the paragraph with your thesis statement.
Body 1-3: Address three of the following (one in each body paragraph):
How does Shakespeare use wordplay to create humor?
How does Shakespeare use mistaken identities to create humor?
How does the fact that England was ruled by a strong queen present itself in the development of female characters?
How do the themes of love or excess affect the conflict? (pick one)
How do the themes of love or excess affect characterization? (pick one)
What opposites do Malvolio and Sir Toby Belch represent? What is interesting about the conflict between these two characters?
In the Elizabethan period, Viola/Cesario would have been played by a young man. How does this affect the complexity and/or humor of Violas character and situation?
Conclusion: Restate your thesis, briefly summarize the main points you made in the essay, then finish with a closing remark. Do not introduce new information in the conclusion.
In addition to the text of the play, you must make use of at least 1 resource apart from your textbook (you may use more than 1). You should use this source throughout the body of the paper for support.
Your source should be a credible, college-level, scholarly source. It should not be Wikipedia, study guides like Spark Notes, a general encyclopedia like World Book, essay sites like Shmoop or 123helpme.com, a source containing only a summary of the play, or a second copy of the plays text. The best place to find articles is the libraryespecially an ACC library database. General encyclopedias and study guides are great study tools, but they wont fulfill your research requirement.
Introductory material and footnotes from your textbook are helpful and good to use, but they do not fulfill the research requirement. Dictionary definitions are also helpful and good to use, but they will not fulfill the research requirement, even if they come from specialized dictionaries.
