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For your third essay, you will choose either William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar or Measure for Measure; then you will write at least a one-thousand-word argument on it. As with the previous essays, you will create a thesis statement that reflects your opinion about what you think Shakespeare is saying about the topic you choose. I have four suggested topics listed below. You may choose one of them, or you may choose your own topic. However, if you choose your own topic, please clear it with me first.

Your essay will then support the argument put forth in the thesis. For a thesis to be sound, you should be able to answer "yes" to the following question: Could a reasonably intelligent reader familiar with the play logically disagree with what I'm arguing? Remember also that the thesis must be an opinion of what you believe Shakespeare is saying about the topic, not your views about the topic. Use incidents and lines from the play to support your argument. When you quote lines from the text, document them according to these guidelines:

Introduce the quotation by letting your reader know who is speaking and to whom.
Use present tense verbs in your introduction. Remember that the play is always with us.
Example: In the play Julius Caesar, Caesar reveals his suspicion about Cassius when he says "Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look. / He thinks too much. Such men are dangerous" (1. 2. 204-205). The numbers in parenthesis represent act one, scene two, lines 204 to 205. The / indicates where one line ends and another begins.
If you choose a quotation of longer than four lines of poetry, then separate the quotation ten spaces from the left margin of your text. You should not use quotation marks for a long quotation. The indentation tells the reader that you are quoting. Such a quotation would look like the following:

In the play Measure for Measure, the Duke explains to the Friar--and to the audience--the moral laxity from which Vienna has suffered under his rule:

We have strict statues and most biting laws,
The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,
Which for this fourteen years we have let slip,
Even like an o'ergrown lion in a cave
That goes not out to prey. (1. 3. 20-24)

The above lines should be double-spaced, but the program I'm working with won't allow that spacing here. But be sure to doublespace everything in your essay.
A maximum of 15 % of your paper should appear in quotation marks, and keep your long quotations to a minimum.

If you have trouble understanding what I mean by a thesis, then check out the link on my website dealing with the thesis statement.

The above form of documentation is referred to as in-text documentation. To complement it, you will also have to include a works cited page at the end of your paper. Such a page would appear as follows:

Shakespeare, William. Julius Caesar. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New

Of course, if you use any source that influences your essay--whether through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary--you must give credit to that source, in the text of your essay and in the work cited page. For further information about how and what to document, and how to avoid plagiarism, visit my website on documentation.

1. In his book Shakespeare the Thinker, A. D. Nuttall argues that Shakespeare creates the characters of Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus as alter egos of each other. (There is even a background story that Caesar is the natural father of Brutus.) Using evidence from the text of the play, argue that Nuttall is right in his observation.

2. In her critical study Shakespeare After All, Marjorie Garber states that there are two Julius Caesars in the play that carries his name: the first is the man; the second is the myth. She says that the conspirators are able to kill the man, but they are not able to kill the myth. What do you think Garber means by this? Once you have answered that question, argue that she is either right or wrong about her observation.

3. In the New Oxford Annotated Bible, the gospel of Matthew records Jesus giving a sermon on a mountain. In it, he says, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get" (Matthew 7: 1-2). Shakespeare used this passage for the title of his play Measure for Measure. Given its biblical origin, and given the strange behavior of the characters in the play, argue what you believe Shakespeare intended by this title.

4. Until recently, criticism has pointed toward Angelo as the villainous character in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Given Angelo's hypocrisy, lying, and lust, such an argument has been fairly easy to make. However, more recent focus has been placed on the Duke as the villainous character. In your essay, argue that it is the Duke who is the evil presence in Measure for Measure. In this discussion, pay particular attention to the last scene of the play.

I will read rough drafts of your essay, so don't hesitate to show me what you're working on; however, once you turn in your essay, you may not rewrite for a different grade. Also, it would be prudent to show me the thesis of your essay before you hand it in. The due date for the essay is on your syllabus.