Critical lens essay is a piece of writing in which the author agrees or disagrees with a given quotation from a piece of literature. This type of assignment is common for both high school, college, and university students. Critical lens essay is the one that requires your personal opinion; the author should give a critical analysis of the quote supporting it with examples from two literary works.
This type of essay consists of the intro part, body and conclusion. The introduction should have the thesis that can interest the reader. The body usually consists of two paragraphs where you highlight and analyze the main points. The conclusion needs to summarise all the information above. If the conclusion is written correctly the reader would agree with the author’s arguments in the end.
Here are a couple of examples of critical lens essay for English regents.
Critical lens essay example 1
Throughout life, a person sets different goals. There is an intention behind every meaningful act, and the road to it requires different means to achieve the result. What is the relationship between purpose and means? Aldous Huxley’s quote that means determine the nature of the goal has been repeatedly proved by history. World wars, genocide, bloody revolutions were always covered with good intentions.
Literature has given us many examples of the fact that an immoral goal is exposed to the means to achieve it. Thus, in the novel Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky convincingly demonstrates how cruelly mistaken was the protagonist. He believed that great personalities with advancing progress are allowed to commit heinous crimes for good. Raskolnikov tests the theory, having committed the murder of a greedy old woman. Rodion did not benefit humanity, but only multiplied the evil of this world.
The true nature of the goal is determined through means in the story Gooseberries by Anton Chekhov. Nikolay long dreamed of his own estate with bushes of gooseberry. Not the most exalted goal, but nothing bad. Chimsh-Himalayan doggedly sought his way, using all available means. He didn’t know a thing even about his wife, because of what she died. Yes, a person has found happiness, but can there be a good goal for the sake of which the human life is ruined?
It is important for every goal to be checked by the means by which it can be achieved. If the road to the result passes through other people’s suffering, this may be a false goal.
Critical lens essay example 2
Blaise Pascal once said, “Public opinion rules people.” Most people who are not versed in some issue or do not have their own opinion on any account are guided by the opinion of the society. It is impossible not to agree with this because even in our time we can say that this is indeed true.
In the literature, the problem of interaction between man and society has been raised by writers for a very long time. Strangely enough, it is relevant to our time. In Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons, the main character of this novel, Yevgeny Bazarov, is a young student. His point of view differs from others. In the novel, we can often observe the conflicts of the younger generation with the old and the conflicts between man and society. The protagonist is opposed to public opinion, which rules the minds of people and does not allow the society to develop. From this novel, we conclude that sometimes it is necessary to resist public opinion in order to develop the society and not let it stand still.
As well, consider the work of Griboedov Woe from Wit. The protagonist of this play, Alexander Chatsky is opposed to public opinion. Alexander is not able to put up with the way the members of the society live. Unfortunately, the main character was defeated. But the reader understands that although Chatsky lost the battle, he did not lose the war.
Public opinion often creates a very negative impact on people. They lose their true goals and pursue false ones. Fortunately, there are always people who disagree with the majority opinion. They make society develop and not stand still.
Critical lens essay example 3
The man was not created to suffer defeat
Every person wants to live his life knowingly, although everyone understands it in his own way. Millions of roads lie before us. It is difficult to determine which to go, what to devote your time and strength. It seems that each person has his own mission, for we are all different, unique. But there is something that unites us all. We all want to be winners, to achieve success. The man was not created to suffer defeat.
The old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway show the story of the old fisherman Santiago, a poor, lonely man. Santiago has to struggle for a long time with the huge fish that got to him on the hook. This struggle is the main idea of the story. It is when we see Santiago in all the majesty of his simple soul. The man was not created in order to suffer defeat: a man can be destroyed, but not defeated.
Another example is Love of Life. In his story, Jack London shows us what a strong will can a man have. The protagonist overcomes difficulties and makes impossible: survive in the wilderness. He becomes a symbol of victory. Neither exhaustion nor freezing cold of the White Desert didn’t manage to defeat him.
Life is always unpredictable and prepares us many surprises, both pleasant and not. Go through all the trials with dignity and not to give up is the true vocation of a man.
Critical lens essay example 4
Only the one who is daily struggling for freedom deserves it
Everyone is in constant struggle for life. There are unexpected and unforeseen situations in which a person has to prove that he is really interested in life. If the person at any time stops struggling, it means that he does not really want to get something. The struggle for life is the existence of goals and aspirations, the desire to live with dignity and quality.
Goethe shows us such struggle in his Faust. The real victory of Faust over Mephistopheles and the pledge of his final salvation is in the infinity of this stopped moment, in fact, moves, the business he has conceived, that goes beyond the single human life, continues in the labour and struggle of future generations.
The image of Martin Eden is a man who grew up in poverty, among people at the very bottom of the social ladder. Not wanting to put up with his position, Martin passionately strives to get out upward, and this is not so much the material interests and ambition of a young man but his desire for knowledge, culture. Jack London shows us a real struggle and persistence.
When a person is mentally broken and weak, it becomes difficult for him to live, there is no strength to go further and fight for something. It is very important to educate yourself in strong qualities that will help to overcome all gravity in certain moments. Undoubtedly, it is necessary to fight for life, because it has so many interesting and fascinating things.
