What is different about how the Early Modern period thought men should behave (self-government readings) and how they thought women should behave (also Milton)?
Compare and contrast the different styles of sonnets.
Explain or give examples of how poets used sonnets to counterfeit and/or exhibit sprezzatura.
Describe the significant meanings of Shakespeare's sonnets, how/where they change, and what the big picture of them is.
Analyze Prospero’s character in The Tempest. How does he acts in the play? Think about governance and self-governance.
In The Tempest, Shakespeare uses verse and prose to show a contrast in the class of the speaker. Why is this contrast important, and what does it add or take away from story?
Is Prospero a positive example of self fashioning? Why or why not?
Discuss Prospero's role as the protagonist in The Tempest. Discuss whether he was a "good protagonist" or not and give examples that support your answer.
Discuss how Shakespeare included his political views in his writing. Give an example from the Tempest.
Describe and discuss any of Shakespeare's political views in his play The Tempest.
How did the masquerades and other cultural counterfeiting affect Shakespeare's characterizations? Give some examples.
In Shakespeare's The Tempest, describe Miranda's relationship with her father and how the woman's role in society was changing.
How are Miranda in The Tempest and Eve in Paradise Lost similar? How are they different?
Compare and contrast the use of sidekicks between Prospero and Ariel and Satan and Belezebub (sp?).
Which writer is more typical of the Early modern ideal of the "self-fashioned" man--Shakespeare or Milton? Why?
How does Milton include the concept of self-fashioning into Paradise Lost?
Discuss Milton's Paradise Lost (Books 1-4) in the context of self-fashioning and self-government; Use specific examples to illustrate these themes.
Milton was an anti-royalist and was not shy about it. Describe how Milton expressed his political views in his works and give examples.
How does Milton use Satan and his court as examples of counterfeiting and what point about the kingship does this serve to illustrate? (I.E. satan's language, several demons have names that are historical, some are pagan Gods)
Compare the characters of Sin and Eve from Paradise Lost. What does this say about Milton's feelings towards women and the age old belief that women are to blame for orginal sin?
What was Milton's attitude towards God?
Explain the connection between the British Monarchy and Milton's Paradise lost in reference to the "great enterprise"