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Shakespeare’s purpose in introducing Enobarbus was to present a character whose existence hinges on a similar decision, thereby allowing us to project our own internal conflict onto him. Through analysis of Enobarbus’s speech, it becomes evident that he, like Antony and his predecessors, is responsive to Cleopatra’s ability to incite desire and capture the imagination. […]

Animal Farm, George Orwell’s famous satire of the Russian Revolution, is a protest against the cruelty inherent in totalitarianism. It tells the tale of farm animals who rise up against their human oppressors to establish a society founded on the idea that every creature is created equal. Orwell’s Animal Farm depicts the ephemeral success of […]

In her poems Carol Ann Duffy explores many subjects and themes including love, a female’s perspective of well known legend, dream-like poems, other people and poems from her own experience. Some poems with these themes include, ‘Valentine’, ‘Mrs. Midas’, ‘Dream of a Lost Friend’, ‘War Photographer’ and ‘Originally’. Many of Duffy’s poems are in a […]

The play Educating Rita was written by Willy Russell in 1979 and is set in a Victorian university in the north of England, which happens to be the author’s birthplace. Its focus is on the phenomenon of individuals from poor backgrounds who refrain from pursuing higher education and opt for employment instead. The government’s belief […]

‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem that creates a contradiction by contrasting the romantic poem style of the title, ‘Valentine,’ with a negative in the opening line, canceling out any traditional thoughts of valentines, ‘Not a red rose or a satin heart.’ In this first line, Duffy is stating a matter of fact; […]

These 3 scenes show a substantial development in Rita’s character. At the very start of act 2 Rita enters Frank’s study after the summer in ‘summer school’. Rita appears to have changed in many ways, which in turn affect Rita and Frank’s relationship. The first of these many changes is the way she is now […]

A – The main thread of the play entwines itself round the constantly developing relationship between Rita and Frank. Rita is a fresh, young but illiterate woman who develops into a wise person steering her way in life with confidence. Frank is a university tutor who despite his relationship with Rita, becomes increasingly cynical and […]

I have currently been studying two poems named ‘porphyrias Lover’ and ‘The laboratory’. Both of these poems by Robert Browning extremely express the emotions madness and violence in some way or another, in this essay I am going to point out just a few of the writing techniques used. Robert Browning wrote both of these […]

‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘ Animal Farm’. Two entirely different novels with seemingly nothing in common, in fact the genres are of no similarity and the characters do not even classify under the same categorical species. However, both books similarly share an aim, and are essentially alike in what they intend to achieve. ‘Jane Eyre’ and […]

Jonathan Swift and George Orwell may come from very different times- Swift in a country in turmoil during the eighteenth century, Ireland and Orwell in England while Europe was struggling to overcome the strife of the end of World War Two. These dissimilar backgrounds caused the two writers to write profoundly divergent texts. Yet A […]

The staged death of Anthony, like all deaths in theater, is meticulously planned to elicit the desired response from the audience. Although Anthony is portrayed as being cradled in Cleopatra’s arms, it is crucial that their final lines are audible to the audience in order to create a dramatic impact. Cleopatra’s deteriorating mental state becomes […]

The two books that I have chosen to study are in many ways similar. Both explore the dangerous effect of man’s attempts to control others and dominate society. They both use symbolism strongly to underline the message behind the story. Authors use symbolism, as a way of illustrating a message by comparing a real situation […]

After having a difficult experience in school, Willy Russell explored various occupations before finally choosing to work as a hairdresser for women. Similar to Rita, he had a strong desire to obtain an education, leading him to pursue a degree through the Open University and ultimately becoming a knowledgeable writer. In the opening scene, we […]

Thomas Hardy’s presentation of women is quite highlights the typical Victorian attitude towards women . In particular, ‘An Imaginative Women’ and ‘On the Western Circuit’ produce some interesting comparisons. The two leading characters are women, Ella Marchmill (‘An Imaginative Woman’) and Edith Harnham (‘On the Western Circuit’). The first and probably the most obvious similarity […]

Carol Ann Duffy has written many poems and many of them are linked but in different ways, to substantiate this I am going to refer to three of her poems and compare them with one another. The poems that I have chosen are ‘War Photographer’, ‘Valentine’ and ‘Before You Were Mine’. My first impression of […]

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the ancient myth of “Pygmalion” was written down. The myth was about Pygmalion, a king of Cyprus, who was revolted with the women around him and decided to make a gorgeous statue of a woman that he named Galatea. He became infatuated and later in love with the statue when he had […]

‘In the naked lilac flame’ is a description used by Simon Armitage which both effectively describes the flame of the Bunsen burner and leads onto deeper meanings within the poem. The use of the word ‘naked’ gives a sense of the exposure and the vulnerability felt by the poet as he describes his emotions and […]

In the Pale View of the Hills, there are lots of characters that have to deal with the discrepancies between their expectations of the past and the reality. I will discuss how Ogata-San, Etsuko, Sachiko, Keiko, and Mrs Fujiwara deal with their discrepancies. These characters either evade or learn to accept them in different ways. […]

Educating Rita shows the willful struggle of a working class woman’s thirst to be educated. Rita’s educational development goes through several stages which have very harsh consequences on those which are close to her.Rita felt her education at school to be “just normal”. In the school at which she attended amongst her friends “studying” was […]

One thing Duffy does very well is to write her first and last sentences carefully. These relate to violence very well. The first sentence “Today I am going to kill something”, this is a very strong start and very different. Usually the first sentences of poems are happy and then they might gradually turn into […]

Published in 1902, The Hound of the Baskervilles stands out from Sherlock Holmes’ earlier works due to its setting in the rural Devonshire moor, which sharply contrasts with the murky crime world of London. As a detective story, it incorporates Gothic elements, including myths, legends, and descriptions of Baskerville Hall’s “wrought iron gates.” The novel […]

Malachy is an irresponsible father to his children, who doesn’t support them in the way that he should. Despite Malachy’s lack of parenting skills, he loves his children very much and they are important to him. Malachy would like to be a good father to his children but parts of his faulted personality prevent him […]