English L&L Oral Exam Deadline 21/12/22

Idea #1

Works Chosen: Medea by Euripides and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Research Area: Power and Honor stronger by Love

Global issue: Beliefs, values or power ? I’m still unsure, because the theme seems on the
verge of two?

Interests and Goals:

What I would like to research under this topic would be the characters of Jason from
Medea and Daisy from Gatsby and their motivations why they chose not to choose
love. For Jason it can be argued that besides his love just fading away, (because it
might have been set to him by Gods, but then shouldn’t it be unable to fade?) he
calculated that it would be better for his and his children (also questionably) to
remarry to a princess, instead being married to an foreigner, a witch (especially in a
conservative ancient Greece).

On the other side, there is Daisy - a woman married to a brute with wealth and a
good name. Although, some may say Gatsby truly loved her and perhaps would treat
her better (he also had money!) - she chose to stay with her husband. Was it her
keeping her wedding promise, being scared to get against Tom or just her comfort of
living in the better side of New York, where she agrees to be under a misogynistic,
brute man who cheats on her.

Idea #2

Works Chosen: Grendel by John Gardner and Beowulf by Seamus Heaney

Research Area: Artistic (and Contrasting?) Influences. How problems, idueas,

developing ideas are reworked in Literature?

Global Issue: Culture, identity and community or Art, creativity and the
imagination ? Again, the theme seems on the verge of two.

Interests and Goals:

Here I would like to focus on influences affecting art. I could elaborate and finally
research the topic of my interest which is the nature of Beowulf’s narration - is it
Christian? Then why does the mindset of the story still seem dipped in old English
heroism (yet still the heroes of the story argue, all they do is for God….). The newly
introduced Christian culture is being mixed and processed in Beowulf.
On the other hand there is Grendel. Obviously influenced by Beowulf, as it is the
same story but retold from the monster’s perspective. Nevertheless, the author
changes stuff, adds (from himself) even more. I could elaborate on his influences:
nihilist vs. existentialist philosophies (that they in themselves are rather contrasting),
Zodiac, and author’s own trauma (there was this one article, where authors
backstory was described, because of the event happened when he was a child he
perhaps seen himself as a monster, reworked own nihilistic phrases and feeling like
being ununderstood, alone, the other and the monstrous).