Write an essay of 4-6 pp. (or 1200-1800 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:

Both of the things you compare 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, Calypso and Circe might be compared in their treatment of Odysseus or in the sort of lives they appear to have led before his arrival. The respect in which you compare the pair of things you are writing about can affect both the part of the text you discuss and the idea to whose understanding your comparison contributes. In any case, 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 used to express 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. For example, you might compare Creon’s and Pentheus’ responses to religious challenges to their authority, and this sort of comparison might be used to help understand the psychology of leadership or, alternatively, the relation between religion and the state.

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. For example, if you thought of Creon and Pentheus as failed leaders because of the way they responded to challenges to their authority, a comparison of these responses might help in understanding how a good leader ought to respond.

There are many ways in which an essay like this might be organized, but one straightforward approach would be to (i) begin with an introduction in which you identify the things you compare and the respect in which you compare them, then (ii) 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 (iii) 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 a third, of the essay.)

Of course, don’t hesitate to seek my help if you find it difficult to formulate a topic, and I’ll be glad to help also with organization and other issues as you are working on your essay.

Friday 10/9 is a lecture day, so I won’t meet you in class. I encourage you to turn in the paper electronically as an e-mail attachment, but I will also accept hard copy (which you can give to me at the lecture, drop off at my office, Center 200H, or leave in my box in Center 207). If you want a specific time for the deadline, you can count it as the end of the day—i.e., by midnight.