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Parallel Exam Task IV

Your Task:

Write a critical essay in which you discuss The Scarlet Letter from the particular perspective of the one of the statements that is provided for you in the Critical Lenses.  In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two works.  You may use scrap paper to plan your responses. 

            Critical Lenses:

“A person who studies revenge keeps his own wounds green.”

                                                                   --Francis Bacon

or

“What is bad?  All that proceeds from weakness.”

                                                                   --Friedrich Nietzsche

or

“One’s outward countenance is all too often a manifestation of inner turmoil.”

                                                                   --George Lohmann
 


Guidelines:

     Be sure to

·        Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis

·        Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it

·        Use The Scarlet Letter to support your opinion

·        Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze The Scarlet Letter

·        Avoid plot summary.  Instead, use specific references to appropriate literary elements (for example: theme, characterization, setting, point of view) to develop your analysis

·        Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner

·        Specify the title and author of the literature with which you are working

·        Follow the conventions of standard written English