Please write an essay of 2-3 pages in length in response to the topic given below. Use 12-point type, standard 1-inch margins, and double-space your essay. Any space occupied by the heading of your essay (your name, the essay’s title, etc.) does not count as part of the essay’s length.
Essay Topic: Analyze how Hamlet and Othello understand their own actions, tracing how this understanding develops in the course of each play.
How do these (very different) understandings (or misunderstandings) determine how each acts? That is, what (very different) forces or principles come to guide the actions of each and to what end? What (very different) understanding of human action does each play hold up for criticism?
In writing the essay, begin by answering the prompt directly. There is no need for an elaborate introductory paragraph. The challenge of the assignment is to give as full an analysis as possible in the space allotted. Work for efficiency in your presentation.
I will be looking for comprehensive readings of both plays via the assigned topic. In order to be complete, your analyses should extend to the conclusions of both plays. I will also be looking for precision and specificity in your discussion of the plays.
Although the prompt will point to a commonality in two plays, I will be looking for a precise discussion of the different uses of this common element. You should support your analytical points with very brief quotations or very specific reference to the plays’ events. (Avoid quotations longer than 3 lines.) Any reference to the plays’ plots should be made in support of your analytical argument. To cite quotations of plays, put act, scene, and line number(s) in parentheses.
Example: But rather than ask for grace freely given, Faustus proclaims his intent to “leap up to my God” (V.ii.152). PLEASE NOTE: I am asking for an analysis that displays a thorough understanding of the ideas and terms set out in the lectures/readings that were posted for each play in question.
DO NOT CONSULT OUTSIDE SOURCES PLEASE. **MUST ONLY USE THE READING MATERIAL I PROVIDE (The complete Pelican Shakespeare, General Editors, By Stephen Orgel & A.R. Braunmuller)
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