Play analysis
Submit an analytical essay of 1000 words to your tutor for assessment and feedback.
The essay topics are designed to test your understanding of the material covered in the course and to see if you can communicate this understanding to someone else. You may read other texts or articles to assist you in writing your essay, but you are not required to use secondary sources, nor should you rely heavily on the commentaries in the Study Guide. Your essay should be primarily an expression of your ideas. If you do read other texts, you must cite them correctly and include them in a Works Cited page.
Essay 3 is worth 25% of your total mark.
Essay Topics for Essay 3: Plays—choose one
- Does Othello meet Aristotle’s criteria for a tragic hero?
- Explain the implications of the black/white imagery in Othello.
- Compare the portrayals of Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca in Shakespeare’s Othello.
- Explain how Ibsen uses triangular relationships among his characters to develop two or three of the most important ideas in the play.
- Is Hedda Gablera tragedy? Your response should address the definition of tragedy and its elements, as provided in the Study Guide.
- Examine Ibsen’s use of prose to develop character and theme in Hedda Gabler.
- How does Ibsen’s characterization of Hedda Gabler account for her final action?
- How is the anti-heroine transformed into a heroine in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)?
- How does Ann-Marie MacDonald undermine gender stereotypes in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)?
- Explain how MacDonald uses Jungian psychology to show that Constance must incorporate parts of Desdemona’s self and Juliet’s self to become a more complete person by the end of the play.
