Assignment

The research paper should discuss a major character, theme, or issue in one or more literary works of any of the authors we are reading in the course (one of the required readings). The paper should be at least three pages long and should include at least one good secondary source. You may write your paper on any of the following authors: Sophocles, William Shakespeare, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, Henry D. Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Leo Tolstoy, Arthur Conan Doyle, William Faulkner, Anton Chekhov, Thurgood Marshall, Alice Walker, or Agatha Christie. The text of the literary work is the primary source. Secondary sources are essays, articles, or books written by scholars or literary critics about a particular literary work, or about several literary works, or about the author.

The following are possible topics for your paper:

1) the character of Antigone in "Antigone";

2) the character of Creon in "Antigone";

3) the importance of Tiresias in "Antigone";

4) the character and actions of Cardillac in Hoffmann's Mademoiselle de Scuderi"

5) the importance of Mademoiselle de Scuderi in Hoffmann's story;

5) the intelligence of the detective in E. A. Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue";

6) the idea of civil disobedience in Thoreau's essay;

7) the theme of creative difference and liberation in M. L. King's essay;

8) the character of Young Goodman Brown in Hawthorne's story;

9) Young Goodman Brown's experience in the forest;

10) the theme of good versus evil in Cinderella;

11) the power of love in one or more fairy tales;

12) the presence of a noble and generous character in one or more fairy tales;

13) the life (the personal and the professional life) of Ivan Ilyich in the story by Tolstoy;

14) the cleverness and intelligence of Sherlock Holmes in the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle;

15) the influence of law upon literature;

16) the influence of literature on the study of the law and on legal studies.

These are merely suggestions. You do not have to choose one of these. You may choose any topic (focussing on one of the required readings for the course) you wish for your research paper.