Syllabus
GENERAL INFORMATION
Office: LA 43 Hours: by mutually convenient appointment
email: stapletm@purdue.edu phone: 481.6841 (message)
webpage: www.elmlsteach.org
Text:
Greenblatt et al., eds., The Norton Shakespeare: Essential Plays. The Sonnets (vol. 3E)
Please note: this is the edition I'll be using. If you choose not to buy it, you might have some minor difficulty following along.
Electronic Devices:
Yes, please. Feel free. I only ask that you use their magic powers for Good. E. g. don't use your phone as a textbook.
“They call me Katherine that do talk of me.”
The Taming of the Shrew
August 25, 27; September 1, 3, 8
Short Assignment # 1 due Friday, September 4, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace. 2 pp.
Some Meryl Streep and Raul Julia footage
"There's a skirmish of wit between them"
Much Ado about Nothing
(if you want to watch the clip, hit this link rather than the arrow in the photo)
September 10, 15, 17, 22
Short Assignment # 2 due Friday September 18, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace. 2 pp.
"Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall”
Measure for measure
September 24, 29; October 1, 6, 8
ANALYTICAL ESSAY DUE FRIDAY, 4 OCTOBER, 11.59 PM, VIA BRIGHTSPACE. 4 pp.
Sam Waterston and Meryl Streep as the Duke and Isabella. John Cazale played Angelo (1976)
“Nothing that is so is so"
Twelfth Night
October 8, 13, 15, 22, 27
FIRST EXAM DUE FRIDAY, 16 OCTOBER, 11.59 P.M., VIA BRIGHTSPACE. 4-5 pp.
NO CLASS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20
Short Assignment #3 due Friday, October 23, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace. 2 pp.
"to doubt th'equivocation of the fiend / That lies like trut
Macbeth
October 29; November 3, 5, 10, 12
Short Assignment #4 due Friday, November 13, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace. 2 pp.
Jon Finch and Francesca Annis in the Roman Polanski film adaptation (1971).
"Eternity was in our lips and eyes, / Bliss in our brows' be
Antony and cleopatra
November 17, 19; December 1, 3, 8, 10
[Vivian Leigh in Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra]
Short Assignment #5 due Friday, December 4, 11.59 p.m., via Brightspace. 2 pp.
SECOND EXAM DUE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE. 4-5 pp.
Site Content
SOFTWARE
As a PFW student, you are entitled to free software, which you'll need. You can dowload your own copy of Office 365 from IT services.
EVERYTHING IS DOUBLE-SPACED
Everything in your regular papers should be double-spaced. There are no extra spaces between paragraphs, and block quotations are double-spaced. Go into your copy of Word, find the Paragraph menu, and make sure that it looks like the picture to the left.
ASCERTAIN THAT ALL PARAGRAPHS HAVE ZERO (0) SPACES AFTER, AND ARE DOUBLE-SPACED
CHECK YOUR HEADING
It can be on the left or the right side
Your Name
ENGL 41500
My Name
Date
On the next line after the heading, center a title for the paper.
Begin your text on the next line after that title.
OTHER FORMATTING
- Don't use "fun" fonts or all-caps.
- Your font size should be 12-point.
- Don't use 'single quotation marks' for emphasis, or, for that matter, for most any reason at all.
EVERYTHING IS ELECTRONIC
You'll compose your papers and shorter assignments in Word and send them to me in Brightspace so there is nothing in hard copy. Attach your paper as a Word document.. Do NOT send it in Google Docs. Do NOT send it in .pdf.
COURSE POLICIES
ATTENDANCE AND GOOD MANNERS
You are allowed five (5) absences for any reason you choose. Students who miss more than this will fail the course, without exception, regardless of circumstances. I do not distinguish between “excused” and “unexcused” absences, nor am I responsible for material that you miss because you are absent. Students who miss the attendance call (the first five minutes of class) will be marked absent; students who get up and leave in the middle of class will be marked absent. Please take care of your rest room issues BEFORE class. If you must leave, give us the high sign. DON'T JUST GET UP AND WALK OUT.
NOTE: if you signed up for the class, it is understood that you can attend it regardless of family or employment obligations. If you have emergencies, this is why you have absences allowed. Doctors's notes, team travel letters, and other personal effects do not entitle students to extra absences. If circumstances prevent you from observing the attendance policy, drop the course.
