Symbolism in Three Cantos of Dante’s “Inferno”
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A five page paper looking at Cantos XXXII, XXXIII, and XXXIV of Dante’s classic work in terms of the way the poet uses symbolism and imagery to heighten our understanding of the poem’s meaning. Special attention is paid to the significance of ice, which contrasts with our expectation that Hell is a lake of fire. No additional sources.
Filename: KBdante3.wps

The Quest and the Hero in Homer, Dante, and Cervantes
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A five page paper analyzing the significance of these motifs in “The Odyssey,” “The Inferno,” and “Don Quixote.” The paper concludes that each hero, through his quest, has brought back to his society a dose of precisely the medicine it needs. Bibliography lists two sources.
Filename: KBquest.wps

Women in Classical Literature
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A five page look at the role women have played in Western literature from the Old Testament through the Greeks and Romans through the Middle Ages and early Renaissance to the Romantic era. Works discussed include the Bible: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; Aeschylus' Agamemnon; Euripides' Medea; Virgil's Aeneid; Dante's Inferno; the works of Petrarch; Cervantes' Don Quixote; and Goethe's Faust. Bibliography lists two sources.
Filename: KBwomen3.wps

Book VI of Virgil's Aeneid: Symbology of the Tragedy of Life
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A 5 page overview of Book VI of Virgil's Aeneid. Discusses the symbolic significance of the book and its relation to mankind's salvation and redemption. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: PPaeneid.wps

Chaucer’s “Knight’s Tale” and the Cult of Courtly Love
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A five page paper analyzing Chaucer’s use of the Knight’s Tale to illustrate the courtly love genre so popular in the era immediately preceding his own. The paper defines courtly love and shows how it is manifested in Chaucer’s story. Bibliography lists five sources.
Filename: KBchau12.wps

Chaucer’s “Shipman’s,” “Cook’s,” and “Miller’s” Tales
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A six page paper looking at three of the stories in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: The Shipman’s Tale, The Cook’s Tale, and The Miller’s Tale. Each story is shown to be a ribald story which is told at the expense of a lower-class tradesperson or rural bumpkin from an implicitly upper-class, educated point of view. Bibliography lists six sources.
Filename: KBchau14.wps

Geoffrey Chaucer’s Life
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A five page paper looking at the life of this great author of the fourteenth century. The paper shows that although he spent his life in government service, this helped his literary career through exposing him to different locales and diverse types of people -- influences which came together in The Canterbury Tales. Bibliography lists four sources.
Filename: KBchau13.wps

Knight's Tale Vs. Sir Gawain / Conflicting Obligations Of Knighthood
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In 5 pages, the writer discusses conflicting and overlapping obligations of knighthood as present in Chaucer's The Knight's Tale and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Filename: Knigconf.wps

Male/Female Relationships in Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'
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A five page paper looking at the way Chaucer depicts the relationships between the sexes in the Knight's, Merchant's, Miller's, and Wife of Bath's Tales. The paper concludes that of all these, the only one which accurately replicates a reciprocal relationship is the Wife of Bath, because the others see women only as objects or stereotypes. Bibliography lists two sources.
Filename: KBchau15.wps

Morality and Immorality in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”
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An 8 page paper looking at Geoffrey Chaucer’s most famous work in terms of its treatment of morality. The paper concludes that although many of the tales are wholesome and many are bawdy, the most inherently immoral are those, told by representatives of the Church, which are hurtful to one’s fellow human beings. Specific tales discussed in depth include the Pardoner’s, the Prioress’, and the Friar’s. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: KBchau11.wps

Religious Hypocrisy in Chaucer’s “The Monk’s Tale”
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A 6 page paper analyzing the personality of the Monk in this excerpt from The Canterbury Tales. The paper concludes that to Chaucer, the sin which the Monk commits by breaking his religious vows is somewhat mediated by the fact that the dogma on which the vows were based was flawed to begin with. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
Filename: KBmonks.wps

Chretien de Troyes' 'Yvain'
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A 5 page analysis of de Troyes' tale on the subject of how pure love leads to transformation of the individual—where Yvain and other characters are representatives of both the personal soul and the community soul. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Filename: YvaindeT.rtf