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Welcome to the School House Books Online Services Public Recommended List of Plays with The Open Question Essay Prompts and Links |
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Mrs. Warren's Profession 2002 Open Question: Morally ambiguous characters-- characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good--are at the heart of many works of literature. Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivitol role. Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. Choose a scene or character in one of Shaw's plays that awakens "thoughtful laughter." Then write an essay in which you show why this laughter is thoughtful and how it contributes to the meaning of the work. Androcles and the Lion: An Old Fable Renovated; Man and Superman Write a well-organized essay that analyzes how the meaning of this poem is enhanced by sustained allusions to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. Major Barbara Choose a complex character from this play who mightóon the bisis of the character's actions aloneóbe considered evil or immoral. Then write a well-organized essay that analyzes how and why the full presentation of the character in the play makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary. This work offers a happy ending through moral development. Write a well-organized essay that identifies the moral reconciliation evident on the ending and analyze its significance in the work as a whole. Critic Roland Barthes has said, "Literature is the question minus the answer." Choose a novel or play and, and considering Barthes' observation, write an essay in which you analyze a central question the work raises and the extent to which it offers any answers. Explain how the author's treatment of this question affects your understanding of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. Mrs. Warren's Profession Note the changes in social or political attitudes that are advocated in this novel. Then analyze the techniques that the author uses to influence the reader's views. Avoid plot summary. Do not write about a film or television program. This play depicts a conflict between a parent or parental figure and a son or daughter. Write a well-organized essay that analyzes the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid plot summary. This work highlights the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Write a well-organized essay that analyzes how the alienation of one character reveals the surrounding society's assumptions and moral values. Pygmalion In this play, a confidant (male) or a confidante (female) is used to be present when the hero or heroine needs a sympathetic listener to confide in. Frequently, as Henry James puts it, this friend or relative of the protagonist can be as much "the reader's friend as the protagonist's." Write an essay in which you discuss the various ways this character functions in the work. Saint Joan This work highlights the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Write a well-organized essay that analyzes how the alienation of one character reveals the surrounding society's assumptions and moral values. |