Literature Essays

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Reassessing Rapunzel: Analyzing Her Influence on Children

2 Pages 935 Words
Introduction Rapunzel, a classic fairy tale character, has long been a staple in children's literature and entertainment, with her story being retold in various forms, from the Brothers Grimm's version to Disney's adaptations. While the tale of Rapunzel has enchanted generations with its themes of adventure and romance, it is essential to critically examine the character as a potential role...
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Coriolanus': In-Depth-Analysis of the Play

3 Pages 1225 Words
In this play Coriolanus by Shakespeare, Coriolanus' expulsion is the peak of a sequence of incidents in which a few powers have a role, all impelling him to his absolute destruction. As is normal in Shakespearean Tragedy, the legend, at the crest of his accomplishments, falls, because of a lethal blemish in his character. Despite the fact that Coriolanus is...

The Unknown Citizen': Irony in the Poem

3 Pages 1233 Words
Nowadays when I ask my students about the meaning of the term “irony,” smarty pants students quip me that the word “irony” is an adjectival form of the noun “iron!” Clever is the wit, of course; however, even in that joke, one can also see how “irony” could mean something “chewy” as it means a twisted double-meaning, ranging from a...

Humor in 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog'

2 Pages 1135 Words
A gambler is nothing but a man who makes his living out of hope.”(Bolitho). In “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” the narrator introduces Simon Wheeler by asking for a man named Leonidas W. Smiley. Instead of indicating the narrator for the information that he asks for, Wheeler starts off with a tall tale about a man named Jim...

The Poisonwood Bible': A Study of The Narration and Viewpoints

2 Pages 895 Words
“The Poisonwood Bible,” by Barbara Kingsolver, is a scathing critique of the destructive nature of pride and ambition, its narrative spanning over thirty years to reveal the tragic shortcomings of evangelist Nathan Price and the Western colonial attitudes he represents. In order to personalize the epic scope of the novel, Kingsolver writes in the first person, alternately inhabiting the minds...

Faust': Comparative Analysis of The Characters of Faust and Satan

3 Pages 1269 Words
In Victor Hugo’s poem And There Was Night, the character of Satan was an archangel before he fell. In the play of Faust, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe discusses the fall of Wagner. Both Hugo and Von Goethe show how the fall of a person can impact the rest of eternity. Both Satan and Wagner are seen as not believing in...
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The Enthralling, Anxious World of Vladimir Nabokov’s Dreams

3 Pages 1324 Words
Dreams are boring. On the list of tedious conversation topics, they fall somewhere between the five-day forecast and golf. As for writing about them, even Henry James, who’s seldom accused of playing to the cheap seats, had a rule: “Tell a dream, lose a reader.” I can remember when I accepted that my own unconscious was not a fount of...

Coriolanus': The Gendering of Tragedy and Honor

6 Pages 2597 Words
Vengeance, chaos, uncertain honor and untimely death-whether describing the fall from grace of a noble king, impassioned General, or valiant warrior, each arises in the historically based tragedies of William Shakespeare. Coriolanus, Shakespeare’s account of the societal and self destruction of a Roman warrior paragon, proves no exception, depicting the demise that results from any character trait excess, even honor....

Antony and Cleopatra': Cleopatra as a Mere Snippet for a Monarch

2 Pages 992 Words
Cleopatra, “Egypt’s Queen,” is arguably Shakespeare’s most resilient and enchanting female protagonist. She is personified as the embodiment of her country, ‘the soul of Egypt’, and defies the reductive Jacobean “most monster-like” perspective of women. The Renaissance stereotype of the subordinate and inferior female is in total juxtaposition to the possessive and shrewd characteristics that Cleopatra possesses, as she is...

