Character Analysis: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Character Analysis Assignment (10 points)

DUE: Upload a doc/docx/pdf file to Carmen by 11:59 PM Monday, May 28.

Cast yourself as one of the characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. You can play any character you want, regardless of gender. Then answer the following questions in the character’s voice, providing at least 2―3 well-developed sentences for each character question. Focus on being as specific as you can be; support your answers with information from the script. When necessary, include a parenthetical citation with the page number of the script.

Formatting. Follow MLA style guidelines: MLA Sample Paper. You paper must contain your name, the course number, your recitation instructor’s name, and the date, formatted per the example provided. Organize your paper so that it is readable. You may number your responses; do not repeat the questions.

Questions for the character: Respond to each question in the character’s voice. For example, if you have cast yourself as Hermia, you might say, “My father wants me to marry Demetrius.”

1. What are your given circumstances (non-negotiable facts about your character) at the beginning of the play? 1 point.

2. What do you want to achieve? (How do you want your given circumstances to change, and to what? Think of this as a goal.) 1 point.

3. What stands in your way of you achieving your goal? (Think of these as obstacles.) 1 point.

4. How do you plan to achieve your goal? (Think of this as tactics.) 1 point.

5. How important is it for you to achieve your goal? What would happen if you do not succeed? (Think of this as the stakes.) 1 point.

Question for the actor: (3 points) Since everything on the stage is make-believe, Stanislavski’s “Magic If” is a technique designed to deepen the actor’s ability “to believe in the possibility of the events on stage” (Now 3.3). The “magic if” asks the actor to put herself in the character’s shoes and imagine the consequences of being in this character’s particular set of fictional circumstances. The actor’s work is to explore with absolute honesty what she would actually do, in terms of action, if faced with this situation.

In this response, choose a moment in the play that your character faces adversity. Under these fictional circumstances, how would you, as yourself, react? Explain how this could affect/guide your character’s next actions? For this response, “I” is you, the actor in the part. Write one well-developed paragraph of approximately 200―225 words.

3 2 1 0 Character Questions

X X Skilled. Response

demonstrated a strong willingness to investigate the

character with specificity and critical insight

No Marks. Response was

incomplete and demonstrated lack of effort and thought.

Actor Questions

Skilled. Response

demonstrated a strong willingness

to envision and make personal

connections to the given

circumstances with specificity and critical insight

Competent. Response

demonstrated a basic willingness to envision and make

personal connections to the

given circumstances with

specificity and critical insight

Unsatisfactory. Response failed to

demonstrate a willingness to

envision and make personal

connections to the given

circumstances with specificity and critical insight.

No Marks. Response was

incomplete and demonstrated lack of effort.

Mechanics X Skilled. Response was well organized; writing was polished, free

of grammar, spelling, and other errors; and paper

was neat and properly formatted.

Unsatisfactory. Response lacked

organization; writing contained

one or more grammar, spelling, and other errors;

and paper was not properly formatted.

No Marks. Writing was plagued by grammar,

spelling, and other errors;

and paper was in disarray.

Rubric Content: 8 points Mechanics: 2 points

Details below: