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Many criminal suspects today divert guilt from themselves by attributing their actions to some sort of insanity. Prince Hamlet, of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, puts on a similar fake lunacy that eventually takes over Hamlet, controls him, and leads to his downfall.

Hamlet returns to his home, Denmark’s palace, one day to find King Hamlet, his father, dead. While still mourning his father’s death, his mother marries, of all people, Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius. Then, Hamlet meets a ghost whose appearance is like that of the dead King…

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There once was a very well behaved monkey named George. He lived in the rainforests of Africa and enjoyed and loved his home very much. Every day, George would wake up to all the wonderful sights, sounds, and smells of the jungle. George was the youngest monkey in his family of seven – George lived with his two sisters, two brothers, and his parents. George was glad to live with both of his parents, because many of his friends lived with one parent half of the week and with the other parent the other half of the week. These friends…

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After the Civil War ended, many blacks and whites, especially in the South, continued living as if nothing had changed with regards to the oppression and poor treatment of African Americans. Narrator Grant Wiggins, of Ernest J. Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying, possesses a similar attitude toward race relations. Through his experiences with a young man wrongly accused of murder, Grant transforms from a pessimistic, hopeless, and insensitive man into a more selfless and compassionate human being who can see the possibility of change in relations between whites and blacks.

Grant Wiggins, one of the…

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In the society-centered world that has existed for thousands of years, Emerson’s and Thoreau’s recommendation of living as a self-reliant individual can be a difficult task to accomplish. Society puts pressure on its members to conform to its standards. Nonconformists are shunned by society and as a result have difficulty retaining their nonconformist position. According to Emerson’s Self-Reliance, though, this nonconformist, independent stance is the only thing that can bring a person peace. Emerson believes a truly great man lives in the world, but at the same time trusts himself, believes in himself, and…

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In “The Ending of ‘Troilus,'” E. Talbot Donaldson writes in response to the conclusion of the “Knight’s Tale,” one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, “What it does suggest…is that Providence is not working justly.” Though Donaldson correctly points out the fact that the “Knight’s Tale” ends in injustice, he confuses the role of sin in the injustice with the role of God.

The Knight, an honorable, generous, courteous, and noble member of a party of twenty-nine people on a pilgrimage to the English town of Canterbury during the Middle Ages, tells…

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Is Kate in charge of her life, or do others have control over her actions?

Who is primarily in control of Kate’s actions in William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew? Is Kate primarily controlling her actions, or do other characters in the play control her? If you just read through the play, but don’t study it in-depth, it appears that Kate is controlled by other characters’ actions towards her, but is this actually the case? Isn’t it very possible that Kate is actually in control of all her decisions, but is…

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Try to paraphrase the “big picture” in your language

My Bondage and My Freedom is Frederick Douglass’ rendition of his life story. Douglass was born into slavery around the year 1817. (Records weren’t kept among most slaves, so this is Douglass’ estimate of his birth year.) Douglass lived the first few years of his life with his grandparents a few miles away from his owner’s plantation. The slave children lived with their grandparents until the age of seven or so, when they went to work for the master. Douglass’ master, Col. Edward Lloyd, owned…

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Comment on the Author’s Tone

In the selection I read this evening, the author, Mark Twain, uses a very light-hearted tone and style of writing. After reading a few chapters of The Scarlet Letter earlier this evening, this selection was much more light-hearted, laid-back, and easier to read. The whole idea of a boy going about his regular, mischievous, everyday life in the middle 1800s is relaxing. It reminds me of when I was younger, even though I didn’t get into nearly as much trouble as Tom Sawyer, the main character of the…

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Try to paraphrase the “big picture” in your language

As the title of the book implies, the entire story was based around the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, to end World War II. John Hersey wrote a very detailed description of the events six Japanese people went through as a result of the bombing. Hersey began introducing the six characters – Miss Toshiko Sasaki, a clerk in the personnel department of the East Asia Tin Works; Dr. Masakazu Fujii, a wealthy and quite successful doctor; Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura – a woman whose husband had gone to fight in the…

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Though King Lear, of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of King Lear, wrongs both Cordelia and Kent in his harsh treatment against them, the unjust actions of Regan and Goneril against King Lear cause him to be “a man more sinned against than sinning” (3.2.60-61).

