Bryson Esplin Mr. Johansen ENG 101 1 February 2023 Rhetorical Analysis of Julie Petersen’s “Analysis Essay: Is Macbeth A Tragic Hero?” One true problem with writing posted to the internet is the inability to prove what, if anything, is true or credible. With common phrases such as “Don’t believe everything you read” and “Fake news,” it has become more important than ever to know what articles are reliable. One example of a source that claims to be trustworthy but is questionable at best is the website AskPetersen.com. Julie Petersen, who runs the website, claims to have everything to help readers “write a perfect essay” (Petersen, “Blog”). An example of one of Petersen’s “perfect” essays is called “Analysis Essay: Is Macbeth A Tragic Hero?” …show more content…
Yet Petersen is credited with such poorly written phrases, like “one of the most obscure and known characters” And. “This fact opens after when she blamed himself.” (Petersen, “Analysis”). Her essay is written erratically and thus is very difficult to read. Not only is her essay written poorly, but it does not even accomplish answering the question it was originally written to answer. Petersen’s “Analysis Essay: Is Macbeth a Tragic Hero?” melancholily ends with “ Is Macbeth a tragic hero? I cannot say for sure” (Petersen, Analysis). Her credibility is certainly put into question, not only as an English essay consultant but also as a graduate of Stanford. On her website About Page, Petersen claims to have a bachelor’s degree in “Arts”, which she earned in 2010, as well as being a teacher and private tutor. All these credentials would make her quite the formidable author, but Petersen’s essays have proven she is anything but. While none of her essays are shockingly bad, they’re certainly unbecoming of someone with her credits. One particularly interesting piece of evidence was her vagueness about her degree, simply putting that her degree was in “Arts” and nothing more (Petersen, “About”). She didn’t say Bachelor of Arts in English, or anything similar, simply opting to remain vague. This, mixed with the quality of her essays, makes it seem more than likely that she is