Thematic Worldview Essay 2 (Unit 5 – 175 points)

Overview

Write an academic essay illustrating how the literary texts for Units 3-5 represent the influence of worldviews on specific themes.

Structure

This should be an academic essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The essay should be approximately 1,000 words, with 8 paragraphs of approximately 125 words each. The paragraphs should adhere to the following structure.

Introduction: The introduction should include a thesis statement that enumerates three themes that explore in the essay: 1) romantic love, 2) punishment for sin, and 3) internal conflict.

Body: The body of the essay should reflect the structure outlined in the thesis, with two paragraphs devoted to each theme.

Body paragraphs 1 and 2: Illustrate how the literary texts these units conceive of romantic love, focusing especially on the sonnets by Petrarch, Shakespeare, and Donne. Using examples from Petrarch’s poems, explain the Petrarchan view of love. Make sure not only to provide quotations from the poems, but also to comment on these passages and explain their significance for the reader. Address how Shakespeare challenges the Petrarchan worldview in his sonnets, and explain how his conception of love differs from Petrarch’s. Finally, examine Donne’s transposition of the love sonnet form into a religious context. Explain how Donne transforms the sonnet through his applying the Christian worldview to this form.

Body paragraphs 3 and 4: Examine the theme of punishment for sin in the literary texts from Units 3, 4, and 5, paying special attention to Dante’s Inferno, Chaucer’s “Pardoner’s Tale,” Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Milton’s Paradise Lost. Examine the theme of sin and punishment in these texts, and explain how each author represents the theme of punishment for sin. Examine how the texts with a more overt Christian worldview (The Inferno and Paradise Lost) differ in their representation of this theme in contrast with those with a more secular setting (“The Pardoner’s Tale” and Hamlet).

Body paragraphs 5 and 6: Finally, examine the theme of internal conflict in the texts for these units. Explain how the texts from the Middle Ages and before offered less insight into the thoughts and motivations of characters. Contrast these more simplistic characters with the dramatic scenes of internal conflict we see in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Milton’s Satan. Explain to the reader what these two characters struggle with, and use passages from the texts to illustrate why these conflicts makes the characters compelling. Conclusion: The conclusion should summarize and restate the central claims of the paper.

Requirements

The essay should be a minimum of 1,000 words, be APA-compliant, and include a title page, appropriate citations, and references. Please include at least five direct quotations from the texts we have read.

Sources

Cite any of the course texts and any academic article(s) from the Library databases in the essay. All references must by cited correctly in the text and be included in the references page. Do not use online or printed sources beyond the parameters outlined above.

McAllister, E. J. World literature from a Christian perspective: Volume I. UnpublishedManuscript. *PDF is attached.

Puchner, M., Akbari, S. C., Denecke, W., Fuchs, B., Levine, C., Lewis, P., & Wilson, E. (2014).The Norton anthology of western literature: Volume I (9th ed.). New York, NY: W. W.Norton.ISBN: 978-0-393-93364-2

The Holy Bible

Also attached is our schools APA QUICK FORMATTING GUIDE