ASSIGNMENT | Essay on william shakespear, king Lear

FINAL PAPER PROMPT

Write an essay on Shakespeare’s King Lear in which you address and respond to ONE of the critical essays (Boose, Adelman, Heinemann, or Cavell) from the Norton Critical Edition of the play. The essays make different points about how problems of the state, the family, gender and power play out in Lear. In your essay, you should briefly summarize the main point of the critical text you have chosen, and then EITHER 1) extend, or 2) argue against, its claims. Be as clear as possible about exactly how you are responding to the critic. To formulate your own argument and reading of Lear, you should support your claims with several (3, or possibly 4) passages from the text that you read closely and scan, offering explanations of important themes, structural features, character details, images, and so on. The purpose of this paper is to develop your own opinions about the play in relation to the thoughts of another literary critic. You can also make reference to specific staging choices made in the Anthony Hopkins version of Lear we watched in class, if such evidence might serve your thesis. Example: the play is set in the present, with flat-screen TVs and Mad Tom depicted as a homeless vagrant—why did the director make this choice?

Technical Elements:
• Papers must have name, date, course, and section number. Pages should be numbered, using Arabic numerals (1,2,3, etc.).
• Font: standard font is 12 point Times Roman (this font).
• Title: think of a title for your paper that captures a reader’s attention and that represents the subject of your paper. Make it original and interesting. Do not italicize, or put quotations around, your own title. You cannot use the name of the work you are writing about as the name of your paper.
• Margins: 1 inch on all sides. This tends to be the default setting on most computers, but check your computer’s settings if you are not sure.
• Double-spacing: there should be a space between lines of text in your paper. Do NOT skip extra spaces between paragraphs (some word processors automatically do this, so change the setting). Do not reduce or expand the amount of space between lines.
• Attach pages: with a staple. Do not hand them in as loose sheets, or you will be responsible when they get lost.
• Page limit: 6-8 pages;
• Titles of works: titles of longer works (novels, epic poems) are underlined or italicized. Titles of shorter works (short stories, lyric poems, essays) are in “quotation marks.”
• PLEASE USE OWL Purdue as a resource for correct MLA citation style.
• Tense: with few exceptions, literary works are discussed in the literary present. For example, “Mary Shelley writes…. “ (not wrote) or “Here, the creature represents….” Please see handout “The Literary Present” up on BB if you are confused by this.

Basic structure:
• Your paper should have an introduction with thesis, supporting paragraphs, and a
conclusion. You should build your argument around well-chosen passages that you explain with reference to the point you want to be making.
• Introduction: craft an introduction that captures your reader’s attention. Speak about the specific texts or situations you want to address–avoid overgeneralizations like “In all of nature,” “In all of humanity,” “Since the beginning of time,” or “Throughout all history.”
• Thesis: a thesis is an opinion about the work you are studying, which you can then
support with evidence from the text(s). Aim for a thesis that is original, imaginative, and argumentative–do not merely summarize the work you are examining. Usually the thesis is in your introductory paragraph. A thesis statement that contrasts your claims with the work of other critics or commentators adds force to your views.
• Supporting paragraphs: think of these paragraphs as the foundation for the thesis you state early in the paper. Offer carefully chosen evidence with explanations of its significance or relevance to your argument.
• Stay on the point of the paper: do not wander from your thesis. Consistently focus on the evidence that you have marshalled, and consistently argue the main point that you have articulated in your introductory paragraph.
• Conclusion: Briefly come back to the thesis or main point of the paper, although avoid simply restating it. You should support your original claim, but stretch your mind a bit here and think about further implications of your work. For instance, you could encourage your reader to apply your thoughts to other works by the author you are studying, or to issues/problems that you have not had time or space to treat in your paper. Consider answering the question “why read this play now?”

