Grading Criteria

These are the standards I will use when evaluating your essays. Clearly not every kind of paper in every category can be spelled out in precise terms, but these descriptions attempt to explain the qualities papers in each category are likely to have. I will do my best over the semester to help you realize your potential as a writer, so please consult me whenever you have questions about any aspect of the class.

There are three basic categories in which every writing assignment is judged:

• Invention: The governing idea (thesis) for the essay
• Content: The support your essay provides for the thesis
• Organization: The manner in which you choose to present your material, i.e., paragraph integrity, sentence clarity, diction, tone, understanding of audience, &c.

A:         A paper in this range demonstrates excellence in every category. It speaks with a lively and intelligent voice and has something interesting to say that goes beyond issues we have discussed in class or casts new light on those issues. It is well-organized, fully developed, and has no mechanical mistakes. Sentences are clear and unambiguous and, ideally, stylistically elegant. When appropriate, an “A” paper will show detailed understanding of the texts under discussion and will support claims with the best examples whenever necessary. The thesis in the “A” paper will be clearly articulated, relatively complex, and immediately engaging.

B:         A paper in this range has a clear thesis, effective organization, and good continuity. Its ideas are reasonable and its claims well-supported. A “B” paper is above average in its execution, but may not necessarily demonstrate an “A” level of complexity in its thinking. It is solid but not striking; the writer has a definite point to make and makes it competently. It may contain some minor mechanical errors but no major ones; the style may be slightly awkward at times.

C:         A paper in this range represents an average to below-average effort. The thesis is usually solid, but does not necessarily go as far as it needs to in making its claim. Often, the thesis remains undeveloped or problems of logic undermine an otherwise solid effort.   A “C” paper may display an insufficient understanding of the issues under discussion. Organization may be lacking and the coherence of the essay may suffer as a result. Supportive examples are offered, but often they are not the best examples to support the claims the author is making. A “C” paper will usually contain many minor mechanical errors and perhaps some major ones. Often potentially good ideas remain latent and the writer needs to work to make them clear to another reader. A “C” is not an indictment; it is an indication that the writer needs to revise and develop the essay more thoroughly. Consulting the instructor (always a good idea) for additional help is strongly recommended.

D:         A paper in this range reflects either a lack of effort or a lack of basic writing skills. The essay either has no point to make or loses its purpose early on. It may have no thesis, major mechanical problems, poor organization, serious misreadings, and/or other serious shortcomings. Failure of effort is its own reward; those with poor skills can improve by consulting the instructor and the Writing Center.

F:         A paper in this range shows general weaknesses even graver than those of a “D” paper, or it is plagiarized in whole or in part.

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In-Class Presentation Assignment

Selecting a Topic: On WebCT, select Course Menu. Select Presentations. Open the “Presentation Schedule.”  If that presentation already has a presenter listed, then it has been assigned and you cannot choose that topic. Once you’ve identified which topics are still available, send an e-mail to lniles1@spelman.edu with your top three preferences. Submit your request no later than Wednesday, January 23^rd. I will confirm your assignment via e-mail and will add your name to that presentation.

Researching a Topic: The goal is to present what you believe are the salient points about your topic – those which any budding Restoration and 18^th-century scholar should know. Begin your research by consulting the sources listed below. These sources will guide you to appropriate internet and print sources on your topic. You must use at least three sources, one of which must be a print source. If you have additional questions, do not hesitate to contact me for further assistance.

Places to Begin (these sources are intended to aid in your research, not to be the final sources you consult):

·        The Bibliographies section in the Longman Anthology is very helpful in identifying both cultural and author-specific resources (particularly print resources).

·        The Longman Anthology also has a companion website for the period. Link to the website listed below and select “The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century” and click on “Web Resources” for more information on sources in both electronic and print media.

o       http://wps.ablongman.com/long_damrosch_britlit_3/0,11420,2760987-,00.html

·        For individual author topics, you can also consult the Dictionary of National Biography, which contains extremely useful information in short, encyclopedic entries.

·        Try the Voice of the Shuttle (created by Alan Liu at UCSB). It is an excellent electronic resource that can lead you in numerous directions.

NB: Do not cite Wikipedia (unless an entry has been vetted by an academic website) or any website that you have not located through these resources listed above. You want to make sure that the website(s) that you use are well-respected, academic-oriented sites. If in doubt, ask me!

Form of Your Presentation: You will give a 10 minute talk to the class and will provide a handout to be distributed to the class and posted on WebCT. The handout should be 2 pages in length and should cover the basic points you want your peers to know about your topic. The handout should contain a bibliography. The talk should summarize the basics but should also expand upon the primary points with additional material of interest.

