Drama Analysis Prompt
Introduction
This assignment is meant to engage with two of the topics we’ve been focused on—drama as a method of storytelling and characters as a crucial element of them.
Fictional characters are portrayed through the characters’ actions and reactions as well as other characters’ actions and reactions to them, by the way they appear, by what they say, by what they do, and by what others say about them.
A character analysis presents the reader with a critical view of a dynamic character, and evidence to support your view must come from the work itself.
Prompt
Choose a character from Euripides Bacchae and, providing textual evidence, argue for an interpretation of that character. What sort of person are they? What are their motivations? Then, once you argue for this interpretation, briefly explain why your interpretation matters to the overall story. Why does this character need to be who they are for the purposes of the story? How does the story shape that character?
Tips
Don’t summarize. Assume your audience is a conference on the author of your story: they know the story really well, so it’s your analysis they’re interested in. It may also help to imagine that the reader is the one who brought up the topic of the text.
For this paper, incorporate one outside source other than the play itself. Feel free to use the supplementary text from Woodruff in the book itself, but don’t forget to cite it, no matter what you choose, in a Works Cited page.
Careful to avoid plagiarism! If you find yourself copy/pasting anything anywhere, even with the intention of changing sentence structure or changing words with a thesaurus, stop to consider the potential risk. Don’t rely on pre-written essays from online paper mills or SparkNotes to get you through it, especially if you’re writing at the last minute.
Further guidance here!
Requirements
Length of at least 4 pages
Double-spaced, 12-pt. Times New Roman font
1-inch margins all around
MLA format (including a Works Cited page, which will only have one entry: your short story)
