Intertextual Analysis
Experiments in Intertextuality
For Assignment #4, please compose a final essay of 4-5 pages that compares two texts on the syllabus from our final unit. This essay must be written according to MLA format and must include a Works Cited page.
For any comparative analysis, it is never enough simply to identify similarities and differences across texts. Instead, consider what is the value and purpose of the juxtaposition itself. What can we learn from juxtaposing the two texts that we would not have known from just analyzing one of them?
Because this is a short assignment, I recommend organizing your paper around ONE particular basis of comparison across both texts. For example, you could study how pride operates in Miltons Eve and Lewiss Ambrosio. Or you may consider discussing a theme or question relevant to both texts, such as the problem of moral responsibility and accountability. For example, both Eve and Ambrosio sin against Godbut to what extent are each morally responsible for their crimes? Is Ambrosio more or less guilty than Eve? Part of the challenge of this paper is finding an interesting point of comparison across two different texts.
Here are some possible intertextual pairings:
Popes Essay on Man and Voltaires Poem on the Lisbon Disaster
Miltons Paradise Lost and Matthew Lewiss The Monk
Popes Essay on Man and Miltons Paradise Lost
Genesis and Paradise Lost
Popes Essay on Man and Lewiss The Monk
Voltaires Poem on the Lisbon Disaster and Lewiss The Monk
This essay should provide in-depth textual analyses by zooming in on particular moments (quotations) from your chosen texts. Feel free to try out the “analysis pack” technique, in which you select specific scenes and organize the body paragraphs on those particular scenes. For example, you could analyze the “garden” scene in The Monk where Matilda tempts Ambrosio and compare it to the “garden” scene in Paradise Lost, where Satan tempts Eve.
RESEARCH: Your paper must incorporate a JSTOR source into your argument. Try to find an article that relates to your paper topic. You can search for articles on your chosen piece of literature. Be sure to include this source on your Works Cited page. Points will be deducted if the Works Cited Page is missing.
https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/The-Monk.pdf