Use of Technology: Your presentation may take any form you choose; that is, you may present a Power Point, use You Tube, or use any other digital media that you believe is relevant to your topic. You are responsible, however, for ensuring that the equipment you need is available in the classroom. You are also responsible for having the technological side of your presentation ready to go at the time scheduled. Come early to class to set up, if necessary. Technology delays will not be allowed, so make sure that you can present your material in the time given, and make sure that you have a backup plan if necessary.

Turning It In: Submit your handout electronically to the “Individual Presentation” assignment in the Assignments section of WebCT. If you are submitting a Word document, make sure to save it as Word97-2003 compatible.

Evaluation: Your presentation will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Thoroughness & quality of research (30 points): 
   1. Did the sources meet an academic standard? How well did the sources convey appropriate information regarding the topic? Were there any other sources that would have been more on point regarding the topic?
2. Handout (30 points): 
   1. Did the handout give a helpful overview of the topic? Did the student contribute significantly to the handout by synthesizing material or did she merely quote source materials?
3. Citations (10 points): 
   1. Did the student cite source material properly inside the handout and provide a bibliography of works consulted in proper (MLA or Chicago Style) format?
4. Oral Presentation (20 points):
   1. Did the student provide an articulate definition of the topic? Did she relate the topic to the course material more broadly? Did she provide any information that went beyond her handout?
5. Question & Answer (10 points):
   1. How well did the student field questions? Did she demonstrate an appropriate understanding of her topic? Did she provide additional, useful information in her answers?

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Lecture Notes: Aphra Behn, Oroonoko

I drew our class discussions from these three websites. Review them for questions, themes, and more discussion of Behn’s novel in the context of 18^th-century literature.

http://www.wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/oroonoko.html

http://www.cwu.edu/~drakeg/306/behn.qst.pdf

http://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/study_questions_oroonoko.html

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Lecture Notes: Introduction

Anthology (pps. 2121-44):

The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century

Introduction

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Lecture Notes: Samuel Pepys

Anthology (pps. 2145-73):

Samuel Pepys

Discussion Questions

• Pepys revolutionizes the diary form. How does he do it? Why is that significant for “literature”? Think in particular about the 18^th century interest in miscellany. What does the diary form do to engage/shape that interest?

• How does Charles II’s coronation day end? Contrast this ending with the banquet and ceremony itself.

• What does Pepys’s observation of a wedding tell us about contemporary wedding customs?

• In his account of the Great Fire, Pepys narrates concern with stopping the fire from a practical standpoint (tearing down houses to create a firewall) and describes in extreme detail the removal and storage of people’s goods as they move ever further away from the fire’s center. Contrast Pepys’s attitude toward the fire with John Evelyn’s in Kalendarium. What do these contrasting accounts tell you about differing views of “the City”?

• Consider Pepys’s description of the newly reopened theatres. What do we learn about class structures from his account?

• Pepys uses coded language to describe his own marital infidelity. Why? What does the code do to alter your reading of the infidelity he narrates? How does Pepys portray himself? His wife? Does his depiction of his marriage challenge what you perceive to be his self-representation? In other words, does Pepys change his level of self-scrutiny when discussing his own marriage and, if so, why?

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Lecture Notes: Cavendish

Anthology (pps. 2193-2209):

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle

Discussion Questions

• Cavendish was able to publish her work without needing the financial support of a patron or a publisher. Do you see her financial independence represented in her approach to her writing? If so, how?

• As a woman of the aristocracy who also wanted to be a published author, Cavendish occupied a singular position. Do you see her gender or class difference reflected in her writing? If so, where? What is its significance?  

• Review “The Poetress’s Hasty Resolution,” “The Poetress’s Petition,” and “An Apology for Writing So Much upon This Book.” How does Cavendish construct her readers in these introductory poems? These poems seem to be filled with conflicting impulses. Identify these binary oppositions. Then consider whether the three poems work together to resolve these conflicts. Are they resolved? If so, how? If not, why? What do these conflicts tell us about the anxiety of authorship?

• Compare “The Hunting of the Hare” with Color Plate 25, Joseph Wright’s painting, An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768). How are these different media expressing similar ideas about animal rights? How are they conveying differing ideas?

• Cavendish wrote her autobiography, A True Relation of My Birth, Breeding, and Life. Compare this genre to the diary. In what ways do they differ? How does each genre construct its readership? In other words, who are the authors writing to and why does it matter?

• In A True Relation how does Cavendish the author distinguish herself from Cavendish the subject of the narrative? How does this genre blur the lines between fiction and “real” experience?

• Define the genres of “Observations upon Experimental Philosophy” and “The Description of a New Blazing World.” Why print these two pieces together? What do they do to inform each other?

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Lecture Notes: Royal Society

Anthology (pps. 2174-93):

Perspectives: The Royal Society and the New Science

Key Terms

• Exclusivity (class structures of the Royal Society members)
• Challenges to faith
• Disciplinarity
• Benefits – both practical and philosophical
• Common repository of knowledge
• Rhetorical strategies for conveying information
• Role of the press in science
• Accessibility of information
• Experimental method

See handout for in-class exercise

In-Class Exercise

The Royal Society: Science and Skeptics

Divide into two groups.

