Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra

Nature, described as mysterious and secretive, is a recurrent theme throughout Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra. Cleopatra, the ill-fated queen of Egypt, is both mysterious and secretive, and her emotional power is above and beyond natures great strength. Whether described in a positive or in a negative manner, both nature and Cleopatra are described as being … Read more

Iagos Web of Deceit

Perhaps the most interesting and exotic character in the tragic play “Othello,” is “Honest” Iago. Through some carefully thought-out words and actions, Iago is able to manipulate others to do things in a way that benefits him and moves him closer toward his goals. He is the main driving force in this play, pushing Othello … Read more

The Tell-Tale Heart – Mind Games: The Narrators Madness

Through the first person narrator, Edgar Allan Poes “The Tell-Tale Heart” illustrates how mans imagination is capable of being so vivid that it profoundly affects peoples lives. The manifestation of the narrators imagination unconsciously plants seeds in his mind, and those seeds grow into an unmanageable situation for which there is no room for reason … Read more

The Crucible vs The Scarlet Letter

Two hundred years ago, the church was the center of life in many New England towns. The church provided not only religions guidance but, was a place for social gathering and a chance for neighbors to keep in touch. This is shown in depth in Boston, by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter and in Salem, … Read more

Othello – Male Characters

The four main characters in the play Othello represent four different character traits of manhood: Roderigo, the failure; Othello, the hero, yet the insane lover; Cassio, the noblemen; and Iago, the villain, yet the strongest character of the play. Of these four characters Roderigo reveals the weakest character traits. Iago effortlessly profits from Roderigo’s deficiency … Read more

The novel Brave New World

The novel Brave New World is like no other in fantasy and satire. It predicts a future overpowered by technology where the people have no religion. Has Huxley written about a degrading way of life or has he discovered the key to a perfect world that should be called Utopia? This essay will show that … Read more

The Adventures Of Huck

Huck is very responsive to the beauty of the natural world about him. He uses vivid imagery to describe nature in a peculiar way, which one can even consider out of character for him. His word choice, general attitude, use of literary devices, and the use of words which describe the sounds as they happened, … Read more

Homer’s poem The Odyssey

Homer’s poem The Odyssey depicts the tendency of people to ignore the consequences of their actions. Odysseus punished Penelope’s suitors without thinking of consequences that he would have to endure. He did not acknowledge the consequences because that would prevent him from doing what he wants to do. Odysseus wanted to kill the suitors; they … Read more

The Great Gatsby a symbolic novel

The Great Gatsby is a symbolic novel of the disintegration of the American dream in an era of extraordinary prosperity and material excess. On the surface, we see that it is a story about the love between a man and a woman but the overall theme is the collapse of the American dream in society. … Read more

The Road Not Taken, Choices of Life

All people are travelers, all choosing their paths on a map of their life. The great thing about man for Frost is that he has the power of standing still where he is. There is never a straight road there are always curves and turns in which one must encounter and act upon. Readers can … Read more

Macbeth As A Tragic Hero

Shakespeare uses many forms of imagery in his plays. Imagery, the art of making images, the products of imagination. In the play Macbeth Shakespeare applies the imagery of clothing, darkness and blood. Each detail in his imagery contains an important symbol of the play. These symbols need to be understood in order to interpret the … Read more

Macbeth’s five major acts

Macbeth consists of five major acts, each with a variation of scenes. The story tells of one man’s quest for dominance in the Scottish monarchy structure, and how his future becomes a twisted paradox that brings him nothing but trouble. In the first act, Macbeth is visited by two witches that tell him prophecies of … Read more

Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut’s novel

Critics often suggest that Kurt Vonnegut’s novels represent a man’s desperate, yet, futile search for meaning in a senseless existence. Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, displays this theme. Kurt Vonnegut uses a narrator, which is different from the main character. He uses this technique for several reasons. Kurt Vonnegut introduces Slaughterhouse Five in the first person. In … Read more

Captain John Yossarian

Captain John Yossarian is the main character of Joseph Hellers 1961 satirical war novel, Catch-22. Hes a bombardier in the Army Air Corps 256th bomber squadron and he suffers from an intense fear of death. Catch-22 is a mysterious regulation that traps its victims in a web of circular reason. Basically, if theres a rule … Read more

Flowers for Algernon

In this story, the intelligence of a mentally challenged man is greatly enhanced by neuro-surgical treatments. He forms an attachment with a mouse named Algernon who has already undergone this same treatment shortly before him. Charlie is asked to keep a dairy and the novel consists of his daily reports. As his intelligence grows Charlie … Read more

Lack Of Verisimilitude in Frankenstein

In Mary Shelly’s gothic novel Frankenstein, the reader must suspend disbelief during many crucial points in the plot. There are also many inconsistencies in the minor details of the story. This lack of verisimilitude may be noticed by readers today, but in the ninteenth century, when this novel was written, readers were too terrified with … Read more

