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Topic: 1. Investigate a legendary hero from any culture, and read further in primary sources about the hero’s life, exploits, and if possible, death. In your paper, discuss how your hero’s life and death compare to the "archetypal" hero’s life and death. Does your hero follow the pattern exactly? If not, what is different? Are these differences significant? Among the pantheon of human heroes, what makes your subject stand out? 2. A second option would be to explore the way a Renaissance or later poet, playwright or fiction writer has used a hero tale to create a literary work. For this paper, you would discuss how the writer has employed or subverted the archetypes of the hero for his or her own purposes. Note that this option requires an extra step: you must have read enough in primary sources to understand your hero myth thoroughly before you can attempt to write about how a poet or fiction writer subverts the myth. This topic is probably for those who are already well-read about some favorite heroic figure. Possibilities: Option 1: Choose any hero or heroine from the Leeming book. Use the "Acknowledgements" section in Leeming and the "Bibliography" in Bierlin to help you begin to find further material on your subject. Those sources will lead you to other sources. And don't forget the Internet. A few examples of choices are:
There are of course many, many other possibilities. Option 2:
And hundreds of others. Length: Four or more typed pages. Format: One-inch margins, single-spaced, 10 or 11 pt. font. Use MLA guidelines for how to do parenthetical references to your sources in the text, and include a List of Works Cited at the end. If you are in doubt about MLA documentation, consult any recent writing handbook, such as The Little, Brown Handbook. |