AP
English Literature Prompt Topic:
1976. The conflict created when the will of an individual
opposes the will of the majority is the recurring theme of many novels, plays,
and essays. Select the work of an essayist who is in opposition to his or her
society; or from a work of recognized literary merit, select a fictional
character who is in opposition to his or her society. In a critical essay,
analyze the conflict and discuss the moral and ethical implications for both
the individual and the society. Do not summarize the plot or action of the work
you choose.
English 430 Course Objective:
English
430: The Individual and Society in Shakespeare’s Drama/Julianne Werlin
“To
make society the sweeter welcome,” the murderous king Macbeth tells his guests,
“we will keep our self till supper-time alone.” But the feast Macbeth is
planning never takes place: isolated by his own actions, he is cut off from
companionship and sociability. Shakespeare’s plays are full of individuals who
withdraw from the social world or are forced out of it, whether they are at the
periphery of power like Shylock or Othello, or near its center like Coriolanus
or Macbeth. Setting his plays against the dizzying changes taking place in the
Renaissance, including economic flux, New World exploration, the rediscovery of
the classical tradition, rapid population growth, and the emergence of the
theater itself, we will ask what Shakespeare understood by society, and
consider how his characters define themselves both through and against it.
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