“The Trial of the Semester”

Honors World Literature – Semester One Exam

 

In this first semester we have studied many characters that display strong opinions and have made decisions which could be argued as both right and wrong. For your exam, you will write a composition exploring these complex decisions by holding a trial for these actions. It will be due the day of the exam by 11:00 a.m. in the bin outside my office.

 

Objectives:

  • To test your analysis skills as well as your knowledge of the literature we have studied so far
  • To demonstrate critical thinking skills such as compare/contrast, synthesizing information, and using judgment
  • To challenge and develop your composition and research skills

 

Prompt:

Our most recent study has been that of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar in which Brutus is a prime example of a character who makes a controversial decision. We have discussed the historical background concerning the conspiracy against Caesar and how some find Brutus’ acts appalling, while others see them as justified. Your mission in your paper is essentially to put Brutus on trial, inevitably deciding whether his actions are justified. In order to accomplish this feat, you must do some historical research exploring whether Caesar was indeed good for the Republic, or if, as Brutus believes, Caesar would bring the demise of the government for which Brutus’ ancestors worked so hard. Using this research, along with evidence from Shakespeare’s play regarding both the actions of Brutus and Caesar (and possibly even the actions and opinions of other characters), you will defend your argument of whether Brutus is just or unjust. (Obviously, though, we are not defending the murder of someone, so please focus your paper on a trial of Brutus’ rebellion against what Caesar stood for…do not turn this paper into a trial on the morality issues surrounding murder, which we know is wrong.)

 

In addition, you are to parallel Brutus’ trial with the actions of at least two characters from other works we have studied this semester (mythology, the Iliad, the Odyssey, Antigone, A Doll’s House, or A Gentle Creature and Other Stories). Again, decide whether these characters’ actions are justified and use these examples as part of your case for or against Brutus. This technique is similar to the way lawyers use the decisions of comparable, previous cases as precedents and/or evidence in current cases they are trying. For example, you could use the parallel of Achilles’ unjust treatment of Hector’s dead body as a means of showing Brutus’ murder of Caesar as morally wrong (which again, YOU would not do since you are not arguing the morality of murder…this is simply an example to model the strategy you will use).

 

Requirements:

  • 4-6 pages long, typed, 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced
  • a creative two-part title
  • written in the present tense regarding literature and past tense regarding historical research
  • at least two cited quotes from Julius Caesar and at least one quote from each of the other works (or if you are using two characters from the same work, use at least one quote per character)
  • historical research from at least two reliable sources, one of which can not be from the internet* (in other words, you will have to take a trip to the library!!!) This information must have internal citations and be included in your Works Cited
  • correct MLA format for all internal citations, Works Cited page, heading, and header

 

*To help assess whether internet research is reliable, please refer to “Searching the Web” under Reference Links on the left side of the page on my website. “Four NETS for Better Searching” and “Assessing Website Content” should help you to have a discerning eye. As a general rule, URL addresses ending in .gov, .edu, or .org are usually pretty reliable. If you are having trouble deciding if a source is reliable, play it safe and come ask me.

 

Due Date: December 17, 2003 by 11:00 a.m. (and not a minute later!!!!)

 

 

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