Newest Literature Essays

In The Poetics, Aristotle asserts that literature is a function of human nature's instinct to imitate. This implies that as humans, we are constantly driven to imitate, to create. By labeling this creative impulse an "instinct," one is to believe...

Aristotle asks good human beings to be self-lovers, devoting special attention to virtue's most fundamental groundwork. With all individual actions, it is the intellect which must determine the course of proper morality and strength of character;...

For Aristotle, the doctrine of the mean is a moral frame of reference by which each manÃÂÂs character can be better understood. When applied to specific virtues such as courage, it illuminates what Aristotle believes to be the complex relationship...

Aristotle devotes the first six books of his Nicomachean Ethics to a discussion of virtue. In doing so he divides virtue into two different categories: moral virtue and intellectual virtue and discusses them individually. However, in our approach...

In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle examines happiness, which is the good towards which every human action is directed. Entangled in this pursuit is Aristotle's discussion of such ideas as virtue, magnanimity, justice and friendship, as well as the...

The value of loyalty is that it allows its recipient to feel secure in a world where almost nothing is absolute. Under this circumstance, loyalty has become a highly valued quality in today's society. Unfortunately true loyalty is a difficult...

Antony and Cleopatra is a play of conflicting values and paradoxical ideologies. Its central dynamic is the Roman/ Egyptian dichotomy, with each pole representing a web of associated values and attributes. Egypt is variously associated with "the...

IV.viii of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra is a short scene, less than 40 lines, and an entirely unexpected one. The preceding scenes of Act IV, such as Hercules' departure and Enobarbus' desertion, heavily foreshadow Antony's defeat. When...

Sophocles presents us with a high standard of moral courage and character in his play Antigone. Among the many thematic questions raised, Sophocles pursues in depth the issue of whether it is best to obey the law or to follow one's conscience....

As the Greek tragedy Antigone builds up to a climax, Creon is warned that "[a]ll men make mistakes, it is only human. But once the wrong is done, a man can turn his back on folly, misfortune too, if he tries to make amends, however low he's...

It is not often in Greek myth or tragedy that a woman is found portrayed as a tragic hero. However, Sophocles makes the hero of his Antigone, the third and last play in the theme of Oedipus' life, a woman. And though this is out of context for a...

Sophocles' play Antigone centers around a conflict between oikos and polis. Oikos, "home," is the concept of the household, dominated by women and kinship; polis, "city," is the concept of the collective city-state, dominated by men and power or...

The idea of hubris is monumental in a plethora of Greek mythological works. In many ways the excessive pride of certain characters fuels their own destruction. This is certainly true with respect to the characters of Pentheus, Antigone, and...

The trio of classic Greek texts, The Last Days of Socrates, Antigone, and The Eumenides all strike a contrast between public and private morality. In each work one person carries forth an unpopular action that he alone believes in, and must later...

A little boy went to the corner store to pick up the newest edition of his favorite comic; Batman. The boy entered the store and despite his efforts to withhold his excitement, dashed straight to the massive stack of magazines the store had...

The question of judgment and sympathies in Anna Karenina is one that, every time I have read the novel, seems to become more complicated and slung with obfuscation. The basic problem with locating the voice of judgment is that throughout the...

In "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James, the central character, the governess, feels so isolated that she will do anything necessary to quench the feeling. She decides that the way to do so is to be in love. Unfortunately, because she is located...

Two clashing movements existed within Russia in the 19th century. In the rural areas existed a movement that could hardly be called a movement. It was, in fact, more of a planted fixture. The indigenous foundation that had existed for time...

The Bible's notion of the "promised land" has had a profound influence on secular literature. Modern authors have reinterpreted this biblical ideal to include any land of redemption or salvation. This is an important concept in both Dostoevsky's...

The title of Cormac McCarthy's novel, All the Pretty Horses, reflects the significance and variance of roles that horses play in this coming-of-age story, as they relate to John Grady. The horse, which was the social foundation of Western American...

In All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, the theme of the power of knowledge is prominent throughout Jack's journey within the great web of the world. His path brings to light his true self and along with it the realization that he and...

In Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, three major characters, Jack Burden, Willie Stark and Adam Stanton, embark on a whirlwind journey of self-discovery that leads to tragedy for some and optimistic enlightenment for others. Throughout the...

Jack Burden, the chronicler and one of two possible protagonists of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, is anything but a static narrator. His character is quite possibly even more dynamic than that of Willie Stark, the novel's man of the...

" 'If everybody minded their own business,' the Duchess said, in a hoarse growl, 'the world would go round a deal faster than it does' " (Carroll 62).

Capricious and fanciful, Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland depicts a place where...