Do you agree?

Of course not. You could probably cite many reasons why you’re NOT an idiot.

Treat the critical essay as something you don’t agree with.

Think of yourself like a lawyer. You HAVE to disagree with the critical essay.

Rip it apart. Criticize every point.

Except in reality you can be more nuanced than I’ve layed your task out here.

You can agree with some points, disagree with others.

I think the point of this essay is for YOU to think for yourself, and not just to accept what someone else has said. Think fresh.

Personally I can’t imagine agree with anyone for long. This would be just the sort of juicy assignment I’d love.

Should be easy for you. Unless you’re what I humorously said you were–an idiot!

I want nothing more than for you to prove me wrong

Without knowing the work in question, I would suggest you first take inventory of the ideas presented in the critical essay–what points from the original work are being attacked or exalted, and how the argument is being made.

Once you have a list of specific points the critic has made, or tried to make. It should be easy to trace that author’s tone, and perhaps his/her motive for the argument made in the criticism.

It may be necessary, or at least helpful, to familiarize yourself with the original work in question before making judgments about whether the critic’s arguments are valid.

It’s okay to agree with some points and disagree with others, but in your writing you need to explain why you agree or disagree. Judging validity can be a bit tricky, but one guideline might be to examine whether the critic cites evidence from the original work to back support his/ her argument, as opposed to simply spouting opinion, as often happens.

A critic for Rolling Stone once panned a Bob Dylan album, not necessarily based on the album’s content, but because, in his opinion, Dylan was “not as good as he was in the ’60s.” While the critic’s opinion was arguably true, it was not a valid assessment of the album, because it did not offer point specific reference to the content of the album. Make sense?

Hope this helps.