ENGLISH 3310 SECOND ESSAY ASSIGNMENT FALL 2019

GRADY

Essays should be double-spaced with one-inch margins and 1700-2000 words long on one of the topics below. Be sure to refer as helpfully and specifically as possible to the texts upon which you're basing your argument--and be sure to have an argument or thesis. Your essay should have an original title, should not use the word "portray," and should not contain any sentence fragments. Essays are due to my inbox (fgrady@umsl.edu --not Canvas, please) on Friday, October 25. Check with me if you do not receive confirmation of receipt within a day.

1. Design your own topic, of suitable specificity and sophistication, about something that interests you in King Lear or the drama or poetry we’ve read. Consultation with the instructor (by 10/18) is required for those of you intending to use this option; talking with one another is highly recommended, too.

2. Discuss the relation of plot to subplot in Shakespeare's King Lear (i.e., Lear and his daughters/Gloucester and his sons).

· Some questions to you might ask as you work on generating an argument: How are the plots alike, and how are they different? What do the participants in one plot think about the participants in the other, and how do some characters play a part in both? How does the order of scenes in the play invite us to compare the two plots? What kind of knowledge (about character, relationships, family, the universe) does each plot produce?

3. “Put on what weary negligence you please,” says Goneril to Oswald in 1.3. She hopes that if he behaves in a surly way towards her father, it might provoke some incident that will give her an excuse to discipline Lear and his knights. Discuss the theatricality (or, if you like, the “meta-theatricality”) of King Lear—that is, the way that its characters seem constantly to be stage-managing events, either by acting in particular purposeful ways themselves or encouraging others to act with some ulterior purpose in mind.

4. Discuss the themes of hierarchy, order, obedience, legitimacy, and the natural order of things as treated King Lear.

· “Hierarchy, order, obedience, legitimacy, and the natural order of things" are of course all aspects of the same topic; they do not represent a list of topics to be dealt with in turn, one by one. You might begin to prepare for this essay by asking how characters of different classes—masters and servants—approach these issues. Does the play offer a straightforward way to think about hierarchies, or something more complicated? Are there characters whose views on hierarchy and order the play seems to endorse? Are there some whose ideas the play goes out of its way to frustrate or mock? Does the play take a linear approach to these matters (i.e., everything gets worse as things go along) or a more stop-and-start attitude?

5. Write an essay about the use of disguise and/or deception in King Lear, with a strong and clear thesis and liberal use of examples.

· Some questions to consider as you work on generating an argument: who deceives, and why? who disguises themselves, and why? what's the difference between deception used for good purposes, and deception used for ill? Or is there a difference? Is the play worried that there might not be one? How can we tell? Are there circumstances where deception or disguise is to be preferred to honesty and truth? What about the issue of self-deception—how does it arise, how is it treated, how is it resolved?

6. Write an essay about Shakespeare's use of animal imagery in King Lear.

· What (or who) gets compared to animals, and in what ways (flattering, insulting, deprecating, praising)? Is there a consistency of approach, or some variety? What is the overall effect of this imagery? (NOTE: a list of Shakespeare's uses of animal imagery is only the first step in writing on this topic.)

7. Pick several sonnets by different poets but with similar themes or conceits and discuss how different writers employ and experiment with the conventions of the sonnet form.

· You might focus on the notion of immortality through poetry; the impermanence of (physical) beauty; the naturalness and artlessness (or alternately the self-conscious complexity) of writing verse; the blazon or inventory of beauties; reason versus passion; divine versus earthly love; or any other theme you find employed by (ideally) three or more poets.

8. Discuss the theme of loyalty with reference to at least three works we’ve read this semester, from at least two different periods.

· Some questions to consider: loyalty to what, or to whom? Loyalty as an abstract quality, an ideal, or loyalty as adherence to one specific individual? Do different genres of writing embrace/depend upon/critique different kinds of loyalty? How do different genres/periods/texts represent the breakdown of loyalty, or punish (or threaten to punish) breaches of loyalty?

9. How do the writers of the English Renaissance that we have studied, Sidney and Shakespeare (and maybe Marlowe?), view human nature?

· Some questions: knowing what we do about humanism (via the Norton introductions, for example), are these writers fall in line with or diverge from those principles? What exactly is human nature in the first place—that is, what does one’s definition of it measure? Our potential to succeed, or to fail? Our tendencies toward sin and self-interest, or towards benevolence and loyalty, or towards abstract principles or ideals? What counts as evidence of a writer’s perspective on the topic: direct statements? The treatment of certain characters? Happy or tragic endings?