SPRING 2005
Individuals  in Conflict

Professor Michael Aman, Speech & Theater
Professor Michael Blitz, English  
Professor Shirley Sarna, Law & Criminal Justice

Course Objectives
  1. To examine the idea of the individual in a variety of conflict situations.
  2. To consider representations of individuals and groups in conflict and to analyze both the contributing factors and the results of these conflicts.
  3. To be able to listen to lecture material, take comprehensive notes, and synthesize this material with the readings into your written work.
  4. To create and sustain a coherent written analysis of the significant themes of the course.  In particular, to pursue and intellectual investigation, throughout the semester, of one or two central questions pertaining to the course-themes.
  5. To continue to develop reading skills that will allow you to discern whether a given argument is credible and why.


Course Guidelines

1.  Class begins at 9:40 AM.  Please be on time for every class. Your instructors will take attendance at the beginning of the period. If you are not present at the start of class, you will be marked LATE.  Three "LATEs" equals one ABSENCE. If you accumulate more than two absences, you risk failing the course.

2.  All assignments must be handed in on the due date.  Late assignments will not receive credit. Please note :  we do not accept assignments sent as email attachments.   Do NOT send assignments via email.  

 3. There will be short, "surprise" quizzes on the readings throughout the semester, typically distributed at the beginning of class or right after the break. There are no make-up quizzes.

4. Observe common courtesy while you are in the class:
  • Turn off all pagers, cell-phones, CD-players, etc.
  • There is no eating in the lecture hall.  You may bring coffee or a drink to class, but you must remove all cups and containers at the end of the period.  
  • If you arrive late to class, please enter SILENTLY, and do not allow the door to slam.  
  • Once class has begun, please do NOT leave the room for any reason other than an emergency of some kind.  
5.  Take lots of notes.  All assignments will be based, in part, on class discussion.  Your notebook is the single most important textbook in this course.

6.  Please check this on-line syllabus often for updates and changes.

 FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF GUIDELINES FOR THEMATIC STUDIES COURSES, CLICK HERE

 

Required Texts

Blitz, A-Train (on line)
Aeschylus, Oresteia (Peter Meineck translation)
Shakespeare, Hamlet (Folger edition)
Albee, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Sondheim, Sweeney Todd


Required Projects
  • Each week, you will be required to turn in a thoughtful response to a theme-question (to be provided by your instructors). Your response must be typed, NO MORE THAN ONE page long, and meticulously proofread.
  • In addition, there will be 3 or 4 larger projects due during the semester, ranging from longer papers to projects involving both creative work and analysis.


 

Schedule:

Monday 1/1    First class

Read: A Train  (click on link for text)

Monday 2/7

Read: Agamemnon (complete)
Journal Question #1:

Referring to specific characters, what does the play Agamemnon teach you about revenge?
(REMEMBER: your response must be thoughtful, specific, and no more than one typed page long)

Monday 2/14   

Continued discussion of Agamemnon
Journal Question #2:

After Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon, she and the Elders make a series of speeches to one another (and to the audience). Basing your response on the material in these speeches, what are Clytemnestra's most important arguments in her own defense? (1-2 paragraphs). Are the Elders persuaded? Why or why not (1 paragraph).
(REMEMBER: your response must be thoughtful, specific, and no more than one typed page long)

Monday 2/21--NO CLASS--Presidents Day

Monday 2/28

Read: The Libation Bearers
Journal Question #3:

How does the play, The Libation Bearers, further inform your ideas about revenge?

Monday 3/7

Read: The Furies
Journal Question #4:

Briefly summarize how Orestes makes his case at Delphi and indicate whether you feel his presentation is persuasive and why. (Remember...this is to be ONE page long, so get to the point!)

***You will be turning in BOTH Journal #3 and Journal #4, so this is a golden opportunity to look over #3 and make any revisions you think would improve it!

