ENGL 4203    Fall 2011         FINAL ESSAY EXAM                                                         Mercer                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

OUT-OF-CLASS ESSAY (50 points possible)

 

Purpose of Essay

Your purpose in writing this essay is to demonstrate your comprehensive knowledge and understanding of all four (4) assigned Shakespearean history plays.

 

Essay Topic

The assigned history plays dramatize events concerning English political history from 1398 to 1485.  They also reflect the political context of the 1590s, when Shakespeare wrote the plays.  Although some events in the plays may seem too far-fetched to be true to life in any historical period, the plays also reveal political truths that could apply to many different times and places.   Identify at least three (3), preferably more, political truths that you see in the assigned history plays.  Support each political truth with specific supporting references to at least two (2), preferably more, of the assigned history plays.  In the essay as a whole, discuss all four (4) assigned history plays.

 

Explanation of Topic

  1. The political truths you identify may concern rulers, leaders, would-be rulers and leaders, and/or the people or factions they lead or aspire to lead.

 

  1. The political truths you identify do NOT need to be universal, applying to ALL rulers, leaders, or would-be rulers/leaders in ALL times and places. The political truths you identify, however, do need to apply to political situations in many different times and places.  They need to be true to life outside the plays.

 

  1. Select political truths that are related to each other so you can unify them in a single thesis.  Do NOT use randomly selected, unrelated political truths as your main points.

 

  1. Although you are not limited to the following questions, one or more of them may help you find a thesis and identify the political truths you will discuss in the body of your essay:
    1. What motivates would-be rulers/leaders to attempt to gain power?
    2. By what means or techniques do would-be rulers/leaders gain power?
    3. What means or techniques do rulers/leaders use to try to keep power after they have it?
    4. What Machiavellian tactics do rulers/leaders and would-be rulers/leaders use to gain and keep power?
    5. What traits, actions, and/or attitudes are found in successful rulers/leaders or successful would-be rulers/leaders?
    6. What traits, actions, and/or attitudes are found in unsuccessful rulers/leaders or would-be rulers/leaders?
    7. How do rulers/leaders use and/or abuse their power?
    8. How do rulers/leaders and would-be rulers/leaders manipulate public opinion?
    9. What responsibilities to their people do rulers/leaders sometimes fail to fulfill? 
    10. What happens when rulers/leaders do not fulfill their responsibilities?
    11. What problems do rulers/leaders and would-be rulers/leaders face?  
    12. What effects does politics have on rulers/leaders as individuals?
    13. How do rulers/leaders and would-be rulers/leaders relate to specific groups of people, such as their supporters, their foreign enemies, their domestic enemies, etc.?

  

  1. Examples of “political truths” NOT found in the assigned history plays but evident in U.S. politics today are the following:  
    1. Candidates for top political offices raise and spend huge amounts of money to get elected.
    2. Political candidates and elected leaders try to use the media to portray their opponents negatively and to portray themselves positively.
    3. Candidates and leaders tend to do and say anything they think will help them get elected or reelected. 

 

  1. To better understand the assigned topic and how to generate content for your essay, see the model midterm essay on the class Web page.  It concerns truths about love in the assigned romantic comedies.

 

  1. In your essay, include references to as many relevant characters as you can.  Political leaders and would-be leaders in the assigned plays include but are not limited to the following:
    1. R2:       Richard II, Bullingbrook (Henry IV)
    2. 1H4:    Henry IV, Hotspur, Prince Hal
    3. H5:      Henry V, King of France (Charles VI), the Dolphin
    4. R3:       Edward IV, Gloucester (Richard III), Richmond (Henry VII)

 

Criteria for Grading Essay

1.      The essay must adhere to the assigned topic and instructions, meeting and exceeding minimum requirements:

a.       In the essay as a whole, develop at least three (3) body paragraphs.

b.      In the essay as a whole, include specific examples from all four (4) assigned history plays.

c.       In the essay as a whole, include at least two (2) specific examples from each assigned history play.

d.      In each body paragraph, include specific examples from at least two (2) assigned history plays.  

e.       In the essay as a whole, write at least two and one-half (2.5) pages.  

To receive a C, the essay must meet all these minimum requirements.  To receive an A or B, the essay should exceed minimum requirements in some or all of these areas.

 

  1. The essay must reflect clear, logical, insightful, original thinking about the assigned topic.

 

  1. The essay must demonstrate your comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the assigned plays (by including specific references that are numerous, brief but very specific, and logically relevant).  The examples must logically relate to the political truths they are supposed to exemplify.

 

  1. The essay must be mechanically correct, especially in avoiding serious errors (sentence fragments, comma splices, run-on sentences, and agreement errors), spelling characters’ names correctly, using present-tense verbs consistently, and following the specified form of documentation.

