Literature Essays

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Christian and Feminist Views of Christina Rossetti: Analytical Essay

5 Pages 2183 Words
Animal-shaped goblin men, with their exotic fruits, in a mysterious jungle with two young maidens, all the elements you would expect of a fairytale in Christina Rosetti’s “The Goblin Market”. I’m not convinced that, that is all there is to this poem however, once you look under the surface. This tale of a curious girl named Laura who gets tempted...

Theory of the Monomyth Introduced by Joseph Campbell: Critical Analysis

4 Pages 1820 Words
The Monomyth in Video Games There have been tales about heroes for as long as there have been tales. Some of the earliest recorded works remaining today, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and King Arthur in History of the Kings of Britain, are extensive stories of legendary leaders and heroes. Modern day stories have much to draw on, and...

‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and ‘Vinegar Girl’: Comparative Analysis

2 Pages 924 Words
Narratives which lampoon chauvinistic and misogynistic behaviour whilst simultaneously reaffirming their social validity, ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and ‘Vinegar Girl’ blur the distinction between parody and ideals. Constructed upon the backdrop of a strict renaissance gender hegemony and its leftovers of a similarly gender-driven hierarchy, William Shakespeare and Anne Tyler critique the perception of “Shrewishness” as a product of...

Religion and Faith in 'The Canterbury Tales'

4 Pages 1760 Words
The middle ages or Medieval times can be best described as the [footnoteRef:1]‘Age of Faith’ through the eyes of the church. Its stature and placement at the time, provides a clear understanding to its reputation of power and influence on society as a whole. [footnoteRef:2]For example, in a period of hardship, invasions and unpredictable political structure, the Catholic Church took...

The Concept of the Apollonian Dionysian Dichotomy: Analytical Essay

4 Pages 1719 Words
In The Birth of Tragedy Nietzsche presents his concept of the Apollonian, Dionysian Dichotomy as the driving force behind Greek art. Discussing how this can be used to revive the western modern culture. This essay will provide an overview of his key ideas and problems with them with reference to interact with the philosophical discourse of aesthetics. In The Birth...
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Critical Analysis of Protagonist in Stories by Ng Kim Chew

3 Pages 1518 Words
“Revolution always requires that people shed blood” (Kim Chew Ng 123). This is the grim fact that the protagonist and his comrades had agreed upon prior to following a path of revolution. And after him and his comrades are convicted of conspiracy and treason, plenty of blood was shed, as his comrades were shot to death by a firing squad...

Feminist Approach to the Birth of Aphrodite: Analytical Essay

2 Pages 1110 Words
Hesiod’s Theogony was a poem based on Greek gods' lives and how they came about. It focused on their traditions, who they married, how they birthed their off-springs and what kind of rituals they followed as gods to survive and appease the world they lived in. It begins with the invocation to the muses and ends with Zeus in power,...
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Chaucer's Style: Physiognomy for Criticism and Mockery

3 Pages 1509 Words
According to Chaucer, the question it is better ‘to be rather than to seem,’ is answered simply. To be is who you really are behind what is shown, while to seem is how you want to seem despite who you really are. In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer depicts the character's worthiness through their features and clothing. For him, each characters...

Critical Analysis of Eddie Carbone in ‘A View from the Bridge’

6 Pages 2601 Words
Coursework English literature Miller constructs protagonists who are destroyed by their obsessive need to defend their masculine self-image. How far do you agree this applies to both Willy Loman and Eddie Carbone? The 1950s, in the USA, was a period of radical change for men in the workplace, as academic attributes became increasingly appreciated and the white collar and corporate...

Critical Analysis of the Poem “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold

3 Pages 1485 Words
Since the birth of our world, we have recorded plentiful amounts of changes to it. We have acknowledged this change through events such as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and the ice age and even climate change. This, however, is not the only change we see within the world. We have also seen various alterations in society. It is...

Critical Analysis of the Study of Popular Magic and Witchcraft

3 Pages 1452 Words
'Witch-hunting... helped to unite men – by demonstrating the ultimate evil was female, not male.' The study of popular magic and witchcraft tells us that early-modern European society was a wholly misogynistic one that demonized and persecuted women. The patterns of popular magic and witchcraft can be traced throughout most of Europe from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The idea...

Critical Analysis of the Story about Medusa and Perseus

2 Pages 1146 Words
Medusa is the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto (even though some say Gorgon is her father). She was born on an island named Sarpedon. Medusa was one of the Gorgon sisters, although, unlike Euryale and Stheno, she was a mortal. There are various accounts of the way Euryale and Stheno have become the dreaded Gorgons we see in literature, even...
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The Complexities of the Writing Profession

2 Pages 979 Words
Introduction Writing is often perceived as a solitary and introspective profession, one that demands creativity, discipline, and an astute understanding of language. However, beneath the romanticized veneer of a writer's life lies a myriad of challenges that can often impede the creative process. These challenges are multifaceted, encompassing both psychological and practical dimensions. From the pressure to maintain originality in...

Aksenty Poprishchin in “Diary of a Madman”

3 Pages 1496 Words
The protagonist, Ivanovich Poprishchin is a titular councilor who has noted his sentiments in a diary. From the onset of the diary, it appears that the protagonist is unsatisfied with the way he is treated at his job, stating that the chief has been unpleasant to him and he has been informed he often “rush about as though he was...

Critical Analysis of 'The Bishop Orders His Tomb' and Top Girls

4 Pages 1760 Words
Studying Poetry and Drama Section 1) Robert Browning, Extract from ‘The Bishop Orders His Tomb’ Section 2) ‘What’s it going to do to him working for a woman?’ (Top Girls). Analyse the presentation of patriarchal authority andor challenges to patriarchal authority in texts studied on the module. 1. Robert Browning, Extract from ‘The Bishop Orders His Tomb’ ‘The Bishop Orders...

