Please write a 4-5 page (900-1000 words) response to one of the following questions. Please bring this to class on Monday, March 7 printed out (and stapled) with your name on it. I prefer that you use Times New Roman, 12-point font, double-spaced with 1-inch margins. In developing your answers, please be sure to draw upon specific references, quotations, and descriptions from the play and novel. Please do not quote excessively, this adds little to your own argument. Instead, isolate the important elements of dialogue that you want to highlight and augment it with your analysis.

The works of Beaumarchais and Goethe both reflect the specific historical contexts in which they were written as well as the intellectual movements of the Enlightenment and Romanticism. How does each work deal with the concept of “reason”? Do different characters in each work depict different levels of reasonable thought or action? Use two or three scenes from each work (for a total of four to six) to analyze how the two authors approach the concept of reason (or emotions). For instance, how does Beaumarchais use reason as an important plot element? Does Goethe’s character Werther represent a complete rejection of reason or does he also illustrate the limitations of a life driven by emotion?