Writing Assignments

Shakespeare Essay

For your first essay, you will answer one of the questions below about Shakespeare's The Tempest and support your answer with evidence from the play. The length of your essay should be between 2-4 pages. You should include a Works Cited page that lists the play but you may not use or cite any other sources. The essay and Works Cited should be formatted according to MLA Guidelines and use Times New Roman in a 12pt font.

Topic #1:

Prospero was always interested in studying and learning, and he applied these interests to his magical books on the island. He uses the powers he gained from the books to teach his enemies a lesson. Was Prospero simply delighting in the use of his magical powers? If so, is it logical to think he will just give them up as he claims he will? Why, or why not? Cite examples from the play to support your response.

Topic #2:

Does Prospero truly undergo a "transformation" by the end of The Tempest? What is the evidence to prove or disprove this?

Close Reading Essays

Texts: Things Fall Apart; Selection from Colonial and PostcolonialShort Fiction

To do a close reading, you choose a specific passage and analyze it in fine detail, as if with a magnifying glass. You then comment on points of style and on your reactions as a reader. Close reading is important because it is the building block for larger analysis. Your thoughts evolve not from someone else's truth about the reading, but from your own observations. The more closely you can observe, the more original and exact your ideas will be. To begin your close reading, ask yourself several specific questions about the passage. The following questions are not a formula, but a starting point for your own thoughts. When you arrive at some answers, you are ready to organize and write. You should organize your close reading like any other kind of essay.

If you need HELP! getting started:

• Does an image here remind you of an image elsewhere in the book? Where? What's the connection?

• How might this image fit into the pattern of the book as a whole?

• Could this passage symbolize the entire work? Could this passage serve as a microcosm--a little picture--of what's taking place in the whole work?

• Are there metaphors (words that represent something else without using like or as)? What kinds?

• Is there one controlling metaphor? If not, how many different metaphors are there, and in what order do they occur? How might that be significant?

• How might objects represent something else?

• Do any of the objects, colors, animals, or plants appearing in the passage have traditional connotations or meaning? What about religious or biblical significance?

• If there are multiple symbols in the work, could we read the entire passage as having allegorical meaning (deeper moral or spiritual meaning) beyond the literal level?

What to do:

1) Format your paper according to MLA style guidelines (see owl.english.purdue.edu/owl if you need help). Please remember to double space and print only in Times New Roman, black ink, 12 point font.

2) Select a passage no longer than 4 lines to analyze; place this quotation at the top of the page in quotation marks. Please include the page number.

3) Compose a 2-3 page close reading on your passage using the definition and questions above.

4) You may use the first person, but only on a limited basis.

5) Only hard copies in class are acceptable.

6) No outside resources should be or may be used in your analysis.