Paper #1 Topics
(This paper should focus on one (1) work and be 3-4 pages in length. The work you discuss in this paper should be different from the works you focused on in your mid-term. If you feel you absolutely have to talk about Richard II or The Faerie Queene again, your discussion should focus on different aspects and passages of the work than you discussed in the mid-term. Your next paper (7-8 pp.) will revise and expand this paper. As part of the expansion process, the second paper will include discussion of another kind of primary work–one studied after the mid-term--and also include attention to two critical works. In both papers I seek attention to detail, a cohesive argument, and originality. Don't repeat class discussions! Think new thoughts.)

1. The expression, "A man's house is his castle" originated in the early modern period. Yes, it's true! Think about attitudes to and uses of structures or other demarcated spaces at this time in one work we have so far discussed in this course. Your discussion can include actual houses, abodes, or castles (such as Flint castle or the Tower of London in Richard II), but also any clearly defined spaces, including caves (I'm thinking of Error's den in The Faerie Queene), masque scenery (the mountain in Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue, for instance), or–in the second paper–harbors, ships, alehouses, etc.

2. Women. We've talked about representations of women in portraits of Elizabeth I and in Richard II. Think about how women are represented in The Faerie Queene (some women in this work: Una, Error, Duessa, Lucifera, and the trio in the House of Holiness: Fidelia, Speranza, and Charissa). Another work you might choose to consider instead is the masque Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue, specifically the "Revels" portion of the masque where the men dance with the women in the audience. If you choose to discuss women in The Faerie Queene, you may want to focus only on one or at most two women. Warning: avoid reductive equations when discussing this work, e.g., woman "x" = allegorical meaning "y." Develop your interpretation from close attention to the nuances of the language.

3. The Renaissance was fascinated with "trick" perspective: tromple l'oeil, anamorphosis, such as the skull in the Ambassadors portrait, and, of course, the sudden scene changes in the masque. What does the idea of the "trick" (the "marvellous," "magic," "wonder") tell us about the nature of these or other "tricky" representations? Focus on one work only.

4. What's all the fuss? It's just dirt isn't it? Or is it? Discuss attitudes to land in an early modern work that we have looked at so far in this course. As you think about this question, you might think about the different representations of and attitudes to land in the period as they bear upon such issues as property, gender, materiality, rule, nationhood, and subjectivity. (You need not discuss each of these issues: they are listed here to provoke thought.) Make sure you define your terms. If you did the "garden/Nature" question from the mid-term, don't do this question unless you have an entirely new argument to make and a new work upon which to focus.

5. Think about the representation of objects in a work we have so far discussed. What is the attitude to things in that work? What things are valued and what not? How are valuable objects represented, used, and invested with meaning? Are people in any way objects as well as subjects? Are objects in any way subjects as well as objects?

6. The Chain of Being universe, we have noted, works as a system of hierarchy and correspondence. Think more about the question of hierarchy in one work. What puts someone "on top" of the hierarchy? Is it a question of birth, virtue, or some other talent? How are those on the top acknowledged? Think for instance about the masque, Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue, which, like other masques, was written to celebrate the rule of James I. How does that masque celebrate his rule? Where in such acknowledgments/celebrations is there room for criticism and even a "fall" from the top?