Rapunzel'. In-Depth Analysis of the Tale

3 Pages 1082 Words
Plot Rapunzel is a famous fairy tale that tells the story of a young woman with incredibly long hair locked away in a tower by a wicked sorceress. The plot revolves around her life in captivity and her eventual escape with the help of a brave prince. The tale begins with Rapunzel's parents, who long for a child but are...
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Ariel' by Sylvia Plath: Self vs Nature

3 Pages 1178 Words
Our collective relationship with the natural world is one fraught with tensions and paradoxes. Through a refusal to identify any form of objective truth, Ariel by Sylvia Plath moves beyond binaries to posit language as a portal into deepened self understanding. In this essay I will discuss… In this essay I will discuss how Plath through an exploration of the...

The Great Gatsby': Feminist Critical Line

2 Pages 705 Words
“The Great Gatsby” is a novel by Scott Fitzgerald that outlines the impossibility of recapturing the past and altering one’s future. It further emphasizes the unachievable ideology of the American Dream during the 1920s through a man named Jay Gatsby, from the viewpoint of salesman Nick Carraway. Besides this, the novel depicts a significant disparity in the representation of female...

Winnie-the-Pooh': Short Summary

3 Pages 1500 Words
Winnie the Pooh is a teddy bear, a great friend of Christopher Robin. A variety of stories happen to him. Once, going into the clearing, Winnie the Pooh sees a tall oak tree, at the top of which something buzzes: zhzhzhzhzhzhzh! In vain no one will buzz, and Winnie the Pooh is trying to climb a tree for honey. Having...

Birches': The Central Idea

1 Page 495 Words
In this write-up, we are attempting to discuss the central idea of Birches, a poem written by Robert Frost. The poem is reminiscent of the poems of The Romantics. Nostalgic, dreamy, escapist- it has all the qualities of any other romantic poems. The poem opens by giving the possible explanations of the bending of the birch trees. Then the poet...
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Sympathy for The Devil: William Butler Yeats and Fascism

2 Pages 834 Words
When we slot figures neatly onto the plinths of our national pantheon, the heroic status we make often require some scrubbing before they are fit to be viewed by the public. Figures of national renown are scrubbed clean of their more radical thoughts- Martin Luther King Jr’s avowed leftism for example- in order to turn them into saints with simple...

Ode to a Nightingale Summary & Analysis

2 Pages 886 Words
The speaker opens with a declaration of his own heartache. He feels numb, as though he had taken a drug only a moment ago. He is addressing a nightingale he hears singing somewhere in the forest and says that his “drowsy numbness” is not from envy of the nightingale’s happiness, but rather from sharing it too completely; he is “too...
Ode
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Symbolism and Themes in 'The Flowers'

2 Pages 945 Words
Introduction Alice Walker's short story "The Flowers" is a profound narrative that delves into themes of innocence, loss, and racial violence. Within a compact narrative, Walker encapsulates the essence of a young girl's transition from innocence to a harsh awareness of reality. Through the use of symbolism and vivid imagery, Walker invites readers to explore the complexities of racial history...

A Study of What Constitute a Hero as Depicted in Perseus Story

2 Pages 1038 Words
Being known as a hero is a great honor. You are held in high esteem by people all over the world. You have great fame and sometimes even great fortune. But to become a hero is a challenging path. It requires you to have great strength of character, being honorable and arising to trustworthiness. Sometimes the path can be physically...
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Angels and Demons': Critical Analysis Of a Book

1 Page 429 Words
A brilliant page turner for readers who love brilliant storyline and drama. Angels and Demons is an outstanding thriller, mystrey and crime fiction by Dan Brown, is also the writer who wrote “Da Vinci Code.' The book has the same protagonist, Robert Langdon who is a professor and is set in the cobbled street of Europe and the Vatican City....