• The first group will represent members of the Royal Society: Thomas Sprat, Robert Hooke, John Aubrey, and contributors to Philosophical Transactions.
• The second group will represent members of society who are skeptical about the benefits of science. Skeptics will approach their argument with the following concerns in mind: religion, expenditure of public money, accessibility to information, and exclusivity of the Society.

Each group will have ten minutes to prepare for a debate. Each group must appoint a spokesperson for the group, although the groups will have an opportunity to consult before asking/answering questions. The skeptics will begin with questions. The Society will have ample opportunity to answer. The instructor will moderate the debate.

Winner takes all!

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Lecture Notes: Mind & God

Anthology (pps. 2793-4, 2797-2802, 2811-17, 2821-25)

Perspectives: Mind and God

Key Terms

• Laws of Nature
• Argument by design
• Empiricism
• Experience
• Skepticism

John Locke argues for a self that is the accumulation of experience and reflection. We are not born with an inherent set of ideas; rather, our ideas are the product of sensation and perception. Locke’s philosophy supports a concept of a divine God.

Key concepts for Locke:

Sensation

Reflection

Understanding

Ideas of substances

Review the example of the idea of God

David Hume argues against Locke’s theory of the self. Hume presents the idea of the mind as a theater—an ever-changing set, against whose backdrop Locke’s theory of accumulated experience does not hold. Hume also contests belief in Christianity itself, making his form of skepticism highly controversial in the eighteenth century.

Key concepts for Hume:

Conception of self

Mind as theater

Three reasons against “miracles”

William Cowper

As a poet both invested in the divine and in doubt, Cowper’s poetry offers a literary vehicle through which to explore both Locke and Hume. Using Cowper’s poems, analyze either the philosophy of Locke or Hume in terms of the concept of the “self.” Does Cowper’s reflections suggest a mind as theater? A mind that is the accumulation of experience?

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Lecture Notes: Pope

Anthology (pps. 2631-2652)

Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock” (pub. 1712-1717)

Materials below taken from The Rape of the Lock home page at http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~sconstan/

Occasion (taken from The Rape of the Lock Home Page):

The following comes from the Twickenham Edition of Pope's poems:

"The families concerned in the Rape of the Lock--the Fermors, Petres, and Carylls--were prominent members of that group of great intermarried Roman Catholic families owning land in the home counties, most of whom came within the circle of Pope's friends and acquaintances and to whom Pope considered his own family to belong. Some time before 21 March, 1712, when Pope sold his poem to Lintott, Robert, Lord Petre had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor's hair, and John Caryll had suggested to Pope that he should write a poem to heal the estrangement that followed between the two families:

The stealing of Miss Belle Fermor's hair, was taken too seriously, and caused an estrangement between the two families, though they had lived so long in great friendship before. A common acquaintance and well-wisher to both, desired me to write a poem to make a jest of it, and laugh them together again. It was with this view that I wrote the Rape of the Lock.

The incident behind the poem has never been authoritatively tracked down to place and time. It is improbable, but possible, that it happened, as the poem states, at Hampton Court; and the counter-claims of the houses of the Fermors, Petres, or Carylls have never been substantiated." (Twickenham, Vol II, p. 83)

Was Belinda, as the poem hints, willing to marry the Baron? "Arabella may well have been considered as the possible bride for Lord Petre. The rape of the lock may well have been an incident in the period of circumspection--how thorough such circumspection was likely to be may be gathered from the correspondence of Caryll during 1710-11 when he was choosing a wife for his son. If two such families who 'had lived so long in friendship before' are estranged through a fairly trivial incident, it seems there is thunder in the air. All the fun of the poem read very differently when, less than two months before the poem was published, Lord Petre married Catherine Warmsley, a Lancashire heiress some seven or more years younger than Arabella and much richer." (Twickenham 93)

By the time Pope revised the poem in 1717, Lord Petre had died (of smallpox) and Arabella was married. Whatever the original purpose of the poem may have been, by the time Pope finished revising The Rape of the Lock the feud between the families was no longer particularly relevant.

.

Form: The poem is written in heroic couplets, which are closed couplets (that is, a single idea is contained within the two lines), written in rhyming iambic pentameter. The poem is a mock-heroic poem, which draws on epic conventions to produce satirical effects. An epic poem is a lengthy, narrative poem that deals with heroic deeds or concepts. Pope draws on certain epic conventions, including the invocation of the muse, the statement of the poem’s theme, the arming of the hero, the battle, and the introduction of supernatural elements.

