Please paste in a final exam question below.  You can use the midterm questions I wrote as a model.

Basically, your question should be thematically based, and possible to answer in an hour without the use of the texts.  Responses should require engagement with at least two texts.  You may require a response to engage a particular text, but every question should also allow for some choice (alternatively, you may allow students to choose all of the texts used in a response). 

Please post your question by the 12/1.  In class that day, we will choose 3 for you to prepare for.  You'll write a response to one of them on 12/8

Note: Please prepare to write essays on the three questions with asterisks below; on Tuesday, you will be asked to write on just one.

1.  In The Tempest, when Prospero explains to Miranda the sequence of events that led to their exile from Milan, about the loss of his dukedom, he states:

And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed

In dignity, and for the liberal arts

Without a parallel; those being all my study,

The government I cast upon my brother

And to my state grew stranger, being transported

And rapt in secret studies. . . . (Shakespeare 1.2.72-77)

From this passage, it appears as though Prospero, in his quest for a liberal arts education, became so obsessed with his studies that he neglected his civic responsibilities as Duke of Milan, which opened the door for Antonio's usurpation of Prospero's political position. In this particular instance, Shakespeare displays an ambivalence toward the humanist ideal of intellectual liberty. On one hand, he appears to believe in the value of intellectual freedom but, conversely, is opposed to this ideal when these studies interfere with one's worldly obligations. Using this ambivalence in The Tempest as a starting point, write an essay that discusses the nature of intellectual liberty as it relates to two (or three) humanist texts of your choosing (one of which may be The Tempest). Do the authors value a liberal arts education over civic involvement or vice versa? Or do these authors advocate for a balance between these ideas? How do these interpretations of the texts help to inform our understanding of a humanist education in the early modern period? (Chris)

2.  The Humanist movement saw much preoccupation with the ideas of both art and nature and their relationship to each other.  In “The Arte of English Poesie,” George Puttenham quoted Ben Jonson who stated, “Without Art, Nature can ne’er be perfect; and without Nature, art can claim no being” (Puttenham 184).  By quoting Jonson, Puttenham seems to agree that art at once perfects nature yet art is also birthed from nature.   Did all Humanist share this complex view on the relationship between art and nature?  Did Puttenham, although he quotes Jonson here, agree completely with his cited quotation, or does he offer some other argument on the role of nature and art/artist?  Using Puttenham and any two other texts, discuss the relationship between art (writing, painting, music, art in general, etc.) and nature as it applied to Humanist thought. (Danielle)

3.  Pico della Mirandola, in his text “Oration on the Dignity of Man,” argues that human beings have the ability to transmute to a level of god-like power through their pursuit of knowledge. He states, “we have made thee neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal now immortal, so that with freedom of choice and with honor, as though the maker and molder of thyself, thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou prefer. Thou shalt have the power to degenerate into the lower forms of life, which are brutish. Thou shalt have the power out thy souls judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine” (225). Using two other texts of your choosing explore how they agree or disagree with Pico's notion of the value of intellectual liberty. Is it possible to have too much intellectual freedom/power? What are the implications of such freedom/power in other texts? (Laura)

*4.  How does curiositas—as Edward Peters quotes Christopher Columbus in the title and body of his 2001 article, "the desire to know the secrets of the world"—feature in Renaissance literature?  What moral judgments do Humanist authors attach to the search for knowledge, and how is that search represented?

Possible texts: Utopia, Doctor Faustus, The Tempest, The Alchemist

(Emily)

5.  “The poet he nothing affirms, and therefore never lieth.”- In the Defense of Poesy, Sidney describes the bards as "vates," from the Latin for Makers or Prophets. He argues for the values in the “fictional” arts; he regards poetry as a means of leading one to virtue. What is the role of the humanist poet in terms of “fictional” art? How does “fictional” art address integral humanist values, especially paradoxical issues such as fulfilling ones passions and desires whilst aiming for virtue? In what way does the poet/writer still aim to connect and encourage intellectual liberty and civic duty without sacrificing the aesthetic value of the art form? Using two works of your choosing, explore the ways in which the text, though “fiction”, displays humanist values and addresses aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural issues. (Kristin) 

6.  The ending of The Tempest , Prospero delivers this speech to the audience:

Now I want

Spirits to enforce, art to enchant,

And my ending is despair,

Unless I be relieved by prayer,

Which pierces so that it assaults

Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardoned be,

Let your indulgence set me free. (Shakespeare, Epilogue 13-20)

In this scene, Prospero shows us that just as he had captured characters and controlled their thoughts or perceptions, he also took control of the audience. Now he must break that control in order to continue on to his kingdom. Considering Prospero’s abilities, discuss the ways humanist values and strategies have been used to control or manipulate perceptions in two other texts we have read in class. In what ways are humanist "arts" involved in self-assertion and/or the exercise of power (including, perhaps, power over a reader or audience)?  (Sarah S., with a slight shift in emphasis by Prof. L)

*7.  How does magic as metaphor represent the intellectual freedom of the humanist in both plays Dr.Faustus and The Tempest ? Is there a difference between the two playwrights representation of magic? In his pursuit of knowledge does the humanist have boundless freedom? Or is he restrained? If so what are the kinds of governing forces of the intellect that guide both protagonists? (Fadila)

8. Choose 2-3 texts to discuss how the Humanist ideal of the pursuit of intellectual and/or physical liberty is complicated. Why do you think the authors chose to depict this ideology in an ambiguous way? (Erin)

9. Using Juan Luis Vives' "The Instruction  of a Christian Woman" and one more source, explain how gender roles and societal priorities changed and the impact it had on these social groups between the medieval and Renaissance periods. (Eric)

*10. At the summit of Mt. Ventoux, Petrarch opens Augustine’s Confessions and reads, “And men go to admire the high mountains, the vast floods of the sea, the huge streams of the rivers … and desert themselves.”  Write an essay that explores the Humanist quest for self knowledge.  How is it to be pursued, where is it to be found, what will its content be (i.e., what will be considered “self”), and what is one to do with it?  You may present several writers who agree, or a variety of opinions.  In either case, be sure you offer a coherent thesis that offers a perspective on humanist effort to “know thyself.”