Literary Criticism essays

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2 Pages 1149 Words
The Relevance of Romeo and Juliet in Today’s Teens The play Romeo and Juliet is written by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare in 1597, depicts a romance between the teenage star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. The story takes multiple twists and turns as we follow the two teens through their romance and eventual downfall. The actions...
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2 Pages 758 Words
While Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and all the other boys were on the island, Golding conveyed a significant lesson about mob mentality. Mob mentality is described by the way people can influence others to adopt certain behaviors while being part of a group, which not only makes humans commit acts that they would not together in a group, but also lose...
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2 Pages 1116 Words
Emotions are one of the biggest influences on a person’s decisions and can often alter one’s disposition. As stated in a manuscript submitted for publication in the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, “Emotions are the dominant driver of most meaningful decisions”. This psychological phenomenon is apparent in various forms of media, including movies, television shows, and novels. In William Golding’s...
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2 Pages 1064 Words
Considering the topic of violence in literature, I would like to discuss ‘Lord of the Flies’ written by the British author, winner of the Nobel Prize, William Golding. The book is about a group of boys who find themselves mysteriously stranded on an island and how they try to govern themselves with no adult to influence them. Themes include the...
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2 Pages 908 Words
William Golding writes a book about a band of schoolboys who become stranded on a remote island with no adults present. As the story progresses, chaos quickly ensues as the boy's evil nature surfaces. ‘The Lord of the Flies’ was written in 1954, with the recent atrocities committed in World War II fresh in mind. Influenced by these events, Golding...
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3 Pages 1604 Words
Throughout the story 'Of Mice and Men,' Steinbeck's perception of women as the novel evolves is truly revealed. It is shown that at that time if women didn't fit into the societal view that a woman should be maternal and modest, they would be frowned upon and outcasted. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck represents women to be lower in society than...
Literary CriticismNovelOf Mice and Men
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4 Pages 1871 Words
There are always consequences to bad choices in one way or another, just as committing a crime results in imprisonment. William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet shows a pair of star-crossed lovers who make dangerous and risky choices they would not make otherwise in hopes of being with each other, ultimately leading to their deaths. This tragic story takes place...
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2 Pages 1014 Words
Romantic love stories always end up with a happy ending, but sometimes they probably wind up in a tragedy such as the loss of a loved one. These horrific tragedies like the loss of a loved one can be caused by a person’s actions. The tragic love story, ‘’Romeo and Juliet’’ by William Shakespeare explains how rushed ‘’love’’ can turn...
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2 Pages 848 Words
The fear of what is inside you, your desire for revenge, your lack of control over your impulses, and your dark side, is the greatest fear presented in the story Beowulf, a book by Robert Nye. Grendel’s mother, Cain’s wife, a female without a name, represents what is dark inside ourselves. She is filled with cruelty, hate, and revenge; a...
BeowulfLiterary CriticismRevenge
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2 Pages 1077 Words
Introduction William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is often celebrated as one of the greatest tragedies in English literature, with its themes of love, fate, and conflict. However, one of the less frequently explored dimensions of this play is the element of revenge and its role in driving the narrative towards its tragic conclusion. Revenge in "Romeo and Juliet" is not...
Literary CriticismRevengeRomeo and Juliet
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4 Pages 1901 Words
People go through difficult situations in life and while some may want to give up by committing suicide, most choose to struggle through life because the consequences of death are unknown and might be too great. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the main protagonist Hamlet, after finding out that his father was murdered by his uncle, must avenge...
Julius CaesarLiterary CriticismStudy
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2 Pages 749 Words
Freedom and Choice A utopian society has been created for people in the book so that they have no rights and no individual thoughts. Every individual is much the same. Daily, everybody takes a pill that erases all memories, pain, and tension. Jonas, the protagonist, is selected to inherit all the world's memories and discovers that anyone he cares for...
Critical ThinkingLiterary CriticismThe Giver
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3 Pages 1499 Words
Antigone as a character within Jean Anouilh’s modern re-creation of Sophocles’s Greek classic, ‘Antigone’, is surrounded by ambiguity. Within Sophocles’s version, Antigone is presented with clear, rational, and understandable motives for defying Creon and the oppressive state in which he struggles to uphold. However, unlike Sophocles, Anouilh teaches us nothing of Antigone’s motivations and instead creates a depiction of an...
AntigoneCharacterLiterary Criticism
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3 Pages 1626 Words
In Sophocles’ Antigone, the two characters of Creon and Antigone represent unreflective and polarising moments of Greek life, highlighting the conflict and divide between male and female, and “polis” and “Oikos”. Throughout the drama, Creon displays a near-existential fear of female transgression. He first introduces the theme of a male-female conflict when he says. Indeed, now I am no man,...
AntigoneCharacterLiterary Criticism
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5 Pages 2347 Words
The idea of conflict between the state and individuals and the theme of civil disobedience remains prevalent throughout society today. Despite 'Antigone' and 'Fahrenheit 451' being written nearly two thousand years apart, both texts share the same societal issues of conflict between the state and the individual but in different contexts. Both Sophocles and Bradbury are influenced by the political...
AntigoneConflictLiterary Criticism
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2 Pages 1106 Words
The upper class is responsible for creating friendships, initiating invitations, and more importantly, being charitable to those in a lesser position. When someone violates these social norms, they are met with indignation as evidence of Mrs. Elton not understanding entirely her social position in society. Mrs. Elton is insufferably conceited about new money and only has money because of her...
