English III Regents Othello
The Othello tests and quizzes will usually include passage explications. It is imperative that you review how to explicate a passage correctly. Remember, good writing demands thorough and explicit explanation. Do not sell yourself short by trying to respond in the ‘bare minimum’. Don’t know more than you show! Avoid vague statements and pronouns. A thorough explication is at least one to two well developed paragraphs.
1. Identify the speaker – (This is the most important part! You do not want to get the speaker wrong because then you will subsequently have the incorrect context, meaning and significance!) Remember, when a teacher (any teacher, not just me) reviews a passage or a piece of information, it is usually because it is important for you to learn it!
2. Discuss the context - (the set of facts or circumstances that surround a situation or event) It is important that you discuss the context – you need to establish where, when, and why the particular passage is occurring)
3. Discuss the meaning- (paraphrase the passage using your own words – do not just re-write all or half or a third of Shakespeare’s writing – Yes, he is poetic, but don’t steal his words!)
4. Discuss the significance (Themes? Motifs? Imagery? Character development? Irony? Symbolism?)
Remember, only saying “this quote illustrates the motif of animal imagery” means nothing to me! You must explain WHY the quote illustrates that motif!
Click on the following link and read the entire page, then answer the question that follow:
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/reading_lit.html
List the five steps you should take when analyzing a literary passage and give a brief explanation of each:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
· Read the following passage from Macbeth, Act II:
“Tis unnatural, / A falcon towering in her pride of place / was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and killed.”· Below are two student explications of this passage. After reading them both, answer the following question.
Student explication A:This is an important quote. It tells you something strange is going on. It shows that he knew something wasn’t right when he saw an owl kill the falcon. It described a supernatural event.
Student explication B:
The old man here is addressing Ross about the unnatural events that have recently occurred. He discusses this event in which an owl killed a falcon. This is significant because the owl comes to symbolize Macbeth who is less superior to the falcon (Duncan) and yet still kills him. This passage also reinforces the supernatural events of nature that mirror the happenings at Inverness, which is another important universal theme explored throughout Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth.
Compare the two explications. Which example is the stronger explication? Why? Be specific in your response, quoting the explication whenever possible.
Hopefully, you now understand the difference between a poor analysis and an intelligent analysis.
Homework:
Save this completed document as “How to Explicate Literary Passages” in your English folder in Microsoft Word.
Take out a blank piece of loose-leaf paper. Explicate the following passage using the steps and skills you have just learned. This will be collected next class period.
“O, beware my lord, of jealousy;It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on: that cuckold lives in bliss who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But, O, what damned minutes tells he o’er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!” (III. III. 46)