A comparative analysis takes two or more literary works and constructs an analysis to compare the factors they have in common, or how they confront an issue in differing ways. Any element can be compared, from characters’ personalities, to how they handled a situation, values, setting, the point of view taken for a theme or its general mood. Even representations of a certain time period may vary from writer to writer, depending on the social class they put into focus.

You may want to compare a male author’s work with a female author’s work from the same time period, and see how they vary. Do they include the same issues, are they the same genre, or even overlapping in mood?

Similarly, you can compare two works from different nations, originally written in different languages, and see if they overlap in issues and historical events. Are they two nations writing about opposing sides of the same war, or the views of a country at war and another as its ally?

A last idea here is taking two works from the same author and comparing them. Sometimes authors undergo big changes during their lives and careers, and it is interesting to see the changes present in their works. Other times it is interesting just to see the ongoing vision of an author, and the reoccurring elements present throughout their writing.

Remember, to be able to compare various works, you must first analyse each one separately. Once you understand a literary work by itself, you can then find elements to compare between them.

Then when writing, the essay must go intertextually back and forth between the different works, not listing all factors from one book and then the second book. You should name one idea, and then any works you have a relevant comment for, must be listed there and then. Remember, if you do include three or more works, not every single one has to be mentioned for each idea, if it has no relevance there, then simply do not mention it.

Remember, each paragraph should be roughly the same length, don’t give one idea a lot more attention than the others. And, it is always good practice to go from more general ideas to more specific.

Emphasise your examples using quotes from the work.

In general, it is not required to give your own opinion on which way you think is best or why you think these differences exist, unless your teacher has instructed you to do so.

In the conclusion, you should pull together the main ideas and draw a conclusion on whichever element to were trying to contrast. For example, if you are comparing two different nations’ approach to writing about the same war, was one more humanistic, did they both focus more on the war strategy side? What conclusions can you assign to each author and their approach?