Research Topics 2016—
Choose from the list or create your own. Topics have been generated from a variety of resources online and
print sources. Some are specific and others are very general. You will be asked to generate paper topics
throughout your college career; therefore, this will (hopefully) be good practice for you. The idea isn’t to
overwhelm you, and if you are already considering a topic, then you might not have to look over this list.
You are required to research and write a 5-7 page research paper where in which you fully examine a text and
provide a solid literary analysis of a topic. Your topic must be grounded in the text, which means that the text
should be the primary focus of your paper. Many of these topics ask you to examine the text in a way that also
has you either examining society, history, and/or psychological views of the text. Please do not stray too far
from the topic. For example, if you are examining Medieval religious views as they are portrayed in The
Canterbury Tales, then your paper should not become a commentary on Medieval religion with a smattering of
The Canterbury Tales thrown into the mix. If you are examining the idea of happiness in Brave New World, the
paper should focus on the text and not on societal views of happiness from 1932-present.
Choose a text and topic that you are most comfortable with researching and writing about. Do not choose a
topic that you do not fully understand.
The Anglo-Saxon Period
Beowulf--Anonymous
1. Discuss how the Germanic code of loyalty—Comitatus—functions in the first half of the poem.
2. What function do boasting and storytelling serve in the epic? How does the poem portray the importance of
each in the medieval warrior culture of Beowulf?
3. How much control do the characters in Beowulf have over their fates? Are skilled warriors any more likely
to succeed than cowards?
4. What role do women play in Beowulf? Consider Queen Wealhtheow, Queen Hygd, and the various
unnamed daughters of kings. How do women function in medieval Scandinavian society to reinforce
alliances and solve blood-feuds?
5. One important poetic device in Old English is the "kenning," a compound word in which one thing is
described by a fanciful two-word metaphor. For example, the sea is described as a "whale-road" (10), a king
is described as a "ring-giver" (36), and a murderer is described as a "corpse-maker" (276). How do they add
to the poetic atmosphere of the epic? Why is it important that Beowulf be depicted fighting demons and
monsters, instead of fighting rival tribes or men? How do the kinds of antagonists Beowulf faces help to
keep the conflict black and white?
6. Explain how the use of allusions (to the Bible and other works) helps illuminate the theme of Beowulf.
7. Was Beowulf’s confidence/cockiness an asset or a tragic flaw?
8. Discuss the ambiguity surrounding religious practices in Beowulf. Provide examples of Biblical/Christian
beliefs, on the one hand, and pagan, superstitious, or “heathen” beliefs, on the other. You may want to
examine the dichotomy (contrast) between God and fate as the force that determines the direction of one’s
life. You may consider the tension between the values of violence, vengeance, and the blood feud and the
Christian values of forgiveness and brotherly love. Likewise you may examine the tension between the
value in living in the moment, and acquiring fame, glory, and wealth now versus the promise of an afterlife.
9. Discuss how each of Beowulf’s battles or each antagonist represents a violation of or aberration from the
heroic code in some way. How do Beowulf and his adversaries—Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the
dragon—cross and trespass boundaries? What purpose do these transgressions serve? How might they
foreshadow Beowulf’s death and abandonment by his thanes? What other evidence is there of
foreshadowing throughout the poem?
10. Discuss the role of wealth, treasure and gold in the poem, both as a symbol and embodiment of glory and
honor and as a truce-bringer. How effective is it? (The passage below gives a little more background on the
idea of the reparation payment.)
If one of his kinsmen had been slain, a man had the special duty of either killing the slayer or exacting from
him the payment of wergild ("manprice"). Each rank of society was evaluated at a definite price, which had
to be paid to the dead man’s kinsmen by the killer who wished to avoid their vengeance—even if the killing
had been accidental. Again, the money itself had less significance as wealth than as a proof that the kinsmen
had done what was right. Relatives who failed either to exact wergild or to take vengeance could never be
happy, having found no practical way of satisfying their grief for their kinsman’s death. (Norton 23)
The Medieval Period
The Canterbury Tales--Geoffrey Chaucer
1. Courtly Love and “The Knight's Tale”
2. The Knight and the fourteenth-century Christian warrior
3. “The Miller's Tale” (or the Reeve's or Merchant's) and the Fabliau Tradition
4. Antifeminism and “The Nun's Priest's Tale”
5. “The Wife of Bath's Prologue” and Medieval attitudes about women
6. Fidelity in marriage in “The Wife of Bath's Tale” (or the Franklin's Tale)
7. The role of the wife in “The Wife of Bath's Tale” (or “The Franklin's Tale” or “The Clerk's Tale”)
8. Connections between a Pilgrim and the Tale that pilgrims tell
9. “The Prioress's Tale” and Medieval attitudes about Jews
10. Medieval clergy (regular and secular) and Chaucer's religious pilgrims
11. Female beauty in the fourteenth century
12. Masculinity in the fourteenth century
13. “The Nun's Priest's Tale” and Medieval beast fables
14. “The Nun's Priest's Tale” and Medieval ideas about dreams
15. The Bible and “The Parson's Tale” and the Seven Deadly Sins
16. Any one of the Seven Deadly Sins and one of The Canterbury Tales
The English Renaissance
Macbeth--William Shakespeare
1. Discuss the various roles of the witches in Macbeth
2. In many works of literature, the main character is developed partially through the use of a "foil,' that is, a
character who, by providing a strong contrast to the main character, underscores the characteristics of
the main character. Discuss the ways in which either Banquo or Macduff serves as a foil to Macbeth.
3. Some readers argue that Macbeth was completely a victim of the Witches' misleading prophecies (and
later, of Lady Macbeth's manipulation). Others argue that the Witches and Lady Macbeth simply
provided the impetus to Macbeth's carrying out his own desires. Which position is most accurate.
Support your points with evidence from the play.
4. Is Macbeth a tragic hero according to the classical definition of the term or is he merely a monster? Does
Shakespeare succeed in creating sympathy for Macbeth?
5. Discuss Lady Macbeth’s her influence and the ebb and flow of power in Macbeth.
6. Are the weird sisters instigators of Macbeth’s actions, or do they merely report what’s destined to be?
7. In constructing Macbeth, Shakespeare dramatically altered historical characters to enhance certain
themes. Examine Shakespeare's sources and discuss why he made these radical changes.
8. The sleepwalking scene in Act V is one of the most memorable in all of drama. Relate this scene to the
overall play and examine what makes Lady Macbeth's revelation so provoking.
9. Examine Macbeth's mental deterioration throughout the play.
10. Discuss the speech Macbeth gives upon hearing that his wife is dead in Act V, Scene V. How do his
words capture one of the major themes in the drama?
11. Macbeth is about various kinds of murder (among other things). Does the play distinguish between
honorable and dishonorable violence? Can this very bloody play be seen as a plea for peace and human
harmony?
12. Discuss the nature of the three supernatural beings who foretell Macbeth’s future. What might they be,
what clues does Shakespeare provide, and what conclusion (if any) does he allow his audience to come
to? Is it possible that the ambiguity was necessary to his plot and themes?
13. Discuss Macbeth’s visions and hallucinations. What role do they play in the development of his
character?
14. Is Macbeth a moral play? Is justice served at the end of the play? Defend your answer.
15. Choose two of the minor characters in Macbeth and examine how they contribute to the play's action.
16. Paradox and duality in Macbeth
Brave New World Huxley purports many ideas throughout the novel. Some topics are listed below. Though they
are general, you have a lot of freedom to construct your own research question.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Exile
Freedom
Happiness
Soma
The Bible and literature and the effect on the Brave New World State
Human engineering
Prophesy