- Choose TWO of the following texts for comparison:
The Duchess of Malfi
Paradise Lost
The Beggar's Opera
Consider a theme common to both texts. Make an argument that relates how certain formal elements function to develop that theme in the texts you have chosen. How do the elements you highlight contribute to the argument the texts are making about that theme? You may consider images, landscape descriptions, stage settings, stage properties, costumes, scene structure, character development, literary devices, and/or language and speech patterns, for example. (You will, of course, inevitably address aspects of plot as you answer this question, but that element should not be your specific focus.)
- Choose ONE poem from TWO of the poets for comparison from the collection of sonnets and metaphysical poetry on the syllabus by Sidney, Spenser, Shakespeare, Wroth, Milton, Donne, Herbert, and Marvell.
Consider a theme common to both texts. Make an argument that relates how certain formal elements function to develop that theme in the texts you've chosen. How do the elements you highlight contribute to the argument the poems' speakers are making about that theme? You may consider such elements as images, metaphors, conceits, sound, meter, and/or Petrarchan conventions/motifs, for example.
You may consider the following suggestions for theme if you wish for either question, but you are free to choose your own.
the faithful (and/or unfaithful) servant / service
ambition / pride
the unruly woman / female desire
money and marriage
social disruption / class distinctions
deception and illusion / seeming and being
crime and punishment / justice and revenge
sin and salvation
competing drives toward fruitfulness and ruin
love / sex / desire
writing / authorship
Sample Solution