Passage Analysis Paper Guidelines

Objective

To construct a persuasive argument about the meaning of a passage from Othello.

Procedure

1. Choose a passage from Othello, and write an analysis of it.

2. Take notes including on the passage, on details that explain its meaning and significance. Such details include rhyme, meter, word choice, comparison/contrast, punctuation, context in a larger collection of poems and related texts, and anything else Shakespeare has used in order to make his meaning clear to an audience. (It may not be possible to find an example of each of these elements.) Focus on those that are the most useful in explaining the meaning of the poem.

3. Formulate a thesis statement summing up the meaning and significance of the chosen passage. This thesis will undoubtedly change as you write your paper, but at least it will give you a starting point. A good thesis is arguable rather than obvious.

4. Write a draft of your argument. Refer to specific words and phrases in the selected passage in order to support the points in your argument. You may also refer to other quotations in the larger work, as long as you maintain your focus on the passage in question. You may also refer to critical works on Othello in the Norton Critical Edition, but this is not a requirement. You are also welcome to cite other texts, such as BresslerÕs Literary Criticism.

5. Share a word-processed, correctly formatted draft of this paper with peer editors on October 15th, 2020. Include the passage at the top of the first page of your paper.

6. After considering feedback from peer editors and reconsidering your own argument, revise your paper.

7. Proofread your draft to identify and correct spelling and grammatical errors.

8. Turn in the completed final draft along with a peer-edited working draft in class on October 27th, 2020.

Close Reading

Close reading means paying careful attention to details in a written work. It is an element in any literary analysis, regardless of your chosen critical approach. Since you will be looking more closely at this passage than most people who read it, your paper can offer perspectives on its meaning that will engage your audience and challenge its expectations. In analyzing a brief passage, you might ask yourself the following questions:

What, literally, does the passage attempt to describe and/or argue for?

Where in the larger play does the passage occur?

Who speaks the passage? To whom? What does the speaker hope to accomplish?

How is this passage different from other passages in the play? Why should your reader pay close attention to this passage?

What will make this paper interesting to an audience consisting of your classmates, your teacher and yourself? You will want to tell them something new—that would not otherwise have occurred to them after reading this passage.

Thesis Statement

This is a one-sentence version of the whole paper, and it should be in an arguable claim. It should not merely restate the passage in your own words. A good thesis statement refers directly to the chosen poem, saying something like, "In this passage, [character] . . ."

Good thesis statements will challenge readers in some way to regard the poem in a new light. They may make claims regarding the passage importance in the overall play, or to a little-noticed subtext within the passage.

Some possible thesis language:

This passage marks a turning point in the play because . . .

This passage provides one of the clearest examples of IagoÕs evil nature by showing . . .

The dominant feature of this passage is a contradiction between . . . and . . . which Shakespeare must then reconcile by . . .

This passage may appear on its surface to be about . . . but it is actually describing . . .

These are just a few examples of thesis statement language that can lead to productive arguments about the text. Please adapt these to your needs or develop your own.

Writing Tips

1. MLA format means you should include a list of works cited at the end of your paper, even if it only includes one work. For example:

   Shakespeare, William.ÊOthello. Edited by Edward Pechter, 2nd ed., W. W. Norton, 2017.

2. Some grammatical tips:

   1. Avoid using the passive voice whenever it is possible to do so. When writing in the passive voice, you remove the subject from the sentence or at least de-emphasize it. This makes writing less engaging to most readers.

      Example:

      PASSIVE VOICE:

      Honey, you shall be well desired in Cyprus. (Othello 2.1.203)

      (Structure: object/"to be" verb/past participle)

      ACTIVE VOICE:

      Honey, they shall desire you well in Cyprus.

      (Note structure: subject/verb/object—with the addition of the implied subject)

   2. Avoid contractions when writing college papers. For example, replace they're with they are and replace don't with do not.

   3. Italicization is the best way to signal that you are referring to a word itself and not to the thing that the word represents. Notice how I am using italicization of the terms in the following section "d". You should also italicize titles of books (even in parenthetical references and lists of works cited) and foreign-language words like Bildungsroman or sine qua non.

   4. The word it's (with an apostrophe) is a contraction of it is. The word its (without an apostrophe) is the possessive of it. Its and whose both deviate from the above rule about possessives.