Themes: male/female relationships
relationship of humans to God
the concept of revenge
views of death
use of satire
Works: Beowulf
Canterbury Tales
Much Ado About Nothing
Paradise Lost
Evelina
Gulliver's Travels
Oroonoko
Choose one of the themes above and, in a 1500-2000 word essay, discuss how this theme operates in at least one of the works listed. You may approach this essay from a number of directions. For example, you might foucs on a single relationship or a single work, or you might compare two authorsŐ treatment of the same idea. Possible topics might include:
A comparison of Donne's image of God with the God Milton creates in Paradise Lost.
SatanŐs thirst for revenge.
A comparison of Evelina and Beatrice.
Corrupt clergy in "Lycidas" and Chaucer's Pardoner.
Consider the works to be your primary source. You should be able to back up all your major points with direct evidence from the texts of the works you write about. Rely on your own interpretation rather than secondary critical sources. You may, however, want to consult social histories, biographies and other background sources. For example, if you decide to write on Chaucer's treament of the clergy, you might want to consult a study of ecclesiastical hierarchy in the Middle Ages. If you decide to consult biographies of the authors, take care in how you incorporate this material into your essay. Use the biographical material to support a thesis grounded in evidence in the works, rather than constructing your thesis around the biographical material. It is very difficult, for instance, to rove that Fanny Burney is Evelina. However, consulting biographies, diaries and letters of Burney can provide you with background information and a sense of BurneyŐs attitude toward her characters.