Newest Literature Essays

Shakespeare's sonnets 138 and 147 read like before and after accounts of a man's experience in leaving an unfaithful woman. Shakespeare's narrator first describes the almost masochistic way in which his speaker remains in a relationship with this...

There is no doubt that Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is marred by structural absurdities, flawed changes in tone, and a stuttering, episodic arrangement. The novel often attempts to do far too many things at once, juggling...

Born in the year 1340, Geoffrey Chaucer's life took him through both the dredges and the peaks of medieval civilization. While serving in the retinue of Prince Lionel, Chaucer was captured by the French during the siege of Reims. Seven years after...

In Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, the character flaws and business dealings of two landowners illustrate the novel's message about human values. The first two characters with which the reader becomes acquainted, Manilov and Korobochka, display...

Twentieth-century scholars of slavery have both slavery's effects on the slave mentality and the development of culture (or lack thereof) and the existence of paternalism among the slave-holding class. However, authors such as Ulrich Phillips,...

One of William Shakespeare's earliest romantic comedies, The Taming of the Shrew, focuses on the courtship and marriage of two sisters, Katharina and Bianca. While the play provides a somewhat lighthearted commentary on matrimony and the supposed...

Based on several Chaucer scholars' analyses of the description of the Knight in the general prologue, it appears as though there are not two distinct schools of thought on the controversial character, but rather two "poles," with a significant...

Although "hardboiled" narratives became a popular literary genre in the early- to mid-twentieth century, these writers were not the first to create characters and stories in this genre. Early creators of the tough detective were preceded by the...

The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched

The very virtue of compassion in thee,

I have with such provision in mine art

So safely ordered that there is no soul-

No, not so much perdition as an hair

Betid to any creature in the vessel

Which...

"Some people build fences to keep people out, and other people build fences to keep people in," offers the sage Bono one afternoon during his usual bonhomie with fellow refuse collector Troy Maxson. The seemingly minor line encompasses the entire...

"Opposites attract" may be a modern adage, but the concept has been present in many incarnations throughout history. In Chinese philosophy, the yin and yang are presented as opposing dynamics. To understand one, it is requisite to know the other....

Despite recent questions concerning Hemingway's future relevancy in mainstream Modernist studies, there can be little doubt that the man with the shotgun carries a hefty literary load well past beyond his grave. While it is true that he never...

The Role of Women in "A Doll's House" and "Ghosts"

The role of women has changed significantly throughout history, driven in part by women who took risks in setting examples for others to follow. During the Victorian era, women were beginning to...

In his short story "The Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka examines the alienation from society that turns a human being into a bug. At the same time, he also examines how not being alienated from society and how corroborating with society can turn human...

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren once said, "Mere unorthodoxy or dissent from the prevailing norms is not to be condemned. The absence of such voices would be a symptom of grave illness in our society." This message combined with the...

With a few straight lines, perhaps a dot, and an occasional squiggle, Word is born. Despite its humble beginnings, Word holds the possibility of greatness: the ability to cause war, to make peace, to express love, to describe fear. While many...

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" (Albert Einstein). When encountering the inexplicable, people's visceral reactions often oscillate between fear and awe-nevertheless establishing the subject in terms...

"Don't judge a book by its cover." Everyone knows this hackneyed quote, but people still judge others based on outer appearance. By doing so, these people ignore the possible inner greatness of those they so quickly set aside. The character Hester...

Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine suspends time for both the protagonist and the reader, with the escalator serving as a symbol of the productive and consumptive postmodern society. Because of the escalator, the story's narrator and other...

"You may say that I am a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will live as one." John Lennon's "Imagine" has reached far beyond the bounds of his time to embrace the sentiments of an ageless audience....

Her beauty defied comparison. Her joy in life's simplest pleasures endeared her to all who knew her. Her insatiable curiosity drove her to constantly explore, examine, and engage in the world around her. All these qualities make her loss seem all...

Perhaps William Shakespeare is right: all the world may very well be a stage, with all the men and women being but mere players. What happens when, despite their exits and entrances, these actors play but one part? For lack of a complete character...

He claims that it is better to have loved and lost. She claims that it is better to never have loved at all. He spends his free time pining for her. She spends her time with him longing for freedom. While modern stereotypes tend to portray men as...

Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself,

(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

~ "Song of Myself"

He praises nature. He hails civilization. He upholds silence. He calls for unchecked and unformed sound. All of these tendencies are...