AP English Literature
Othello Literary Analysis Essay Topics and Guidelines
(This is a 3 grade assignment) No late essays will be accepted.
You will be writing a literary analysis on Shakespeare’s Othello. In your essay, you will take a
position on TWO of the following essay questions and you will support your position with
evidence from the text. Although the play, Othello, will serve as your primary source, you must
also find outside or secondary sources to help you with support of your thesis statements.
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Essay Guidelines:
6-10 paragraphs (Typed)
Cover Sheet
APA Style: doubled spaced, Times New Roman, 12pt Font
Works Cited Page: Includes Othello and a secondary source
Include at least 3 quotes from Othello and 3 quotes from a secondary source (book or
article from online database)
Has a clear beginning, middle and end
Each paragraph begins with a main idea statement that supports the thesis
Correctly cites primary and secondary sources
Grades
1 grade for format
1 grade for support (quotes & APA style Works Cited)
1 grade for overall response to the topic (AP style writing)
Free Response Essay Questions (SELECT 2):
A. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For
instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or
some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a
character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her
responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon
the character, and its significance to the work
B. From a novel or play of literary merit, select an important character who is a villain. Then, in
a well-organized essay, analyze the nature of the character's villainy and show how it enhances
meaning in the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.
C. According to critic Northrop Frye, "Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their
human landscape that they seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees
more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be
instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning." Select a novel or play in which a tragic
figure functions as an instrument of the suffering of others. Then write an essay in which you
explain how the suffering brought upon others by that figure contributes to the tragic vision of
the work as a whole.
D. In a literary work, a minor character, often known as a foil, possesses traits that emphasize, by
contrast or comparison, the distinctive characteristics and qualities of the main character. For
example, the ideas or behavior of a minor character might be used to highlight the weaknesses or
strengths of the main character. Choose a novel or play in which a minor character serves as a
foil for the main character. Then write an essay in which you analyze how the relation between
the minor character and the major character illuminates the meaning of the work.
E. Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized
literary merit who might on the basis of the character's actions alone be considered
evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full
presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we
otherwise might. Avoid plot summary.
F. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its
ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude. Select
a literary work that produces this "healthy confusion." Write an essay in which you
explain the sources of the "pleasure and disquietude" experienced by the readers of the
work.
G. Choose a distinguished novel or play in which some of the most significant events
are mental or psychological; for example, awakenings, discoveries, changes in
consciousness. In a well-organized essay, describe how the author manages to give
these internal events the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated
with external action. Do not merely summarize the plot.
H. In a novel or play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is a character, often
a friend or relative of the hero or heroine, whose role is to be present when the hero or
heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently the result is, as Henry
James remarked, that the confidant or confidante can be as much "the reader's friend
as the protagonist's." However, the author sometimes uses this character for other
purposes as well. Choose a confidant or confidante from a novel or play of recognized
literary merit and write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character
functions in the work. You may write your essay on one of the following novels or
plays or on another of comparable quality. Do not write on a poem or short story.
I. Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who
are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed.
Choose a novel or a play in which such a character plays a significant role and show
how that character's alienation reveals the surrounding society's assumptions or moral
values.
J. Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures -national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character's
sense of identity into question. Select a novel or play in which a character responds to
such a cultural collision. Then write a well-organized essay in which you describe the
character's response and explain its relevance to the work as a whole.
K. Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer."
Choose a novel, or play, and, considering Barthes' observation, write an essay in
which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers
answers. Explain how the author's treatment of this question affects your
understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
L. In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the
present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. Choose a novel or play in which a
character must contend with some aspect of the past, either personal or societal. Then
write an essay in which you show how the character's relationship to the past
contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.
AP Literary Analysis Rubric
General Writing Rubric
9-8 (A) These well-focused and persuasive essays address the prompt directly and in a
convincing manner. An essay scored a 9 demonstrates exceptional insight and language facility.
An essay scored an 8 or a 9 combines adherence to the topic with excellent organization, content,
insight, facile use of language, mastery of mechanics, and an understanding of the essential
components of an effective essay. Literary devices and/or techniques are not merely listed, but
the effect of those devices and/or techniques is addressed in context of the passage, poem, or
novel as a whole. Although not without flaws, these essays are richly detailed and stylistically
resourceful, and they connect the observations to the passage, poem, or novel as a whole.
Descriptors that come to mind while reading this essay include: mastery, sophisticated, complex,
specific, consistent, and well-supported.
7-6 (B) These highly competent essays comprehend the task set forth by the prompt and respond
to it directly, although some of the analysis may be implicit rather than explicit. The 7 essay is in
many ways a thinner version of the 9-8 paper in terms of discussion and supporting details, but it
is still impressive, cogent, and generally convincing. It may also be less well-handled in terms of
organization, insight, or vocabulary. Descriptors that come to mind while reading these essays
include: demonstrates a clear understanding but is less precise and less well supported
than a 9-8 paper. These essays demonstrate an adherence to the task, but deviate from course on
occasion. The mechanics are sound, but may contain a few errors which may distract but do not
obscure meaning. Although there may be a few minor mis-readings, the inferences are for the
most part accurate with no significant sustained mis-readings. An essay that scores a 6 is an
upper-half paper, but it may be deficient in one of the essentials mentioned above. It may be less
mature in thought or less well-handled in terms of organization, syntax or mechanics. The
analysis is somewhat more simplistic than found in a 7 essay, and lacks sustained, mature
analysis.
5 (C) These essays may be overly simplistic in analysis, or rely almost exclusively on paraphrase
rather than specific, textual examples. These essays may provide a plausible reading, but the
analysis is implicit rather than explicit. These essays might provide a list of literary devices
present in the literature, but make no effort to discuss the effect that these devices have on the
poem, passage, or novel as a whole. Descriptors that come to mind when reading include:
superficial, vague, and mechanical. The language is simplistic and the insight is limited or
lacking in development.
4-3 (D) These lower-half essays compound the problems found in the 5 essay. They often
demonstrate significant sustained mis readings, and provide little or no analysis. They maintain
the general idea of the writing assignment, show some sense of organization, but are weak in
content, maturity of thought, language facility, and/or mechanics. They may distort the topic or
fail to deal adequately with one or more important aspects of the topic. Essays that are
particularly poorly written may be scored a 3. Descriptors that come to mind while
reading include: incomplete, oversimplified, meager, irrelevant, and insufficient.
2-1 (F) These essays make an attempt to deal with the topic but demonstrate serious weakness in
content and coherence and/or syntax and mechanics. Often, they are unacceptably short. They
are poorly written on several counts, including numerous distracting errors in mechanics, and/or
little clarity, coherence, or supporting evidence. Wholly vacuous, inept, and mechanically
unsound essays should be scored a 1.
0. A zero is given to a response with no more than a passing reference to the task