Below is a brief description of the action in the five cantos:

Canto 1:  Invocation of the Muse; Introduction of Belinda’s beauty and her toilet; Belinda is warned in a dream about her danger

Canto 2:  The Sylphs array to protect Belinda (the arming of the hero); the Baron desires Belinda and destroys the trophies he has collected from past loves as proof

Canto 3:  The card game; the rape of the lock

Canto 4: Belinda’s outrage and the demands for the lock’s return

Canto 5: The battle over the lock; the lock ascends to heaven   

Questions:

1. Epic poems deal with heroic matters. How is this poem heroic? What does Pope mean when he calls it an “heroi-comical” poem?
2. Think about the poem’s constant juxtaposition between greatness and banality. How does the form contribute to this juxtaposition?
3. What is the “rape” and how is it resolved? Why discuss this incident in violent sexual terms?
4. This poem is concerned with gendered forms of power. What kinds of power does Belinda exert? The Baron?
5. Characterize how beauty is portrayed in the poem. Is it an asset or a liability? Why?
6. What role do the Sylphs play in the poem? What is their relationship to Belinda?
7. This poem deals with the social transgressions of the upper classes. Is Pope’s poem applicable to other social strata? If so, how?
8. This poem takes a high aesthetic tone, with beautifully ornamental phrasing. Compare Pope’s style to his subject matter. How does the form connect to the content? Are there ways in which you see the two in conflict?
9. This poem begins with Belinda in bed. Why? How does that setting establish a certain kind of intimacy?
10. Do we ever leave the intimate, eroticized space in the poem? If so, how does space (public, private) play a role in the poem?
11. Consider the catalogue of cosmetics in Canto 1. Where are they from? What is Pope saying about Britain’s mercantile economy here?
12. What is the significance of the card game in Canto 3?
13. Review the final couplet of Canto 5. Does it justify the resolution of the “rape”? If so, how?

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Lecture Notes: Gay

The Beggar's Opera

Discussion Questions

See the University of Michigan Student Project on the Beggar’s Opera

See Patricia Routledge singing an Air as Mrs. Peachum on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExD1QqUrHF4

Themes:

Poetry as political

Love, Honor, Sex, Interest, Justice, Marriage, Gender, Imprisonment, Domesticity

The following questions are from Alfred Drake's Website from spring 2005 at Cal State, Fullerton:

Act 1

1. In the Prologue a Beggar and Player converse. What is the point of using these two figures?  the Player (i.e. an actor)? How does the Beggar size up what he will have accomplished with his opera by the evening's end? What does he see as his responsibilities towards the audience?

2. In Scenes 1-4, what exactly does Peachum do for a living--what sorts of concerns press upon him and his wife? How would you describe his station in life?

3. In Scenes 4-5, what do Mr. and Mrs. Peachum say about women and marriage at this point--before they find out about Polly's secret marriage to the highway robber Macheath?

4. In Scenes 7-10, how do Mr. and Mrs. Peachum react to (and then manage) the news of their daughter Polly's marriage with Macheath? What outlook on life asserts itself in the remarks the parents make in the course of these scenes?

5. In Scenes 11-13, what feelings does Polly reveal towards Macheath? What challenge does her outlook pose to that of her parents? How do the brief songs or "airs" that pepper her conversation with Macheath relate to prose parts of that conversation?

Act 2

6. In Scenes 1-2, what sort of company does Macheath keep? What plans does he make with them regarding the trap that he now knows Polly's parents are going to set for him?

7. In Scenes 3-8, what does Macheath reveal about his treatment of Polly and his attitude towards women more generally? How does the conversation and behavior of Macheath's prostitute friends in Scene 4 make fun of the upper classes? That is, explain with the help of this scene the satirical method that John Gay employs effectively throughout the opera.

8. In Scene 9, how does Macheath try to placate his other lover, Lucy Lockit (the jailor's daughter), who is pregnant by him? And in Scene 10, how do Peachum and Lockit manage the quarrel that arises between them?

9. In Scenes 11-15, how does the rivalry between Polly and Lucy develop? Why does Lucy agree to help Macheath escape from jail? What differences have you found so far between Polly and Lucy in the way they view their respective relationships with Macheath?

Act 3

10. In Scene 1, how does Lockit react to the fact that his own daughter Lucy has helped Macheath escape? And in Scenes 2-3, what is Lockit's plan for undermining his "friend" Peachum's designs on the now at-large prisoner? What is Filch up to in Scene 3?

11. In Scenes 5-6, who is Mrs. Trapes, and how does she fit into Peachum and Lockit's plan to recapture Macheath? How does Mrs. Trapes regard her co-conspirators, and (as throughout the opera) what elements in these scenes amount to a satirical comment on the upper classes?

12. In Scenes 7-10, what is Lucy trying to do to Polly? Why doesn't she succeed? How do the two women explain their situation and feelings about men to each other?

13. In Scenes 11-15 (the play's climax), how does Macheath hold up against the fate that now confronts him once he has been recaptured? How does he sum up his career and the events that have brought him to this point? What are his thoughts about women and wives in particular?

