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Write a lively 6-8 page argument about Radcliffe's The Italian. Make sure to connect to at least one specific passage of the other reading we've done (Shakespeare, Milton, Burke, Blake, or you could reach up to Byron's Lara if you'd like), as a way of proving your thesis. You may, additionally, bring in outside criticism to solidify or contrast your argument, but that's entirely optional. If you do cite outside work, make sure you provide full bibliographic reference.
All quotations (let's hope there are plenty) should be tied directly into your argument, and come festooned with page or line numbers.
By now you've written many of these essays, and you must be aware of the virtues of stating your thesis up front, proving your claim in a developing progression, and wrapping up with a conclusion that doesn't just repeat but charts now argumentative ground. I sometimes suggest to students who are struggling to come up with an original thesis the following formula: "It would seem that but actually and therefore." When students can't come up with a good conclusion, I urge them to state their thesis, the "therefore," and then ask themselves, "So what?"
By now, too, you're aware of what would make the heart of your readerand the grade of your papersink: the hesitation to take a clear, original position and defend it. In this regard I need only mention some ignominious demons: plot summary that is filling space, not proving a point; argument that is so timid and orthodox that nothing is really ventured; abstraction or artificially elevated language that is just trying to impress, not convince; analysis scampering around with no focus other than the possibility of two hours' sleep before dawn. Of the truly criminal, plagiarism, or the truly pathetic, margin/font manipulation, the less said the better.
To sum up the exhortation: when reading argumentative essays I want to be entertained, surprised, and convinced. All at once.
I urge you to strike out on lines wholly your own: if there's something that particularly intrigues, worries, or even annoys you about The Italian, you might well be on the way to an original, lively paper. If you're stuck, here are a few directions that occur to me