Study Like a Boss
The mystery of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a phantom of literary debate that has haunted readers throughout the centuries. Hamlet is a complete enigma; a puzzle scholars have tried to piece together since his introduction to the literary world. Throughout the course of Hamlet the reader is constantly striving to rationalize Hamlet’s odd behavior, mostly through … Read more
For this assignment I chose to review The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The yellow wallpaper was about a lady with what is said to be a temporary nervous condition and her husband traveling to the country for the summer and for the healing powers of being away from writing which seems to worsen … Read more
In Euripides Medea and Sophocles Antigone we saw the two leading women having similar and very different at the same time personalities. They are similar in their stoic courage, strong will and defiance but their differences are what made the one repulsive and the other admirable. From the very beginning we can tell that Antigone … Read more
Oliver Twist, a poor, innocent orphan boy, stands out in this story as the main character but it is the supporting characters that allow this novel of much content to develop a much more satisfying and believable theme. With “Good V. S. Evil” as one of the major conflicts, in such categories are the secondary … Read more
The relationship between death and freedom is a common thread throughout Sorrows of a Young Werther by Goethe and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. The relationship illustrated in both works is that one cannot achieve true freedom until they are dead. Until death, Werther and Raskolnikov will always feel the restrictions that society places upon … Read more
Happiness and good are what the earth has known since the beginning of time. It was a time where a king and his men on a Danish island could celebrate the peace of their kingdom. A time where Hrothgars men lived happy in his hall (20. 15). But that time will change when a monster … Read more
In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Elliot, Prufrock is a man that is pessimistic, has low self-esteem, and has much internal conflict. He believes that he isn’t good enough for the women of his desire; this theme also becomes a motif. The epigraph of the poem is an … Read more
In this novel A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway brings about the evolution of Frederick Henry being converted into a code hero in realistic ways. Frederick Henry achieved the six code hero characteristics by the end of the novel with the help of Catherine, a code hero herself. All the characteristics seem to … Read more
The novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte consists of the continuous journey through Janes life towards her final happiness and freedom. This is effectively supported by five significant physical journeys she makes, which mirror the four emotional journeys she makes. 10-year-old Jane lives under the custody of her Aunt Reed, who hates her. Jane resents … Read more
“Honky” is the true story of Dalton Conley, a white kid, growing up in a minority community. The story takes place beginning at the end of the 1960’s and concluding in the early 1980’s and takes us from the authors early childhood to college. Dalton Conley was white, with a Jewish mother and an Irish/English … Read more
Two of Emily Dickinson’s poems, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz-When I Died,” are both about one of life’s few certainties: death. However, that is where the similarities end. Although both poems were created less than a year apart by the same poet, their ideas about what lies … Read more
Being the only Northerner to take a focal role in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Miss Ophelia is a realistic adaptation of the ideal woman that Harriet Beecher Stowe proposes with the images of the other perfect women. She is educated, single, independent, ambitious, and motivated by a certain sense of duty. Unlike the other women in … Read more
How does California seem to modern America? Violent. Crowded. Filled with bad people. People who live in cities and have lost touch with the earth. These people are portrayed in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath as Californians. Yet, people from the Midwest flocked to California seeking prosperity and opportunity. Their land had been taken by … Read more
The Importance of Being Earnest appears to be a conventional 19th century farce. False identities, prohibited engagements, domineering mothers, lost children are typical of almost every farce. However, this is only on the surface in Wilde’s play. His parody works at two levels- on the one hand he ridicules the manners of the high society … Read more
In Othello love is made to be deceitful and evil, spawned from magic. References of magic are used to define Desdemonas love for Othello. Black versus white, good versus evil, these themes are provided to the reader by a deceitful Iago. Convincing Rodrigo, other characters and perhaps the reader that their love could only be … Read more
When I first started reading the book I thought its only purpose was to talk about the political system in England. But after some pages I found that there could be a deeper message concealed, between the lines somewhere. The book is divided into four minor novels. The first is about the Lilliputian’s the second … Read more
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, achieved classical recognition for its depiction of humanity’s struggle to reconcile good and evil. From the very opening pages of the Bible man has wrestled with choice, opportunity, propensity and instinct. The knowledge of good and evil has surely caused us to die to simplicity and burdened us At first … Read more
