English 434
Dr. Desmet
Spring 1997

Suggested Topics for Short Paper

1. Analyze more fully one of the topics we addressed in the discussion group: from a theological and/or psychological perspective--and these are two different things--argue the position that Faustus is damned from the moment that he signs the pact with Lucifer and that he cannot be saved at any moment in the play from that point onward. (You'll also have to consider if you want to focus on the A or B text to make your argument.)

2. Focusing on one of the important strands of difference between the A and B texts of Doctor Faustus, such as the role of magic, the symbolic importance of comedy, the construction of Mephistopheles and evil as a powerful active force, the anti-catholic sentiment, or the role of grace and availability of salvation, discuss how these changes affect the characterization of Faustus and his spiritual dilemma.

3. Analyze Doctor Faustus as a Renaissance variation on the medieval morality play Everyman. How does its form and message conform to and depart from the medieval pattern?

4. Putting on your most severe medieval preacher's hat, analyze the degree to which either Doctor Faustus or Volpone is guilty of the seven deadly sins.

5. Analyze the symbolic role of Celia in Volpone. Is she merely an object in a plot between greedy men or is she perhaps the moral center of the play?

6. What is the symbolic function of money in Volpone, since everyone wants money and no one seems to know what to do with it--that is, avarice is a general cultural problem.

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For graduates primarily, but everyone is welcome:

1. Analyze the symbolic inversions of gender in Mariam and suggest their significance in a play that is at once political and domestic drama.

2. Argue against Jonathan Dollimore's position, in Staging the Renaissance, that in Doctor Faustus limits provoke transgression rather than constructing and containing acts of subversion.

3. Analyze the paradoxes of the Chorus's position in Mariam.

4. Argue against Margaret Ferguson's position, in Staging the Renaissance, that Mariam is a Christ figure.

5. Analyze Salome as the "heroine" of Mariam.