Posted: June 1st, 2022

Representations of Women in Plato’s The Republic and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth

Essay #1: Comparative Literature 1
Essay #1 [Comparative Literature] Proposal: uploaded as a Word attachment[PDF is acceptable but with
minor deductions for the header and space/size/font]. You need at least a C+ on this essay to maintain
your top grade in the class. Of course, getting higher is always expected. You must choose one of the
following quotes for your theory quote that fits in your category. This is a 4-paragraph essay with W.C.
page! You will be using 2 primary Moodle, Canvas, or Blackboard discussions- related texts! That means
two formatted quotes will be in EACH of your body paragraphs!
1
st step: analytical thinking involves relating directly and/or indirectly two seemingly unlike ideas or items; find
the comparative relation among the texts: the common denominator. You then take it to the next level by
developing premise/theory on the texts. This course community will be exploring Mapping movements and
migration through contemporary social issues.
1. You should ALWAYS write your sentences in PRESENT tense unless you have a past indicator, such as
a past date/ time and/or words like yesterday, last, once, etc. This is only momentary for the sentence,
then you go back to present tense.
2. You should NEVER announce within an academic paper, which means using personal 1st and 2nd
pronouns.
2
nd step: In a 4-paragraph essay please develop a thesis, relating and finding 1-3 common denominator(s) amongst
the texts given in Phase I and follow through by developing body paragraphs and conclusion.
Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
Person (gender) Subject Object
Dependent
possessive
(determiner)
Independent
possessive Reflexive
Singular
First I me my mine myself
Second you your yours yourself
Second
(poetic/dialect) thou thee thy thine thyself
Third
Masculine he him his himself
Feminine she her hers herself
Neuter it its itself
Epicene they them their theirs themself
Plural
First we us our ours ourselves
Second you your yours yourselves
Third they them their theirs themselves
Essay #1: Comparative Literature 2
1. Please read all involved texts, then choose the appropriate ones for your paper.
2. Please complete the related discussions to the texts. If you do not get a 2 or higher on the discussion,
you cannot use it for your essay body paragraphs without permission from the professor.
3. Decide on your TWO text related discussion choices.
4. The two discussion choices are your body paragraphs for this essay. Remember that you must edit and
revise development.
5. You MUST color code ALL paragraphs or lose retrograde!
6. For the introductory theory quote, choose the one that you applied to the discussion paragraph. If you
applied more than 1 formulation for the discussion(s), your theory quote must be the fourth formulations.
The reader will know what formulation you are applying through your responses to the quoted text.
7. Michel Foucault’s theory quote that ALL students MUST use in their intro 3rd section: “…in a
society such as ours…there are manifold relations of power that permeate, characterize and
constitute the social body, and these relations of power cannot themselves be established,
consolidated nor implemented without the production, accumulation, circulation and functioning of
a discourse” (93).
Academic MLA rules and academic format to follow:
3
rd step: The reader response- 4- paragraph essay should be structured in the following way:
I. This is standard; there are developmental 5 sections to the intro that any academic theory essay should have.
A. Establish Topic sentence (aka. “grabbing the reader’s attention”)- say something about women with
ONE sentence.
B. Establish brief synopsis of primary text (3-6 sentences of summary…if you do more, you risk
retelling the text narrative); you should mention the authors and the “titles” of the texts, regardless
if it is textual or multimedia. This is where you set up the situation. You MUST include sprinkles of
opinion based on the given texts focused on within this section. Note: ALL titles are “Double quoted”
within academic paragraphs, except for actual books. Book titles MUST be italicized.
C. Establish the transitional common denominator between texts, which in this case is the Foucault
theory quote: “…in a society such as ours…there are manifold relations of power that permeate,
characterize and constitute the social body, and these relations of power cannot themselves be
established, consolidated nor implemented without the production, accumulation, circulation and
functioning of a discourse” (93). This can be discovered using ONE of the 3 standard ways [no more
than 49 words, create a signal phrase, AND directly quote]:
1. establish a definition from a reliable dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia. [our class is
using this!]
2. Establish a famous quote from a famous person
3. Establish any quote that has pertinence to your expository paper [least academic!
More popular in speeches and technical writing]
D. Establish standard three sentence opinionated response to quote [without announcing, what is your
opinion on the quote? Why is this crucial to the text(s) you are applying it to? How does it contribute to the
larger conversation within your course community?]
E. Establish a thesis statement- it is a sentence that covers the scope of your essay. [WITHOUT
ANNOUNCING, Connect the subject [text or character(s)] to the idea [theory] in order to address what will
be accomplished within this essay.]
II. Body #1 and #2 [Prove from primary texts]- This is standard; there are developmental 5
sections to the Body that any academic theory essay should have. Plus, you integrate 3 extra sections
to prove secondary quote integration.
A. Subtopic [one sentence]
B. Main Lead-in [two sentences- one facts [what is being discussed or talked about right
before the quote or where the quote resides (the moment); one opinion on the factual
sentence]