Nature of Human Relationships in Sons and Lovers: Analytical Essay

4 Pages 1651 Words
'Sons and Lovers' is one of the major novels of David Herbert Lawrence, published in 1913, before the beginning of the First World War. In the novel 'Sons and Lovers', Lawrence portrays different types of interpersonal human relationships. Because Lawrence has a deep understanding of human life and has too much experience of the world. Lawrence elaborated on the nature...

Comparative Analysis of Women in North and South and A Dolls House

3 Pages 1360 Words
Both North and South (1854-55) and A Dolls House (1879) present women as systemically restricted by an 1800’s patriarchal society, which elicits a response of sympathetic relatability within a typical female Victorian reader. Both of these novels are defined by the controversy of binary conflicts, which, if left unresolved, tear apart Gaskell’s Nora and Torvald, but consequently draw Ibsen’s Margaret...

Factors contributing to mental disorders in Mrs Dalloway

7 Pages 3360 Words
Introduction Virginia Woolf is a famous modernist English writer and the novel Mrs. Dalloway is one of her most popular works. The novel is based on a modernist writing technique which is known as stream of consciousness. There are throwbacks in the novel which are actually the thoughts of the characters. As we see, two stories are being discussed in...

Reimagining Princess Rapunzel: Story and Film Analyses

2 Pages 909 Words
Introduction The tale of Princess Rapunzel has captivated audiences for centuries, originating from a European folktale before being immortalized by the Brothers Grimm in the early 19th century. This narrative, characterized by the imagery of a maiden locked in a tower with her long, golden hair, has undergone numerous adaptations in literature and film. The evolution of Rapunzel’s story from...
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Transformative Forces: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Plessy v. Ferguson Case

2 Pages 968 Words
Introduction The late 19th and early 20th centuries were pivotal in shaping the trajectory of African American civil rights in the United States. Two significant forces during this era were the landmark Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), and the influential intellectual and activist, W.E.B. Du Bois. The Plessy v. Ferguson decision institutionalized the doctrine of "separate but equal,"...

Modern Interpretations of Classic Fairy Tales

2 Pages 851 Words
Introduction Fairy tales have long served as cultural cornerstones, captivating audiences with their enchanting narratives and moral lessons. Over the centuries, stories like "Cinderella," "Rapunzel," "Red Riding Hood," and "Jack and the Beanstalk" have undergone numerous transformations, each adaptation reflecting the socio-cultural ethos of its time. In recent years, there has been a marked shift towards reimagining these tales to...

Analysis of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood in 'Into the Woods'

6 Pages 2962 Words
What Was Happening at The Time ‘Into the Woods’ Was Set? Cinderella The first written European version of the fairy tale Cinderella was by Giambattista Basile in 1634 called ‘Cenerentola’. This name comes from the Italian word ‘Cenere’ which means cinder or ash. This is a reflection on the modern-day fairy tale that most people associate ‘Cinderella’ with as her...

Realism vs Illusion in North and South: Critical Analysis

2 Pages 1026 Words
The social-political novel and romance ‘North and South’ by Elizabeth Gaskell examines the contradictions and real disparities that existed in Milton in the early Victorian era between the south of England, traditionally at the seat of power, and the north of England, which was historically more prosperous but where aristocratic wealth was still primarily derived from landowning. And the north...

Faciality & Sensation in Hardy's 'Return of the Native'

1 Page 671 Words
Thomas Hardy as a psychological realist, few critics have gone so far in the other direction as Gilles Deleuze, who states that Hardy’s characters ‘are not people or subjects, they are collections of intensive sensations’ (Deleuze and Parnet 39-40). This is to suggest not that Hardy is uninterested in people but that he is interested in them as material objects,...

Comparison of 20th Century Psychology and Modern Fiction in Mrs Dalloway

7 Pages 3203 Words
The early 20th century, the golden era of modernism, was a remarkable time in the history of literary world as this modernist paradigm had brought a radical shift in aesthetic as well as cultural sensibilities in all fronts of life, including in literature. It was not only the sense of war, the economic disruption or political turmoil that led to...

Modernist Perspectives in Mrs Dalloway and A Room

3 Pages 1491 Words
Virginia Woolf (1882 –1941) was an well-known English novelist, essayist, feminist, to a greater degree, a modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. Unlike antecedent literary works of her time, she experiments with different techniques, forms, and structures – denouncing former Victorian, Romantic, realist conventional use of description, generic characters, and plot, yet, maintains concern for the depiction of the...

Critical Analysis of Mrs Dalloway: Gender Roles in Society

4 Pages 1771 Words
'Love between man and woman was repulsive to Shakespeare”(Woolf 97). Virginia Woolf published Mrs. Dalloway in 1925. The Modernist monumental work was written in the wake of the atrocities that happened during the first world war. The story presents the reader with Clarissa Dalloway, a member of London’s high society, who spends a day in 1923 preparing for a party...

Pessimism in Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground: Critical Analysis

4 Pages 1613 Words
Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground depicts a man who is deeply rooted in a lifestyle of pessimism and bitterness. He is highly governed by his own taxing philosophies. The Underground Man lives by the precedent of his own conceptions on how life should be lived. His understanding of the way people should interact socially and how individuals should be engaged emotionally...

Critical Analysis of “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning

3 Pages 1326 Words
The short poem, “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning is one of his finest works that portrays the motions of love and hate, as well as passion and control. The thrilling love story is about a man who is greatly obsessed with his lover named Porphyria and all he really wants his to keep her all to himself. But the only...
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