14. In Scenes 16-17, the Beggar strides onto the stage and explains to the Player why he has decided to change the course of the play so abruptly from tragedy to comedy. What is his reasoning on this point? With what observations does Macheath himself cap off the opera, and in what sense might the audience relate to his final point on a broader level as social commentary?

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Lecture Notes: Sheridan

Anthology (pps. 3001-3065)

School for Scandal

Key Concepts

• Scandal as commodity—gossip as valuable information to be traded upon, acted upon, circulated, and exchanged
• Marriage as institution
• Honor
• Debt
• Gratitude
• Comedy as critique

Questions:

• What is a “school” for scandal? What should we, as audience members, learn?
• Consider Sheridan’s naming of characters. How do names reflect character traits? Which characters best fit their names and why? Which characters’ behavior challenges the association of their names?
• How does the opening scene with Lady Wormwood set the tone for the play? What do we learn about “scandal”? 
• Consider the Teazle’s marriage. Does their relationship change during the course of the play? If so, what commentary is Sheridan making on marriage in general? On this marriage in particular?
• Compare the characters of Joseph and Charles Surface. Why is one considered good and the other bad? Who makes these determinations about their characters? Are these determinations accurate? If so, why? If not, why?
• The “screen” scene is one of the great comic moments of the play. What makes it so? How does this scene deal with issues of fidelity? Honor? Gender?
• Maria is the only unmarried female character in the play. How is she differentiated from the other women? What traits does she exhibit and how do those traits signify something about female idealization?
• Charles Surface is in debt. How does this indebtedness mark him socially? How is this debt handled? What is Sheridan saying about an economy that is increasingly willing to run on credit?
• Compare the notions of honor, debt, love, and marriage in this play with those ideas in Gay’s Beggar’s Opera. How are they different? What difference does class make in terms of the theorizing of these concepts?

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Lecture Notes: Reading Papers

Anthology (pps. 2453-2497)

Perspectives: Reading Papers

Key Concepts

• Shaping of public opinion through information
• Introduction of newspapers and impact on desire for current, up-to-date information
• Knowledge – how is it gendered?
• Control of the press – who has it?
• Differences in periodical formats – what kinds of readers read what kinds of periodicals?

Questions:

• The introduction cites Benedict Anderson’s argument that periodical reading helped create “imagined communities.” What does that phrase mean and how did the proliferation of periodicals shape reading practices, both public and private? See. p 2453
• Compare the publications in the “News and Comment” section. What do these excerpts share in common in terms of their approach to coverage? How would you compare these news articles to contemporary news media coverage?
• Review the differing periodical personae. What does the periodical editor accomplish through these personae? How do these articles differ from those in the news section?
• In “Getting, Spending, Speculating,” the essayists are focused on consumerism in various forms. How do these essays present the economy? As a positive, accessible-to-all marketplace? As a risky venture? As masculine? Feminine? What is the role of the essay in relation to promoting certain views of 18^th century Britain as an economic power?
• In “Women and Men, Manners and Marriage,” we see essays taking up various aspects of courtship, romance, and the more practical side of marriage. Compare these essayist’s perspectives to other works you’ve read this semester. How do they reinforce or challenge certain gender stereotypes, for example?

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Lecture Notes: Equiano

Lecture Notes

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

Discussion Questions:

1. Consider Equiano in its literary context. In what ways does it fit the strictures of the autobiography? The sentimental novel? The spiritual biography? The picaresque novel? Travel narratives?
2. Equiano prefaces his narrative with an address to Parliament. How does that address frame our understanding of this text as an anti-slavery argument? What expectations does Equiano have for its reception in a legal sense?
3. Each chapter begins with a lengthy heading, outlining the action to come. As a modern reader, do you find this distracting? Helpful? Why?
4. How does Equiano describe Africa and his childhood? What kind of impression does he create of African people? How does that impression differ from common Euro-centric attitudes toward Africa at the time?
5. Equiano often refers to his tribe as having similar cultural practices to Jews. Why is that important?
6. How does he narrate the Middle Passage? What role does language play in his experience? How does it affect our reading to have this story being told by someone who experienced it first-hand?
7. Consider Equiano’s rhetorical strategies as a narrator pleading for the abolition of slavery. What arguments does he make against it? What proofs does he offer to support his claims? What kinds of biases is he working with or against?
8. How does Christianity function in the first volume versus the second? Does religion play a different role at different times in Equiano’s life? Compare Equiano’s Christianity to that he encounters amongst other people. Is it different?
9. Why do you think Equiano describes England, rather than Africa, as where he has left his heart? Why is it England that he always returns to? How does this identification with England function in relation to Equiano’s views of European culture?
10. Consider the different occupations Equiano has—soldier, sailor, hairdresser, trader, government clerk, and overseer. How do these different roles define his character? How are these occupations different from him when his status changes from slave to free man?
11. How does Equiano obtain his freedom? What changes for him as a result of being a free man? What things do not change?
12. This narrative relates numerous scenes of torture, rape, and violent assaults against both slaves and free blacks. What does Equiano intend his audience to understand by narrating them? Why does he choose not to narrate certain things?
13. How does this narrative construct the ideal noble savage? In what ways is this rhetorical strategy necessary to promote abolition? In what ways does it undermine an anti-slavery message? How does it limit our understanding of Equiano himself?

