Not original enough?

[Shannon]

So today I went to see my EE mentor to borrow a copy of a King Lear, and I told him about my idea for my EE. He said it was a good topic, but coming up with an argument about it that's actually original is going to be difficult. I'm not sure how to come up with something original for what I wanted to write about, though!

So I was wondering if you all could look at my possible argument idea and let me know if it's okay or how I can make it more original.

My idea was to talk about how the "wise fools" in Shakespeare's plays (particularly in Twlefth Night and King Lear) are the most lucid characters in the play. And then maybe about how they let the other characters know what's really going on or what that character is really feeling. Basically I wanted to say that they are the most aware of what's going on or of the "big picture" of the play.

How can I make this more original? Am I supposed to make it narrower? Any advice/help is appreciated.

[deissi]

To be honest, if it's got anything to do with Shakespeare, it's not going to be original. Don't let that put you down though, it just means that you'll have to be twice as convincing; the examiner has to see that you've really done the work and not just found a great book that has the same insight as your essay. Shakespeare's plays in general is far too broad a topic to succeed. Preferably you should just stick to one book but if you really want to, you can compare and contrast two. You don't seem to have a refined research question yet (that's perfectly okay), but it seems like what you're going for might be a bit narrative. What will you analyze about the characters?

[Shannon]

To be honest, if it's got anything to do with Shakespeare, it's not going to be original. Don't let that put you down though, it just means that you'll have to be twice as convincing; the examiner has to see that you've really done the work and not just found a great book that has the same insight as your essay. Shakespeare's plays in general is far too broad a topic to succeed. Preferably you should just stick to one book but if you really want to, you can compare and contrast two. You don't seem to have a refined research question yet (that's perfectly okay), but it seems like what you're going for might be a bit narrative. What will you analyze about the characters?

I'm not really sure yet; like you said I haven't really decided on a research question yet. And after reading your reply I'm not really sure if my idea is going in the right direction for an EE.

[idIB]

This is quite interesting, because my friend recently submitted her EE on exactly the same topic (The Role of the Fool) only she compared King Lear, As you Like It and Twelfth Night. I'm not sure if she used your arguments exactly, but they were probably similar, which seems to indicate its a topic that been done...multiple times.

However, if you really want to do this topic (analyse the fools), I think you should say what you already came up with, but maybe fit in there somewhere that Twelfth Night is a COMEDY whereas King Lear is a TRAGEDY, and how that changes or emphasizes your thesis. This would be an EE that you could use some secondary sources for, since you get marks for it (I didn't realise this until too late...heheh), but be very careful not to plagarize.