Essay: Character Comparison

You are to choose one character from the prologue of The Canterbury Tales and identify its significant characteristics. Then select any other character from Othello and frame an argument with specific thesis pertaining to both.

Article: Jealousy vs Courtly Love.

Example: Choose Wyf of Bath and Emilia. The narrator tells us the Wyf of Bath knew "muchel of wandring by the waye," as well as "Of remedies of love" and "of that art [love] the oldedaunce" (469, 477, 478). By these remarks, as well as her obvious wealth and wide travels, she comes across to many readers as one who possesses a great deal of knowledge. Indeed, in the opening line of the prologue to her tale, she advocates her knowledge from "Experience" as the governing authority in her life. But by comparing her to the character Emilia from Othello, one sees that Emilia is similarly knowledgeable and intuitive, and turns that experience to serving her lady Desdemona. But her experience is not enough to warn her of Iago's intentions, and she unwittingly helps him destroy her lady. Perhaps it reveals how limited in usefulness her knowledge of the world can be.

Make sure you can answer these question in your paper:

1. Are the text and author introduced early in the paper? If they do not appear in the title, they should certainly appear in the first sentence. Acquaint the reader with the concept and suggest briefly how it is applied to the texts. Assume the reader has thorough knowledge of both texts and is reading your paper to engage a point of critical debate. The issue and your position must be established early. Finally, is the thesis clearly stated? Is it an arguable point? Does it adequately project what kind of argument will follow?

2. Remember foremost that this paper is an argument of literary analysis, and you must use the text as evidence to make your argument. Secondary sources are not allowed in the paper, so the job of convincing the reader is entirely your responsibility: a matter of quoting the text and then explaining what it means. Does this paper use the text adequately as evidence? Are all quotations explained fully? Is each related to a specific point? Does each quotation presented help support the thesis of the paper?

3. Are all quotations incorporated into the author's own prose, using either a simple introductory tag, such as, Everyman states, " . . . . " or some more sophisticated means of integrating sources? (Quotations must never stand alone; they must be incorporated into the argument logically through such means.) Does each quotation agree with the grammatical construction of the sentence it appears in? Are all such quotations presented in a consistent verb tense (normally past or present, as in the italicized example, throughout)?

4. Proper formatting and application of MLA requirements are a given for this paper. (Margins set at 1" on all sides, double-spaced, reasonable 12-pt. font; there are helpful videos on MLA form on YouTube.) For each quotation, is there a parenthetical citation of page or line number? (Remember plays are cited by act, scene, and line, like 2.4.78-79). Are all quotations 4 lines or longer presented in block quotation format?

5. Is the paper convincing? Has the thesis identified an idea and presented a solid argument for it? Does the paper present sufficient evidence from the text to make the reader believe this view of the literature is valid?

6. Poor attempts at literary analysis rely on summary to take up space where no analysis is taking place. Ideally, after the initial paragraphs there should be NO summary, merely analysis of specific features of the text. Is there unnecessary summary in the paper?

7. Does the conclusion emphasize the main points of the argument? Does it go beyond those points to speculate on implications, or does it push the thesis a little further, or does it leave the reader with a final, powerful observation? Could one of these strategies improve the conclusion?

8. With complex activity of literary analysis, relatively minor points of spelling, grammar, and punctuation become greater problems because they tend to be overlooked. But of course they still count. Help avoid such errors by carefully proofreading for such problems at every stage of the writing process.