Newest Literature Essays

With the 1847 publication of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë—publishing under the androgynous pseudonym “Currer Bell”—effectively obscured her gender along with her identity. While Brontë did not unanimously pass for male, debate about the author’s...

The ancient Anglo-Saxon epic poem of Beowulf describes his many heroic feats, one of which involves Beowulf slaying the notorious monster Grendel. Throughout Beowulf’s numerous adventures, the poem repeatedly stresses the Anglo-Saxon idea of wyrd,...

“Will you marry me?” Throughout the ages, this life-changing question has been asked billions of times all across the world by both men and women. However, not so long ago during the Victorian era, the idea of a woman asking this question was...

UA cursory glance over some of Tennessee Williams’s most celebrated plays reveals a consistent conformity to Aristotle’s rules of tragedy as outlined in Poetics. Plays such as The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire showcase full plots,...

In the majority of literary works, death is fairly permanent condition and one that is not normal escaped. In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude however, the act of dying and its resulting condition are more akin to lifestyle...

In modern day society, it is not uncommon to hear the phrase ‘A woman’s touch’, being casually mentioned in discussions of style and the exercise of compassion. The phrase, however, is an apt description for the role of women in Elizabeth Gaskell’...

Critics like Stork have declared the majority of Wordsworth’s self-designated ‘ballads’ to not truly be ballads at all, since they are more interested in dwelling on thought or emotion than propelled by action, which he seems to admit in Part...

As William Shakespeare once said “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.” In several cases this holds true, and we believe so as we are constantly searching for ways to better our futures and distinguish our destiny from...

If the world were a desert, art would be its oasis. Within the realm of art and literature is the craft of symbolism, by which artists invest their characters or other such depictions with deeper meanings. What is most likely the most common...

Aspiring writers are often told, “Write what you know.” Writers are thus encouraged to draw on their personal experiences to craft their narratives. Experienced authors often choose to create semi-autobiographical works, which contain a blend of...

The primary theme that is conveyed by Kate Chopin in "The Storm" is romantic love, or the sexual attraction that is present between two significant characters in the short story. Chopin carries out her message on independence and freedom,...

William Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest, depicts characters of different beliefs and values. Apart from their mental differences, some are also set apart by certain physical features that cohere with the plot and extract different themes. One such...

When pride is prioritized, morality is compromised at the expense of others. Despite this being a desparingly unfortunate scenario, this case appears more often than one would think. As shown in the bildungsroman The Kite Runner by Khaled...

Narrative techniques are a powerful tool that authors use to impart their themes and messages on their audience. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, is the story of Jane Eyre, a girl growing up in 19th century England, and her battle to find a balance...

Technology and other aspects of daily life are constantly being improved, not only to better our knowledge and power but to enhance the quality of life of many, which lowers the level of discomfort that most encounter. In today’s society, most...

Ismail Kadare’s Broken April features the tale of a region in rural Albania where members of rival families take turns killing each other in an endless cycle of blood and revenge. In this region, the High Plateau, the laws that dictate this...

In The Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna, a skilled warrior, faces a dilemma in the midst of battle. He ceases to fight and admits that he could not live with himself if winning this battle meant conquering his own family. He turns to his charioteer, Krishna,...

Throughout great works of literature, an underlying message helps to give depth to the story and allow the reader to take away a moral lesson from the story. In literature, this underlying message is often referred to as the theme of the story....

Catherine Barkley, who predeceases the retrospective narration of her bereaved lover in A Farewell to Arms, has nevertheless transcended her untimely death to become immortalized as a frequent and much-debated subject of Hemingway criticism. Since...

The most compelling characters in modern literature and plays are the ones whose motivations tend to be complex, thus demand a deeper analysis of which part of their conscious their decisions arise from – the impulsive Id, the balancing Ego, or...

Sarah Orne Jewett’s The Country Doctor (1884) is classified as a local color fiction because of the encapsulated elements of time, space, memory, romanticism, stock characters, language, and the predominant city versus country theme. Local color...

Encountering the Old Testament: A Christian Survey, authored by Bill T. Arnold and Bryan E. Beyer, set out a comprehensive analysis of theological theories, while exploring the themes of the Pentateuch, the Historical books, the Poetics and the...

Literary experimentation has a tendency to alienate writers of color due parameters of experimentation privileging apolitical identities and valuing the inward voice. These avant-garde literary traditions arguably favor the white, male voice and...

“If the thing they were fighting for was important enough to die for then it was also important enough for them to be thinking about it in the last minutes of their lives. That stood to reason. Life is awfully important so if you've given it away...