Genre
Philosophy, Maxims
Setting and Context
19th century
Narrator and Point of View
Arthur Schopenhauer is the narrator
Tone and Mood
Philosophical, diagnostic, provocative, and didactic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Authors are the major subjects in “On Authorship and Style.” Whip crackers are the antagonists in “On Noise.”
Major Conflict
The main conflict in "On Noise" relates to the noise emanating from the cracking of “whips.” In “Suicide," the conflict relates to the ethical, religious, philosophical grounds for suicide.
Climax
The essays are predominantly descriptive; accordingly, climaxes are missing.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
In “On Suicide, “Arthur Understates the religious ground for the opposition of suicide by arguing that the Jewish people's opposition to suicide is grounded on philosophical grounds rather than religious or Biblical grounds.
Allusions
Schopenhauer alludes to poetry, philosophy (such as Hume’s), and religious concepts.
Imagery
The cracking noise described in “On Noise” is unpleasant and disturbing.
“Metaphysics of Love” portrays the underside of romantic love.
Paradox
“Metaphysics of Love”: Rochefoucald’s argument concerning the equivalence of love and ghosts is paradoxical.
Parallelism
Schopenhauer employs parallelism in titles by beginning some of them with the preposition “On."
Metonymy and Synecdoche
“Suicide”: The cross denotes suffering.
Personification
N/A