The father and son in the poem “My Papas Waltz” by Theodore Roethke have a complex relationship mixed with fear, joy, and love. The boy says that he “hung on like death” when his father was dancing. This implies a sense of fear between the boy, because he does not quite trust his father to … Read more
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a truly outstanding author. His detailed descriptions and imagery will surely keep people interested in reading The Scarlet Letter for years to come. In writing this book he used themes evident throughout the entirety of the novel. These themes are illustrated in what happens to the characters and how they react. By … Read more
The American Dream, as it arose in the Colonial period and developed in the nineteenth century, was based on the assumption that each person, no matter what his origins, could succeed in life on the sole basis of his or her own skill and effort. The dream was embodied in the ideal of the self-made … Read more
During the night Odysseus tosses and turns, worrying about the outcome of his encounter with the suitor. Athena appears to himin a dream and promises that he will aid in the struggle. Penelope also unable to sleep and prays to Artemis, begging that she be rescued from marriage to another man, even if it means … Read more
“A pair of star-crossed lovers”, Romeo and Juliet. From the opening scenes of the play these two children of feuding families were destined to fall in love together and eventually die together. How does the reader see this? How do we know it was fate which triggered these events? Coincidence caused the death of these … Read more
Sophocles Oedipus, the King is a great representation of Greek tragedy and of the human experience. Within it, he explores the intricacies of human thinking and communication along with its ability to change as more information and knowledge is acquired. His primary focus as the story begins and progresses is the growth of Oedipus from … Read more
They are usually stories that have a wide audience, have circulated spontaneously, and have been told in several different forms. Many have chosen to believe these stories despite the lack of actual evidence to substantiate the story (Urban). What makes an Urban Legend is how it is told. This depends on whether the story is … Read more
The stories “Barn Burning” written by William Faulkner and “Pauls Case” written by Willa Cather both have two separate characters with very similar troubles. Each has a uniquely sad narrative. “Barn Burning” is a sad story because it not only shows the classical struggle between the underprivileged and the privileged classes, but also the struggle … Read more
Often in exceptional works of literature, identities, personalities, and surroundings can be quite similar or distinct with characters in other works. Two works of literature that display both aspects are The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. Abigail Williams and Hester Prynne are two women with many similarities while they … Read more
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck portrayed the awakening of a man’s conscience dealing with his troubling trials throughout the novel. The character that goes through this monumental change is Tom Joad, son of two tenant farmers from Oklahoma. Tom’s conscience was changed from a loner who cared nothing about the people to a … Read more
In Isben’s, A Dolls House Nora, the protagonist is treated like a doll – the property of Torvald Helmer. In Act I, there are many clues that hint at the kind of marriage Nora and Torvald have. It seems that Nora is a doll controlled by Torvald. She relies on him for everything, from movements … Read more
Tarquins image as a man of dastardly action becomes part of both Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Cymbeline. As Iachimo emerges from a box in Imogen’s bedchamber he speaks, and his words reflect the feeling not only of himself but all trespassers in Shakespeare’s plays. Iachimo likens his actions to that of Tarquin, a Roman Tyrant who … Read more
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a complex novel that relates the events surrounding the relations, lives, and loves of a middle-upper class English family in the late nineteenth century. Because of the detailed descriptions of the events surrounding the life of the main character of the story, Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice is a … Read more
A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen shocked its first audience back when it first came out. The plays realist perception on modern life was nothing that had ever been viewed in theatre at the time. Even though it disturbed many viewers during its first showings they had just experienced the birth of modern drama. In … Read more
In J. D. Salingers controversial 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, the main character is Holden Caulfield. When the story begins Holden at age sixteen, due to his poor grades is kicked out of Pencey Prep, a boys school in Pennsylvania. This being the third school he has been expelled from, he is in … Read more
Candide by Voltaire has been a very interesting read. This book tells of a man by the name of Candide and his great adventure in search for his love, Cunegonde. He goes all over the world to several different countries and struggles through them all. Fate carries him to his love and on the way … Read more
Set in England on the Yorkshire Moors in the 19th century, Emily Bront’s novel Wuthering Heights is the story of lovers who try to withstand the separation of social classes and keep their love alive. The main characters, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff grew up on a middle class English countryside cottage called Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff … Read more