 

Instructions for Writing Essay

  1. OUTSIDE HELP 
    1. Work independently.  This is not a group project; do not collaborate with your classmates.  Do not submit an essay that is like a classmate’s in content or organization.
    2. This is not a research paper; do NOT consult any sources outside our textbook. If you do use words or ideas from sources other than the assigned plays (such as the editors’ introductions to the plays in The Riverside Shakespeare), identify them by introducing them in your essay.
    3. You may use the help of the tutors in the NSU-BA Writing Center.  Since I will be the one grading your essay, however, get help directly from me whenever possible.  
    4. For best results, get my advance feedback (preferably in person, but if that isn’t possible, by telephone or e-mail) on your thesis and main points and later on a complete draft.  The best way to get feedback on a complete draft is to make an appointment to discuss your essay with me during my office hours.  The last day to get feedback in my office is Monday, December 12.  (Please bring two copies of your draft to your appointment.)  The deadline for submitting a complete draft for feedback by e-mail (cut and pasted, NOT by attachment) is Sunday, December 11, at 3 p.m. You may continue to ask questions by e-mail or telephone after that time.

 

  1. MANUSCRIPT FORM
    1. Font: Use Times New Roman 12.
    2. Spacing: Double-space your entire paper. Do NOT leave additional spaces after the title or between paragraphs.  If you are using Word 2007, change the default settings to remove the extra spaces after the title and after each paragraph. (Select “Page Layout” and then “Spacing,” change the “After” setting from 10 pt. to 0 pt., and make this your new default setting.)
    3. Alignment of text (justification): Select “align text left” (left justification).  Do NOT justify the right margin.
    4. Margins: Use one (1)-inch margins on all four sides of the page.  The default margins in Word 2003 (and earlier versions) are 1.25 inches; please change your margins to one (1) inch.  If you need more room to squeeze your paper onto three (3) pages, the maximum allowed length, you may, however, reduce your margins to one-half (0.5) inch.
    5. Paragraph indentation: Indent each paragraph one-half inch (five [5] spaces) from the left margin.
    6. Identification: Because I do not want to know whose essay I am grading, do NOT put your name anywhere on the paper.  Omit the usual four (4)-line heading from the upper left of the first page.  Instead, insert as a header your nine (9)-digit NSU Banner identification number (beginning with “N”) followed by one space and the page number in the upper right of each page, beginning with page 1.     

 

  1. TITLE
    1. Give your essay a title that clearly and specifically reflects the content of the essay: 

                                                              i.      Include the phrase “in Shakespeare’s History Plays” or something similar.

                                                            ii.      Use key words or concepts from the thesis of the essay.

    1. Center the title at the top of the first page of the essay.
    2. Do NOT underline or italicize the title of your own essay or place it in quotation marks. 
    3. Capitalize the first letter of the first word, the last word, and all other words in your title EXCEPT for articles (a, an, the), prepositions (throughout, between, to, for, in), coordinate conjunctions (and, but, or), and to when used with infinitives.

 

  1. THESIS
    1. Clearly and concisely state the thesis in a separate opening paragraph of one or two sentences.  No other introduction is needed.  Use your limited space to develop the body of the essay rather than to write an introduction.
    2. Make sure the thesis clearly responds to the assigned topic.
    3. Make sure that your thesis reflects what the body of the paper actually supports. 
    4. State a thesis that unifies the three or more political truths you will discuss in the body of the paper.  Your thesis should NOT merely list three or more unrelated, randomly selected political truths.
    5. [Optional:] If you include in your thesis a list of the political truths to be covered in the body of the essay, put them all in one sentence and in the same order as in the body. 

 

  1. ORGANIZATION OF BODY
    1. Organize the body of the essay into at least three (3) paragraphs (preferably more, but no more than about five [5]).
    2. Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence that

                                                              i.      identifies one political truth demonstrated in the assigned history plays. 

                                                            ii.      relates to the thesis.

                                                          iii.      covers the entire paragraph. Since each body paragraph must refer to at least two (2) history plays, the topic sentence should NOT refer to only one (1) play or character.

                                                          iv.      includes a transition that creates a bridge from the previous to the new body paragraph.  Place a transition at the beginning rather than the end of each body paragraph.

    1. Be sure that the political truths you identify in your thesis and topic sentences do not illogically or unnecessarily overlap each other. 
    2. It’s fine to refer to the same play and/or character in as many body paragraphs as are relevant. 

 

  1. DEVELOPMENT OF BODY PARAGRAPHS 
    1. In each body paragraph, use logically appropriate references to the assigned plays to support, develop, and illustrate the political truth identified in the topic sentence.   
    2. Develop each body paragraph with brief but very specific references to as many assigned plays as are relevant (at least two [2] assigned plays per paragraph, preferably more).
    3. Refer to the plays in your own words and in very brief quotations introduced and integrated into the paragraph.  Although brief quotations can often provide excellent support, every example does NOT need to include a quotation.  
    4. Do NOT use poetic quotations of more than three (3) lines or prose quotations of more than four (4) typed lines, which would have to be indented within the text of your paper.
    5. In the essay as a whole, include at least two (2) specific examples from each of the four (4) assigned history plays.   
    6. Correctly spell the names of the characters. 
    7. To save space, you may use and italicize the standard MLA abbreviations for the titles of the plays: R2, 1H4, H5, and R3.  Do NOT, however, abbreviate or italicize the names of the characters.  Once you have identified a character as being from a particular play, it is not necessary to keep identifying the title every time you mention the character.
    8. When you refer in your own words to the plots and characters of the plays (which still exist every time you read or see the plays), use present-tense verbs. When you quote, however, leave verb tense as it is in the text.

