AP Question-Based Essay 3, Sample A
 

Note: Write only about one text.

ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION

SECTION II

Total Time--2 hours

Question 3

(Suggested time--40 minutes.  This question counts one-third of the total essay section score.)

Morally ambiguous character—characters whose behavior discourages readers from identifying them as purely evil or purely good—are at the heart of many works of literature.  Choose a novel or play in which a morally ambiguous character plays a pivotal role.  Then write an essay in which you explain how the character can be viewed as morally ambiguous and why his or her moral ambiguity is significant to the work as a whole.  Avoid mere plot summary.