ENGL 217
Prof. G. Steinberg
Paper Assignments

Paper 1

For your first paper, read the play Oedipus the King in your anthology.  Choose one other ancient Greek work that we have read this semester and compare that work to Oedipus the King.  How does Oedipus the King reinforce or challenge our assumptions about ancient Greek culture as manifested in the Odyssey or the Oresteia or Medea or Lysistrata?

To answer this question, I recommend that you consider several other questions:

  1. How do the characters in Oedipus the King behave?  What are the consequences of their actions?  Are their actions heroic or foolhardy?
  2. What do the characters in Oedipus the King value?  Are their values portrayed as admirable or suspect?  Do their values seem to be criticized or honored in the play?
  3. What kind of world do they live in?  Is their world significantly different from ours?  In what ways?
  4. How does their world compare to that in the other ancient Greek work you've chosen?  How do their values and behavior compare to the values and behavior of the characters in the other text?
Do not answer all these questions in your paper.  Use these questions to help you to come to some conclusions about what we can learn from Oedipus the King about ancient Greek culture.  Then, argue a thesis about the play and what it teaches us.
Click here to go to the syllabus.
To e-mail me with a question or problem, click here.

Paper 2

For your second paper, compose a "lost canto" of Dante's Inferno.  Write as though you are Dante, and you are putting one of the following characters in hell:
 
Gilgamesh (from Gilgamesh),
Enkidu (from Gilgamesh),
Telémakhos (from the Odyssey),
Eurýlokhos (from the Odyssey),
Penelope (from the Odyssey),
Nausikaa (from the Odyssey),
Helen of Troy (from the Odyssey),
any of the suitors from the Odyssey,
Polyphêmos (from the Odyssey),
Kirke (from the Odyssey),
Phêmios (from the Odyssey),
Melánthios or Melántho (from the Odyssey),
Amphínomos (from the Odyssey),
Meneláos (from the Odyssey),
Eumaios (from the Odyssey),
Orestes (from the Oresteia),
Aegisthus (from the Oresteia),
Agamemnon (from the Oresteia),
any of the characters from the four fabliaux,
the queen in Lanval,
either knight or the lady in Laüstic,		 Kreon (from Medea),
Lysistrata (from Lysistrata),
Myrrhine (from Lysistrata),
Kinesias (from Lysistrata),
Pseudolus (from Pseudolus),
Calidorus (from Pseudolus),
Ballio (from Pseudolus),
Simo (from Pseudolus),
Phoenicium (from Pseudolus),
Creusa (from the Aeneid),
Anchises (from the Aeneid),
Daphne (from the Metamorphoses),
Io (from the Metamorphoses),
Europa (from the Metamorphoses),
Iphis and/or Ianthe (from the Metamorphoses),
Pygmalion (from the Metamorphoses),
Adonis (from the Metamorphoses),
Marsilion (from the Song of Roland),
Turpin (from the Song of Roland), or
Blancandrin (from the Song of Roland)

You may choose another character not on this list, but if you do so, I recommend that you clear your choice with me first.

Think very carefully about what circle of Dante's hell you would like to put your character in and what contrapasso you want to impose on your character as punishment.  If you wish, you may create your own circle of hell or your own special place within one of Dante's circles.

Compose your "lost canto" with the style and structure of Dante's poem (although you may write in prose rather than in verse if you wish).  This paper assignment challenges you to show me that you understand the logic, style, and structure of Dante's poem as well as the fundamental logic of the character you have chosen to put in Dante's hell (as manifested in the work from which that character originally came).  Your paper will be evaluated in terms of how well it imitates Dante's poem, how well it understands the character that it is putting into Dante's hell, and how creative it is in assigning a contrapasso that fits the character's truest self.

Click here to go to the syllabus.
To e-mail me with a question or problem, click here.