Essay Writing

This is just to help with your essay writing; so you know how you are expected to answer your essay questions.

ANALYZE

When you are asked to analyze, you must separate a thing or idea into its parts to explain their relationship to each other.

COMMENT

When you're asked to comment, you should explore the importance and meaning of something, or write a note of explanation, or write a criticism or example of something written or said. You may also write a remark or make a critical observation or express your opinion.

COMPARE

Here, you must look for similarities. The term compare is usually stated as compare with, and it means that you are to emphasize similarities, although differences may be mentioned.

CONTRAST

Show the differences between two or more topics.

CRITIQUE

Express your opinion with respect to the correctness or merits of the factors under consideration. Give the results of your own analysis and discuss the limitations and good points or contributions of the plan or work in question.

DEFINE

When asked to define something, your definition must contain concise, clear, and authoritative meanings. Details are not required, but boundaries or limitations of the definition should be given. Keep in mind the group/class/category to which a thing belongs and whatever differentiates the particular object from all others in the group/class/category.

DIAGRAM

You must draw a chart, a plan or a graphic representation in your answer. You may be expected to label the diagram or add a brief explanation or description.

DISCUSS

Examine the topic, analyze it carefully and then present detailed considerations pro and con regarding the problems or items involved. This type of essay question is common.

EVALUATE

Present a careful analysis of the problem, and stress both the advantages and limitations. Evaluation means an authoritative and personal appraisal of both contributions and limitations.

EXPLAIN

Clarify and interpret the material you present. State the "how" or "why," explain differences of opinion or experimental results, and state any causes if it's possible. In short, tell how it all happened!

JUSTIFY, PROVE

To justify your answer, provide factual evidence or logical reasons. In this type of answer, the evidence should be presented in a convincing form. Establish your answer with certainty by evaluating and giving evidence or by logical reasoning.

LIST, ENUMERATE

Write an itemized list, series or tabulation. Be concise.

OUTLINE

Give the main points and essential supplementary materials. Leave out the minor details and present the information in a clear systematic arrangement or classification.

SUMMARIZE

Give the main points or facts in condensed form. Brief examples can help make your summary more specific.

TRACE
           Give a description of the progress, historical sequence or development from the  point of origin.This type of essay may require probing or deductions.

DESCRIBE
            to give an account of; to tell or depict in written or spoken words.
       

Standardised test

The Literature test will be on "Murder at Dunsinane" (Macbeth).

You will be tested on:

• Personality traits of Macbeth
• Macbeth's dreams and aspirations
• Themes found in the story
• Rationale behind Macbeth's death
• Prophesies of the witches for Macbeth
• Macbeth's reaction to the witches' prophesies
• Role of the Witches

ALL THESE WERE DISCUSSED IN CLASS.

Murder at Dunsinane

• Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare about a regicide (killing of a king and take over of his kingdom) and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1606, with 1607 being the very latest possible date.


• Shakespeare's sources for the tragedy are the accounts of Kings Macbeth, MacDuff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

• Over the centuries, the play has attracted the greatest actors in the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. The play has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comic books, and other media.

• In the play, the Three Witches represent darkness, chaos, and conflict. Their presence communicates treason and impending doom. During Shakespeare's day, witches were seen as worse than rebels, "the most notorious traitor and rebel that can be." They were not only political traitors, but spiritual traitors as well. Much of the confusion that springs from them comes from their ability to be on the borders between reality and the supernatural. They are so deeply entrenched in both worlds that it is unclear whether they control fate, or whether they are merely its agents.

• The witches' lines in the first act: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air" are often said to set the tone for the remainder of the play by establishing a sense of confusion. Indeed, the play is filled with situations in which evil is depicted as good, while good is evil.

• While the witches do not directly advise Macbeth to kill King Duncan, they use a subtle form of temptation when they inform Macbeth that he will be king. By placing this thought in his mind, they effectively guide him on the path to his own destruction. This follows the pattern of temptation many believed the Devil uses. First, a thought is put in a man's mind, and then the person may either indulge in the thought or reject it. Macbeth indulges in it, while Banquo rejects

• The three witches remind English teachers of the three Fates of Greek mythology and the three Norns of Norse mythology. "Weird" (as in "weird sisters") used to mean "destiny" or "fate". Perhaps in an older version they were.

WILD CAT FOR A WIFE (TAMING OF THE SHREW)

The story promotes inequality of females by forcing them into submissive roles.

·         Baptista treats his daughter, expecting them always to do his bidding. It is he who decides whom Bianca will marry (the richest bachelor) and it is he who orders Kath’s betrothal to Petruchio a man she despises.

·         Petruchio forces Kath to acknowledge that he is always right. At the end all the husbands brag about what they apparently believe is an important quality of a wife: submissiveness.

Using reverse psychology, Petruchio praises, pampers and coddles Katharine in order to rob her of the occasion to complain and thereby kill her scolding tongue.

Various issues arise from the story, such as the question of what roles men and women can and should play in society and in relationship to each other. Is Petruchio a loving husband who teaches his maladjusted bride to find happiness in marriage, or is he a clever bully who forces her to bow to his will? Does Katherina's acquiescence in playing the part of the obedient wife reflect a joyous acceptance of her assigned role as a married woman and the beginning of a fulfilling partnership with her husband? Does it, instead, mean that she has learned to play the obedient wife in public so as to get her own way in private? Or does it reflect the defeat of a spirited and intelligent woman forced to give in to a society that dominates and controls women and allows them only very limited room for self-expression?