What is tragedy and why is it important as a literary form?

Paper Number 3

English 113 – Section D01

Professor Denbo

For your third paper this term, you are writing about drama. There are two ways to fulfill this assignment, You can write about Othello and Oedipus, or you can write about Othello and A Doll’s House. However, for whichever choice you make, you must follow the assignment as given. The paper must be at least three pages in length and it must include at least three critical sources. The plays themselves are not sources. Sources must be from the library databases or books – preferably ones you find in the library. You must have in text citations and a works cited. This is a revision assignment, but you should remember that after it is completed you will be writing your research paper for the term. I will make that assignment on the day this paper is due.

American novelist Toni Morrison, in a speech given at Barnard College, writes this about how women should relate to one another.

I am alarmed by the violence that women do to each other: professional violence, competitive violence, emotional violence. I am alarmed by the willingness of women to enslave other women. I am alarmed by a growing absence of decency on the killing floor of professional women’s worlds. You are the women who will take your place in the world where you can decide who shall flourish and who shall wither; you will make distinctions between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor; where you can yourself determine which life is expendable and which is indispensable. Since you will have the power to do it, you may also be persuaded that you have the right to do it. As educated women the distinction between the two is first-order business. (Morrison, “Cinderella’s Sisters)

Discuss how women talk and relate to each other in both Othello and A Doll’s House. Are the women competitive with one another, supportive, or some combination of the two? You must come up with a thesis that covers both plays. Use the plays to illustrate your points. Don’t let your sources create your argument; let the sources help you write your paper. Most important, your paper is about the plays, not how women should act in our world. If you do this paper correctly, your point of view on that subject will come through naturally.

Or you can write about tragedy. Based on your reading of Othello and Oedipus, what is tragedy and why is it so important as a literary form? However, don’t assume both plays are of the same type. There is a huge difference between Shakespeare and Sophocles; your task will be to define what you mean by tragedy based on both plays. It will be quite easy to find sources about this. People have been writing about it for centuries. Your goal is to create your own understanding of tragedy and how it is demonstrated by both plays.

Paper is due Thursday, April 19th..