portfolio
I avers that the Early Modern period is basically a male dominant society. When I applied to UCL, I wrote something on Lady Mary Wroth and the question of autonomy in female writing. Now I know for certain that I don't want anything to do with women writers. The brilliant works of the age were composed in great quantity by famous Elizabethan and Jacobean male writers. It seems to me that once you deal with works written by women, you naturally have to talk about gender issues. You make a fuss about the significance of a woman knowing how to read and write. "Oh, she's a woman. She can read Latin. She lives in a male dominant society, and her act of writing is a way to claim her freedom..." so and so. It's the same problem with Amy Tan. "Oh, she's Asian, hence she writes about Chinese traditions..."
The essays I shall submit for the portfolio will be about:
1. Truth in Henry VIII--loyalty, honesty, and kingship
2. Performance of the Prayer--religion as political tool, authorship, and marketing
3. Ambivalence in Arcadia--heroism and chivalry
I am still pondering on what topic to write for the dissertation. Most likely it will be on Jacobean city drama.