Assignment- Composition

DRAMA: CHARACTER ANAYLYSIS

DIRECTIONS:

Using our text and the concepts and terms regarding drama, analyze a character in one of three plays that we have read in class: "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, "Othello, The Moor" by William Shakespeare, or "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller. Since all three plays are "tragedies," you should use the terms that are associated with tragic characters to help explain their "motivations" and "actions." Does the single character, i.e. protagonist, exhibit some central "flaw" or make some "fatal error" that gives the reader insight into the character's mind, actions, and make up? Also, how do the other major and minor characters in the story relate to the character you are analyzing-do they try and impede, confront, or persuade the character? In essence, you are trying to explain why the character you have chosen to write about finds him or her self in the situation that he or she does. Choose your character wisely. Flat characters may be interesting in a certain way, but they often lack the psychological depth or expansiveness of a major character. A good source of further questions to consider is your textbook, so be sure to make use of it and its sources for further reading (critical understanding of the plays), and when preparing to write your essay. Lastly, remember, that this essay's formatting and documentation should follow MLA standards and requirements.

GENERAL WRITING ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND:

• Develop a Strong Thesis Statement - It must include a topic, controlling Idea, and plan. Remember, in doing a character analysis, the character is the subject, so he or she should be the primary "object" about which you form and express your opinions.

• Organize Your Essay - An analysis essay can make use of almost any organizational method. However, the easiest and the one that most students use, is to simply select certain actions, words, or the actions and words or other characters when they are directly related to the main character, to highlight and explain why the character you are analyzing has done what he or she has done, i.e. his or her motivation. I would advise you to come up with your own ideas first before launching into the critical material. You don't want to turn in an essay that simply restates a prior writer's opinion-that can get a student into trouble because it often borders on plagiarism. Do your work, i.e. writing, and then look for critical comments and elaboration that illustrate, support, or even contradict your point of view, i.e. central assertion (opinion).

• Keep Focused on Your Purpose - In this essay, it is to both "inform" and to "persuade." You are trying to enlighten your reader (myself of course, but also all "general readers") with you analysis of the character, while at the same time trying to persuade your readers that your point of view about the character's actions, words, and beliefs are motivated by some other aspect, i.e. pride, greed, lust, love, loneliness, self-hatred, or rebellion, etc. Remember, the major characters may have different and even conflicting motivations, so you should try to sort out this "tangle of desires" as you work on your draft.

• Use Clear Transitions This of course should go without saying, but make sure your transitions between the major points of analysis are clearly worded and convey the movement from one idea to the next. If the movement is one of contrast-showing how one character is different from another as a way to highlight the primary character's words or actions-then that transition is different than say one of addition, where you are going to use words such as moreover, besides, in addition, or additionally as way to define how two characters share the same kind of characteristic.

• Begin and End the Essay Well - The introduction and the concluding paragraphs are crucial to an essay's overall effectiveness and success. However, these two paragraphs are often not given the attention they deserve. Your introduction should "whet the appetite" of the reader to want to know more. It can do this in a host of ways-a dramatic anecdote, an interesting rhetorical question that stimulates the reader's curiosity, a connection to human behavior or psychology, sometimes a particular quotation that highlights some vital aspect of the character or humanity in general can work well. The conclusion is just as vital as the introduction. In it the writer has one last chance to leave the reader with a favorable impression. Readers, at the end of a piece of writing, want to know two things: "why did I just read this and what have learned?" Your purpose is to supply these answers by summarizing the main thrust of your argument and stating why this information is significant. For instance, does the character's circumstances teach us-i.e. the reader, anything important about human psychology, behavior, love, culture, identity, or a host of other possibilities? If you supply your reader with this information and it's well-supported in the essay, then the reader will usually feel a sense of satisfaction and completion at the end of the essay.

REQUIRED SPECIFICATONS:

1. Word Length: 800 -1,000 Words - Do a Word Count and post this information at the bottom of the last page of the essay.

2. Double-Space the Entire Text-including quoted material, class information, and the Works Cited.

3. Fonts: Arial or Times Roman font-no "specialty" fonts. Your focus should be on the argument and not the ornamentation! We are not in an Art class.

4. Font Size: 12 point - no bigger and nor smaller, please!

5. Include an Evocative Title:-The title should reflect the argument or perspective of the essay and should mention by name either the story or the character(s) you are analyzing.

6. Correct Format: At the top left-hand side of the paper the following information should be included...

• Student Name
• English 102
• Professor Berry
• The current date
• Title (centered)

7. Margins: Use one inch margins on the top, bottom, and sides of the paper.

8. Pagination: Use the Insert button to activate Word's pagination. Paginate sequentially the entire text of your essay, including the Works Cited page

9. Critical Sources: You need a minimum of three critical sources. The first critical source is our class text-Literature Craft and Voice, but the second two must be critical sources that are credible. Therefore, these latter two sources must be academic in nature and be peer-reviewed by other experts in the same field of study. You will likely find these in academic journals-not in Wikipedia, not on Grade-Saver, and in any other "online" format, wherein one usually finds only a mish-mash of ideas and simplistic summaries that most elementary students could come up with. Do the work to find excellent source material and then use it effectively to support and illustrate your own essay's argument about the character.

10. In-text Citations: There should be "many citations" from the play itself since that is what you are analyzing, but you should also have enough from the other two critical sources to enhance the credibility and critical nature of your own point of view. The sources you select and use reflect upon you as a writer, so choose wisely, and remember, I probably have read several of these sources myself, so be careful how you use the material, i.e. don't plagiarize. If you're in doubt whether you need to cite----cite! When citing the play, make sure you include the Act, Scene, and lines in the parenthetical citation, e.g. (3, 2, 21-23). The first number indicates Act 3, the second, Scene 2, and the third, Lines 21-23. * See the Bedford St. Martin's MLA Citation sheet in the Drama Assignment folder. Lastly, remember that there are three things that are generally a part of each citation: first, an introductory phrase-often called a "signal phrase" or "lead-in phrase" that sets up the quote; two, the quoted material itself (direct quote, or indirect quote - summary or paraphrase); and three, the parenthetical citation, which contains the author's name (unless mentioned in the signal phrase) and the page number where the original material from the source your using can be found. If the original source is not paginated (very unlikely in academically respectable sources-but very common in poor sources), use the abbreviation, n.p. in-lieu of the page numbers. You use of the outside source material should NOT exceed 20% of the material in the essay. In other words, this is an essay about what you think-not what some other critic thinks! You're only using their material because it supports your own.