Drama Essay

Description

Note: When writing your drama essay, try to find the movie version of “The Glass Menagerie” to watch before you write your essay, perhaps from Netflix or another source. Although you will still need the complete 7-scene written play in order to cite and quote from the play itself as required, seeing the play first will help you to enjoy and understand the drama. You can then print the play so that you can more easily write your essay citing the scenes to which you are referring.. Writing about Characterization in a Drama Assignment: You will write a 600+ word essay telling how Tennessee Williams characterizes one of the family members in his drama The Glass Menagerie. The literary term characterization refers to how the author shows us what a character is like–by directly describing the character or by indirectly through dramatization allowing the reader to see through the character’s words and actions the personality, character, and other traits of the person in the literary work. The best writers primarily use indirect characterization, allowing readers or viewers to form their own opinions about the characters, as Tennessee Williams does in this play. After an effective attention getter (perhaps a well-chosen quote with a lead-in), your introductory paragraph must give the author, the the characters in the play, and enough of the family situation for your essay to make sense to your reader who may not have read or seen the drama. End the introductory paragraph with your thesis as always. As illustrated in the example outline on the back, you will select one family member and show how the author characterizes that person. Since only four characters are in the play, show how your chosen character is portrayed through the interactions with the other three characters (in I. II. III. sections). Then in each section indicate at least two different characteristics or traits shown in the interactions with each of the other characters. Since you must not use the same trait more than once, you should have at least six different characteristics described in the essay. Your observations must come directly from the drama itself (the primary source), not from any introductory material in your book or comments from any other source (secondary sources). Read the drama several times, marking examples of various traits that you could use as your selected character interacts with the other characters. Also watch for effective quotes to illustrate one of the traits in each major section. You may wish to use colored “sticky strips” to mark these so that you can find them easily when writing your essay. Requirements: As usual, in each major section of your paper you will need at least one brief quotation, carefully selected to depict the character trait you are discussing. The quotations should have an attached lead-in noting the speaker and should be in quotation marks, of course. While short stories and other fiction and non-fiction works have the page number of examples in parentheses (whether or not quoting) and poetry has the line number(s) in the parentheses after the word line(s), dramas have the act, scene, and line number(s) in numerals with periods between them, for example (3.4.12-15), for Act III, Scene 4, lines 12-15. Some dramas, however, like The Glass Menagerie are not divided into acts or lines and only the scenes are numbered, so either you would just write (scene 5) or you may include the general location of the example or quoted words in the lead-in. For example you might say, Near the end of scene 5, another of Amanda’s traits is depicted in her conversation with Tom. Note that dramas are underlined when you are handwriting (or in italics when typing) since they are normally produced separately even though they may sometimes be in an anthology. In addition to an outline as the first page, you must also have a Work Cited page as the last page. See a sample drama outline on the back of this sheet: A. Bass 2 Your Name Course and time Drama essay Date due Title: The Characterization of Amanda in The Glass Menagerie Thesis: In Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, Amanda is characterized primarily through her interactions with the other characters. I. Amanda’s character is portrayed through her interactions with Tom. A. She is shown to be ______________. (Fill in the blanks with two different characteristics, B. She is depicted as ______________. giving supporting examples from the play in the paragraphs in the essay for each subheading.) II. Amanda is further characterized through her relationship with Laura. A. She is portrayed as ______________. (Use two different characteristics in this major B. She is revealed to be ______________. section.) III. Amanda is also depicted in her interactions with The Gentleman Caller. A. She is shown to be ______________. (With two more character traits in this section, you B. She is portrayed as ______________. will have a total of six characteristics.) Note: When handwriting, you will single-space and double-space the outline just as shown above, but when typing any kind of paper, you will double-space throughout the outline, essay, and Work Cited, including any continuing lines (which are indented to the first word of the sentence above them as in this thesis). If you are using a copy of the play from an anthology, follow the Work Cited entry below. Editors are given only for anthologies, and the drama is alphabetized by the name of the author. (A sample entry for a work in an anthology can be also found in your RP Handout 4.) If the play is published separately, use the standard MLA entry for books in Works Cited, and if you printed an online copy of the play, use the MLA format for online works, including the web address and so on.