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Invisible Man. Throughout the story, the narrator embarks on a mental and physical journey to seek what the narrator believes is “true identity,” a belief quite mistaken, for he, although unaware of it, had already been inhabited by true identities all along. Ellison, in Invisible Man, uses the main characters invisibility and conflict with the … Read more

Analysis Of Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome is a story of ill-fated love, set during the winter in the rural New England town of Starkfield. Ethan is a farmer who is married to a sickly woman named Zeena. The two live in trapped, unspoken resentment on Ethan’s isolated and failing farm. Ethan has been caring for his wife for six … Read more

Doctor Faustus Duality in the Doctor: Values in Faustus

In Christopher Marlowe’s the epic Christian tragedy, Doctor Faustus, the protagonist, Dr. Faustus, struggles between following God or Lucifer. Faustus, who is an enigma in himself, is capable of tremendous eloquence and willful blindness. His refusal to see what is fact and what is fiction is a result of his pompous persona. In his quest … Read more

The realm of A Clockwork Orange

The freedom of choice and the rehabilitating form of corrections encase the realm of A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess. It produces the question about man’s free will and the ability to choose one’s destiny, good or evil. “If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange-meaning that … Read more

Catcher In The Rye

Throughout life, an individual may endure several emotionally or physically straining moments. In The Catcher In The Rye, Holden Caulfield suffers much verbal abuse, as well as physical. Both forms of the abuse, combined with other factors, eventually leads Holden to suffer a mental breakdown. Holden’s actions prove that ** “A blow from a whip … Read more

Jay Gatsby’s Dream In The Great Gatsby

In F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, the theme of destruction is evident in the life of the character of Jay Gatsby. In order to determine the extent of this destruction it is necessary to review Gatsbys illegally acquired wealth, his artificial lifestyle and his fixation on Daisy. Throughout the entire novel all of these … Read more

Insanity and Feminism in The Yellow Wallpaper

Insanity and Feminism in the Works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman reflects the intense struggle with of a woman during the late 1800s. However, as the story unfolds, we realize the reasons for this insanity and the connections of this breakdown to the main characters husband, John. What we … Read more

Iliad and Gods

With our view of God, comprehending the actions and thinking of the Greek deities can sometimes be difficult. The Christian God does not take such an active role in the affairs of people’s lives, where, the Greeks regarded direct involvement by the gods as a uncontrollable part of life. Naturally, divine intervention was a major … Read more

The Crucible Vs The Scarlet Letter

Two hundred years ago, the church was the center of life in many New England towns. The church provided not only religions guidance but, was a place for social gathering and a chance for neighbors to keep in touch. This is shown in depth in Boston, by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter and in Salem, … Read more

Call of the Wild Jack London

Call of the Wild Jack London’s thrilling epic tale of adventure and bravery, through the eyes of a part St. Bernard, part German Shepherd named Buck. Our story opens with the author describing the lifestyle of this pampered dog on the premises of his master’s home, Judge Miller, in the Santa Clara valley. John London … Read more

Julius Caesar: Brutus’ Mistakes or Harmartias

Throughout the play of Julius Caesar Brutus makes many mistakes or harmartias, which eventually lead to his tragic downfall. Although Brutus makes many harmartias I feel that these three are the most important. The largest harmartia that Brutus makes is listening to Cassius, in the beginning. Another harmartia Brutus makes is deciding not to kill … Read more

Lockwood’s Narration Essay

Lockwood’s narration forms a frame around Nelly’s; he serves as a mediator between Nelly and the reader. A somewhat vain and arrogant man, he deals very clumsily with the residents of Wuthering Heights. Lockwood comes from a more domesticated region of England, and he finds himself at a loss when he witnesses the strange household’s … Read more

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macbeth by William Shakespeare has three characters that appear to be the best developed. The first is Macbeth, the main character of the story. The second most developed character is Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife. The third most well developed is Banquo, Macbeth’s friend. Banquo and Lady Macbeth play very important roles in Macbeth’s life. Macbeth … Read more

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Uncle Toms Cabin is a historical book that I feel is one of the most mind enduring books of all time. This book put me in the place of every northern citizen in the 1800s. I felt as if I was in the story. My knowledge of how slaves were treated was enhanced greatly. To … Read more

Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthornes book, The Scarlet Letter, uses physical appearance to mirror a characters physiological or spiritual state. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, whom the reader may remember as having taken a brief part in the scene of Hester Prynnes disgrace, is a complex character. The young minister, whose health had severely suffered, of late, by his too … Read more