Paragraphs:
• Topic sentences: topic sentences help both reader and writer to get their bearings on where the individual paragraphs are headed. They appear in many places in a paragraph—at beginning, middle, or end; sometimes they are even “implied.” The larger issue is that you want your paragraphs to make sense in relation to each other, and use language to express the relation.
• Cohesion: paragraphs should address a single point–avoid wandering. Ask yourself whether the sentences in the paragraph are staying close to the paragraph’s main idea. If you struggle with this, please see handout “The New-Known Contract” on BB
• Evidence: use quotations and/or specific examples to support the points you are making. Avoid broad generalizations and summary unrelated to your quotations/examples.
• Analysis: quotations and examples should be followed by explanation and analysis that seek to connect the evidence to the paper’s thesis. Analysis is based on a reading of the text you are examining, and it should take account of the genre of discourse about which you are writing. For instance, when you analyze a poem or a novel, a character is not a real person and cannot be judged as one; your like or dislike of a character cannot be the endpoint of your reading. Relatability is not a literary quality of characters or texts; sympathy (or lack of sympathy) is.
• Logic: paragraphs should follow each other in a logical and effective sequence in order to expand upon the argument set forth in the first paragraph or thesis.
• Transitions: make sure that you create a strong sense of connection between one paragraph and the paragraph(s) preceding it and following it. This can be done by using linking words or by repeating key words, phrases, etc. from the previous paragraph.
Sentences:
• Check your sentences to make sure they observe the conventions of standard edited English, including such matters as syntax, spelling, and punctuation. Look out in particular for the common errors listed on the handout “Some Notes on Writing Short Papers,” as well as the following:
*comma splices (when a comma is incorrectly used–instead of a semicolon or a comma plus a conjunction–to separate two independent clauses)
*short, choppy sentences that should be combined
*imprecise word choice
*spelling errors (there is no excuse for this in the era of spell check; also make sure that you have the titles and authors of works spelled correctly)
* colloquial language that does not address the actual concepts or words in the text you are examining.
• Like paragraphs, sentences need to make sense in relation to each other. Use connecting words and a coherent logic that makes it clear how one thought proceeds from another. Remember: the only way to express the set of logical connections you’re making is by showing it through words, phrases, and sentences. Do not leave it up to your reader to guess at your meaning.
• Read your work aloud. See if it makes sense as you read it, and see if one sentence flows to the next.

Quotation:
• The proper way to quote from poetry is to use a slash to indicate a line break between lines in shorter quotations: “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains / My sense” (Keats 1-2). For quotations longer than three lines, use a block quote. This is a quotation entirely indented from the left and without quotation marks. Block quotations can be single-spaced. For most works assigned for your class, you can note by author and page number for the first mention: (Mitchell 16). After that point, you may use the page number for prose or line number for poetry: just (36) or (223), followed by a punctuation mark. If a quotation mark immediately follows a quote and citation, put the quotation\’s page/line citation after the quote mark, but before the following comma, period, or other punctuation mark: “my quote” (4).
• Always follow quotations with either footnote or notation of line numbers in parentheses as noted above. With poetry, use the stanza format that is shown in your text; do not adjust to the way you want it to look.
• Do not quote more lines than you can actually write about.

Revision:
• Always take time to revise and rewrite. Put your work aside and return to it, correcting it for technical accuracy, clarity in explanation, and coherence in argument. You are the author: make the work your best, and take pride in what you write.
• Try reading your work aloud. If a sentence doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t written well. Make revisions accordingly. It can be helpful to have a friend or colleague read your work and comment on it. He/she can ask you about crucial questions that you still need to answer, or about points that you still need to clarify.
2120 FINAL PAPER RUBRIC Name: Total: /25

Thesis: Thesis is the author’s own claim about the text, derived from observation of textual evidence, and it is arguable: it has a plausible opposing side.
5 4 3 2 1

Introduction: Introduction concisely summarizes critic’s claims without misrepresenting them, and links the author’s claim to the critic’s by extension or refutation.
5 4 3 2 1

Structure of argument: cohesion between sentences and paragraphs is strong, ideas flow clearly, transitions are effective, logical paragraphing helps reader along. Please see “The new-known contract” for specifics.
5 4 3 2 1

Use of evidence: Paper uses a mix of summary, paraphrase, and direct quote; MLA citations (in text and bibliographic) are correct.
5 4 3 2 1

Quality of evidence: Evidence is well chosen and directly relevant to thesis.
5 4 3 2 1

Correct formatting: Draft is free of errors, title is clear and reflects content, paragraphs are of appropriate length, etc.
5 4 3 2 1

SAMPLE SOLUTION

William Shakespear, King Lear

Literary writing has often been used to depict what happens around humanity and society in general. Literary scholars continue to use the power of art to communicate and castigate the ills that happens in society. Shakespeare is a notable scholar who has demonstrated the power that literary writing has in shaping society. King Lear is an example of the literary work that Shakespeare has used to communicate the fare of man in a society dictated by politically-motivated undertakings. Although different scholars have given different interpretations of the message envisioned by the author in the literary…