One supremely revealing exercise is to analyze what a person--or in this case, a fictional main character--says about themselves. Any self-description, whether it's for an autobiography or a dating profile, is a form of argument. You the writer are attempting to convince the audience to accept or believe this self-representation that you are putting out there.
In this short passage, students will analyze the opening sentence of Robert Graves' I, Claudius, a historical novel told from the perspective of the Roman emperor Claudius. In his childhood, Claudius was undervalued due to his physical disability and speech impediment, but ironically those traits saved him: in the Game of Thrones world of ancient Rome, being underestimated can be a kind of political camouflage, and so it was with Claudius, who ultimately attained the position of Emperor. |
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PassageI, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus This-that-and-the-other (for I shall not trouble you yet with all my titles) who was once, and not so long ago either, known to my friends and relatives and associates as "Claudius the Idiot", or "That Claudius", or "Claudius the Stammerer", or "Clau-Clau-Claudius" or at best as "Poor Uncle Claudius", am now about to write this strange history of my life; starting from my earliest childhood and continuing year by year until I reach the fateful point of change where, some eight years ago, at the age of fifty-one, I suddenly found myself caught in what I may call the "golden predicament" from which I have never since become disentangled. |
QuestionsThe speaker (Claudius) immediately opens with a long list of his family names--Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus--but then undercuts the "name resumé" here with the phrase "this-that-and-the-other."
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Now it's time to put it all together. Using the information derived from this sentence, write a strong thesis statement including two DIFFERENT rhetorical strategies Claudius uses to present himself to the reader and make an inference about his reasons for doing so.
Format: In [TAG], Claudius' rhetorical strategy of [name one strategy] and [name a completely different strategy] both reveal the Roman emperor as not only ____ but also ___ a strategy that [speculate about his reasons or the effect it had]. Ultimately, [sum up your thoughts]. Example: Your Work Will Look Like ThisIn William Shakespeare's historical play Richard III, Richard of Gloucester's rhetorical strategy of bitterly admitting that he has been repeatedly rejected because of his appearance and frankly confessing to the audience that he intends to murder his brother to take the throne of England reveal the English king to be both self-aware and painfully self-hating--a strategy that creates a sense of uneasy sympathy in his audience, which Richard certainly intended. Ultimately, we pity Richard, but we fear his hate and rejection will end in destruction of himself and his kingdom,
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