English Literature Assignment | Essay Help Services

Essay question 2 (20 pts.) Choose one of the following three questions and write a short essay response. These responses should be well developed and should quote directly from the texts at hand. 1. Consider how death was portrayed in the texts we encountered in the second half of the class. Compare and contrast this concept, referring specifically to at least two of the texts we read. Come to a conclusion about how these British writers understood and thought about death. 2. In the first half of the semester, the “heroes” of the texts we read fit into fairly conventional standards for what a heroic individual is like (think Beowulf and Sir Gawain). The texts from the second half of the semester, however, seem to lack clearly-defined main heroes. Are there any heroic characters in King Lear and Oroonoko? Which ones? In what ways are they heroic? And in what ways in their heroism rewarded? What can we take away from this analysis about 16th and 17th century ideas of “the hero”? 3. In the late medieval period through the 17th century, English civilization was confronted with a number of powerful discoveries (scientific, political, societal, geographical, etc.). Drawing upon at least two of the texts we read in the second half of the semester, explain how these dramatically new ways of thinking influenced (and/or were shaped by) literature.