DUE DATES
Your paper, short assignments, and take-home exams are due on the scheduled non-class dates by 11.59 p.m. via Brightspace. Late papers = 0. No exceptions. Short assignments, 2 pp. for all. Paper and exams, 4 pp. for undergrads, 10 pp. for grads. Your paper, short assignments, and first exam may be revised after meeting with the instructor in the office and discussing your plans.
DON'T BE A PLAGIARY
It should go without saying that students are also expected to do their own work; indebtedness to secondary materials (either printed or electronic) must be clearly indicated so as to avoid plagiarism:
—(piecemeal) using someone else’s words and phrases as if they were your own, not pararphrasing or summarizing properly, even with proper documentation;
—(grotesque) using someone else’s ideas as if they were your own, without proper documentation;
—(more grotesque) allowing someone else to write your paper for you.
This includes the use of artificial intelligence technology as an aid to writing in whole and in part. Using a computer robot to do your work for you is just as unethical as buying a paper on the web or convincing a friend to author your essay.
PLEASE DO NOT BE A PLAGIARIST! THIS IS UNNECESSARY, AS WELL AS UNETHICAL
GRADING
The course grade will be determined by a rough averaging together of your paper, two exams, and five shorter assignments, each worth 25 pts per category. I reserve the right to take into additional factors into account; improvement, class participation, and, of course, attendance. Grades are not negotiable, personal, or subject to the influence of extracurricular academic factors.
COMMUNICATION
You may email me at any time. I will usually get back to you quickly: stapletm@pfw.edu
Analytical Paper
The Prompt
Please see the hints just above on writing papers for a college literature course. Attend to the WRITING page on the home menu tab.
SUGGESTIONS AND SPECS
Your first move should NOT be a fact-finding mission on the internet to let AI write your paper or do research for you.
Paragraphs should be focused on a single topic, with topic sentences, evidence, and analysis. They should not consist of a series of broad, unrelated statements.
Late papers = 0
4-5 pp.
DUE FRIDAY, 4 October, 11.59 P.M. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
Microsoft Word only.
Please keep in mind that you may revise this paper as often as you like, as long as you meet with me to discuss it after you have turned it in the first time. Revisions are due on or before the due date for the second exam.
first exam
The Prompt
SUGGESTIONS AND SPECS
Paragraphs should be focused on a single topic, with topic sentences, evidence, and analysis. They should not consist of a series of broad, unrelated statements.
Late papers = 0
4 pp.
DUE FRIDAY, 11 OCTOBER, 11.59 p.m. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
Microsoft Word only.
Please keep in mind that you may revise this paper as often as you like, as long as you meet with me to discuss it after you have turned it in the first time. Revisions are due on or before the due date for the second exam.
second exam
The Prompt
"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together."
Let's take this splendid observation and apply it to
SUGGESTIONS AND SPECS
Paragraphs should be focused on a single topic, with topic sentences, evidence, and analysis. They should not consist of a series of broad, unrelated statements.
DUE WEDNESDAY, 18 DECEMBER, 11.59 p.m. VIA BRIGHTSPACE
Late papers = 0
4 pp.
Short Assignments
Short Assignment #1 (4 Sept.)
The Taming of the Shrew
Katherine's final speech (5.2) to the Widow and Bianca (and perhaps the women in Shakespeare's audience) cannot be performed now onstage unless the production qualifies it in some way by making its delivery ironic, for example. Most Shakespeareans wonder how the audience understood it in the 1590s and continue to debate the issue.
In the four folios and in the quarto of 1637, Petruchio exits but Katherine does not. Was this an accident by the printer or deliberate on Shakespeare's part? The editor Nicholas Rowe (1709) included Katherine in the departure. Why would he have done this and what are the implications?
What specific words and phrases in the speech indicate how the actress should deliver it? How does the exit issue affect your answer?
Short Assignment #2 (Sept. 18)
Much Ado about Nothing
At the end of the play (5.4), Shakespeare provides a strange twist on a comic convention. Leonato seems to stifle Beatrice permanently with "Peace, I'll stop your mouth," and then Don Pedro praises "Benedick the married man."
Short Assignment #3 (Oct. 23)
Twelfth Night
In the middle of Twelfth Night, Viola utters the enigmatic line, "I am not what I am" (3.1.141). Obviously, her primary meaning is her secret. She's not the youth Cesario, but a woman like Olivia with her own agenda and problems. However, the statement could be the keynote of the play. How does it apply to everyone else in Twelfth Night? Why does it matter?
Short Assignment #4 (Nov. 13)
Macbeth
Short Assignment #5 (December 4)
Antony and Cleopatra