Essay Length: First draft “you tell me”; revised draft
4-5 pages (approx. 1500 words)
Choose one of the topics below, and write a well-organized and well-supported essay in response to it. Both topics ask you to focus on either Sophocles’ Oedipus the King or Euripides’ The Trojan Women, because focusing on one text will probably produce a less general and more in-depth analysis. If you choose, however, you can discuss both.
Topic #1
In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the following about
the cycle of violence and the cycle of revenge: “Darkness cannot drive out
darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do
that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness
multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.”
Use Dr. King’s claim to examine either Sophocles’
Oedipus the King or Euripides’ The Trojan Women.
Topic #2
In the heat of Congressional investigations focused on
violence in the media, the television actor Michael Moriarity said, “Violent
drama has been the hallmark of every major civilization since the Greeks. It is
not a disease. It is an immunization against the disease.” Moriarity’s claim
certainly oversimplifies the function of “dramatic violence” in Greek drama,
but does the violence of our popular culture serve the same purpose (and produce
the same results) as the violence found in Greek drama?
Compare the purpose served by violence in either
Sophocles’ Oedipus the King or Euripides’ The Trojan Women to one or two
representative (and specifically violent) products of popular culture.
Possible choices include films, television programs or
series, songs (lyrics specifically), and video games. If you’re not sure
whether your choice of a popular culture product will serve your purposes, check
with me first.
Instructions for First Draft
Read
the topic a couple of times and note what it requires you to do. Complete
all the tasks of the assignment.
Take
time to plan and organize your essay before you begin to write. (Scratch
outlines are often quite helpful.)
Be
sure to start with a strong focused thesis. Set out to argue or prove
something and then gather and use evidence from the text to support your
claim.
Make
sure that you support or illustrate general points with specific examples
and vivid details.
Allow
yourself enough time after writing to go back over your essay, check for
errors or omissions, and make any necessary corrections.
Instructions for Revision
Be
sure to focus your argument well, using evidence from the text itself to
support a clearly articulated thesis. Avoid generalities and don’t
be afraid of the specific details of the text. Remember that the text
is your friend.
Be
sure to take early drafts of your paper to the University Writing Center or
arrange with someone in class to exchange papers for peer review.
Be
sure to proofread your essays carefully, and consider giving your paper to a
friend or classmate for proofreading. Also read your paper out loud to
yourself before completing a final draft—make sure it sounds like spoken
English and not like paper-ese. Try for an easy, graceful, but not
overly casual writing style; assume a reader who knows the text, but has not
memorized every detail.
Remember
essays are never finished, only abandoned when we run out of time.