This is not a research essay but an exercise in close, vibrant, creative close r

This is not a research essay but an exercise in close, vibrant, creative close reading. As such, please do not undertake research except for readings that promote an understanding of historical context, genre, and general background. Please do not use ChatGpT.
Essay prompts:
Both “Othello” and “Benito Cereno” feature characters who are masters of manipulation (Iago, and Babo respectively). These characters have a close proximity to the writers who composed these works by virtue of the fact that they share the role of the shaper of the plots, almost as if each writer has embedded an image of the artist within the text.
Compare and contrast Iago to Babo, and discuss Shakespeare’s relation to Iago versus Melville’s relation to Babo. What similarities and differences obtain?

Grading criteria:
The specific criteria for evaluating essays and other writings include content, organization, sentence
structure, style, diction, and mechanics. The grade determination will be based on the following scale:
The characteristics of the “A” paper = 90-100
1. A significant central idea clearly defined and supported with concrete, relevant, and
imaginatively selected detail.
2. The research used is substantive, appropriately documented, sufficient to support the thesis,
and well integrated into the paper.
3. A clear, logical, purposeful organization of the whole, consistently and imaginatively carried
out; original and consistent attention to proportion, emphasis and completeness; coherent,
unified, and fully and effectively developed paragraphs; explicit and effective transitions.
4. Sentences skillfully constructed: unified, coherent, forceful, and effectively varied.
5. Distinctive diction: fresh, precise, economical, and idiomatic; individual words used with a
sure sense of their denotative and connotative values.
6. Clarity and effectiveness of expression promoted by consistent use of the standard grammar,
punctuation, spelling and other mechanical elements of writing; a sure sense of the effective
use of punctuation.
7. Acceptable manuscript form.