Monday 3/14

Continued discussion of  The Furies
Journal Question #5--Pick A or B (NOT both)

A. Select 3 BRIEF passages--one from each of the three plays by Aeschylus--that, in your view, trace a particular idea or theme across all three plays.
     OR
B. What do you take away from the experience of Aeschylus' Oresteian Trilogy? (Please do not write what you don't mean!)

Monday 3/21

Read: Hamlet

Paper Assignment #1 Due:

Do both A. and B. (4 pages, total):

A. Write a 2-page dialogue between Hamlet and Orestes in which they discuss the best way(s) to achieve justice in society. Along with lines you will invent, use some VERY BRIEF lines spoken by Orestes and Hamlet to add to the dialogue.

B. Write a 2-page analysis of the dialogue in terms of differences and similarities in the two points of view on justice.

Monday 3/28--NO Class--HOLIDAY

Wednesday 3/30---MONDAY CLASSES MEET

Hamlet --the Movie!--actually several excerpts from several movies!
Journal Question #6:

Reread Claudius' soliloquy in Act III, Scene 3, lines 40 - 76. Write a "translation" of this soliloquy in modern vernacular.You do NOT have to translate every single word and line, but you MUST provide a sufficiently comprehensive translation that reflects all the significant points Claudius is making.  (Note: if you don't know the definition of "soliloquy"--please look it up!) ORIGINAL WORK ONLY, PLEASE!

Monday 4/4

Continued discussion of  Hamlet

Journal Question #7: Based on your viewing of the different Hamlet film-scenes, select one such scene and discuss the ways in which it adds depth and/or clarity to that particular part of the play.

Monday 4/11

Read: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Journal Question #8: In Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the characters Nick and Honey fall apart dramatically. What, in your view, causes their 'disintegration?'

Monday 4/18

Continued discussion of  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

PAPER ASSIGNNMENT #2 DUE:

What are the "rules" in the big "game" that transpires in George and Martha's house? Who determines these rules? Who enforces them? What are the consequences of breaking the rules?  DO NOT WRITE THIS PAPER AS SEPARATE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS. INSTEAD, INTEGRATE  YOUR RESPONSES INTO A SINGLE, COHERENT, COHESIVE ESSAY --- 3-5 pages. Be sure to proofread your work, edit and revise. This is an important grade for your semester. Be imaginative, original, brilliant, creative, and homosapien. PLEASE STAPLE ALL PAGES and BE SURE YOUR NAME AND THE NAME OF YOUR ADVISOR APPEAR ON THE FRONT PAGE.

DON'T FORGET TO BUY YOUR COPY OF "SWEENEY TODD" FROM THE BOOKSTORE BEFORE THEY RETURN UN-BOUGHT COPIES.

Monday 4/25--NO CLASS---SPRING BREAK

Monday 5/2

Read: Sweeney Todd

Journal #9:

Choose two of the following scenes from the film of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and discuss the decisions the director made to illuminate the text:
    1. The opening sequence of George and Martha walking down the street.
    2. The bedroom scene with George and Martha.
    3. The backyard "swing" scene with George and Nick.
    4. The concluding scene with all four characters.

Monday 5/9

Continued discussion of  Sweeney Todd

Journal #10--SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CHOICES:
A. Select one character from the play, Sweeney Todd, and one character from any of the other works you have read for this course, and argue that these two characters have (or represent) comparable natures. Be sure to provide a brief, clear explanation of what that nature is, and of how the two share significant aspects of that nature. DO NOT SUMMARIZE OR RE-TELL EITHER LITERARY WORK. Your entire journal-entry should be devoted to the comparison. 2 pages MAXIMUM.

OR

 B. How would you distinguish between what Sweeney understands about his own actions, and what we, the reader-/viewers understand? 2 pages MAXIMUM.

Monday 5/16--Student/Professor Dialogues

Be sure to bring your semester's portfolio--that is, all of your graded work (journals, papers, and so on) for this course .

Monday 5/23--Conferences




 
 
 
 

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