Michelangelo was pessimistic in his poetry and an optimist in his artwork. Michelangelo’s artwork consisted of paintings and sculptures that showed humanity in it’s natural state. Michelangelo’s poetry was pessimistic in his response to Strazzi even though he was complementing him. Michelangelo’s sculpture brought out his optimism. Michelangelo was optimistic in completing The Tomb of … Read more
Women were very important to the Greeks, and they showed this value in many ways. In The Odyssey Homer shows us the different ways women were looked upon through female characters, such as Penelope, Naussica, and Anticlia. With Penelope, a faithful and loving wife to Odysseus, Homer reveals to us how the Greeks believed wives … Read more
Tennessee Williams, an American playwright, has been known as the most prominent American southern dramatist. He won his first Pulitzer Prize with Streetcar Named Desire. In this play, Williams shows the need for belief in human value against the natural realistic world. He uses symbols to develop the characters and theme of illusion verses reality … Read more
Among the many themes express in the novel 1984 by George Orwell the most interesting and frightening is the concept of creating an alternative reality to control a mass population. The Inner Party stays in power by shaping the thoughts and opinions of the masses and it does this by creating a reality where everything … Read more
The 1974 adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel the Great Gatsby is directed by Jack Clayton and screenwriten by Francis Ford Coppola, with Robert and Mia Farrow as leads. The two actors give excellent performances, and certainly portray the beautiful people they are made out to be in the book. One scene in particular that … Read more
During Shakespeare’s day and age society had levels of classification where some men were considered “superior” to other men. Shakespeare gives us a taste of this hierarchical culture through his play The Tempest. He shows us how “superior” men perceived themselves in contrast to lesser beings due to their race, financial status, and gender. We … Read more
The following essay is concerned with the frame structure in Mary Shelley`s Frankenstein and ist functions as it is suggested by Beth Newman`s “Narratives of seduction and the seduction of narratives”. To start with, the novel Frankenstein is a symmetrically built frame narrative with a story at its center. This is not always the case … Read more
In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” (reprinted in Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. Arp, Sound and Senses, 8th ed. [San Diego: Harcourt, 1992] 23) the speaker stands in the woods, considering a fork in the road. Both ways are equally worn, and equally overlaid with un-trodden leaves. The speaker chooses one, telling himself that … Read more
The ancient Greeks have often depended upon the advice of the soothsayers and oracles, which they considered as reliable sources of information, during difficult times in their lives. In the play Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus and Iocaste sought help from these sources in their times of need. It was their arrogance and fear that … Read more
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is based on a young boy’s coming of age in Missouri of the mid-1800s. This story depicts many serious issues that occur on the “dry land of civilization” better known as society. As these somber events following the Civil War are told through the young eyes of Huckleberry Finn, he … Read more
Although many readers may say Hawthorne’s writing is difficult to understand, the descriptions of the characters and settings are vividly depicted through the use of allegory, and his many instances of symbolism throughout his stories. “Young Goodman Brown” is an excellent example how allegory is shown through the writing of Nathanial Hawthorne. The story’s beginning … Read more
In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald offers up commentary on a variety of themes justice, power, greed, and betrayal, the American dream and so on. Each one of these themes is demonstrated through the relationships, which the characters have. Fitzgerald carefully sets up his novel into distinct social groups, in which each character fits. By creating … Read more
Arthur Miller’s play, “Death Of a Salesman” is a very elaborate play that tells the story of a man’s dream to achieve greatness from nothing. It almost seems to make fun of American society’s competitive nature, “Imagine? When the mail comes he’ll be ahead of Bernard again! ” Willy(1215) The title “Death Of a Salesman” … Read more
Oedipus Rex proves to be a tragic hero by displaying the qualities of goodness, appropriateness, and remaining consistent and realistic throughout the entire play. In the prologue of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus illustrates that he is morally good during his speech to the Priest and the suffering people of Thebes. “I know you are deathly sick; … Read more
Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a great deal of irony to show his meaning in his story The Birthmark. The story shows us that some of the things that give us the most troubles in our life are actually caused by us. In the story, Aylmer has the perfect wife Georgiana, she is absolutely perfect in all … Read more
It is said that everything is done for a purpose, and if that purpose is not obvious, it could be evident within oneself. In The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, the story not only entails the tale of the tragically poor, but also an uplifting sense of discovery. The story tells not only of … Read more