C. Main quote [no more than 49 words]. BLOCKING is forbidden in Professor Singleton’s
Composition I class.
D. Analyze, using AT LEAST 3+ sentences of opinion by explaining and educating your
readers what the author meant by the quote, NOT entertaining or attempting to persuade
Essay #1: Comparative Literature 3
them. You can and should show if you agree/disagree and/or what should/ should not have
been mentioned with the quoted material.
Secondary quote integration can only logically occur AFTER any subtopic/sub-thesis or AFTER
any response within the body paragraph. Secondary quote integration has the same rules as the
main quote, except:
1. 1 sentence secondary lead [one factual sentence [what is being discussed or talked
about right before the quote or where the quote resides (the moment)
2. Secondary quote [no more than 49 words]. BLOCKING is forbidden in Professor
Singleton’s Composition I class.
3. Analyze, using ONLY ONE sentence of opinion by explaining and educating your readers what the
author meant by the quote, NOT entertaining or attempting to persuade them. You can and should
show if you agree/disagree and/or what should/ should not have been mentioned with the quoted
material.
E. Referential Statement: Leave your opinion on the quoted person and/or the situation
within the paragraph quote/moment(s). Find a common denominator between the two
persons/situation(s). DO NOT ANNOUNCE.
There are 4 standard ways to quote prose. It is determined where you put the signal phrase:
• Signal BEFORE: Goldberg contends, “… whereas righteous behavior has shaped every society since
the beginning of the world, at the same time, few societies have been peaceful. Fear, hatred, and
cruelty have pervaded the corridors of most societies” (270).
• NO signal: “… whereas righteous behavior has shaped every society since the beginning of the world,
at the same time, few societies have been peaceful. Fear, hatred, and cruelty have pervaded the
corridors of most societies” (270).
• Signal splitting quote: “… whereas righteous behavior has shaped every society since the beginning of
the world, at the same time, few societies have been peaceful,” Goldberg contends, “Fear, hatred, and
cruelty have pervaded the corridors of most societies” (270).
• Signal AFTER:“… whereas righteous behavior has shaped every society since the beginning of the
world, at the same time, few societies have been peaceful. Fear, hatred, and cruelty have pervaded the
corridors of most societies,” Goldberg contends (270).
III. Conclusion – reflecting on your previous paragraphs [3 sections]
A. Thesis revisit sentence (aka. “conclusive topic”)- it must be a critical (opinionated)statement about your
topic. Make sure it connects back to the premise of the thesis.
B. revisits your initial thematic opinion- introduction topic
C. leaves the reader with thoughts on your expository presentation. You then Leave the reader with
something to think about; choose to do one or both of:
1. Recommendation- give the reader or suggest that the writer or character solve a problem;
compare/contrast another piece of work or major idea with your argued master text
2. Express a major opinion on another theme…answer the “why” and “how” this theme deserves
analysis
4
th step: Create a Works Cited page.
• Please apply the “Trinity” [ alphabetical order, starting with first letter; indent every line EXCEPT for
the first line for EACH source (needs a hanger for 2 lines or more, NOT extra spaces!); check date of
access for logic if it is an online source that needs one.
• Please choose sources absolutely needed for this essay; for this essay three sources ONLY is needed: [ you should
ALWAYS have a thesaurus/dictionary, theory only if you are writing argumentative, and the related text(s) you are
analyzing ONLY.]
• There should ALWAYS be something italicized within a source for MLA.
• There should always be a period at the end of EVERYsource unless it ends in a link. You can put a period after a
link; I always do!
Essay #1: Comparative Literature 4
Works Cited
1. Plato. The Republic. Dover Publications. 2000.
2. Melville, Herman. Bartleby, the Scrivener. Penguin Classics. 2016.
3. Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. Dover. 2002.
4. Chopin, Kate. “Désirée’s Baby.” Signet Classics. 1976.
5. “Chosen Word.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, An Encyclopædia Britannica Company, 2022,
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decency. Accessed 27 July 2019.
6. Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Pocket Books. 1985.
7. McCarthy, Cormac. No Country for Old Men. Vintage. 2006.
8. Singleton, Jhon. “The Peach Tree.” 40-49. An Ars Poetica: Finding Substance in the Narrative After? 1st
ed., S.C.: CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC.2018.
9. Atwood, Margaret. Happy Endings. Virago. 2001.
10. Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Little, Brown. 2001.
11. Foucault, Michel, and Colin Gordon. Power/knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-
1977. 1st American ed., Pantheon Books, 1980.
Check list:
a. Fact check your works cited page. Do you have three sources ONLY? Did you follow the trinity? If W.C.
stiff have the numbers, it is not correct. Did you remember to choose your unique word for your essay?
b. Fact-check your quote format. Does each body paragraph have two quotes? Do they show variation?
c. Did you use the tutoring tools to discover tense and announcing issues?
d. Do you clarify the difference between main versus secondary quoting
e. Is the color-coding accurate? If it mis not, the essay will not be retro gradable.
f. Please fact check
• quotation marks versus italics: all titles, emphasis words, emphasis phrases, and slang should be
double quoted, EXCEPT novels and books.
• Proper names- first letter capitalization is a MUST. Titles with articles [a ,an, the], prepositions [ for,
of, as, on, off, up, down, etc.], and coordinating conjunctions [for, and, nor, or, yet, so] should remain
lowercase AFTER the first word.
• Forbidden verbs for Professor Singleton’s class: say, state, explain, express, contend

