Sonnet Topics:

1. —Construct an argument that shows that Shakespeare's sonnets show more freedom from Petrarchan conventions than the sonnets of either Sidney or Spenser.
2. —Present and evaluate the views of Joel Fineman, in the article, "Shakespeare's Ear."
3. —Present and evaluate the views of Helen Vendler, in the article, "Shakespeare's Sonnets: Reading for Difference."

1. —How does C. L. Barber (in his book, Shakespeare's Festive Comedies) define "festive comedy," and what does he have to say about As You Like It?
2. —What does As You Like It have to say about marriage, and how does this compare to the ideas about marriage presented in More's Utopia and Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion?
3. —Present and evaluate the views of Albert R. Cirillo, in the article, "As You Like It: Pastoralism Gone Awry."

1. —In Shakespeare's time, what was the accepted conception of a tragedy? Compare how two plays, Dr. Faustus and Hamlet, fit that conception—or don't.
2. —Present and evaluate the views on Hamlet of A.C. Bradley, in his book, Shakespearean Tragedy.
3. —Present and evaluate the views of Ernest Jones, in the article, "The Oedipus-Complex as An Explanation of Hamlet's Mystery: A Study in Motive," and T. S. Eliot, in the article, "Hamlet and His Problems."