+1 862 207 3288 This paper will be 5-6 pages in length (word processed, double-spaced, 12-point type), plus a works cited page.
The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast how one of our overall themes functions in two or three major works from the text. Those themes are:
Human relationship with the divine
Human relationships with each other
Human relationship with the self
You will need to narrow the broad theme you choose. For instance, a comparison of the flood stories in Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible could prompt a discussion of the nature or “personality” of God (a sub-theme of “human relationship with the divine”). The fruits of revenge or the nature of friendship or the pitfalls of romantic love would be examples of sub-themes of “human relationships with each other.” “Human relationship with the self” could be narrowed to some aspect of growth or development that occurs (or fails to occur) in the course of a story, or it could entail a comparison of characters’ self-views or a study of heroism and its motivations. These are only examples; many more possibilities exist.
Choose two or three works in which you find a thematic relationship and explore the meaning of that relationship.
Here are some possibilities – please also feel free to propose your own:
1. The nature of wisdom: Analects, The Bhagavad-Gita, The Qur’an
2. The nature of God: Gilgamesh, The Great Hymn to the Aten,
Genesis, Oedipus, The Aeneid, Inferno, Paradise Lost
3. The dangers of passion: The Aeneid, Inferno
4. Mastering the self: Gilgamesh, Odyssey, Oedipus, Othello
5. Alienation from the world: Iliad, Medea, Don Quixote
6. Identity in crisis: Medea, Don Quixote
7. The status of women: Medea, Classic of Poetry, Othello
8. Revenge and its results: Gilgamesh, Iliad, Medea, Othello
9. Heroism’s motivations: The Bhagavad-Gita, Iliad, Odyssey, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Don Quixote
10. Dealing with mortality: Gilgamesh, Iliad, Oedipus, Genesis
There are tons of other themes you could look at, having to do with such matters as duty, family, home, marriage, pride, honor, friendship, religious devotion, communication from God, and so on.