The humor performed in Voltaire’s Candide

“A guy walks into a bar and says, “Ouch. ” Many are familiar with this ancient pun. Very often, jokes are told that begin with a character walking into a bar. This joke, however, satirizes those cliches and while sounding very foolish, the anecdote is still sensible, much like the humor performed in Voltaire’s Candide. … Read more

Macbeth: Death and the Supernatural

Throughout William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, many characters evolve and many disappear into the background. The main character, Macbeth, travels through utter chaos when he proclaims himself monarch. When he first meets the witches of the supernatural, they tell him of the future. One of the themes amplified throughout the play is the circle of life, from … Read more

Three Honrable Pilgrims

Geoffrey Chaucer was the greatest English poet of his time. Besides William Shakespeare no other writer has surpassed Chaucer’s achievements. One of his best unfinished writing, “The Canterbury Tales” rankes as one of the world’s best work of literature. In “The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales” Chaucer presents a cross-section of Medieval Society through his … Read more

Gulliver’s Travels Essay

Although it appears simple and straightforward on the surface, a mere travelogue intended solely for the amusement of children, Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift, proves, upon closer examination, to be a critical and insightful work satirizing the political and social systems of eighteenth-century England. Through frequent and successful employment of irony, ambiguity and symbolism, Swift … Read more

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man

According to Goethe, “We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe. ” Despite the hyperbolic nature of Goethe’s statement, it holds some truth. Because of this element of truth, society looks to psychoanalysis as an important tool for understanding human nature. Furthermore, … Read more

The A & P by Updike

Gone are the days that humans could live impulsively, only taking physical pain and pleasure into account when making decisions. Or so one would like to believe. In a display of sheer innocence and ignorance, Sammy, a grocery clerk at the A & P, managed to revert back to the original behavior patterns of his … Read more

War and Peace

The famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote War and Peace in 1865. It is a story about the lives of the Russian royal family from 1805 to 1815. This book depicts things and events that happened during the war. The novel describes the war with Napoleon in which many countries were involved such as Russia, … Read more

Modern love letters from Romeo and Juliet

For my English creative writing assignment, I have chosen to do a letter correspondence between a modern Romeo and Juliet. I have turned the play around a bit, and it differs from the original story. Near the end of the play, the Capulets discover Juliet and Romeo’s marriage and forbid her to see him ever … Read more

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Personal Relationships

Zora Neale Hurston, in keeping with themes dealing with personal relationships and the female search for self-awareness in Their Eyes Were Watching God , has created a heroine in Janie Crawford. In fact, the female perspective is introduced immediately. “Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t … Read more

Candide by Voltaire (1694 – 1778)

Candide, the illegitimate son of a Baron’s sister, was sent to live with the Baron at his beautiful castle in Westphalia. The Baroness weighed about three hundred and fifty pounds, as therefore greatly respected, and did the honors of the house it had digniy which rendered her still more respect. Her daughter Cunegonde, aged seventeen, … Read more

To Kill A Mockingbird And Parents

Parenting is an act of being a parent, which means you show love and care towards your offspring. Harper lees book To Kill A Mockingbird, shows the difference in parenting of the characters Bob Ewell and Atticus Finch. Some ways these two characters are different is depicted in this essay by: showing the difference in … Read more

Canterbury Tales: Chaunticleer

In the book Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, gives us a stunning tale about a rooster named Chaunticleer. Chaunticleer, who is the King of his domain in his farmland kingdom. Like a King, he quotes passages from intellectuals, dreams vivid dreams, has a libido that runs like a bat out of hell, and is described as … Read more

Free At Last

When a reader first reads The Yellow Wallpaper it appears to be a story of a young woman suffering from post pardum depression that slowly ends in the total loss of reality. However, understanding that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an early feminist, and her writings share a common theme that women do not have an … Read more

The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

I have read the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn up to chapter fourteen. I have found one thing I don’t like, the language which is used is straight out of the 1800’s. An example of this can be found on every page in the book. Twain shows one of these examples when he writes, … Read more

Literary Paper of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck

Steinbeck wrote many wonderful books but a great classic is one titled The Grapes of Wrath. This is a story of a family called the Joads, and a tale of a courageous family who sought security and family unity. In my paper I will examine the different ways the Joads tried to keep united whether … Read more

Psychoanalyzing Hamlet Essay

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

The Island of Dr. Moreau

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a story that questions the ability of men playing God. The balance of nature is put to the ultimate test as a man by the name of Charles Edward Prendick stumbles across an out-of-control experiment that fuses man with animal. At first glance, this tropical paradise seems idyllic. But … Read more

The Importance of Being Earnest

In The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, humor functions through the use of Characterization and the social satire of the Victorian period. Characterization is the method an author uses to reveal or describe characters and their various personalities. Satire is a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or … Read more