What were the authors trying to say and how did that reflect on the current state of affairs in their places of origin? What conclusion about the playwrights’ place in the society can you derive from these examples? Pick any two plays: 1) Euripides, The Bacchae 2)Jean racine, Phedre 3)Friedrich Schiller, Mary Stuart 4)Henrik Ibsen, A doll's House 5) Bertolt Brecht, Threepenny Opera 6)Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus 7)William Shakespeare, Hamlet 8)John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi 9) Oscar Wilde, The Importance of being Earnest Your essay should be a persuasive argument, not a paper of observations. There should be a clear thesis statement of what your paper is attempting to prove. This proof will unfold in your analyses of relevant passages; hence you will support your argument with close reading of individual scenes, lines, words and stage directions. Secondary sources are required to support this essay – how and to what extent is up to you. Your argument should proceed by claims that build on one another; these claims should be articulated in focused, well-developed paragraphs; and the connections between these paragraphs should be signalled by transitions. You should adhere to the formatting and citation style outlined in the MLA Handbook For Writers of Research Papers.

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