• Please note: You will not be allowed to use electronic devices for this essay.
  
  • You must print out and bring with you hard copies of the texts you wish to discuss in your essay.

Compare the characters of Gilgamesh, Sundiata, and Oedipus. Who is a good king? Who is a bad king? Are any of them somewhere in the middle? Explain in terms of their relationships with their subjects and with other kings or rulers or gods.

* Keep in mind the importance of Quote Incorporation, which can be described as a three-step process:
Introduce—Present Accurately—Explain

Here’s an example, using a quote from page 278 of Oedipus:

Oedipus describes the prophecy that frightened him: “‘I was fated to lie with my mother, / and show to daylight an accursed breed / which men would not endure'” (865-67). In addition to suggesting the importance of the gods, this prophecy does in fact foreshadow the fate of which Oedipus is afraid.

*Notice how I introduced the quote, presented and cited the quote accurately, then explained its significance.
I also used a slash (/) to designate a line break. You must do that with poems and plays (anything that has line numbers next to it). Also notice how I placed line numbers in parentheses rather than page number. Again, do this with poems and plays. With long poems, such as The Iliad, which has Book numbers, include them: (2.134-36). This quote would have come from Book 2, lines 134 to 136. Also use proper format with more than four lines of quoted material, whether prose or poetry: Indent,