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Lecture Notes: Defoe

Lecture Notes

Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders

In addition to the questions below, also review the following site for more thought-provoking questions:

http://www.unl.edu/sbehrend/html/sbsite/StudyQuestions/Moll%20Flanders.htm

1. Consider the title page—how is it an abstract of the novel? What function does it serve in preparing the reader? How is it salacious? Compare the title page to the frontispiece of Burney’s Evelina. How do they differ in terms of describing their eponymous heroines?
2. How does this novel fit its genre? Is it a memoir? A history? A biography? A novel? A combination?
3. Consider the relationship between the author’s gender and the main character, Moll. What obstacles does Defoe encounter in representing a female heroine? Are there any stylistic elements in the novel that you would identify as gendered? If so, what are they?
4. The novel is highly plotted in terms of leading Moll from episode to episode. What does this episodic format do to presenting Moll’s character? In other words, how do we learn about Moll’s belief systems?
5. What does it mean to be a “gentlewoman” in the novel? Does that word change in its meaning over the course of the novel?
6. What is the function of money in the novel? Describe the relationship between money and gender. Does money take on different associations when it is held by men? By women?
7. What is Moll’s attitude toward marriage? How does marriage get portrayed in the novel? How does marriage relate to love? To social status?
8. Consider the representation of motherhood in the novel. What kind of message is Defoe sending about family? About maternal desire? About the relationship between money and maternity?
9. Moll’s behavior is characterized as a series of actions that need to be forgiven. Do you agree? Is she in need of our forgiveness? If so, does she receive it?
10. Moll and her mother are both convicts. What are their crimes and how do you characterize their “character” in relation to these crimes? Are they pre-disposed to commit criminal acts? Are they criminals only because of circumstance?
11. Where does Moll end the novel? How is she situated? What does her situation tell us about society’s values?

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Reading Blog #1

Margaret Cavendish & Samuel Pepys

Cavendish wrote her autobiography _A True Relation of My Birth, Breeding, and Life_.
Compare the autobiography genre to that of Pepys's Diary. In what ways are they
similar? In what ways do they differ? How does each genre construct its readership -- in
other words, who are the authors writing to and how does the constructed audience
affect the writing itself?

Post at least one response of one paragraph (minimum of 3 sentences) to these prompts.
Take the prompts in whatever direction seems most profitable to you. Feel free to
respond to other people's ideas, but DO NOT START A NEW THREAD.

 

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Reading Blog #2

Pope's "The Rape of the Lock"

This poem uses the element of the supernatural as part of its epic framework. Discuss
the supernatural elements in the poem and consider their significance. Think about the
fact that this poem is intended to deal with the banal--with the trivial, everyday existence
of an upper class woman, Belinda, as that existence is disrupted by one event. Where
does the supernatural fit in that narrative?

Post at least one response of one paragraph (minimum of 3 sentences) to these prompts.
Take the prompts in whatever direction seems most profitable to you. Feel free to
respond to other people's ideas, but DO NOT START A NEW THREAD.

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Reading Blog #3

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Reading Blog #4

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Reading Blog #5

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Essay #1

Essay #1 Assignment

Close Reading

Type:         Thesis-based close reading essay. You may choose any ONE of the readings we have done from January 18 - February 20.

Format:      Between 4-6 typewritten pages (excluding “Works Cited” page) in MLA format. The file must be submitted on WebCT or via e-mail before class time on the due date.

            For the first essay, we will focus on constructing a thesis-based essay that demonstrates your ability to explicate (“close read”) a text. (For more on how to close read literature, see the “Close Reading Aids” section in the Handouts link on WebCT). As we have shown in class, a single passage may support several different lines of argument. To construct your argument, narrow your topic to a single idea; develop a thesis statement out of that idea; provide evidence in the way of textual passages (key words, phrases, figurative usages of language); and explain how your evidence supports your idea by explicating the text that you are quoting. Focus on teasing out every relevant detail from the passages to support your thesis idea; think about all of the relationships between language and its symbolic function that we’ve discussed in class.

NB: DO NOT USE ANY SECONDARY TEXTS. THE GOAL OF THE ESSAY IS TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR ABILITY TO INTERPRET A PRIMARY TEXT.

Suggestions for Constructing the Paper:

�      Introduction: Begin your essay with an introduction of the topic you want to discuss and how that topic is narrowed down to an arguable thesis. Think about the introductory paragraph as a funnel: start with the big picture and end with the small snapshot.  

