Compare / Contrast Essay

The main purpose of this essay is to develop your ability to compose an argument that meaningfully compares two literary texts. The similarities and differences you identify should illuminate important aspects of both texts – don’t assume that a simple comparison will be interesting in and of itself. Your task is to show why it is interesting to examine these works side-by-side. Remember the comparisons we made between Pygmalion and Frankenstein—those are the meaningful types of comparisons that you are looking to make on this assignment. You may choose from one of the following topics:

1. Write an essay comparing the novel Emma with the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare’s Lysander observes that “the course of true love never did run smooth,” and Emma quotes this sentiment two centuries later, implying that at Hartfield this is not necessarily the case (p. 49). How do these texts compare in their portrayal of romantic love? Consider focusing on one of the following aspects of love in the two texts:

• How do these texts compare in their portrayal of matchmaking, and what does this seem to say about the different “worlds” the two texts are set in? For example, does the rigidly class-based social world of Emma offer a different take on matchmaking than the magic-influenced world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

• How do the relationships between men and women compare in each text? Do women and men seem to have a more equal level of power and status in one text than the other? Does one text offer a more optimistic view of romantic love than the other?

2. Write an essay comparing Emma and Pygmalion. Both revolve around an upper-class character shaping and molding a character of a lower social class in order to raise that character’s class status. How is Higgins’s “project” with Eliza different from and similar to Emma’s “undertaking” with Harriet Smith? Consider addressing one or more of the following questions in your comparison:

• How do Higgins’s and Emma’s motives compare, and how does this affect the way we view their different projects as teachers/benefactors? How are their relationships with their student/ protégé similar and/or different?

• What are the outcomes of the two projects, and how do they compare in the help or harm they bring to the student/protégé? How does this affect our view of any or all of the characters involved?

• To what extent do Higgins and Emma learn from their mistakes involving their protégés? Do they repent, change for the better, and/or increase in self-awareness? How does this affect our view of these characters, comparatively?

3. Compare the early nineteenth-century science-fiction/horror novel Frankenstein with the late nineteenth-century science-fiction/horror novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Consider drawing on one of the following areas to focus your comparison:

• Victor Frankenstein and Henry Jekyll: how are they similar and how different, and what might this comparison lead you to say about science, technology, good and evil, ambition, sanity and insanity, secrets, honesty and dishonesty, human relationships, and/or work in these books?

• Frankenstein’s creature and Edward Hyde: what light do these “creations” shed on their creators? (the words apply better to Frankenstein’s creature… feel free to come up with another word to describe Hyde, or to describe both) What light do they shed on the communities they are part of (and in the creature’s case, become part of or pass through)? Are the relationships between the two creators and creations similar in any ways? If so, what do these similarities (and the inevitable differences) suggest about the role of creator, the responsibilities of scientific experimentation, or anything else? Is there a common human failing or flaw that these stories both bring to light? A common philosophical or ethical idea they both speak to?

• The frame narrative and its usefulness in telling a story; the characters of Walton and Utterson and their respective role in each story; the role of women (or lack thereof) in each book and/or the way each represents masculinity; each book as an early example of science fiction . . .

4. Compare Emma to its companion novel Jane Fairfax by Joan Aiken. Written in the twentieth century but set in early nineteenth-century Highbury, Jane Fairfax tells the story of Emma from the perspective of Jane Fairfax. Evaluate Aiken’s novel as a companion to Emma: does Aiken effectively imitate Austen’s style? Are the characters recognizable from from Emma? Does Jane Fairfax take this story in interesting and worthwhile directions, or is it merely redundant with Emma? Compare this story as told from the perspectives of these two very different characters. How does each novel reflect differently on the same (or related) characters and events? What might Aiken’s purpose be in offering us this companion piece to Austen’s novel?

5. Choose a comparison topic of your own, using one of the books we’ve read so far this year and another book you think would make an interesting comparison. If you’re interested in this option, email me with a specific topic by the end of the school day on Tuesday 2/3 for approval.

Specifications: Your paper should have an introductory paragraph that mentions the titles (underlined or italicized) and authors of all the texts you plan to discuss and a clearly stated thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph or two. No comparison is inherently worthwhile for its own sake: the thesis should say specifically what is interesting about this comparison and how it helps us better understand both texts. Cite specific evidence and numerous examples from both texts to support each point throughout the essay (as always, use MLA citation style). Be sure to develop smooth transitions between paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph that offers a definite sense of closure to your overall argument. The paper should be about three to four pages long, double-spaced.

• Sign up for a topic by: Wednesday 2/4
• Introductory paragraph and preliminary outline of your argument with evidence due for in-class workshop: Wednesday 2/11
• Complete rough draft (typed) due for in-class peer-edit: Tuesday 2/24
• Final draft due (typed, stapled, including all peer-edited drafts): Friday 2/27