In this module, you will compose a MLA formatted* 2-3 page (minimum two full pages) formal, literary essay on ONE of the topics listed below in Section III. Please use only your text to support your ideas; no outside sources. Formal means in third-person, subject-focused voice (not first person narrative ″I″, or second person informal ″you″) *Find MLA format refresher @ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ I. Purpose and Audience Formal writing assignments in literature classes, as literary scholars Thomas Arp and Greg Johnson point out, “have two purposes: (1) to give you additional practice in writing clearly and persuasively, and (2) to deepen your understanding of literary works by leading you to read and think about these works more searchingly than you might otherwise.″ As in any writing assignment, isolating your audience helps you shape the content (what you write) and form (how you compose your ideas) of your essay. As many writers have found, understanding your audience also helps you to define your role as a writer. When writing about literature in college-level classes, you will most likely be writing for your instructors. Thus, you can make the following assumptions about your readers: (1) they have read the work or works about which you are writing, and (2) they are evaluating your essay to ensure you have acquired a deeper understanding of your chosen work beyond what was offered in the textbook. Therefore, general plot summary is unnecessary; rather, you should strive to choose specific evidence from the text (specific lines, passages, dialogue, scenes, etc.) to support your ideas. II. Two Approaches to Writing About Literature Comparison and Contrast When you place two items side by side and examine their similarities and differences, you are using the method of comparison and contrast. An essay that utilizes comparison and contrast as its guiding critical form generally focuses on separate works. In this case, you will compare and contrast two or more characters inside one literary work. That is, you will examine how two or more characters are similar and different. To be sure, the goal of the comparison and contrast essay is to go beyond just listing where two (or more) characters are similar and where they are different; your thesis should explain an interesting or noteworthy insight that arises when the two (or more) are juxtaposed, analyzed, and assessed. Be sure not to merely summarize the text. Analysis When you analyze a text, you choose a single literary element or concept to study (for example, motif, irony, or symbol) and then comb carefully through the text to identify examples of this element. Your task in this essay is to shape a thesis that explains how you think the author′s use of this element in the text contributes to the overall meaning of the text (of course, your thesis should reveal what you believe about the meaning of the text). The examples you identified should then be used as evidence to support your thesis. III. Topic Selection Compare and contrast the good daughter and bad daughter(s) OR the good son and the bad son in the play; consider how the characterizations of good and evil shape the play