Comparative Literature Essay #1: Representations of Women in Plato’s The Republic and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth
Plato’s The Republic and Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth both explore representations of women in their respective societies, though separated by millennia. In The Republic, Plato outlines his vision of an ideal state, discussing the role of women through Socrates and Glaucon (Plato, 2000). Wharton’s 1905 novel follows Lily Bart, a woman of the late Victorian era struggling within the rigid conventions of her social class (Wharton, 2002).
“No man would choose a wife who is his better in those things in virtue of which a man is better than a woman” (Plato, 2000, p. 80). This quote exemplifies Plato’s argument that women should remain in the domestic sphere rather than participate in politics or warfare, as they are naturally inferior to men. Lily Bart similarly faces constraints as a woman of leisure dependent on marriage to secure her financial future. As one character observes of Lily, “she had no reasonable wants, and so far she was…a more perfect friend than a mistress” yet “she had been brought up to be ornamental” (Wharton, 2002, p. 45-46).
“In a society such as ours…there are manifold relations of power that permeate, characterize and constitute the social body, and these relations of power cannot themselves be established, consolidated nor implemented without the production, accumulation, circulation and functioning of a discourse” (Foucault, 1980, p. 93). Foucault’s theory helps explain how the discourses of Plato’s time sought to establish women’s subordinate role, while Lily Bart struggles under the rigid gender norms of her era’s discourse. Both texts demonstrate how cultural discourses construct and maintain women’s identities and social positions.
A secondary quote in The House of Mirth further develops this point. Of Lily, one character muses: “It was a mistake to imagine that one must be interested in the social vagaries of every pretty woman one met” (Wharton, 2002, p. 58). This quote reinforces that Lily is primarily valued for her beauty and charm, rather than her intellect, within the dominant discourse of her society. Both The Republic and The House of Mirth depict how cultural norms shape expectations of women and constrain their autonomy.
In conclusion, while separated by history and genre, Plato’s The Republic and Wharton’s The House of Mirth both provide insightful perspectives into how cultural discourses represent and regulate women’s roles. Both texts illustrate Foucault’s theory regarding power’s relationship to discourse and its influence on social structures. Studying these diverse works in a comparative analysis offers modern readers broader understanding of enduring issues surrounding gender.
Works Cited
Foucault, Michel, and Colin Gordon. Power/knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. 1st American ed., Pantheon Books, 1980.

Plato. The Republic. Dover Publications, 2000.
Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. Dover, 2002.

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