ENG 102 – Introduction to Literature
Essay #2: Character Analysis in Drama
Rough draft due: Thursday, 4/21
Final draft due: Sunday, 5/1
Instructions:
Write a three-page character analysis of any one of the characters from August Wilson’s Fences or David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly. Using your skills in close reading and interpretation, you should develop a careful analysis of characterization that is well supported by specific textual evidence from the play.
You may want to consider the choices the character makes, his/her major physical and mental traits, what the character says about him/herself, how the character is perceived by others in the play, and whether the character grows or remains the same. As with the previous assignment, you should avoid summarizing the plot. This includes surface level observations about the characters. For example, don’t just say “Troy Maxson was a baseball player when he was younger” and describe his athletic history. You’ll need to do the work of explaining how that shapes his character and, thus, our interpretation of the meaning of the play. Remember that you are analyzing, which means that you are not only describing what is in a text but demonstrating why it is in a text, why it is significant.
You could choose from several methods to back up your thesis:
1. Organization around a central characteristic, like loyalty, shame, bitterness, kindness, frustration borne of limited opportunity, etc. A body containing this sort of material would demonstrate how the literary work brings out such qualities in the character.
2. Organization around a development or change of character. Here you would attempt to show the character traits a character possesses at the start of the work, and then describe the changes or developments that occur, and why they are significant for our understanding of the play.
3. Organization around central incidents that reveal primary characteristics. Certain key incidents will stand out in a work, and you might create an effective body by using three or four of these as guide for your discussion, taking care to show in your topic sentencesthat your purpose is to illuminate the character you have selected, not the incidents. Therefore, regard the incidents only as they bring out the truths about the character. With this organization, you would have to show how the incidents bring out the characteristics and also how they serve to explain other things the character might do and why. A warning on this approach: the risk of falling into plot summary of the play is much higher here, so proceed with caution. If you’re taking this approach, make sure that your argument remains rooted in specific analysis.
Purpose:
This assignment will build on your skills in carefully analyzing a text to create an interpretation using close reading strategies that we have been developing in class discussions. You will also continue to familiarize yourself with key literary strategies and examine more deeply how writers build meaning through characterization.
Requirements:
• Minimum of 3 full pages
• Typed, 12-point font, double-spaced, with 1” margins
• MLA format