EmmaJane AustenLiterary Criticism
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3 Pages 1501 Words
Pride and Prejudice is a novel on manners, social customs, and etiquette based in early 19th century England. One of the most notable themes in this novel is, of course, reputation and impressions. Austen originally titled this novel as First Impressions. While Austen does make numerous references to the importance of first impressions, this essay will primarily focus on the...
Jane AustenLegacyLiterary Criticism
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2 Pages 1003 Words
In the science fiction book, The Giver by Lois Lowry, the protagonist, Jonas, lives in a community that is excruciatingly controlled. The members of the community could not even make most of their own choices. Almost everyone who lived within the confines of the community never had to experience anything gruesome like pain or hunger, nor did they understand the...
Critical ReflectionLiterary CriticismThe Giver
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6 Pages 2882 Words
President Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States of America, once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world...
Critical ThinkingLiterary CriticismThe Giver
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1 Page 492 Words
Sirens, synonymous with their seductive and tempting voices in Greek mythology, which bewitch men causing their deaths, is one archetype intertextually present in both O Brother Where Art Thou and Homer’s Odyssey which the film is loosely based on. Through strategic employment of diegetic sound, the careful and thought-provoking composition of the mise-e-scene, and numerous camera shots, the archetype is...
ArchetypeLiterary CriticismThe Odyssey
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2 Pages 1057 Words
In Book XI of The Odyssey, in the underworld, Tiresias describes to Odysseus a final journey he must take to 'have a gentle, painless death... with all [his] people there in blessed peace around [him]” (Homer, XI. 155,157). Tiresias says that Odysseus must walk inland with an oar until he gets to a place where people mistake it for a...
Critical ThinkingLiterary CriticismThe Odyssey
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3 Pages 1160 Words
The Odyssey is a classic ancient Greek poem credited to Homer, following the Greek hero Odysseus and his extensive journey home after the fall of Troy. In his absence, his wife Penelope “is sieged by suitors who want her hand in marriage and with it her kingdom” (Morford, Lenardon, & Sham, 2019, p. 520). Despite having over one hundred wilful...
Literary CriticismLiterary DevicesThe Odyssey
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2 Pages 907 Words
Introduction In S.E. Hinton's seminal novel The Outsiders, the character of Bob Sheldon is often overshadowed by the more prominent protagonists. However, a closer examination reveals that Bob's role is crucial in understanding the socio-economic tensions and interpersonal dynamics that drive the narrative. Bob, a privileged teenager from the affluent 'Socs' (short for Socials), serves as a foil to the...
CharacterLiterary CriticismThe Outsiders
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2 Pages 995 Words
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, a novel that tells the story of the conflict between two rival gangs, Greasers and Socs, captures the voice of Ponyboy and his friends to talk about stereotype threats. In Ponyboy’s role as the narrator and main character in the story, he talks about the expectations of Greasers being violent delinquents, which sways his internal...
CharacterLiterary CriticismThe Outsiders
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1 Page 498 Words
S.E. Hinton wrote the novel The Outsiders, which is realistic fiction. It shows key events demonstrating the respect Dally deserves. Some might think that Dally doesn’t deserve respect for the way he treats people, but he acts this way because he came from a neglectful family and wasn’t shown love. One place this is seen is when Johnny and Ponyboy...
CharacterLiterary CriticismThe Outsiders
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2 Pages 819 Words
When the odds are stacked against you, find a way to preserve and fight as your life depends on it. Emmellie Lyon discovers how a young boy did just that. Imagine this, your parents both are killed in a tragic car accident, leaving you to be raised by your inexperienced, bitter 20-year-old older brother, Darry Curtis. Darry doesn’t care for...
CharacterLiterary CriticismThe Outsiders
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2 Pages 892 Words
Hero. A hero doesn’t always mean outstanding powers to be significant. A hero has many meanings to different people. Some people see superheroes in capes or webs coming out of their wrists. But a hero that should be more recognized are the ones who do small things that stand out from the rest. Saving lives and cities from villains is...
CharacterLiterary CriticismThe Outsiders
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1 Page 608 Words
Bob begins the novel as the emblem of all things “Soc”—that is, all things rich, smug, entitled, and different from Ponyboy and his friends. The ominous blue Mustang that appears and reappears throughout the novel highlights the economic difference between Bob and Ponyboy; it’s as if Ponyboy cannot see past the beautiful car to the frightened boy behind the wheel....
Literary CriticismNovelThe Outsiders
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3 Pages 1178 Words
The concept of “a new beginning” is a recurrent theme that prevails in African American literature, predominantly, in the geographical form of The South. Used as a literary terrain, The South is more than a characterization of the savagery that African Americans endured during the period of slavery. It is within this landscape that African Americans advanced society and culture...
2 Pages 952 Words
Introduction In Homer’s epic poem, "The Odyssey," the episode involving the Cicones serves as a pivotal moment that foreshadows the challenges Odysseus and his crew will face on their journey home. The encounter with the Cicones, occurring shortly after the Greeks depart from Troy, illustrates themes of hubris, retribution, and the complexities of human conflict. This event is not only...
Critical ReflectionLiterary CriticismThe Odyssey
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