Research Paper Prompts
Your final essay this semester will be a thoughtfully developed and carefully argued analytical research paper on William Shakespeare’s King Lear(or fiction: see “topics”). This will be your opportunity to learn how to write a more extended, complex argument about a literary text and back up that argument with substantial evidence from both the text itself and from thorough research into existing literary criticism and conversations about the text. This paper will demonstrate close reading skills and the appropriate use of evidence from literary texts. It will also show your ability to create a clear thesis statement, and your ability to incorporate and engage scholarly critical sources as part of a well-organized, thesis-driven argument.
Requirements- Times New Roman or equivalent font, size 12, double-spaced- Paper must analyze the primary text and include at least two critical sources- Paper must contain at least six quotations, some from scholarly essays, some from the primary text, properly embedded and cited in MLA format
StagesThis paper is designed to be done in stages. Handing in a 1st draft when 2nd draft is due is not an option. Not doing the annotated bibliography is not an option. Not doing 2 drafts is not an option. If you try to bypass any of the requirements, I will mark the paper down.
1. Write an introductory paragraph and a working thesis question that clearly sets out the analytical question you intend to explore in your research paper and outlines how you will do so.2. Write an annotated bibliography(See Purdue OWL for formatting guidelines: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/03/ )a. Include at least TWO critical sources.i. For each source, include several paragraphs in which you summarize the source, its main ideas, and describe how the source will contribute to your paper, referring to examples and quotes from the source.ii. ONE of your sources may be (but do not have to be) sources from your Norton copy of King Lear.iii. The other source should be a journal article that you find yourself by using a database or other library resource.3. Write your paper. Your Works Cited list may include the same three sources in your annotated bibliography or may be different. It depends where your argument takes you and if you require new sources as your research develops.You should also include at least one quote from each source in your paper, including one quote that you disagree with; you must argue against this statement by providing sufficient logic, analysis, and textual evidence from King Lear.
There are no rewrites for this assignment.
Topics1. How do ideas about “nature” and what is “natural” affect the dynamics between the characters in this play? What kinds of relationships between nature and family are assumed by various characters, and how do these differing assumptions create conflict? How are these assumptions related to the cultural context of the Early Modern / Renaissance period in England? Was a parent responsible for his child’s actions? What kinds of responsibility was a patriarch like Lear expected to have in relation to his subjects/citizens/family, and vice versa?2. Lear says “I am a man more sinned against than sinning.” Do you agree with this statement? Do you feel sympathetic with the play’s central premise, as a tragedy, that it supposedly inspires pity and fear to see everything get stripped away from Lear, or do you think most of the bad things that happen to Lear are the result of decisions he made? Why or why not?3. King Lear was adapted by Shakespeare from the story of an earlier play titled King Leir that had a happy ending. How and why do Shakespeare’s alterations to the play make it into a tragedy? How and why does the ending of the play change? How and why does the introduction of the characters Edgar, Edmund, and Gloucester create a counterpoint to the situation between Lear and his daughters? Choose an important change that Shakespeare’s introduced into the play and argue a reason for that change.4. Revisit a commonly accepted critical interpretation of this play out there in existing scholarly conversation, and make an argument in which you attempt to prove it wrong with counterevidence.5. What is this play’s attitude toward women? What is the relationship between the “good” and “bad” female characters in this play? Which women have agency and which ones are depicted as victims? Where does the play attempt to specifically give us insight into any particular female character’s point of view, and why? How does this play depict motherhood? How does the way this play depicts women affect the central themes in the play, as a tragedy?6. Choose one character in this play, and look at how they use language. What kind of metaphors do they use and why? What function does the character play in the larger structure and meaning of the play?7. You may also propose an alternate topic of your choice. This includes revisiting the short stories we read earlier in the semester.If you choose to go this route, I have to approve your topic before you can get started, so you’ll need to email me your proposal over the break.