Suburban Sonnet' Analysis

3 Pages 1152 Words
Gwendoline Nessie Harwood’s poem ‘Suburban Sonnet’ aims to commentate on the harsh reality and expectations of motherhood in the 1960’s. This powerful yet convoluted allegorical poem reveals the extreme burdens and strains that women tackled every day. Life for women in the 1960’s was simply just ‘a pot boiling over’ and Gwen Harwood utilizes her vivid recollection of her childhood...
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The Issue of Bureaucracy in Franz Kafka’s “The Trial”

4 Pages 1702 Words
Introduction to Bureaucracy in "The Trial" Written at the beginning of the 20th century “The Trial” depicts “the rise of bureaucracy, the power of law, and the atomization of the individual”, which are allegorically reflected in a story about Joseph K., a bank employee who is accused of unspecified crimes. This rather surreal and pessimistic narrative begins when two guards...

Comparative Analysis of Apollo and Aphrodite

2 Pages 1007 Words
Greek mythology is a collection of stories that the ancient Greeks used to say. Such myths are about the world’s history and creation, the lives, and actions of gods, characters, and mythological creatures, and the roots and the importance of the worship and ceremonial rituals of the ancient Greeks. The stories of gods and goddesses in ancient Greece were an...

Examples of Legends in Literary Texts

1 Page 675 Words
Originated from Latin legendus, legend means “something which ought to be read.” According to J. A. Cuddon, a legend is “a story or narrative that lies somewhere between myth and historical fact and which, as a rule, is about a particular figure or person.” Traditionally, a legend is a narrative that focuses on a historically or geographically specific figure, and...
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Summary

2 Pages 859 Words
In the Adventures of Tom Sawyer written by Mark Twain, friendship and loyalty are concepts that are important in the lives of humans. In this novel, Tom makes new friends and new experiences. However, he especially treasures the bonds that he has with Huckleberry Finn and Becky Thatcher. With Huckleberry Finn, the author, Mark Twain shows how simple adventures, blood...

Thomas Hardy as a Great Novelist

3 Pages 1409 Words
Thomas Hardy is one of the greatest English novelists. With his fourteen novels, he has carved for himself a niche in the glorious mansion of the English novel. He is a great poet as well as a great novelist; but the success and popularity of his novels-especially his six major novels - has overshadowed his glory as a poet. As...

Analysis of Imagery and Other Literary Devices in Dover Beach

2 Pages 838 Words
Reviewed double_ok
“Dover Beach” is a four stanza poem written by Matthew Arnold that starts out with a quiet scene. It begins with the speaker looking out on the moonlit water and listening to the sound of the waves. The author describes that the night air is “sweet” as he stands on the pebbled shore looking out at the “calm” sea. However,...

Troilus and Cressida' as a Problem Play

4 Pages 2025 Words
A problem play is a play in which the playwright portrays the social, political and economic problems of the society he lives in. The problem play is a development form of the ‘drama of ideas' (Drama of ideas is a type of discussion play in which the most acute problems of social and personal morality is revealed). It is tragic...

The Minister's Black Veil': Internal Conflict in a Book

3 Pages 1381 Words
“The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is about an old minister who through his own inner demons hopes to teach his community how to live with theirs. The story begins with Mr. Hooper, the church’s minister, entering service with a mysterious black veil over his face, causing quite a stir among his parishioners. Mr. Hooper delivers a sermon on...

Blindness and Ignorance Vs Sight and the Truth in Oedipus

3 Pages 1249 Words
''We are only as blind as we want to be -Maya Angelou. There are a variety of connotations to the phrase ''blind. Some people tend to view blindness as a physical disability that resembles inferiority. Others believe that blindness defines ignorance as one is unaware of their surroundings or actions. However, the public's attitudes towards blindness are misconceptions as even...

To Kill a Mockingbird': Main Ideas of an Author

4 Pages 1629 Words
Harper Lee last spoke publicly about the book in the 1960s. She said that it is a universal theme and that it portrayed an aspect of civilization. Lee has made it clear that she wants absolutely nothing to do with the media. No matter what facts were brought up about Lee’s childhood she put her foot down when critics say...
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