This semester we have looked at the many different ways people have contended with authority, power, and freedom since Aristotle, Beowulf Background and the Fall of Rome, Héloïse and Abelard, Life of Charlemagne

This semester we have looked at the many different ways people have contended with authority, power, and freedom since Aristotle, Beowulf Background and the Fall of Rome, Héloïse and Abelard, Life of Charlemagne

. For your final you will use *at least four* different course readings to synthesize an argument based on one or a combination of these themes.

I am asking you to place four readings in conversation with one another, but they need not be four readings that take a similar position. For example, you might cite two examples of efforts to reform the status quo and two efforts to reinforce the existing power structure.

You also don’t need to limit your definitions of authority, power, and freedom. You can, of course, look at institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church or formal governments but also the ways that freedom and liberty are negotiated in family relationships and everyday life. Creative interpretation is welcomed.

There’s no expectation that you conduct any outside research to complete this. You should, however, use the sources from class and not use third-party research on those sources. The use of such sources may put you in jeopardy of plagiarism and could result in a failing grade.