Women offer an Alternative set of Values to those, which prevail in the Male world. Discuss with reference to Othello and The Rover, bearing in mind the different genres of those plays. To analyse literary language and to compare two texts in a single essay, In this case as you are planning your essay, you should think about each play in turn and consider how male and female values are made clear. Make sure that your argument is carefully grounded in the texts by finding the most telling examples to illustrate your points. Whenever you quote, remember to make sure you show how this quotation contributes to your argument. Genre is a key difference between the two plays and a discussion of this should form part of your argument. You need to think about the extent to which tragedy or comedy may present men and women differently. How you structure the comparison in the essay is for you to decide. It might make most sense to explore the question in relation to each play separately, especially as they are different genres. But if you do this, Make sure that you link the discussion in some way, and follow your discussion of each of the plays with a concluding section in which you compare and contrast them, considering any differences or similarities that you notice. Whatever approach you adopt, try to draw all the points you want to make into a clear and coherent argument, and then support that argument with evidence from (and clear reference to and quotation from) the plays. You should find it helpful to reread Approaching Plays as well as the relent chapters of Shakespeare, Aphra Benn and the Canon. Thing to consider when writing this essay: 1 interrogate the question. a It can be understood as a statement about the world in general i.e. exterior to the action of the play. b It can be understood as a statement defining the structure and/or meaning of the texts themselves. The result of the texts’ having been structured in this way is that this reading of their meaning can be produced from them. c The statement presupposes sets of values which are sufficiently significantly different from each other as to be possibly antagonistic. d The statement makes a distinction between women offering values, an active position, but not dominant, and (other) values, which are not necessarily intrinsic to, or bound up with, masculinity prevailing in a world which can be defined as ‘male’. The statement makes no presumption about whether the values ‘women offer’ are an intrinsic or an essential part of the female identity, or not. It can therefore presumably be argued either way. Either the values they exemplify or ‘offer’ are a result of their female nature, or they are a result of a social positioning which allow values such as these to be produced and to be on offer. 2 Then look at the structure of the play itself: the way there is an opposition between military and domestic sets, dialectic almost. Look at the action of the play, the characters, what they do, say and what is said about them. Look in particular at the scenes with the women characters and especially at their social standing and the implications of this. Look carefully at Desdemona’s early speech about Othello and compare it with her responses to Iago as they wait for the ship. Remember the doubt and danger that is established around these early scenes. You could also consider ‘set of values’ to embrace economic, social, i.e. reputation, moral, and personal. The Renaissance was a period, which licensed the?concern with the individual facing society, god, the universe and everything, alone. 3 Sort out how you think the question may best be responded to.