�      Body: Decide what the major points are that will contribute to your thesis. Follow the S(tatement)-E(vidence)-E(xplanation) method with each point. Some points require several SEEs. Consider structuring your paper point-by-point rather than following, for example, a novel’s event-by-event. Use what you’ve learned in explication to provide the evidence and interpretation necessary to make each paragraph relate back to the thesis claim.

�      Conclusion: Conclusions are a great place to experiment. Don’t just tell your reader what you’ve already written. Consider the implications for a new reading of the poem that you’ve presented. What does it tell the reader that he/she didn’t know before?

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Essay #2

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 Literature Review Exercise

See the following to find out what a literature review is: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html

Read the sample literature review, and answer the following questions:

1. Does this review have a focus? If so, what is it?
2. Does this literature review have a thesis statement, a statement that argues for a particular perspective on the material? Locate it.
3. Does the review summarize AND synthesize? Identify moments where it does each effectively.
4. How is it organized? By chronology? Trend? Thematically? Methodologically? Not at all?
5. Does the author make good use of the sources or are there moments where you would suggest a more effective approach?
6. Is the Works Consulted page properly formatted? Could you locate these sources using this author’s bibliography?

Sample Literature Review

The ‘Fallen Woman’ in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market

In the chapter “Fallen Women” in Kathleen Hickok’s book Representations of Women: 19^th century British Women’s Poetry, she describes the ‘fallen’ woman as one who had failed in her duty to guide men and to uplift society and violated the rigid social code of female sexual conduct (96).  During the Victorian age, a fallen woman aroused both fear and pity in upper and middle-class society.  Although the fallen woman was not directly connected to prostitution, it was believed that a fallen woman had taken her first step to total degradation (97).  The subject of the fallen woman was intriguing and extremely popular in 19^th century literature.  However, as women poets and authors gained popularity, the image of the fallen woman underwent a shift.  Female poets began to delve more deeply into the causes of a woman’s ‘fall’ and the consequences she might endure as a result of her fall (101).  Although the women poets did not completely absolve the fault of the woman for her fall, they did highlight the immorality of male seducers and pursuers who may have aided in the woman’s fall.  Women poets often analyzed the double standard of immorality in women, looking closely at the punishment a male seducer receives in comparison to the fallen woman. 

Rossetti’s account for Laura’s fall is very similar to the first fall of woman—Eve.  In “Fallen or Forbidden: Rossetti’s Goblin Market”, Scholl questions female desire and sexuality and how it should be perceived.  Eve was deemed the fallen woman because of her consumption of the forbidden fruit.  However, as Scholl points out, Eve is never portrayed as evil for her lust and sexual appetite in any of Rossetti’s works.  “On the whole, Rossetti steers away from equating female sexuality with sinfulness” (Scholl).  This implies that Rossetti makes a distinction between female sexuality and evilness.  Moreover, women were not considered vile, according to Rossetti, because of their sexual status.  

In Representations of Women: 19^th Century British Women’s Poetry, Hickok states that “it was understood that society did not forgive, forget, and reclaim its fallen women” (96).  She claims that once they were revealed as fallen women, they were often time disowned and deserted by their fathers and husbands.  In “The Woman Question: Sisterhood, Sexuality, and Subversion in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market”, it is agreed that a woman’s fall is ultimate and often time irreversible.  However, “The Woman Question” source claims that Rossetti’s treatment of Laura’s fall is drastically different.  “Even a strictly allegorical reading, in which Laura succumbs to curiosity and temptation, overwhelmed by the richness and variety of the goblins and their wares, does not open up the possibility for her outright condemnation” (7).  Despite Laura’s fall, Rossetti does not depict her as the absolute fallen woman that Victorian literature portrayed as vile and contemptuous—there was hope for redemption. 

This redemption is illustrated in Kirsten E. Escobar’s “Female Saint, Female Prodigal: Chrsitina Rossetti’s Goblin Market”.  Escobar juxtaposes Rossetti’s “Prodigal Son” to her earlier work “Goblin Market”.  The prodigal son incorporates his temptation, fall, redemption and reacceptance in society.  The poem “Goblin Market” acknowledges the likelihood of women to fall.  However, like Hickok, Escobar argues that Rossetti’s work is unique in that it asserts a woman’s ability to redeem.  “The sisters of the poem, one who falls and the other who saves, intensify the societal directive of the lost son’s parable to treat others charitably, and more importantly, to help those who go astray” (Escobar 129-130). 

As Amanda Anderson illustrates in Tainted Souls and Painted Faces: The Rhetoric of Falleness in Victorian Culture, the Victorians had an intense desire to define themselves against the “fallen woman”, to be everything she is not, and to reduce her to non-human status.  According to Anderson, Rossetti spent some time working with “fallen women” at the Highgate home, funded by the Diocese of London.  Rossetti’s experiences at Highgate are a likely source of inspiration for the “Goblin Market” and perhaps the reason why she portrayed “fallen woman” as redeemable.

