MId-Term Topics

Following the Mid-Term essay criteria listed in the course syllabus, below are the topics from which you chose one. The five-paragraph model detailed in lecture will form the basis of your essay, and, along with the parsimony criterion, are the expectation of your marker.

1. Use Aristotle's doctrine of the Golden Mean to explain the requirements of effective character (in the sense of dramatis personae) detailed in the Poetics.
2. Dr. Johnson sets forward a very compelling principle of quality by which drama (and by extension art generally) can be judged. Detail his principle, expound it in terms of common sense, and give your evaluation of its validity. You may consider using any dramatic work of less than a century's vintage to help illustrate your argument.
3. Does Æschylus give a dialectic or a didactic treatment of Fate in Prometheus Bound? Use proof by both quotation and logic to support your determination.