ENG 110 - Survey of British Literature 1

Spring 2002

Dr. Berglund

Paper No. 1, 750-1250 words, due 22 February.

Drafts may be submitted to berglul@bscmail.buffalostate.edu. I will send you my comments and suggestions within 48 hours. Your paper must follow format guidelines distributed in class and available online.

If you prefer, you may write on any study question that we did not exhaust in class discussion. Do not write on a topic that does not appear on this sheet or among the study questions.

Analyze the role of women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The topic may be limited to one of the following:

· the "marginal" conflict between Guinevere and Morgan le Fay and its effect on the plot

· the relationship of the Lady to her husband

· the poem's attitude toward female sexuality

· possible motives for Gawain's anti-feminist speech at the end of the poem

· the respective functions of all three women

· the poet's view of the place of women in his society.

Compare Sir Gawain to the knight in the "Wife of Bath's Tale." How are their quests and/or their relations to women, similar or different? What do their stories tell us about male/female relations, or the courtly love tradition, or marriage? Make sure your paper goes beyond a summary of points of resemblance or contrast between the two men.

Write a detailed analysis of a character, or pair of characters, from the "General Prologue." Be sure to construct an argument about--not just a description of--Chaucer's characterization of his pilgrim. Consult the list of suggestions for analyzing Chaucer's characters that I handed out with the study questions. You must go well beyond points made in class if you choose a character we discussed.

Evaluate the degree to which you think the Wife of Bath has escaped or succumbed to the gender expectations of her society.