Not everything in a work of literature is obvious how to interpret. If it were obvious, we would say it’s not very good literature. (We call such works “preachy” or “didactic,” or we say they have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.) On the contrary, literature we value tends to exhibit ambiguity
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. In short, when you watch a film or read a book and you ask yourself, “I wonder what that means” or “I wonder why that’s in there,” you’re identifying something in the work which could potentially have “multiple possible meanings.” Literary critics will sometimes call a work or aspect of a work “multivalent” – which simply means it has many potential meanings.
This is key: Where you identify something in a play we read that isn’t obvious – that when you ask what it means, you can imagine more than one possible interpretation – you have identified an interpretive problem. Learning how to articulate an interpretive question or problem about a play or poem or story is the first step to writing an interesting interpretive argument about it.
For example, take a familiar story like “Little Red Riding Hood.” She encounters a wolf in the woods. You could leave it at that. But you could also ask what the wolf symbolizes. Once you ask that question, you can see that there could be lots of potential answers. The wolf could represent the fear of nature (specifically of the woods). It could represent the child’s primordial fear of being eaten (lots of stories express that fear – think “Hansel and Gretel”). Or, as many people have suggested, it could represent more specifically the threat to young girls, especially the threat of male (sexual) predators.
NOTE what I did there: I identified something in the story that I thought was interesting problem or question, something people could disagree about when they discussed its meaning. NOW, let’s say I choose to argue the last option – the wolf is symbolic of a sexual threat. As an interpretive thesis, what does it do? It attempts to answer or solve the interpretive question or problem I raised.
CHOOSE ONLY ONE OF THESE OPTIONS TO WRITE ABOUT
1) What does the play Twelfth Night have to say about identity, particularly in its use of disguise and cross-dressing?
OR
2) What should we make of the ways that desire in Twelfth Night transcends the typical ‘boy meets girl, falls in love’ plot?
A strong essay must have a clear and coherent argumentative thesis – a statement making an interpretive claim and reasons in support of that claim – that governs all that the essay includes. That means first, that your essay will be making an interpretive claim about the play, and second, that every paragraph in the essay will refer directly to that central claim.
In focusing on developing their theses, students should definitely avoid plot summary: assume your reader knows the events and characters of A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Twelfth Night. MOST IMPORTANTLY, any compelling and persuasive argument will be supported from start to finish with textual evidenceilluminating quotations introduced by and followed-up with analysis of their specific language.
I am available and happy to discuss your essays before the due date, either to help map out or distill a strong thesis and structure, or to read and offer suggestions on early writing. It can be helpful to send me via email your potential thesis in advance of writing the draft, so that I can offer suggestions about how to make it stronger.
Students should also consult the style guide for our class
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to see how to format the essay.
How to Write a Paragraph with a Passage as Its Focus – the PIE Rule
1) PREPARE the reader: Articulate what you think an important concern of the play is and explain that the passage you propose to examine will illuminate that concern. You need to contextualize the passage by explaining who is speaking and in what situation.
2) INSERT the quotation into your paragraph, making sure its syntax coheres with your own and that when coupled to your prose, it works grammatically as a complete clause or sentence. (If you read it out loud as part of the paragraph, does it sound right to your ear?) Dont quote incomplete sentences unless you complete them; dont leave out crucial parts of a quote that make it hard to say who is doing something or what someone is doing.
3) EXPLAIN what’s happening in the quotation that you think is significant. Offer a few interpretive sentences about the passage you just quoted, paying close attention to its images, its phrasing, and its specific word choices. Explain how it illuminates the concept you articulated in your first sentence.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANY HELP. MAKE SURE TO CITE CORRECLY AND PLEASE PROOF READ THE PAPER BEFORE HAND. PAPER SHOULD BE 3 COMPLETE PAGES!!
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