For our second paper, we will be writing an analysis of one of the characters from George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion. While still based initially on your personal reaction to the play and its principal actors, we will be relying more on critical assertions of character traits that lend to the play's overall meaning. So, instead of writing, "I could relate to Eliza because I too have encountered negative judgments based on my speech," you might write, "Over the course of the play, Eliza realizes how important language skills can be to achieve upward class mobility." The focus is on the character and his or her role in the play, and all critical commentary must be supported with quotes from the text.
Tips for Writing
You might approach this assignment by following the progression listed below. If nothing else, your paper might want to answer these specific questions at some point. The organization will be up to you, but a good character analysis will consider the following:
In writing about the protagonist in a short story, novel, or play, begin by studying his or her personality. What makes this individual different from the other characters in the story? Jot down a quick list of individual physical, mental, moral, or behavioral traits the character displays. Does one trait seem especially significant? Do any of these qualities foreshadow the action of the story? (In other words, do things that are said early on explain other things that happen later?) Now jot down what the character's primary motivation appears to be. Does this motivagtion seem as reasonable to the reader as it does to the protagonist? If not, what does the gap between the protagonist's motivation and the reader's reaction suggest? For example, does Henry's motivation to win his bet appear to us as self-centered? Or in the end, is he reaffirming the important of language in society without really even knowing it? Does the protagonist understand his or her own motivation?
GUIDELINES FOR FIXING A WEAK THESIS
1.Your thesis should make a claim with which readers may disagree
2. Be skeptical of your first response-often it can be too broad or too cliched
3. Convert broad categories and generic (anything fits) claims to more specific assertions
4. Submit the wording of your thesis to this grammatical test: if it follws the "abstract noun + is + evaluative adjective" formula (e.g., "the economic situation is bad), substitute a more specific noun and an active verb (e.g., "tax laws benefit the rich")
5. Examine and question your own terms and categories rather than simply accepting them
6. Be aware of or make explicit your unstated assumptions
DEFINING & REFINING A THESIS*
1. Formulate an idea about your subject
2. See how far you can make this thesis go in accounting for your reasons & evidence
3. Locate evidence in your draft that is not accounted for by your thesis
4. Make explicit the apparent mismatch between thesis and evidence (from #3)
5. Reshape your thesis to accommodate the reasons/evidence that don't fit.
6. Repeat steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 as many times as needed.
EXAMPLES FROM OUR READING
1) My topic for this paper is the way in which language is used by George Bernard Shaw.
--- Is this sentence a claim? ---Is it arguable? ---Does it have tension?
2) After reading George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, one is left to wonder what impact language should have on social status.
--- Is this sentence a claim? ---Is it arguable? ---Does it have tension?
3) Language, in both the early 20th century and today, is a pretty reliable indicator of one's education level and class.
--- Is this sentence a claim? ---Is it arguable? ---Does it have tension?
4) Since class is often determined by constantly changing feature such as language and physical appearance, it is presented in George Bernard's Shaw's Pygmalion as arbitrary and false.
--- Is this sentence a claim? ---Is it arguable? ---Does it have tension?
Sample topic questions
1) In what ways does Liza develop over the course of the play? Does she mature? Is she fundamentally a changed person by the end?
2) Is Henry Higgins presented as someone who upholds the role of class in society? In what ways do his methods question it? How does he defend class as an indicator of worth (personal, intellectual, etc.) other than financial? In short, what role might merit play in the determination of worth?