Choose ONE of the following topics and write a 5-6 page essay (double-spaced, Times New Roman, 1-inch margins) using MLA style formatting and citations. You should quote from the source texts as well as at least three other scholarly sources. These can include, but should not be limited to, the critical readings/essays/excerpts from the Norton anthology. Explore what is available through the NOVA and/or public library as well as the databases that NOVA gives you access to, as there is a wealth of excellent material in those places as well.

1. Compare the roles of Hamlet and Oedipus in their respective plays. What do the characters have in common, and what sets them apart from one another? What role does destiny play in the motivations and actions (or inactions) that both characters take? Does Hamlet suffer from an oedipal complex? How has reading Sophocles’ play change your understanding of Hamlet’s possible oedipal complex?

1. Read William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. (p1023-1028). How do the poems in each embody the respective nature of innocence and experience? Note the parallels that exist between the two sets of poems and discuss how they interact with/build on/contrast one another.

1. Using at least one of the stories from “Section 8: Women in Turn-of-the-Century America” and two other stories/poems/plays we have discussed, write an essay that examines these stories as commentary/criticism of contemporary views on women, marriage and divorce.

1. Using at least four of the works (stories, poems, plays) from anywhere in the anthology discuss the differing approaches to and portrayals of warfare across different time periods and from different perspectives.