 

  1. DOCUMENTATION:  Observe the following form (based on the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.) for quotations and parenthetical documentation:
    1. Smoothly introduce and integrate all quotations into your essay.  Do NOT just begin quoting at the beginning of your sentence.  (See examples below.)

 

    1. Always quote accurately.  Any changes you make within quotations must be placed inside square brackets, NOT parentheses.

 

    1. Place periods and commas INSIDE, not outside, closing quotation marks. 

Like this: In “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” Chaucer reveals even more about marriage than in “The Miller’s Tale.” 

NOT like this: In “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale”, Chaucer reveals even more about marriage than in “The Miller’s Tale”.

 

    1. Immediately after each brief quotation, use all Arabic numerals to document in parenthesis the act, scene, and line numbers.

Like this:  Under the influence of the love potion, Demetrius calls Helena “goddess, nymph, perfect, divine” (3.2.137).

NOT: Under the influence of the love potion, Demetrius calls Helena “goddess, nymph, perfect, divine” (III.ii.137).

 

    1. Do NOT use act, scene, and/or line numbers to introduce quotations. 

NOT:  In act 3, scene 2, line 137, Demetrius calls Helena “goddess, nymph, perfect, divine.”

 

    1. Usually the context of your paper will mention the title of the play or the names of the characters, thus making clear which play you are quoting.  If necessary, however, you may insert the MLA abbreviation of the title of the play (see 6g above) at the beginning of the parenthetical documentation.

Like this:  Some pairs of comic heroines are so close that they describe themselves as “[t]wo lovely berries moulded on one stem” (MND 3.2.211) or as “Juno’s swans, / . . . coupled and inseparable” (AYL 1.3.76).

 

    1. When parenthetical documentation immediately follows quotation marks, drop the punctuation mark at the end of the quotation (with the exception of a question mark or exclamation point), and after the parenthetical documentation place the punctuation your own sentence requires. 

Like this: Rosalind bluntly advises Phebe,“Sell when you can, you are not for all markets” (3.5.60).

NOT: Rosalind bluntly advises Phebe,“Sell when you can, you are not for all markets.” (3.5.60)

Like this: Feste asks Olivia, “Good madonna, why mourn’st thou?” (1.5.67).

NOT: Feste asks Olivia, “Good madonna, why mourn’st thou” (1.5.67)? 

 

    1. Leave one space between closing quotation marks and opening parenthesis.

Like this: Feste asks Olivia,“Good madonna, why mourn’st thou?” (1.5.67).

NOT: Feste asks Olivia, “Good madonna, why mourn’st thou?”(1.5.67). 

 

    1. When you quote two (2) or three (3) lines (maximum) of poetry consecutively, place a slash mark (preceded and followed by one space) to show where one line ends and the next line begins.  Do NOT use a slash mark, however, between quoted lines of prose.

Like this: Olivia admits that Orsino is “virtuous,  . . . noble, / Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth” (1.5.258-59).  

NOT: Olivia admits that Orsino is “virtuous,  . . . noble, Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth” (1.5.258-59).  

NOT: Olivia admits that Orsino is “virtuous,  . . . noble,/Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth” (1.5.258-59).

 

  1. CONCLUSION
    1. Conclude the essay with a one- or two-sentence paragraph that restates the thesis (in different words).
    2. No other conclusion is necessary.  Use your limited space to develop the body of the essay.

 

  1. LENGTH
    1. The essay should be no shorter than two and one-half (2.5) typed, double-spaced pages and no longer than three (3) pages. 
    2. Essays shorter than two and one-half pages (2.5) will NOT receive a satisfactory grade.
    3. You will probably need the full three (3) pages to write a superior essay.

 

  1. LIST OF PLAYS CITED
    1. On a separate page after the essay, list the abbreviations of the titles of the assigned history plays and the number of specific examples your paper provides for each play.  (At least two (2) examples from each assigned play are required.) 
    2. At the bottom of your list, report the total number of plays and the total number of examples in your essay.
    3. The list for a superior essay might look like this:

R2        3

1H4     4

                        H5       5

                        R3        3

                        Total number of plays: 4                  [4 required]

                        Total number of examples: 15         [8 required: 2 per play]

 

  1. EDITING AND PROOFREADING
    1. Carefully edit the draft of your essay sentence by sentence.
    2. Before you print the final version of your essay, carefully proofread and use spell-check.
    3. After you have printed the paper, carefully proofread it again.  If you can’t reprint, make corrections in black or blue ink.

 

  1. SUBMISSION OF ESSAY

a.       To assemble your essay for submission:

                                                              i.      Staple the pages of your essay.

                                                            ii.      Separately from the essay, staple the pages of a clean, unmarked copy of this document. 

                                                          iii.      Paper-clip your essay in front of this document.

b.      Submit your essay in class at 4:30 p.m. on December 14.  Because this is the last day of final exams, you must submit your essay on time.