The main purpose of this essay is to develop your ability to compose an argument that meaningfully compares two literary texts. The similarities and differences you identify should illuminate important aspects of both texts – don’t assume that a simple comparison will be interesting in and of itself. Your task is to show why it is interesting to examine these works side-by-side. You may choose from the following topics:
1. Write an essay comparing the character of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice to Rosalind in As You Like It. The literary critic, Harold Bloom suggests:
If we may compare its heroine [Rosalind from As You Like It] with one of her descendants, Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, we shall see more clearly how the flimsiness of the world of As You Like It contributes to the success of the whole. “I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print,” Jane Austen said of Elizabeth, and I can imagine Shakespeare thinking of Rosalind along similar lines. Though the two heroines have much in common—wit, mockery, irreverence—they exist in different worlds. The later one solidly English, with all the fine shadings of period and class distinctions, while As You Like It seems to be set in both France and England, in the living present and the literary past, and class distinctions dissolve in the brotherhood of Arden. Jane Austen located Elizabeth in a recognizable world and observed the rules of probability, Shakespeare created a never-never land and asks us to rejoice in its improbabilities.
What similarities do you note between the two characters? What role does social class and propriety play in dictating their behavior? How does the fantasy world of the Forest of Arden allow Rosalind freedoms that Elizabeth Bennet does not have? Are there things Rosalind is allowed to do or say that Elizabeth Bennet cannot? What conclusions about the two characters can you draw by looking at them side by side?
2. Rosalind, when disguised as Ganymede, has many things to say about the nature of men and women and how they behave when in love. In fact, one of the major themes we looked at when reading As You Like It, was how Shakespeare introduced and then made fun of the courtly love tradition. Pride and Prejudice also concerns itself with courtship and Austen makes as many wry statements about courtship, marriage, and love as Shakespeare. Compare the portrayal of courtship, marriage, and love in both works, paying attention to the roles that men and women play in each work, the role of misunderstanding, the role of subtext, and the role of social class.
3. Compare the early nineteenth-century science-fiction/horror novel Frankenstein with the late nineteenth-century science-fiction/horror novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Consider drawing on one of the following areas to focus your comparison:
• Victor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll: how are they similar and how different, and what might this comparison lead you to say about science, technology, good and evil, ambition, sanity and insanity, secrets, honesty and dishonesty, human relationships, and/or work in these books?
• Frankenstein’s creature and Edward Hyde: what light do these “creations” shed on their creators? (the words apply better to Frankenstein’s creature… feel free to come up with another word to describe Hyde, or to describe both) What light do they shed on the communities they are part of (and in the creature’s case, become part of or pass through)? Are the relationships between the two creators and creations similar in any ways? If so, what do these similarities (and the inevitable differences) suggest about the role of creator, the responsibilities of scientific experimentation, or anything else? Is there a common human failing or flaw that these stories both bring to light? A common philosophical or ethical idea they both speak to?
• The frame narrative and its usefulness in telling a story; the characters of Walton and Utterson and their respective role in each story; the role of women (or lack thereof) in each book and/or the way each represents masculinity; each book as an early example of science fiction . . .
4. Compare Pride and Prejudice to Helen Fielding’s novel Bridget Jones’s Diary (the novel, not the movie adaptation, please). Written and set in the twentieth century, Bridget Jones’s Diary transposes the story of Pride and Prejudice to a modern setting. Does Fielding effectively transpose the themes and ideas of Austen’s novel? Are the characters recognizable from Pride and Prejudice? Does Bridget Jones’s Diary take this story in interesting and worthwhile directions, or is it merely redundant with Pride and Prejudice? Can you tell a story about 19th Century courtship in the 20th Century when social norms and classes are so very different? Compare this story as told from the perspective of these two very different centuries. How does each novel reflect differently on the same (or related) characters and events? There are myriad other transpositions and companion novels for Pride and Prejudice. You might write a comparison of Pride and Prejudice to any one of them, provided there is enough substance to the novel for a meaningful comparison. If you would like to write about another companion novel, please share the title with me for approval by Monday 1/23.
5. Choose a comparison topic of your own, using one of the books we’ve read so far this year and another book you think would make an interesting comparison. If you’re interested in this option, email me with a specific topic by the end of the school day on Monday 1/23 for approval.
Timeline:
Monday 1/23: get approval from Ms. Linder for topics 4 and 5
Tuesday 1/24: Sign up for a topic
Wednesday 1/25 and Wednesday 2/1:Writing Center Open for consultation on topic, thesis statement, reading of early drafts, etc.
Monday 2/6: Complete rough draft (paper copy) due for in-class peer-edit
Wednesday 2/8: Writing Center Open for consultation on rough draft
Monday 2/13: Final draft due as a shared Google Doc
Checklist:
___Your paper should have an introductory paragraph that mentions the titles (underlined or italicized) and authors of all the texts you plan to discuss
___Clearly stated thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph or two. Remember, no comparison is inherently worthwhile for its own sake: the thesis should say specifically what is interesting about this comparison and how it helps us better understand both texts.
___Cite specific evidence and numerous examples from both texts (quotations) to support each point throughout the essay
___A unique title that suggests something about the comparison you are making
___MLA in-text citations
___MLA works cited page
___shared via Google Docs
