Newest Literature Essays

Heralded as an early pioneer of the Harlem Renaissance, Claude McKay (1889-1948) is often included in the African American literary cannon. On the surface, his poetry, with its focus on issues of racism and exclusion, appears to fit neatly into...

Destruction. It’s a powerful word, encapsulating a Pandora’s box of emotions. It implies damage beyond a state of repair, or even, at times, beyond a state of existence. Destruction plays an important role in Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. What is...

In Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, he defines man to be made in the image of God, man’s end to be perfect happiness, which may only be attained by seeing God, and asserts the Divine law’s role in the attainment of perfect happiness. Much like...

In both Porphyria’s Lover and Andrea del Sarto, Robert Browning explores the notions of love and its capacity to corrupt an individual’s character and potential through his signature diegetic form; the dramatic monologue. While the form of these...

In both My Last Duchess and Andrea del Sarto, Robert Browning explores the notions of love and its capacity to corrupt an individual’s character and potential through his signature diegetic form; the dramatic monologue. While the form of these two...

Robert Browning ubiquitous examination of religious authority and its shortcomings becomes apparent within the very title of The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church. The religious reference to Saint Praxed carries ironic connotations,...

Despite the adaptation of a text to film benefiting from the opportunities and abilities bestowed to a director through the visual aspect of the medium, narrative complexity and depth of literary themes almost inevitably suffer a condensation....

The play Inherit the Wind is one that exhibits contrasting characterisations of its major, influential individuals. Yet, within this contrast of personalities, each separate role is portrayed to the audience in a slightly ambiguous manner, and as...

In our modern American society, oppression is something that still exists and has been detrimental to people, hurting their lives. The process of fishing can symbolize how regular people fair versus the clutches of oppression they cannot...

As a Romantic, Keats maintained a tragic concern with the importance of dramatic irony - or, as noted by Schlegel, the ‘secret irony’ in which the audience is aware of the protagonist’s situation and his own ignorance of it. In ‘Lamia’, this...

Hannah Kent’s award winning Australian novel Burial Rites illustrates the remaining days of the last woman executed in Iceland; Agnes Magnúsdóttir. In an interview conducted by the Guardian, Kent stated that she first learnt of Agnes’ story...

Humanity has been fortunate enough to make advancements in medicine as time goes on. Medicine, and the lack of it, plays an important role in Our Town. Emily’s death is a key part of the conflict in the play. The third act’s name isn’t given, but...

Throughout his tumultuous career, Peter Abelard faced a series of vehement backlashes against his theological work as well as the manner in which he conducted his personal life; indeed, his affair and secret marriage to Heloise famously culminated...

Genetic determinism provides the foundation for Andrew Niccol's science fiction film Gattaca. The film serves as a cautionary tale for modern society, by raising questions about genetic determinism, and the issues it could cause for us in the...

Race played a huge role in determining a relationship with the police in London after the mass migration of non-caucasian individuals. The poem ‘Sonny’s Lettah’ by Linton Kwesi Johnson provides a clear representation of how the black race was...

Transformation allows for a re-interpretation of a text from a different perspective. The relationship between the composer, responder, text and context are integral in this metamorphosis. Christopher Isherwood’s novella Goodbye to Berlin (1939)...

Authored in the midst of the peak of European imperialistic pursuits, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness documents the subjugation of the native African peoples by their rapacious European colonialist invaders. The primary protagonist and narrator...

Both ‘Before you were mine’ by Carol Anne Duffy and ‘Follower’ by Seamus Heaney present the theme of admiration through their poems. As they both capture the parent-child relationship through the child’s perspective showcasing how they each viewed...

The literary element of mood portrays the atmosphere of the work through its words and descriptions in order to create an emotional response within the reader. This allows the reader to develop an emotional attachment and interest in the story, as...

The breakdown of a relationship is presented in many ways throughout both ‘Neutral Tones’ by Thomas Hardy and ‘Modern Love’ by George Meredith. For example, they both explore themes of memory, and loss (of love). I will be exploring and comparing...

Through the use of a carefully chosen epigraph, organization, a non authoritative presence, embellishment, researching the character’s backgrounds, and pathos, Truman Capote is able to tell the story of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith in great detail...

As Ernest Hemingway once said, "The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting you're special too." It is common for people to lose themselves in relationships. It is easy to take on certain...

Shakespeare conjures in Coriolanus a character who manifests at times the immaturity and childishness of a typically arrogant and naïve Shakespearean antagonist; yet so too does he render a sense of Coriolanus’ virtuous nobility and honesty which...

In Feodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the protagonist, Raskolnikov, murders an old woman and her sister because he believes himself to be an extraordinary man. Throughout the rest of the story, Raskolnikov deals with the repercussions of...