In order to relieve himself of the problems and work associated with holding his position so he can “unburdened crawl toward death,” King Lear, of pre-Christ Britain, divides up his kingdom into three portions, one for each of his daughters (1.1.41). To decide the daughter to whom he should give the largest…

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In the first soliloquy of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena talks primarily of a love that contains depth, a love that looks at who a person is, personality-wise, as opposed to nothing more than their appearance. Helena explains, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind” (1.1.240). In the shallow culture in which Helena lives, and even in today’s society, it is difficult for people to look beyond the outer shell and follow a deeper perception. the concept of the “perfect person” is constantly drilled into people’s minds. In Helena’s…

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Ralph, the elected leader of the group of British boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, strives to take the civilized society to which he is accustomed and apply it to society on the island on which he and the other boys are stranded. As leader, this task seems simple – tell the other boys what they each need to do and expect them to do it. Ralph fails to realize the difference between the rest of the boys and himself.

The world is in the middle of a massive war, a war in…

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In the course of most stories, at least one of the main characters changes in one way or another. In The Scarlet Letter, one of the main characters we see a change in is Hester. Through the course of the novel, it appears that Hester changes from an arrogant, unremorseful woman to a much kinder and helpful, repentant woman. Although it appears that Hester has learned a lesson from her sin and consequential punishment, has she really changed her sinful ways? If she has, why, then, is she going to leave for Europe with Arthur Dimmesdale…<

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Among many nuances present in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is the mystery of Pearl. This mystery is never actually in the real person of Pearl, but in the child she appears to be. At times, the townspeople and even Pearl’s mother, herself, call Pearl the demon-child, a fiend, and a torturer. Hester feels Pearl’s purpose on earth is to torture her but at the same time to be her joy. In reality, Pearl is a normal child, except for the fact that she is somewhat sealed off from the rest of the world…<

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Ever since the beginning of time, love has played an enormous role among humans. Everyone feels a need to love and to be loved. Some attempt to fill this yearning with activities and possessions that will not satisfy – with activities in which they should not participate and possessions they should not own. In Andrew Marvell’s poem, “To His Coy Mistress,” the speaker encounters an emotion some would call love but fits better under the designation of lust for a woman. In contrast, the speaker of Robert Herrick’s poem, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” urges…

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Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a few key symbols to represent major themes in the book. The most obvious and well known, as it is in the title, is the scarlet letter Hester is forced to wear. Three other symbols are the scaffold, the sun, and the forest.

To begin with, the most important and influential symbol in the entire book is the infamous scarlet letter, hence the title, The Scarlet Letter. In the second chapter, Hester walks out of the prison, wearing the infamous scarlet letter…�

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The monster wrenched and wrestled with him (1269)
but Beowulf was mindful of his mighty strength, (1270)
the wondrous gifts God had showered on him: (1271)
He relied for help on the Lord of All, (1272)
on His care and favour. So he overcame the foe, (1273)
brought down the hell-brute. (1274)

But now his mother (1276)
had sallied forth on a savage journey, (1277)
grief-racked and ravenous, desperate for revenge. (1278)

So the Shieldings’ hero, hard-pressed and enraged, (1573)
took a firm hold of the hilt and swung (1574)
the blade in an arc, a resolute…

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Can Brutus be considered a tragic hero?

Because of Shakespeare’s popularity among scholars and literary critics, his plays have been studied time after time. In the four hundred or so years since they were written, Shakespeare’s plays and other literary masterpieces have been categorized. Many of them, including Shakespeare’s portrayal of Julius Caesar’s murder and the resulting events for Rome and for Caesar’s conspirators, have been put into the “tragedies” category. According to the specifications and qualifications for a Shakespearean tragedy, Brutus, one of the men who conspired against Julius Caesar, can…

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A mere glance at the title of Ralph Ellison’s book, Invisible Man, stimulates questions such as, “Who is this man?” and, more importantly, “Why is this man invisible?” The anonymous narrator of Ellison’s novel begins by assuring the reader that he is, in fact, a real person and is not invisible in the Hollywood sense of the term, but, rather, invisible “simply because people refuse to see” him for who he really is (3). The actions of both blacks and whites toward the anonymous narrator of the novel during his search for identity lead him to…

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Honorable Queen:

As you well know, you have appointed me to the honorable position of a member of Lord Chamberlain’s investigative team, and I thank Your Highness greatly for giving me this wonderful opportunity to serve Your Highness and my country. After hours upon hours of investigation of William Shakespeare’s life and how he stands morally, I have decided that Your Highness should not grant him Your Highness’s patronage and the money that would allow him to produce his plays and to write more. From investigating his life, I can now see that, although…