Elaine Margaret Ostry argues in “Figures of the outcast: Women of fairy tales and the Victorian fallen woman” that the only reason why redemption is an option for the sisters in Goblin Market is because the author, Christina Rossetti, is a woman (160).  As stated by Kathleen Hickok, the plight of the fallen woman is irreversible and unalterable.  However, Ostry examines the redemption of the fallen women in Goblin Market and concludes that instead of teaching the importance of salvation it is more a development of female voice (156). 

            “The Woman Question: Sisterhood, Sexuality, and Subversion in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market” suggests that because of her gender, Laura is predestined to fall.  “As  a woman , she had no money of her own, and thus no power in the market; to get what she wants, she needs to sell herself, be consumed, become an object” (10).  The market does not permit other positions than consumer and consumed.  In “Consumer Power and the Utopia of Desire: Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market”, Elizabeth K. Helsinger expounds on consumerism in Goblin Market.  Laura becomes entangled in the mercantilism when she sales a lock of her hair for fruit (903).  However, Laura engages in a unique form of consumerism because she pays not with money or with anything of monetary value, but with something from her body.  However, Helsinger does not classify Laura as a prostitute for this act.  Helsinger claims that Laura is not a prostitute because “she is never excluded from the company of moral women by Lizzie or by her author” (904).  Helsinger argues that essentially Laura buys fruit, although magical, not sex, therefore not classifying her as a prostitute.  However, in “The Woman Question: Sisterhood, Sexuality, and Subversion in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market”, it is argued that Laura does prostitute herself by paying for the fruit with her body. 

            Jane Rogers illustrates the prostitution as “the great social evil” of the Victorian era.  Rogers states that there were approximately 8,600 prostitutes in London known to the police but that the actual number may have been nearer to 80,000.  “Approaches to the problem tended to identify three main causes of 'falleness'; these were fallenenss instigated by seduction; falleness caused by degeneracy or immorality and falleness caused by poverty” (Rogers).  However, in “The Woman Question: Sisterhood, sexuality and subversion in Rossetti’s Goblin Market” it is argued that although sexual repression was high during this time the leading reason for prostitution was poverty and lack of career options—the other reasons were trivial in comparison to this. 

            In ““Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me” Eucharist and the Erotic Body in Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market”, Marylu Hill offers a controversial view of redemption and salvation.  She offers the theory that instead of Lizzie also being considered a ‘fallen woman’ she can be seen as god-like (Hill 455).  God offers his body as nourishment; during the last supper he claims “take eat this is my body” (Hill 456).  Rossetti offers a dramatic representation of the body in depicting Lizzie as Christ-like; Lizzie offers her body as a sacrifice for her sister.  Also like Christ, Lizzie pays the price of Laura’s redemption through her body—apparently she is raped and abused by the goblins. 

Works Cited

Anderson, Amanda. Tainted Souls and Painted Faces: The Rhetoric of Falleness in Victorian Culture. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993.

Escobar, Kirsten E. “Female Saint, Female Prodigal: Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’.” Religion and the Arts. 5:2 (2001): 129-54.

Helsinger, Elizabeth K. “Consumer Power and the Utopia of Desire: Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’” ELH. 58:4 (Winter 1991) 903-933. JSTOR. Robert W. Woodruff Library Atlanta University Center, Atlanta. 17 Nov. 2007. <http://links.jstor.org>.

Hickok, Kathleen. Representations of Women: 19^th Century British Women’s Poetry. Greenwood Press, 1984.

Hill, Marylu. “‘Eat Me, Drink Me, Love Me’: Eucharist and the Erotic Body in Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’.” Victorian Poetry. 43:4 (Winter 2005): 455-513. ProQuest. Robert W. Woodruff Library Atlanta University Center, Atlanta. 17 Nov. 2007. <http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.auctr.edu>.

Ostry, Elaine Margaret. “Figures of the outcast: Women of fairy tales and the Victorian fallen woman.” Dalhousie University. 1993. ProQuest. Robert W. Woodruff Library Atlanta University Center, Atlanta. 18 Nov. 2007. <http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.auctr.edu>.

Scholl, Lesa. “Fallen or Forbidden: Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’.” The Victorian Web. 18 Nov. 2007. <http://www.victorianweb.org>.

Rogers, Jane. “Prostitution in Nineteenth Century.” The Victorian Web. 17 Nov. 2007.  <http://www.victorianweb.org>.

“The Woman Question: Sisterhood, Sexuality, and Subversion in Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’” <http://olympe.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/essay-goblins-rossetti.pdf>.

Watt, George. The Fallen Woman in the Nineteenth Century English Novel. Barnes & Noble Imports, 1984.

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