M. G. Aune
Office Hours TTh 2.00 – 3.30, W 4.00 - 6.00
and by appointment
724.938.4341
223 Azorsky Hall
aune(at)cup.edu
Tips and Links
Tips for
University Success
1. Always have
your homework assignment read, annotated, and be ready to ask and answer
questions about it.
2. When
emailing your instructor, always use a salutation (Dear…), identify yourself by
your full name, and use a closing (Sincerely…).
3. Do not wait
until the last minute to write and print your papers.
4. Attend
class punctually.
5. Get to know
at least three other people in each of your classes.
6. Be familiar
with Blackboard and all its features.
7. Visit the
office hours of each of your instructor at least once per term.
8. Have a
system for saving copies of all the papers you write for every class, either on
your own computer or on a flash drive.
9. Use a
calendar to keep track of all your deadlines and assignments.
Standard
Academic Usage
1. Titles of
books, films, magazines and newspapers are in italics:
Macbeth, New York Times, The Godfather
2. Write out
all numbers that are two words or fewer: one hundred, 352.
3. Put all
foreign words in italics, mise en scène
4. The first
time you refer to a person, use his or her full name; after that use only the
last name.
5. Avoid slang
and clichés.
6. Always
assume that you should use third person (he, she, it, one) rather than the first
person (I, we) or second person (you), unless you check with the instructor
first.
7. Place
punctuation inside quotation marks.
E.g. Shakespeare wrote, “To be or not to be.”
Not, Shakespeare wrote, “To be or not to be”.
Tips for
Reading Shakespeare
Be patient.
Shakespeare's English (Early Modern English, we speak Modern English) is
different enough to be difficult, but similar enough to get the hang of pretty
quickly. Always read the
introduction to the play. It will
give you general ideas about the play and usually alert you to difficult
passages. Give yourself enough time
to read everything at least twice.
Try to read the first time without looking at the footnotes.
Keep a pencil in your hand to mark or underline difficult passages or
items of interest.
Much of Shakespeare is written in verse.
It was meant to be spoken out loud.
Try reading out loud and listening to yourself.
Your edition of the play is well-glossed and annotated.
But its primary audience is high school teachers, so often the notes are
sanitized so as not to shock teenage readers.
Therefore it is often useful to double-check definitions.
The best dictionary for Shakespeare is the
Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
It is a huge, fifteen volume set in the reference section of the library.
It is also available on-line via the library’s homepage.
Rasmussen's
Rule:
If you cannot understand a particular passage, it is probably about sex.
McGuire's
Dictum:
Always remember you are reading playscripts intended to be spoken, not read
silently.
Tips for
Writing about Shakespeare
There are
standard practices that nearly everyone follows when writing about Shakespeare
and literature in general. I have
briefly outlined them below and I expect you to learn and follow them.
When briefly summarizing or describing the action in a particular scene,
always write in the present tense.
"In the closet scene, Hamlet is speaking to his mother, unaware that Polonius is
hiding behind an arras."
When you use a quote from a play, cite the quote’s location in
parentheses after the quote. Give
the act in uppercase Roman numerals, the scene in lowercase Roman numerals and
the line numbers in Arabic numerals, all separated by periods.
"To be or not
to be" (III.i.55). Do not use page
numbers.
If the quote is longer than four lines, set it off an extra five spaces
on the left and do not use quotation marks.
To be or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. (III.i.55-59)
Do not write about Shakespeare as if he were a person we can know and
judge. We know he wrote the plays,
but not much else.
Merchant of Venice may have strong
anti-Semitic elements in it, but we can't say Shakespeare the person was
anti-Semitic. We do not know what
his motives were in writing the plays so choose your words carefully.
Analyze the plays, not the author.
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/
This website has all of Shakespeare's plays in html. There are no notes,
but the individual texts are searchable using your browser's search function.
http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~matty/Shakespeare/
Another site that uses the same text, but allows you to search multiple texts.
http://dictionary.oed.com
This is the main entrance to the OED on-line. You shouldn't have any
problem using it if you are on campus. If you are trying to reach it off
campus, you should go through the Library's website (http://www.library.cup.edu/).
Click on "Try these first" and scroll down until you see the link for the
OED.
Pyramus & Thisbe
The Beatles' Pyramus & Thisbe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG9lIaabWgM
BBC Pyramus & Thisbe (1981), Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnOzDfCOXFc
BBC Pyramus & Thisbe (1981), Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyjvYSXeZQY
BBC (1981) 2.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skEjMqaakug
BBC (1981) 4.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gleDhAQcYJ0
Peter Hall (1968) 2.1.62-103; 5.1.414-35
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssrWYf8SWPE
Peter Hall (1968) 3.1.131-208; 4.1.1-46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSDQjEJTPzg
Peter Hall (1968) 1.1.67-231
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRoIxwGsBR0
Max Reinhardt & William Dieterle (1935)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Zn9mPW95s
This scene represents the "dream" that occurs while Titania, Bottom, and the
four Athenians have while they sleep after 4.1.46. Oberon can be seen with
the Indian boy.
Adrian Noble (1994) 3.2.294-358
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APDtbZ4NYkQ