Length: 1500-2000 words, typed, double-spaced.
Citation: Use MLA format.
Use of ChatGPT, Grammerly, or other AI software is absolutely prohibited in this class. Use of these tools will result in your receiving a failing grade for the assignment.
Requirements:
Thesis. Your essay must be governed by a thesis that (a) responds directly to the essay topic, (b) is arguable, and (c) is stated at the end of the first paragraph having clearly defined all the central terms.
Textual Support. Your thesis must be supported by major interpretive claims (topic sentences) that are supported by at least one appropriate quote or allusion per body paragraph. Your ability to select, interpret, and apply the appropriate textual evidence is key to doing well with the essay. Additionally, you should illustrate your argument with at least one example drawn from your own life, observations, or engagement with other texts, movies, plays, etc.
Reasoning. You must consistently use and apply logical reasoning in developing your thesis.
Writing.Your essay must be written well. There should be no awkward sentences, rough transitions between paragraphs, incoherent paragraphs, extraneous information/unnecessary sentences, typos, or stylistic errors.
Objectives:
For this assignment, you will need to demonstrate your ability to apply the ideas in Freud, Plato, and Lacan to analyzing themes, ideas, characters, and actions in the “narrative” texts from the second half of the semester (Antigone, Hamlet, Fun Home, Between the World and Me)
The successful paper will:
Demonstrate a clear, sophisticated understanding of ideas developed in our analysis of Freud, Lacan, and Plato and be able to appropriately apply those ideas to an analysis of Antigone, Hamlet, Fun Home, and Between the World and Me.
Will accurately represent the positions/ideas/themes/actions presented in Antigone, Hamlet, Fun Home, and Between the World and Me.
Will choose appropriate quotes from Antigone, Hamlet, Fun Home, and Between the World and Me and effectively integrate them into the student’s own argument regarding the topic.
Will state and develop a thesis in response to one of the assigned topics.
Evaluation:
For specific details on the grade for the paper see the “Grading Rubric for Papers” section of the syllabus.
The first thing I will ask myself about your paper is, “what level of understanding of the assigned readings does this paper reflect?”
The second thing I will ask is, “how effective is the use of quotations from the assigned texts in this paper?” Did the student choose the best quotes to make these claims? Does this paper suggest that the student actually read the book(s), or does it seem like the paper is based solely on notes from lecture, or (worse!) just Internet sources?
Third, I will consider the quality of the writing and the general structure of the paper.
Topics: Choose one of the topics below.
Desire. What is desire? What role does it play in human experience? How is it different from other experiences (e.g., “pleasure” and possibly “love”)? Develop your own “theory of desire” based on your reading of Freud, Lacan, and/or Plato. You need not agree with Freud, Lacan, and Plato, but your paper MUST REFLECT A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF AT LEAST ONE OF THE THEORIES OF DESIRE in those texts. Using this theory of desire, analyze the role of desire (as you have presented it) in one or more of the following: Antigone, Hamlet, Between the World and Me, Fun Home.
Erotic Truth. Bechdel describes “erotic truth” as “a rather sweeping concept.” What does she mean by erotic truth? Using at least two other texts/films assigned for this class, one of which MUST BE FREUD, LACAN, OR PLATO, write an essay in which you explore the possible meanings of this phrase, “erotic truth” (as Bechdel seems to be using it).
Race. Explain Coates’ account of race. What does he think it is? Why does it take the shape it does in our culture? Then analyze and evaluate this theory using at least one of the theory texts (Freud, Lacan, Plato).
The Political. Use the theoretical works (Freud, Lacan, and/or Plato) to develop a theory of “the political.” In other words, what forces govern our political interactions? What problems emerge? What solutions might we propose? Illustrate the effectiveness of your theory with examples from Antigone, Hamlet, Fun Home, and/or Between the World and Me.
For Freud (and Lacan) antagonism is central to the life of “the subject.” Based on your reading of one of the narrative texts for this course (The Antigone, Hamlet, Fun Home, and Between the World and Me) write an essay in which you evaluate the effectiveness of this “antagonism” thesis.
Action (and Destruction). Antigone, Hamlet, and Bruce (Fun Home) are all characterized by decisive action (that leads to their destruction). Write a paper in which you analyze and compare the central role of Desire (and subjectivity) in their action as it leads to their own destruction.
Beauty and Good.Write an essay in which you explain, analyze, and compare the relationship between “beauty” and “the good” in Diotima’s speech in the Symposium and in Lacan’s analysis of Antigone.
This is Love. Compare, analyze, and assess the ways in which love has been described in the texts we have studied during this class, paying special attention to how it is described in Antigone and Hamlet. From this come to some conclusions about what love is, or at least how love is experienced and conceived. Finally, make some kind of claim about the role of love in the production of the (human) subject. (For this topic, you might also consider Freud, Plato, Beginners, and Vertigo.)
