Secondary Source Assignment 2018

DUE: 8/30, at the beginning of class (in hardcopy and on Canvas)

This assignment is aimed to prepare you to integrate secondary scholarship into your arguments
and close readings of Shakespeare’s texts. There are two parts to this assignment; please read the
instructions carefully.

Secondary Source Options (all are on Canvas)—Choose 1.

• Christopher Baker, “Saint Peter and Macbeth’s Porter” (2011)
• Stephanie Chamberlain, “Fantasizing Infanticide: Lady Macbeth and the Murdering Mother
in Early Modern England” (2002)
• Gene Fendt, “Macbeth’s Banquo” (2009)
• John B. Harcourt, “I Pray You, Remember the Porter” (1961)
• Graham Holderness, “Macbeth, 9/11 and the Gunpowder Plot” (2018)
• Nancy Simpson-Younger, “Watching the Sleeper in Macbeth” (2016)
• Frederic B. Tromly, “Macbeth and His Porter” (1975)
• Suzanne L. Woolfard, “Blood and Dismemberment in Macbeth” (2017)
• Amanda Zoch, “Macduff’s Son and Queer Temporality” (2017)

Part 1: Précis (2 pages)

A précis is a summary. In approximately two pages, describe the most important content of your
chosen essay. You should begin by finding the main argument and then try to follow it. After
reading the essay, using paraphrase and quotation, carefully write a summary of its most
important content. Note which type of criticism (from the list on the syllabus) the author is using.

Part 2: Response (1-2 pages)

Now that you have summarized the essay’s argument, respond to the essay. What is your overall
response to the critical treatment of and commentary on Macbeth in your chosen essay? Note
moments you found particularly convincing, or those that you found insufficient and explain
your reaction. Remember, your response does not have to be either wholly positive or negative.
As you review the essay, you might take into account its readings of the play, tone, or argument
style.

What to turn in:

Both parts should be typed (follow essay format guidelines) and presented as one document,
which should be between 3-4 pages in length. Please use MLA style in-text citations for
quotations (no Works Cited page necessary unless you bring in another source).

As you work, pay attention to how the authors do the following: situate their argument in
existing scholarship, engage with counter-argument, organize, set up and integrate sources,
provide evidence from close readings. Reading scholarship like this is how we learn to produce it
in our careers.