One of two topic The term essay will consist of a written composition of 2500-3000 words (not including quotations, footnotes, bibliography, and other scholarly apparatus). The topic should be of your own devising but should involve one of the following general approaches: Present a detailed analysis of one or more of the works that we have read in class, or another work by one of our authors, with a focus on literary/thematic features and/or connections to contemporary social issues. You could, for example, consider Menander’s relationship to tragedy, examine the ways in which Plautus deconstructs or explodes the sentimental romantic plots of Greek New Comedy, develop a study of Greek or Roman views of fatherhood, consider the treatment of women and/or marriage in ancient domestic comedy and/or romance, or simply examine the critical challenges presented by a particular work in greater detail than we can in class (e.g., Terence’s Brothers). or Compare a particular work or group of works that we have read with a novel, play, film, situation comedy, or animated comedy from the modern period.
Modern comedy
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You might, for example, consider similarities and differences in the treatment of a particular domestic issue (marriage, the raising of children, the relationship of father to son, the proper behavior of wives and daughters), study the influence of the ancient domestic comedy (or the romance) on Shakespeare, analyze similarities in the treatment of gendered roles in both ancient romance and the modern romantic novel/film, consider ways in which a novel by Jane Austen or one of the Brontë sisters employs devices similar to those found in ancient romance, or compare and contrast features of the ancient romance with those of the modern action film (e.g., the Bond series: the nature of the plot and the audience’s engagement with the protagonists and villains; depiction of the hero and heroine; use of minor characters; engagement [or lack thereof] with exotic foreign cultures). Or you might step out of the Western tradition altogether and compare a modern comedy from another culture.
