Write three papers

Business 3920 (Wall): extra credit opportunity – readings from the ghost syllabus due Tuesday (4/23)

Behind or before every syllabus I construct is a ghost syllabus of all the reading assignments (and sometimes viewing assignments) that I wish I could include if we had world enough and time. For extra credit, I am going to encourage you to read one of three early modern play texts from this course’s ghost syllabus (see the list below), or you can watch the film version of the modern Broadway musical The Producers. Write a 1-2 page paper explaining how the play you chose to read or watch helps you to better understand the assigned texts you have read for this course.

I will award up to 5 points extra credit to your total course grade for this extra credit assignment. The better mastery you demonstrate of your chosen play and the more detailed and sophisticated your argument about it, the more points you will receive.

Weeks 2-6: Theatrical Representations of Early Modern Markets

– The Roaring Girl by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker This is a city comedy, like Jonson’s most famous plays. It features the criminal and matchmaking exploits of the cross-dressing Moll Cutpurse. How to find it: Check it out from the Marriott Library’s open reserve (on the third level). The call number is: PR2714 .R6 1976 Order a copy (ISBN-13: 978-0393932775).

– The Producers (2005) starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick Watch the film of the musical comedy for a twenty-first century take on the kind of swindling theatrics found in Jonson plays like Bartholomew Fair. How to find it: Check it out from the Marriott Library’s open reserve (on the third level). The call number is: PN1997.2 .P763 2006 Order a copy (ASIN: B000EWBKMG).

Weeks 6-12: Early Modern Markets as Theatrical Metaphors

– Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare As in The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare uses this play to stage a theological conflict between justice and mercy in terms of material exchange. Shakespeare’s depiction of the Duke as a disguised authority figure also resonates with Jonson’s depiction of Justice Overdo in Bartholomew Fair, not to mention with Shakespeare’s own disguised Henry V. How to find it: Read it online at internetshakespeare.uvic.ca Check it out from the Marriott Library’s open reserve (on the third level). The call number is: PR2824.A2 G5 1991 Order a copy (ISBN-13: 9780140714791).

Weeks 13-16: Marketing an Early Modern Play

– Tamburlaine the Great, Part I by Christopher Marlowe Shakespeare’s Henry V might (uncharitably) be described as a charismatic showman who turns his talents to statecraft. Marlowe’s Tamburlaine unequivocally fits that bill. Watch him try to take over the world. How to find it: It’s in your Marlowe book for this class (Doctor Faustus and Other Plays) on pages 1-68.

Although I’ve listed the plays above under the most relevant weeks in our course schedule, you can turn in your extra credit assignment any time before and up to the last scheduled day of class (Tuesday, April 23).