Into the Woods, musical play assignment help

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BOFNY

Humanities

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The name of the play: Into the Woods

Two major things I base grades on:

A) Focus -- Your paper shouldn't have a single sentence that's not about your specific topic, not even in an opening paragraph. No general discussion of the show, and nothing you would only know by researching. Also -- If you want to write about something other than my suggested topic, that's possible, but you need to run it by me first.

B) Support -- This is the main thing. For this class, the support for your ideas will generally come from a very specific place: the song lyrics. That's because musicals tend to deal with their intended themes most specifically within their songs. Use the songs themselves to back up your points, using quoted lyrics from the songs in the body of your paper. (In this way you are clearly showing us what you mean, not just asking us to take your word for it. When you use the show's own words to support your points, it's hard for any reader to argue with you.)

Technical guidelines for any lyric-quoting within your paper. I will hold you to doing these correctly! (And you can see examples of correct lyric-quoting in the two sample papers I've attached.)

* All quoted lyrics are indented TWO TABS from the left margin (as opposed to when you start new paragraphs, which are indented only one tab).

* As a general rule, indent all quoted lyrics in this way, no matter how long they are, even if they are only a single line. Lyrics are like poetry -- each line of the lyrics should go on its own separate line in your quotation. (See the sample papers attached here for examples of this.)

* Continue to double-space within each quotation, no different from the rest of your paper. Also regular double-spacing before and after your quotation.

* No quotation marks around indented quotes. (The indenting is enough -- it already tells us that you're quoting.)

* No citation necessary for any of these quotes -- the lyrics are all from the show, the title of which you're already letting us know within the body of your paper. You definitely don't need to cite the website where you found the lyrics -- they don't own the lyrics. The show does.

* Do not quote entire songs!! Only quote as much material from the lyrics as you are going to specifically talk about.

* Names of shows are written in italics (Into the Woods). Names of songs are written in quotation marks ("I Know Things Now").

(Please take a careful look at the two sample papers I'm attaching here -- I'm sending them specifically as good examples of how to handle quoted material within a paper. In general, the more you use lyrics from the show to back up your points, the more effective your paper is going to be.)

2) As I said above, attached are the two sample papers -- both were written a couple of semesters ago, about the show Oklahoma! These papers should help you in understanding the way to use lyrics to support your ideas, and they are also good examples of how to format lyric quotations in your paper. They're also not bad papers, but I'm primarily sending them to you simply as models of how to use lyrics as support.

3) Last, here are three suggested topics for the Into the Woods paper, if you're planning to do it. (Remember, if you don't write a paper on Into the Woods, then you MUST write one on Sunday in the Park with George.)

A) Discuss the concept of morality and moral ambiguity within the context of the show. What is the show’s overall approach toward ideas of morality, and how are these ideas represented? Use specific ideas from at least two songs to support your arguments. "No One Is Alone" might prove particularly helpful, but there are a number of songs that would work.

OR

B) How does the show use the character of the Witch to explore the difficulties of parenting? Use lyrics from her three-part song ("Stay With Me," "Lament," and "Children Will Listen") to support your thoughts.

OR

C) Analyze ONE of the following songs in terms of what the lyrics tell us about the the character who sings it, as well as how they illuminate the show's themes as a whole.

Cinderella -- "On the Steps of the Palace" OR Baker's Wife -- "Moments in the Woods"
This should be a fairly in-depth analysis, utilizing most of the lyrics sections in the song.

There you go -- that's actually four different options. Hopefully one of them will be what you're looking for.

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Running Head: INTO THE WOODS

1

Into the Woods
Institution Affiliated
Date

INTO THE WOODS
A song can tell us more about a person especially the character and personality of that person
based on the words that are in that song. The song that we shall analyze in this case is "On the
Steps of the Palace" by Cinderella. By looking at the lyrics of this song there are a few things
that we can learn about the singer. Below is an analysis of this song and the information that one
can gain about the character who sang it.
The first thing that we learn is that the character, Cinderella, is a keen person and easily
learns about the prince’s personality. This is shown in the first stanza of this song where we can
quote her words saying that, “he is a very smart prince who prepares and knows that that time
she would run from him and by spreading pitch on the stares, she would be caught unawares
which means that he cares.” Based on the storyline, Cinderella has not met the prince for quite
long but she is able to learn much about him through his actions and paying attention to what he
does, (Wallace, 2015). This shows she is keen and can easily learn and understand someone.

Another thing we can learn about her character is that she is a humble person. In the song
she is worried that the prince might not be happy when he discovers who she really is. She is not
that kind of girl that believes she fits to be married by a prince who belongs to a different class as
opposed to her low class. She is worried of what would be his response if he discovers she is not
the type of girl for him, that is, a girl from a wealthy family or royal family as his. She says that,
“What would be his response? If he knew who I am when I know that I'm not what he thinks t hat
he wants?” This is a clear indication that she is a humble person who does not go beating her
chest around that she is beautiful and will definitely win the prince’s heart.

She is also a person who is full of uncertainty and has low self esteem. She is not sure of
what her capabilities are and what she can achieve or become. That’s why she is seen saying the

2

INTO THE WOODS
following words, “what if I am what a Prince would envision? But then how can you know who
you are till you know what you want, which I don't?” She is not sure about her capabilities and if
she would please the prince ...


Anonymous
This is great! Exactly what I wanted.

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