Newest Literature Essays

To read Herman Melville's Billy Budd is to experience feelings of intense agony and helpless injustice. Billy Budd, a "Handsome Sailor," adored by his shipmates for his intrinsic goodness, is condemned to death by a seemingly formalistic and...

The book of Luke in the New Testament offers a promise of salvation. John the Baptist proclaims, from the book of Isaiah, that "all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3.6). However, earlier in Luke, an angel says, "Glory to God in the...

With the development of psychoanalysis as a form of literary criticism, there have been many controversial new interpretations of religious texts, including the Bible. One such interpretation is that the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity,...

In the first 18 lines of John, the story of Jesus is introduced with a jarringly brief and emphatic summary of history from the beginning of time to the birth of Christ. This passage formalizes the concept, suggested more subtly in Genesis, that...

The central, overarching story in Genesis is the account of the fathers of Israel, which contains the individual stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and finally Joseph. Although each account is compiled together, there is a fundamental shift in the...

As a philosophical treatise in which the author considers the meaning of man's existence on earth, the Book of Ecclesiastes is an exceptional section of the Tanakh that differs from the traditional didactic narratives surrounding it. The Preacher...

The God of the Old Testament is no less omnipotent today. By definition, the theoretical notion of an all-consuming being points to human limitation and protects the God from being touched by constantly varying human perception. The ultimate,...

Before the year 1611, many different translations of the bible existed, but none were very consistent. At this time, at the command of King James the First, forty-seven scholars from various theological and educational backgrounds, separated into...

An emphasis on the relationship between speech and sin is present from the inception of the test of Job's virtue. Satan challenges God that, if misfortune befell Job, he would "curse [him] to [his] face," making Job's sin not a psychological or...

To many modern readers, the science-fiction genre is a genre built upon utopic visions of peace and intellectual advancement, of idealistic worlds where logic always triumphs over primal instinct. Although the hopeful scientific novel is not...

The Bible builds its literary foundations upon the themes of Knowledge and Sin, two topoi that are reflected again and again in various parables, allegories, and tales found within this sacred text. Genesis 9:20-27 exemplifies the synthesis of...

Even though they were written in the same period of time, the Iliad (written c. 700 BC) and Genesis (compiled between 900 and 400 BC) exhibit many differences in their concepts of obedience. While the Iliad often condones men who disobey, Genesis...

Ecclesiastes and Proverbs both strive to examine wisdom and faith but approach these subjects on varying levels of existence. The individual person is approached differently in the two books, which enter into a dynamic discourse on the pursuit of...

"It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

Revelation 21:6

From the opening words of the Bible (Revised Standard Version) to its closing 'Amen,' the power of language is highlighted as a central aspect...

"Lord of Discipline" says Arjuna to Krishna in the Tenth Teaching of The Bhagavad-Gita, "how can I know you as I meditate on you?" This is a paradoxical question. It would seem the only way to "know" Krishna would be to "meditate" on him. This is...

Ms. La Trobe says it best in Virginia Woolf's Between the Acts: 'This is death, death, death - when illusion fails.' (p. 180) Various characters in the novel create illusions to escape from the reality that grieves them. And those illusions are...

The supernatural is a literary device that has frequently been utilized in works of fiction. The purpose of this literary device have evolved alongside the evolution of literature and language. The function of the supernatural often varies based...

Beowulf opens with the story of the ancient king, Shield Sheafson, in order to establish a discussion on kingship, and to begin building a definition of what constitutes a "good king". Once this definition has been established, the text uses it to...

Within the Old English epic poem entitled âBeowulf,â? one theme dominates: to overcome chaos and establish order, a fearless individual must continually fight the force of evil. Even after the poemâs protagonist, Beowulf, victoriously destroys...

At a time in history in which war was rampant and conquering lands and enemies seemed a priori, the period's hero tended to follow suit. Beowulf, as a prime example of Old English literature, is set in this highly male-dominated world governed by...

Although Seamus Heaney and R. M. Liuzza have both translated the literary work Beowulf from Old English text, subtle differences appear throughout their works that reveal the unique perspectives held by each author. When one compares the different...

"In peaceful times the warlike man sets upon himself." The poem "Beowulf" illustrates the violent, primitive reality of the truth in Nietszche's aphorism. The monster Grendel plays a symbolic role as the primordial, inalienable instincts that...

T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is the story a man contemplating emergence from his solitude into the world, a man capsized by the fear of being misunderstood. In this poem Eliot employs the quest motif in an ironic fashion to...

The story of Beowulf shows the effect of the spread of Christianity in the early Danish paganistic society that values heroic deeds and bravery above all else. The mythical creatures that Beowulf kills with his supernatural strength make the story...