Commonwealth of Utopia and Twelfth Night Viola
Assignment Instructions:
Length: 2500 words
In your essay you should develop your own interpretation, and set out a clear argument, reinforced by quotations from the text/s you have chosen to analyse. In your essay, consider the key preoccupations of the text/s and focus on analysis rather than description. Your response must refer to at least three scholarly articles and clearly show what they contribute to your own argument. Do not use general online sources. Do not use the ideas of others to make your point for you; rather, show how they work either to reinforce your argument, as a stepping off point, or as a point of disagreement for your own argument.
Essay Topics:
The writer has two topic options (CHOOSE ONE):
(Relevant secondary sources are attached “Not Obligatory”)
Topic 1
“The commonwealth of Utopia turns out to be a highly attractive place in some ways, but a highly unattractive one in others” (George Logan ed., Thomas More, Utopia, 2000). To what extent does this comment adequately summarizes the commonwealth of Utopia in Thomas More’s Utopia?
Topic 2
In Twelfth Night Viola declares, “Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness / Wherein the pregnant enemy does much” (2.2.27-28). Discuss the meaning of these lines and their implication for our understanding of the play.
Marking criteria
- relevance of the answer to the essay topic
- demonstrated ability to engage closely with and critically analyse the language of literary texts
- demonstrated ability to support critical arguments with quotations from the text/s under discussion and/or other evidenced sources
- demonstrated ability to develop and articulate a clear thesis in the introduction
- demonstrated ability to construct coherent patterns of argument and to express ideas clearly and succinctly and in a logical sequence
- demonstrated competency in using secondary material critically and in order to promote independent thinking on the assignment topic
- demonstrated ability to correctly structure an essay, paragraphs, and sentences and to write in a grammatically correct manner
- demonstrated understanding of the subject matter of the unit
- compliance with the presentation requirements
- compliance with the Unit referencing requirements.