The final project for this course is the creation of a paper that analyzes the treatment of a Shakespearean theme in Elizabethan and contemporary context.
As the pre-eminent writer in English, Shakespeare continues to influence not only the English language but also our understanding of culture and ourselves. His
work projects our deepest values and meanings onto a stage and allows us to see them played out in all their manifestations—the good and the bad, the
beautiful and the ugly, the hopeful and the fearful. Shakespeare provides us with unique and practical opportunities to study communication, ethics, psychology,
politics, power, gender, love, God, fate, and meaning, among others. To study Shakespeare, then, is to study ourselves and how we interact with one another in
all areas of life.
This project is an opportunity for you to apply your learning by adding new knowledge to the study of Shakespeare and how his influence endures in our more
modern-day contemporary culture. This exercise will also enhance your interpretive and critical thinking skills. You will address the issue of Shakespeare’s
relevance and legacy in this final paper by exploring an enduring theme in Shakespeare’s plays. For example, you might choose the supernatural and its
presentation in Hamlet and explore how it was constructed and received by its original Elizabethan audience and how it endured in twenty-first century
contemporary culture. In the process, you will demonstrate your learning in how Shakespeare’s work influenced his own time and continues to influence ours
today. Scholarly sources will bolster your own interpretation of the work and its adaptation to help you demonstrate Shakespeare’s enduring influence.
The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final
submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Three, Four, and Five. The final paper will be submitted in Module Seven.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Analyze the works of Shakespeare for their historical and cultural relationship with Elizabethan culture
Analyze the enduring themes within modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s work for communicating Shakespeare’s relevance in contemporary culture
Interpret enduring themes in selected Shakespearean works for evaluating Shakespeare’s literary significance
Synthesize analyses of Shakespeare’s works for developing claims regarding Shakespeare’s legacy
Prompt
In this project, you will be writing a paper that analyzes the treatment of a Shakespearean theme in Elizabethan and twentieth or twenty-first century
contemporary context. The theme, play, and twentieth or twenty-first century contemporary examples you examine will be your choice, but you will need to
make sure you rationalize your decisions and back them up with scholarly resources where necessary. Lastly, you will synthesize your analyses to draw
conclusions about Shakespeare’s legacy and make predictions about its future.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
I. Introduction: In this section, you will introduce the theme and play you have chosen to explore and explain why you have chosen both. Introduce your
theme and play using scholarly resources to provide Elizabethan context for each. Lastly, you will construct a thesis that you will defend throughout the
paper regarding what makes the theme enduring.
A. Identify and describe the theme to be analyzed, utilizing scholarly resources.
B. Provide an overview for the theme’s Elizabethan context, utilizing scholarly resources. Consider social and cultural issues related to the theme.
C. Introduce the play and briefly describe its context within Elizabethan culture.
D. Compose a clear and concise thesis that explains why the theme you have chosen is enduring.
II. Theme: In this section, you will explore the treatment of the theme in the play you have chosen as well as the other plays you have read throughout the
term. You will also explore the play in its Elizabethan context to discuss why Shakespeare may have chosen to write about the theme in the first place.
A. Analyze the play in light of Shakespeare’s relationship with Elizabethan culture. For example, you might consider historical, social, and cultural
elements that are evident in his work, and how he treats them.
B. Based on your thesis, analyze the treatment of the theme in the play. For example, you might consider how Shakespeare uses characters,
settings, and plot to communicate the theme to his audience.
C. Explain the influence of this work in Elizabethan culture. Support your explanation with examples. For example, what do you think the audiences
and critics thought of it? Did it influence the culture in any way, immediately or eventually, as far as scholarship indicates?
D. Explain how the theme is represented in other Shakespearean works you have read this term. Support your explanation with examples.
III. Contemporary Context: In this section, you will analyze examples in twentieth or twenty-first century contemporary culture where your theme endures.
These examples can be anything from short stories to modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s original work.
A. Select examples of twentieth or twenty-first century contemporary culture that are representative of Shakespeare’s enduring theme.
B. Explain how each contemporary example is representative of the theme. For example, is the example an interpretation of the theme, or does it
present the theme as it was originally presented?
C. Compare and contrast twentieth or twenty-first century contemporary representations of the theme with original representations. For
example, consider what changes were made, if any, to communicate the theme to a modern-day, contemporary audience.
IV. Conclusion: In this section, you will make conclusions about how enduring themes represented in Shakespeare’s work have shaped his legacy. Be sure to
reflect on what you have written up to this point and what you discussed in class.
A. Based on your thesis, explain why the theme endures. Support your explanation with scholarly sources.
B. Explain why Shakespeare’s legacy endures in contemporary culture. Support your explanation with the qualities that have allowed it to endure
in the first place.
C. Make predictions about the future of Shakespeare’s legacy based on the qualities that have allowed it to endure.
