Genre Essays

Is he a dangerous lover? The villain is usually dark and handsome, though he might have some tell-tell sign that warns he is wicked. The villains ranged from dark priests to mysterious bandits. Some start out as heroes but turn into villains. The Gothic villain has several identifying characteristics. They are shifty, cunning and can […]

The term Gothic conjures up images of frightened women, graveyards, and haunted castles in the mist, popular settings for horror films. But is this what Gothic means? The Oxford Companion to English Literature defines Gothic as, Tales of the macabre, fantastic, and supernatural, usually set amid haunted castles, graveyards, ruins and wild picturesque landscapes (Drabble […]

Allan Poe’s narrative poem “The Raven” is about a visit made by a talking raven to lover who is in distraught and witnesses the man’s gradual fall into madness. The lover, known to be a student, is in constant lament about the loss he had with his lover, Lenore. The raven appears to be provoking […]

Frankenstein is a gothic fictional horror story. The novel carries the subtitle of The Modern Prometheus. In Greek mythology, Prometheus defied the gods and bestowed fire upon humanity. As punishment, Zeus sentenced him to eternal torment. Similarly, Victor sees his own glory as his ultimate aim and successfully brings a dead creature to life (Jean-Phillipe […]

“Buy Local, shrink the distance food travels, save the planet. ” Locavore is a diet a person takes up to eat only local food. It consists of a group of people that insist to help the economy and reduce the size of carbon footprint by eating local food within a 100 mile radius. Alex Hallat […]

In this excerpt, which takes place after Tony has left for the Amazon, Waugh continues to allow his reader to come to their own conclusions about the characteristics and behaviour of Brenda by examining what she does and what she says rather than through the narrator or author’s own viewpoint. Nevertheless, the inclusion of irony, […]

In 1961, when President John F. Kennedy established the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, John Updike began to write the short story, “Giving Blood” (Lewis pg. 1). One year after “Giving Blood” was published; this Commission documented numerous incidences of how women were discriminated in the workplace, and recommended changes to improve female […]

Sophocles often wrote about ancient myths that were common knowledge to the people who viewed his plays. “Oedipus The King” was written knowing that the audience is aware of the outcome of the play, and therefore utilizes that foreknowledge to create various situations in which irony plays a key role. More specifically, this dramatic irony […]

Textual literature provides individuals with the opportunity to encounter and gain insight from life’s lessons, often through the utilization of literary irony. The idea of irony is based on the difference between what is anticipated and what actually happens, which can lead to a contrast between appearance and reality. This technique in literature often brings […]

Ken Kesey was born on September 17th, 1935 in La Junta, Colorado. While he was in a fellowship to Stanford’s Writing Program he worked at a Californian Veterans’ Administration hospital in the psychiatric ward as a night guard (“KnowledgeNotes Study Guide”, par. 1). Kesey’s first published book was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which […]

Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that’s scarcely felt or seen. Satire is a literary manner which blends a critical attitude with humor and wit to the end that human institutions or humanity may be improved. The true satirist is conscious of the frailty of institutions of man’s devising and […]

Satire is often defined as a literary genre or form; although, in practice, t is also found in graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring out improvement. Although satire […]

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if a close friend was gruesomely murdered? Can you Imagine the crazy mixed emotions you would feel? The heartache, betrayal, and hurt? What would you do to get back at the people who hurt you the most? In William Shakespearean Julius Caesar, the beloved leader, Caesar, […]

The downfall of Othello, a valiant soldier, in William Shakespeare’s play Othello is the result of manipulation and cheating created by destruction, deception and jealousy. The analysis will focus on Act 1 Scene 3, Act 3 Scene 3, and Act 5 Scene 2 to provide evidence for the claim that Othello’s downfall was caused by […]

In Act 1 of “An Inspector Calls” how does J. B Priestley use dramatic devices to convey his concerns and ideas to members of the audience as well as interest them and involve them in the play. “An Inspector Calls” was written in 1945 but the play was set in 1912, a few years before […]

This is a fear that is inexpressible, incomprehensible to those who have never experienced it, a dread that strikes at the root of one’s survival – an existential fear. ” Experiences suffered by women and children in WWII Japanese POW camps are reflected in John Misto’s play, The Shoe-Horn Sonata. This is shown through a […]

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ” Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespeare that is regularly hard to understand by most. William decided to put something in his play to make it more interesting and understandable. There are three literary […]

The text under the title “Dangerous Corner” was written by British journalist, novelist, playwright, and essayist – John Boynton Priestley (1894-1984). Priestley’s output was vast and varied – he wrote over one hundred novels, plays, and essay. The text under the study is a play. The society of several men and women sitting in a […]

Much Ado About Nothing is a play set in c1598 in England. The author of this play, William Shakespeare has used various literary techniques to construct and develop its characters. This essay will analyse some of the techniques including tone, character-specific dialogue, dramatic irony, soliloquy, and symbolism that has been used by the author to […]

The rhetorical expression of Ernest Renan in his article entitled, “What is a nation? ” begins with a proposal; a proposal that delves deeper into the subject of “nation” and re-defines the word in a manner that a nation is not an entity but rather a part of humanity. The article begins with a proposal, […]

Irony, generally described as expressing something different from or opposite to a literal meaning, is used as an underlying theme in Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery. As an age-old tradition, the lottery is one in which a single person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends […]

In Classical Greek drama, the ‘unities’ revolve around three key elements – time, place and action. ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play that delves into the issues of social inequality prevalent in Britain post World War II. To expose the negative impact of Capitalism, Priestley employs various dramatic techniques like stage directions, lighting, setting and […]