Your task in the final written assignment is to adapt the legend of the devil's pact to a contemporary situation or moral issue. Here there are no limits: you may choose to write it, film it, create it in hypertext with graphics--as you see fit and as your fancy leads you. During the course of the semester we've seen and read many adaptations (The Devil and Homer Simpson, Faustus Project, Mephisto, Master and Margarita,  Devil and Daniel Webster, Reservation Blues, etc.). What all of them have in common is that they use the devil's pact legend to bring a contemporary ethical, social, or political issue into sharp, often entertaining focus. Your challenge is to identify a current situation that you would like to cast in terms of the devil's pact.

Of course, you can't be expected to write a novel or a play, or to produce a film. So you may want to write what is called a "treatment." A treatment lays out the basic story, introduces the characters, describes particularly effective scenes, and generally gives the reader an idea of what the novel, play or film would be like. What I will be grading is your ingenuity in adapting the devil's pact legend to the new situation. From our discussions of Bulgakov and the Faustus Project, you know that I particularly like instances when some scene or passage from the old traditional material (Faustbook, Marlowe, Goethe) is adapted in some inventive, surprising way. Also, the more of the contemporary situation that you are able to bring into the grasp of the devil's pact legend, the better.

As a strategy I would suggest the following: identify the situation, the issue and the players. Then figure out who or what plays the part of the devil and who plays the part of the human who enters the pact. What are the terms of the pact and why are those terms and conditions particularly appropriate for this situation? From there elaborate the scene that precedes the pact and then the consequences of the pact. Does the devil win? lose? something else? Don't forget to give your treatment a good title.

Papers are due the day of the exam. Have fun with it and don't hesitate to contact me or your TA if you have questions or want to discuss an idea.