ENG 102 University Ancient Greek Playwright Sophocles Essay

Essay will be a minimum of three (3) pages, not counting the title page and/or Works Cited page. You may write more if you wish. The essays must be typed, double-spaced, with 12pt. times new roman font.

Research Sources: Each essay must make use of at least two (2) scholarly articles to be drawn only from the following databases if possible:

Academic Search Premier, Artemis Literary Sources, Bloom’s Literature, Contemporary Authors ,JSTOR, Literary Reference Center, Literature Resource Center

Preparation: Please read the plays I have assigned for the final course section on drama: Antigone by Sophocles (Page 1603) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare (Page 1338).

Assignment: Please choose only one of the following questions to write about:

1. Classical Greek Tragedy is a very specific and formal genre with very specific elements that characterize its structure (e.g., hamartia, hubris, peripeteia, anagnorisis, nemesis, catharsis). Using two (2) scholarly sources from the databases listed above, explain why Antigone is a “tragedy”, in the classical and formal sense of that word. In your discussion you do not have to include all of the elements of tragedy that I have mentioned. You may confine your discussion to one or two (or more if you wish).

1. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare makes extensive use of a tale by the Roman poet Ovid; i.e., the tale of Pyramus and Thisby; in fact, that tale of “forbidden love” and its, sometimes tragic, consequences seems to undergird the entire play. Shakespeare, however, turns this tale on its head, as he transports this theme into the world of fairies and enchanted forests—eventually turning it into full-blown comedy in the hands of Bottom and his followers. What effect does such a transposition have on a play-going audience and/or on us as readers of this magical piece? What can Shakespeare’s purpose be in such a wonderful transposition? Please don’t forget to use at least two (2) scholarly sources from the listed databases in your discussion. (need inspiration? Listen to Felix Mendelssohn’s compositions for, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with its very famous “Wedding March”!).

Please let me know if you have any other questions. Plays will be attached to the question.