Write a scintillating, well-written essay of 6 pages in response. You must narrow the scope of your thesis and argument to fit the page limit. Please follow the guideline for quotation.Your essay should feature the following:

• a focused interpretive argument about the meaning of Shakespeare’s plays. Keep plot summary to a minimum; assume that your reader has read the plays once, but may be unaware of deeper implications.
• a clearly-stated thesis statement early in the essay which articulates your argument. This statement should do more than just announce the topic of the paper, and it should avoid the”similarities and differences” formula. Underline your thesis statement.
• at least one passage in which you analyze a passage from the playscript closely at some length. This section of your paper should demonstrate your attention to nuances of language and imagery, subtleties of characterization, and key ideas and issues. Fully explain the meaning of all details or quotations you cite, and place details and quotations in their dramatic context.

Writing question:

At first glance, Sir Toby Belch from Twelfth Night and Sir John Falstaff from I Henry IV andHenry V are remarkably similar characters–both are fallen knights, both enjoy copious drink and hearty merriment, both are ringleaders of a small community of fellow revelers, both have vexed relationships with figures of authority. Compare and contrast these figures, focusing on ONE element or quality that you find particularly important, revealing, or significant. Develop a thesis about how and why Shakespeare revises this popular character type across the two plays. Pay some attention to the question “so what?” as you are developing your analysis: why is the element or quality you’ve analyzed important to our understanding of these characters and the plays in which they appear?

DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS: This question might be developed in several ways:

• treat Sir Toby Belch as a revision of Sir John Falstaff: what element(s) did Shakespeare choose to change when he returned to this character in Twelfth Night? Exactly how did he change him? Why?

• you might trace the development of each character in the course of his particular play–do you sense a change in our attitude toward these characters as the play progresses? What accounts for that change (or lack of it)?
• you might trace this character’s relationship with another character–say, Toby’s with Aguecheek and Falstaff’s with Prince Henry–paying close attention to what that relationship reveals about Toby’s and Falstaff’s character or function within the play.
• you might trace how these characters illuminate one of Shakespeare’s central ideas, themes or issues within both plays, though in perhaps subtly contrasting or vastly different ways.