Writing Homework Help

Here is the topic for paper #1: 

     In Theatre, the Lively Art, read pp. 264-266, about Aristotle. Page 266  describes six elements of drama, Aristotle notes in his theory of drama, the Poetics (ca. 335 BCE). These elements are: 1) plot, 2) character, 3) thought, 4) language, 5) music, and 6) spectacle. 

    In your paper, write about how ONE of these elements is expressed in ONE of the works we studied.

1) PLOT. Plot is the ordering of events that build to a climax. Of course, all the plays have plots, but in some of the plays,  plot is more prevalent than in  others.A play that demonstrates the importance of plot is Oedipus Rex. The unfolding of events builds suspense that leads to the plucking out of Oedipus’s eyes. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, too, has a plot, but it is more complicated because there are four plots–the couples, the fairy world, the Rude Mechanicals, Theseus and Hippolyta–so it would be more difficult to cover AMND’s plot in a short paper.

2) CHARACTER: The people in the play, of course, can be explored in any of them. But Othello has rich characters, with much character development: Othello, Iago, Desdemona, Emilia.

3) THOUGHT means theme. Of course, all the plays we studied can be looked at through this lens. Oedipus Rex is very connected to Greek thought. 

4) LANGUAGE, or DICTION: The dialogue, the poetry! Shakespeare is an obvious choice here. You will need to quote specific lines of poetry. AMND has lovely passages.

5) MUSIC: This category is tough. In Aristotle’s time–Ancient Greece–it meant the choruses of Greek plays. Choruses mostly chanted. You could look at the choruses in the two versions of Oedipus.

6) SPECTACLE: Spectacle refers to the visual elements of a play.  A good example of excellent visual elements is AMND, directed by Julie Taymor. The visual elements have much to do with design.

    Of course, you may write about any Aristotelian element in any of the plays we studied. The above examples are suggestions.

    Your paper is 5-6 paragraphs. Be sure you have a thesis statement, claim, main idea–whatever you learned to call it. Have a point to make–your thesis here is simple: you will state that your play is a good example of the element. Write unified, developed,coherent paragraphs. Unified means about one thing, developed means examples, coherent means the paragraph makes sense in explaining your thesis. 

    I am looking for a thoughtful analysis. As with any paper, or paragraph even, have a point to make, and back it up with evidence from the plays/productions. Practice good grammar, punctuation, spelling, and organization to the best of your ability. Write clearly and economically. Avoid abstraction and vagueness. BEWARE OF OVER-SUMMARIZATION–too many students have spent entire papers retelling the story/plot of the work. Of course, you must mention events from the play to put your points in context; be precise, not verbose.