ABSTRACT
Experienced readers and writers take the time to assess a rhetorical situation—including the audience, occasion, purpose, and genre—whenever they encounter a new context of communication. In its most immediate, cut-to-the-quick sense, assessing a rhetorical situation means finding the things people care about and are talking about. William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet gives students ample opportunities to examine the ways different characters approach daunting rhetorical situations. An additional strategy that can help students develop their ability to assess rhetorical situations is a PAPA Square Analysis. Using a PAPA Square Analysis with a literary work gives us some interesting options. Teaching students to recognize the constraints faced by literary characters in particular situations is a good way to prepare them to deal with constraints in their own writing. Reading and writing across contexts successfully demands a high level of self-efficacy.
