Newest Literature Essays

In “Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker, the narrator is an android whose purpose is to care for Mildred, an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s, both medically, and mentally, by emulating family that could not be with Mildred at the...

Oroonoko, or, The Royal Slave by Aphra Behn is narrated by an unnamed white woman whose life overlaps with Oroonoko’s during his time as a slave in Surinam. When Oroonoko takes the narrator and several other European people to an island she...

In A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, there are several key moments that force the protagonist, Ged, to better himself as a wizard in order to continue on with his life. One of the most critical events to his development is his encounter...

“Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare brings to life the story of how Count Claudio and fair Hero prepare for their wedding and how Hero’s father, Leonato, and Claudio’s mentor, Don Pedro, choose to pass the time by deceiving Beatrice...

Through Antony’s negligence of his Roman duties and soldierly responsibilities, Shakespeare depicts a particularly fractured and complicated world in the first act of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ that is characterised by the very public conflicts...

Perhaps the most memorable scene from Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, the burning of Winnie’s parasol is chock-full of meaning. Specifically, it represents Winnie’s desire, if not necessity, for repetition. Right after the parasol goes up in smoke...

In Dylan Thomas’ iconic play, The Doctor and the Devils, the theme of contrasting morals is ingrained throughout the drama, particularly depicted in the character of Dr Knox. The well-established, intelligent man takes a troubling turn as a result...

In a forest of mixed growth somewhere on the eastern spurs of the Karpathians, a man stood one winter night watching and listening, as though he waited for some beast of the woods to come within the range of his vision, and, later, of his rifle....

Both plays The Laramie Project and Angels in America were revolutionary in terms of their content and the way in which they reinvented theatrical styles, structures and forms. These productions have had an everlasting impact on audiences after...

In a he-said-she-said situation, it is likely that the truth falls somewhere in between the conflicting opinions. In Andrew Marvell’s metaphysical poem, “A Dialogue Between the Soul and the Body,” the Soul feels trapped inside the Body, and the...

Life has many unanswerable questions: What happens after death? Is love at first sight a myth? And what happened to American Idol season 5 winner, Taylor Hicks? Rumor has it, Hicks now spends his time as a co-owner of a barbecue restaurant,...

Chaucer’s artful and intentional exclusion of Venus and Aeneas’ complete conversation from “The Aeneid,” using occupatio, gives Chaucer the auctor authority to include divine intervention when it suits his purpose, but not so heavily that the gods...

Hemingway’s Paris described in ‘Fiesta’ is one of significant perversion from the pure beauty that should be expected of it. Masked by a façade of magnificence, grandeur and colour lurks the debauchery and indulgence that fills its streets in the...

The award-winning fictional novel Montana 1948 written by Larry Watson and the Australian drama film Jindabyne directed by Ray Lawrence similarly explore the ramifications of secret and lies. Lawrence and Watson in their respective text both...

The Female American tells the story of a woman in her early twenties, called Eliza, who is abandoned on a deserted island to fend for herself. The novel follows her decisions and their repercussions as she does her best to survive the isolation,...

Loureen, the protagonist of Lynn Nottage’s play, “POOF!”, and Nora, the main character of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll House”, are both abused by their husbands. While Nora’s abuse is primarily emotional and Loureen’s is physical, their abuse led them...

The history, culture, and territorial boundaries of the Confederate States of America summarize the fundamental aspects of the South. It is typically described as a region that unwelcomes change and is close-minded towards beliefs that disagree...

Literary fairy tales have always possessed some features that enabled them to convey and reinforce specific binary oppositions more easily than other types of written media. They are extremely well-known by children and adults; they became highly...

A fundamental property of humanity is our tendency to frame issues economically: to attempt to understand our world by assigning numerical values to things which were conceived independently of this rigid economic structure. Presented with a set...

Is Eudaimonia really attainable? One of the most important works that adopted this concept is Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Aristotle was one of Plato’s students, but he rejected his teacher’s logic that reality lay beyond the everyday world in...

The resonances and dissonances between Shakespeare Richard III and Al Pacino’s Looking For Richard reveal that composers are responding to the contextual influences of their time. Shakespeare’s Richard III is heavily influenced by the value...

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Apocalypse Now exemplify the cruel and unforgiving nature of humankind through the actions of Mr. Kurtz. Before Kurtz is introduced in each story, the narrator creates an image of the man in his head that is...

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House follows Nora Helmer’s stifled life within the confines of society’s patriarchal edifice and her own household. The depiction of Nora, her childhood friend Christine Linde, and the nurse Anne within this structure is...

In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the nameless narrator is invisible, meaning he is not seen for who he is. He believes that pleasing others and controlling his identity will enable him to succeed, yet it does the opposite and allows individuals...