Measure for Measure

Your first 4 to 5 page (1000 to 1,250 words) essay will be an exercise in close reading of an important passage in Measure for Measure which you will then connect to other key passages that amplify and deepen the theme or question you develop. Choose early. You’ll want to take notes for documentation as you reread. Your paper should have an arguable thesis—shoot for a level two or three thesis Be prepared to defend your thesis and show reasonable progress when you confer with me on that date.

Select passages that get at the tension between chaos and control, license and rules, the bohemian vs. the puritanical spirit. What is Shakespeare exploring through this tension and what conclusions do you draw on this theme?