Write an essay of 4-5 pp. (or 1200-1500 words) in which you make a comparison as a way of developing your thinking about some idea. To choose a topic you will need to identify:

• two things (characters, events, presentations of themes, etc.) to compare,

• a respect in which to compare them, and

• an idea that can be understand more fully as a result of the comparison

Both of the things you compare should come from reading for this course and at least one should come from the current module. They might be very similar (this can highlight differences) or very different (this can highlight similarities). They might come from the same selection or from different selections. And although comparisons between things of the same sort are probably the easiest to construct, it is possible to compare different sorts of things; for example, in the Apology, Socrates compares the Athenian people to a sleeping horse.

A given pair of things can be compared in many different ways, and you should be fairly specific about the sort of comparison you will make. To take an example from the last module, Nnu Ego and Ramatoulaye might be compared in their roles as mothers or in their roles as senior wives. Although it's conceivable that comparisons in different respects could be closely connected, the ideas that they help you understand are likely to be different. So your essay should not attempt to list the many respects in which the things you compare are alike or different (though making up such a list might be a useful way of searching for a topic).

You might think of the third aspect of your topic as the moral of your comparison, but be careful not to present it as the sort of single pithy statement that is often the expression of the moral of a story. Your discussion of the idea should instead be a substantial part of the essay in which you reflect on the significance of the comparison. This might involve a summary of the key points of the comparison, but it should also formulate what can be learned in a way that does more than summarize the specific comparison you have made. The idea you discuss in this way is likely to be related to the respect in which you make the comparison, but it does not need to be identical to it. In some cases, the idea might be illustrated (in different ways) by the two things you compare. In others, it may be illustrated by one and clarified by a contrast with the other. In still others, it may be something that is illustrated by neither but that can be understood better by contrasting it (in different ways) with each of them.

There are many ways in which an essay like this might be organized, but one straightforward approach would be to begin with an introduction in which you identify the things you compare and the respect in which you compare them, then develop the comparison by first describing each of the two things in a way that highlights the features you will compare, noting the similarities and differences you want to call attention to, and conclude by presenting the understanding that can be gained from the comparison. (The conclusion of this sort of paper would not be a brief concluding paragraph but instead a substantial part, perhaps one third, of the essay.)

Below are some examples of possible comparisons. I've chosen these to illustrate several different sorts of comparison. Although though you may write on one of them if you wish, I'm not presenting them as the best topics. The best topic for you is probably the one you find yourself with the most to say about. There are also many different ways of developing each one of these sample topics as well as many topics that combine the things appearing in these with other things (or with each other in different ways) or compare the same things in different respects or with a different idea in mind.

• Comparing aspects of two of the three presentations of the character Socrates (i.e., those in The Clouds, Republic I, and the Apology) as a way of understanding one of the many ideas that might be associated with him.

• Comparing the Athenian actions in Mytilene and Melos as way of understanding one conception of the rules or values governing behavior of states to each other.

• Comparing (some of) the events in the Athenian plague and the Corcyrean civil war as a way of understanding some aspect of human nature.

• Comparing a part of Thucydides history with a part of Hesiod's theogony as a way of understanding one role of descriptions of the past.

• Comparing two descriptions of justice (from the Mytinlenean debate or Republic I) as a way of understanding that idea.

Don't hesitate to seek my help if you find it difficult to formulate a topic; and, of course, I'll be glad to help, too, as you are working on your essay.

Monday 11/7 is a lecture day, so I won't meet you in class. If you want to hand in a hard copy, you can catch me at the lecture or drop it off at my office (Center 200H) or in my box in Center 207. But it's fine to turn in the paper electronically, either as an e-mail attachment or in the drop box of the Blackboard site for our section. (If you want a specific time for the deadline, you can count it as midnight.)