Purpose: to explore and develop a presentation to demonstrate why Shakespeare’s plays are relevant in the contemporary world. In this project, you will address the importance of Shakespeare’s literary contributions to contemporary culture by creating a presentation that addresses the following situation:

Imagine that you are addressing a group about the importance and relevance of Shakespeare to our own time. Your job is to convince the group of Shakespeare’s ongoing importance by providing a close reading of three plays, with special focus on one related theme they all share. For the purposes of this course, you must remember that the theme of a work is the underlying message that the author wants to make about a particular subject. For example, Shakespeare writes about the subject matter of love in various ways in his plays; however, the specific statement that he makes about love contains a similar message. You must choose two of these plays from our syllabus; the third does not have to be. Your job is to examine each play in detail, providing a close reading and interpretation that demonstrates (1) the theme and (2) the importance of the theme to your specific contemporary audience.

Audience: Choose the audience for your presentation from among the following.

– The local school board that is meeting to decide whether to continue to include Shakespeare’s plays in the high school curriculum

– A college English department that is considering creating a new themed Shakespeare course

– A group of donors who are considering the funding of a new Shakespeare theater

– A group of film producers who are considering creating a themed series of films of Shakespeare’s plays. (Feel free to consider existing films of Shakespeare’s plays.)

– A group of government or political officials who are considering policy that you feel could be illuminated by a consideration of Shakespeare’s plays

– A group of videogame producers who are considering creating a videogame that explores the theme in question in Shakespeare’s plays

You must use a minimum of five scholarly sources. At least four sources must be from school databases.

Your presentation will need to state a clear thesis and will make an argument about the materials you are presenting. It should also contain an introduction and a conclusion, as well as a Works Cited page.

You must use at least five sources in the final presentation. You do not have to use the same scholarly sources you included in the Annotated Bibliography, but be sure at least four are from the school database, and that all sources pertain directly to Shakespeare. Cite all sources in the presentation using MLA style (8th edition), both in in-text parenthetical citations and in a Works Cited page.

Instructions:

Length: The paper will be from six to eight pages double-spaced in Times Roman 12 (1,500 to 2,000 words) not including the Works Cited page.

You will examine the way this theme operates in each of the three plays you will consider, using specific scenes and incidents to support your view of how the theme operates in each work. Your overarching goal in discussing the theme in these plays is to demonstrate the importance of Shakespeare’s work to your audience. For example, if you are addressing a school board, you will use the plays and their shared theme to show how important Shakespeare’s work is for students’ learning. If you are addressing the potential theater donors, you will use the plays and their theme to show why Shakespeare is relevant to contemporary audiences.