Praise or Blame with Othello in Othello by Shakespeare
Description
For your first essay, you’ll be composing a piece of epideictic rhetoric – rhetoric intended to either praise or blame. It sounds far more imposing than it really is, but feel free to use it to impress your family, dorkier friends, or strangers on the internet. For your first paper, compose an essay that either praises or blames a character in Othello.
When deciding on how to compose the argument, think of the character’s motivations and the outcome of them, how they function in the society and action of the play, how the themes of the work are influenced or governed by them.
Questions to consider in formulation of your argument:
Have they accomplished what we might call a good?
Have they failed miserably?
Is there nobility in their failure that should be praised, or perhaps foolishness that should be condemned?
What are the values of the play itself, and how does the character navigate these?
What about this character is worthy, or what is not?
As you make your argument, provide evidence with specific passages from the text (at least two quotations per paragraph). Remember not only to praise (or blame) your chosen character, but also to address why the character could be alternatively blamed (or praised) in your confutatio.
This assignment requires a reading of the primary text alone, and no outside sources are to be consulted. This essay is about you and the text.
They will be in formal academic prose (refrain from using contractions or the first or second person), will adhere to MLA format: 12 pt., double spaced, Times New Roman, a complete with an accurate works cited page, a word count (at least 1,000 words, not including the Work Cited page), and will contain a signed statement maintaining that the submitted work is in accordance with the Anne Arundel Community College Academic Integrity Policy. Essays failing to meet these guidelines will not be accepted.
Some points to remember:
• Your exordium begins with your title.
• Your essay must contain a clear and focused thesis statement (divisio).
• Your divisio should both make a claim and provide structure for the essay.
• You must support your points with specific details (including relevant quotations) from the texts – for an essay of this length, two quotations per supporting paragraph.
• Include page or line numbers (in parentheses) when referring to specific passages from the texts.
• Early in your essay, introduce the full name of each author and complete title of each work. (Afterwards, you may refer to the author by last name.)
• Place titles of plays and novels in italics. E.g., Ajax, Moby Dick, Hamlet
• When writing about literature, write in the present tense. While it has happened, it continues to, and will do so long after you are gone.
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