Approaches to Shakespeare

Topics for final paper

Viola and music. Viola’s name suggests not only violets but also the viola de gamba, a musical instrument. Music is very important in the world of Twelfth Night, as it was in Shakespeare’s culture generally. Using references to music in the play, develop an argument about the appropriateness of Viola’s name. (If you want a quick way to learn where certain words, like “music,” appear in the play, you can use a concordance to Shakespeare—a reference work like a dictionary that indicates where specific words or phrases appear in the body of Shakespeare’s work.)

Scene study. Offer a close reading of one of the two major exchanges between Viola and Olivia (I.v., from Viola’s entrance, or III.i., from Olivia’s entrance). Begin by noting interesting details in the dialogue, then formulate a thesis that will allow you to make use of as many of your observations as possible. Be sure that in your paper your evidence is arranged according to the logic of your argument and not simply according to the order of the dialogue lines in the scene.

Appropriations of The Tempest. The Tempest has prompted many responses and reworkings over the last few hundred years. Provide a commentary on one of these, making sure that you don’t simply summarize the reworking but comment critically on its relationship to the original play. The Arden edition includes three examples of appropriations in appendix 2; there have also been interesting film adaptations of the play, as with Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books. The Arden editor lists these adaptations in the introduction, in the section on “the afterlife.”

Whichever topic you choose, be sure you offer a clear statement of your thesis in your introductory paragraph, and be sure that all subsequent paragraphs work to support that thesis. When the paper is fully drafted, double- and triple-check it for clarity and concision.