2125 Paper Topics

(These are for starters, to give you an idea of the kinds of topics I will suggest; I'll add more as the semester progresses; revised and corrected 10/23/05)

Your essay should be 5-8 double-spaced pages. Please e-mail your paper to me () as an attachment. If I have a problem with opening it, I will let you know. Please use an antivirus program (you won't want to suffer to consequences of sending me an infected document). Tech students can obtain this virus protection for free at http://antivirus.vt.edu/. You may turn your paper in anytime before the Nov. 30, midnight, deadline.

For poetry, you should refer to line numbers in documenting your citations. In the case of The Faerie Queene, the appropriate reference is, e.g., Faerie Queene, I.iv.12 (Book I, Canto IV, Verse 12). In writing about drama, one needs to cite the Act, scene, and line #’s: e.g. Henry IV, Part 1, I.ii.103.

Plagiarism is a violation of the Tech Honor Code and, more to the point, a violation of intellectual integrity. Such violations will be subject to the severest academic penalties. DON'T DO IT! If you don't understand what plagiarism is, be sure to visit the link at the head of this paragraph. If you still have questions, or have questions at anytime during the semester, ASK BEFORE YOU TURN IN YOUR WORK. If you can find something on the Web, so can I, and I can detect work that is not a student's own.

You should write on one of the following topics; if you have a burning desire to write on a topic other than the ones I suggest here, you should write a short proposal (thesis statement) of that topic and submit it to me by e-mail well in advance of the final deadline.

1. Examine the concept of virtue in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. To keep your essay within the prescribed page limit, you will want to restrict your examination to a single kind of virtue. For example, courtesy, fortitude (facing one’s fate bravely), leadership (what does it mean to be a good king, for example), and faithfulness (to God, king, comrade, ideals) all fall under the rubric of “virtue.” You may wish to cite negative as well as exemplary evidence. You might want to use this to talk about whether you think Beowulf or Gawain is the better hero.
   
   
2. On a slightly different tangent: in both works (you could also include Malory's Morte Darthur) we are presented with various types of codes, or norms of social behavior. These social codes are arguably the bases for social stability. In both works we see the consequences of the violation of these codes. You might attack this topic in any one of several ways. For example, how similar or different are the kinds of codes in each of the works (put another way: do Beowulf and Gawain live by the same rules)? How are the codes presented in the respective works (this asks you to examine narrative technique, for you will need to examine the ways in which the two authors make us aware of the the norms of social behavior in each of the works)? How does religion (Christian, pagan or other) function in the lives of our two heroes or in the social structures they inhabit? What, for example, is the relationship between drinking and the creation of compacts, or verbal oaths?
   
   
3. Compare the function of the "monsters" (the supernatural) in the Beowulf and Sir Gawain. Why are they there? How do they influence our understanding of the heroes?
   
   
4. Discuss the function(s) of illusion in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Faerie Queene. One "point of entry" for your thinking about this might be to think of "tests" in each work: who is on trial? why? who are the judges? who establishes the trials?
   
   
5. In what ways can Beowulf be likened to the modern-day "rap master"? First you must state what you believe the function of a rap master to be and then set about making the comparison. Again, of course, we are talking about the uses of language by persons of status, "centers" of their social universe.
   
   
6. Although there is a relative absence of women in Beowulf (including Beowulf's apparently remaining a bachelor), there are women with fairly significant functions in both Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The speeches of Wealhtheow at 1168 and 1216 are powerful statements about her concern for the well-being of her children and her people in general. There is also Grendel's mother. In Sir Gawain, Morgan le Fay would appear to be the most powerful of all the characters in the poem. Use this topic then to discuss the roles of women in the two works.
   
   
7. In Henry IV, Part 1 (III.ii.94ff.), the King tells Hal: "For all the world, / As thou art to this hour was Richard then / When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh; / And even as I was then is Percy now." Examine Henry’s comparison in light of what we know from having heard (read) the Prince’s thoughts about his role in his soliloquies and comments. Just before Henry's speech, for example, he vows to "Be more myself": what is Hal's sense of himself, and how do we know it?
   
   
8. In Henry IV, Part 1 (V.i.127-139), Falstaff "defines" the word "honor." Examine the meaning(s) of this term for any one (or at most two) of the characters in this play and compare/contrast its meaning there with one of the following: Beowulf, Sir Gawain, Faerie Queene, Bk. 1.
   
   
9. Shakespeare has emphasized the rivalry between Hal and Hotspur by portraying them as being of a similar age. In doing this, he draws our attention to the nature of the rivalry and to its outcome. Examine the basis for the rivalry between the two and comment on why it is Hal, and not Hotspur who eventually "wins." (Of course it "had" to happen this way because that’s what history tells us; but what reasons does Shakespeare offer beyond the historical?)
   
   
10. A more creative option: write about a "session" between one of the characters in the works we have read and their "shrink." Be clear about the problem the patient is seeking help for. The problem must be suggested by the material in the text: how are Beowulf and Gawain motivated by pride and what does this have to do with their sense of honor? does the Pardoner have a conscience, or how does he justify his actions to himself (is that justification the same he presents to his audience of pilgrims)? what about Henry’s envy of Northumberland’s son, Hotspur? why doesn't Hotspur sleep with his wife, Kate? what is Hal's relationship to Falstaff and/or his father, the king? Remember, you are working on the psychology of the character and analyzing that character's problems as a shrink / therapist would. Also possible: a group encounter session.
    
    
11. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2414-2438) Gawain vents his spleen on "Woman" and then claims the "love-lace" as a memento of his pride and frailty of flesh. Compare/contrast this speech (and its context) with Milton's representation of Adam and Eve and the origin of sin in Book 9 of Paradise Lost.
    
    
12. Much of Gulliver's Travels examines the relationship of reason to desire, perhaps illustrated most starkly in the relationship of the Houhyhnhnmns (horses endowed with reason) and their slaves, the Yahoos (their human-like slaves who are devoid of reason and live entirely according to the dictates of desire and instinct). We have read a number of works that examine the relationship of reason and desire (the irrational): The Pardoner's Tale (reason is that human faculty that ought to govern our passions and keep us from sin); Henry IV, Part One (in which, for example, Falstaff might be seen as a "lord of misrule," one who tempts Hal to indulge in irrational pursuits); Book 9 of Paradise Lost; The Faerie Queene, for example. Using the rational/irrational opposition as your "lens," examine way that tension is addressed in at least two of our (major) texts.