J.More(LIT) - This essay should be a 650-900 word essay - The essay should be in MLA essay format - Analytical essays should be focused on making a debatable claim about the work in question; creative essays should be focused on presenting a work or kind of work from a different angle. Informational essays or essays consisting of summary are not appropriate for either type of essay. Both types of essay should be supported with discussion of specific passages from the text(s) on which the essay is focused. Choose 1 of the following topics from Analytical categories. For the analytical choices, be sure to write a thesis-driven essay in response to the topic. Analytical Choices - Who Painted the Lion? Chaucer's Wife of Bath, as she describes her own life and marriages in her prologue, points out the problem that stories about women seem to have been mostly written by men: `Who painted first the lion, tell me who?` (Chaucer 816). Many of these, she opines, are negative, and the implication is that it would be different if women were writing the stories themselves. Choose 1 female character from the tales (not the prologues) in The Canterbury Tales or from any of our other earlier readings, and make a claim about whether this female figure is positive, negative, or neutral. Use only passages from the story itself (and, if you're writing on a part of The Canterbury Tales, the tale-teller's prologue) to support your position. - The Return of Greek Mythology: The setting of The Knight's Tale is ancient Greece, and it may be tempting to compare this story to The Iliad. Think back to our Week 2 reading and compare the heroic ideals depicted in The Iliad with the heroic ideals depicted in The Knight's Tale. Can we read The Knight's Tale as being a direct reflection of the heroic ideals we find in The Iliad? Why or why not? - Ruling Well in the Real World: Choose one leader from US history and evaluate him or her in terms of EITHER Machiavelli's model of an ideal prince OR Confucius' model of a good leader. Support your thesis with quotations of and references to specific passages from the chosen author's work and with specific details from these politicians' careers. Some minor historical research is allowed for this topic. - Good Rulers in Fictional Works: Choose one leader or character from our earlier assigned readings (from Weeks 2-5) and evaluate him or her in terms of EITHER Machiavelli's model of an ideal prince OR Confucius' model of a good leader. Support your thesis with quotations of and references to specific passages from the two chosen works. - Judging Other Tales: Choose one important character any one of the works assigned in Weeks 2-5 (choose a single tale if using a work from Weeks 4 or 5), and evaluate him or her using the moral structures set up by Dante in our reading from The Inferno. Leaving aside the character's religion (which would automatically relegate some characters at least to Limbo), would this character be hell-worthy in Dante's view? Why or why not?

J.More(LIT)

- This essay should be a 650-900 word essay
- The essay should be in MLA essay format
- Analytical essays should be focused on making a debatable claim about the work in question; creative essays should be focused on presenting a work or kind of work from a different angle. Informational essays or essays consisting of summary are not appropriate for either type of essay. Both types of essay should be supported with discussion of specific passages from the text(s) on which the essay is focused.

Choose 1 of the following topics from Analytical categories. For the analytical choices, be sure to write a thesis-driven essay in response to the topic.

Analytical Choices

- Who Painted the Lion? Chaucer's Wife of Bath, as she describes her own life and marriages in her prologue, points out the problem that stories about women seem to have been mostly written by men: `Who painted first the lion, tell me who?` (Chaucer 816). Many of these, she opines, are negative, and the implication is that it would be different if women were writing the stories themselves. Choose 1 female character from the tales (not the prologues) in The Canterbury Tales or from any of our other earlier readings, and make a claim about whether this female figure is positive, negative, or neutral. Use only passages from the story itself (and, if you're writing on a part of The Canterbury Tales, the tale-teller's prologue) to support your position.

- The Return of Greek Mythology: The setting of The Knight's Tale is ancient Greece, and it may be tempting to compare this story to The Iliad. Think back to our Week 2 reading and compare the heroic ideals depicted in The Iliad with the heroic ideals depicted in The Knight's Tale. Can we read The Knight's Tale as being a direct reflection of the heroic ideals we find in The Iliad? Why or why not?

- Ruling Well in the Real World: Choose one leader from US history and evaluate him or her in terms of EITHER Machiavelli's model of an ideal prince OR Confucius' model of a good leader. Support your thesis with quotations of and references to specific passages from the chosen author's work and with specific details from these politicians' careers. Some minor historical research is allowed for this topic.

- Good Rulers in Fictional Works: Choose one leader or character from our earlier assigned readings (from Weeks 2-5) and evaluate him or her in terms of EITHER Machiavelli's model of an ideal prince OR Confucius' model of a good leader. Support your thesis with quotations of and references to specific passages from the two chosen works.

- Judging Other Tales: Choose one important character any one of the works assigned in Weeks 2-5 (choose a single tale if using a work from Weeks 4 or 5), and evaluate him or her using the moral structures set up by Dante in our reading from The Inferno. Leaving aside the character's religion (which would automatically relegate some characters at least to Limbo), would this character be hell-worthy in Dante's view? Why or why not?