Today's Date:
January 17, 2025
The Song of Roland : An Analysis of Medieval Lord and Vassal Relationships
The theme of lord and vassal relationships is prominent in “The Song of Roland” (Anonymous, translated by Robert Harrison). This aspect of the medieval epic tale, “Song of Roland” is important because it signifies ways of understanding the hierarchy of the →
“Sister Carrie” by Theodore Dreiser: Naturalism, Capitalism and the Urban Sea
Theodore Dreiser’s novel Sister Carrie is an example of a naturalist text because it integrates the ideas behind the American literary realism movement, particularly in terms of precise descriptions and rational observations, yet also contains elements that make the reader understand →
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Effects of Sin on the Mind, Body, and Soul
Throughout The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the effects of sin on the mind, body, and soul of Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth are all visible even though there are manifested in different ways for each character. Each of the three are living →
Roman Class Structure in The Satyricon by Petronius
The Satyricon by Petronius offers modern readers the unique opportunity to examine the class structure in this partially real, somewhat imagined Roman society by depicting characters from all levels of society. The harsh and dark streets haunted by the poor →
Comparison of Themes in “A Rose for Emily” “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Sweat”
In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” (click here for a full summary), and Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, gender (specifically, femininity) is linked to ideas of love and hate through repression. All the main characters in each of these three short →
Overview of Romanticism in Literature
In the most basic sense, Romanticism, which is loosely identified as spanning the years of 1783-1830,1 2 can be distinguished from the preceding period called the Enlightenment by observing that the one elevated the role of spirit, soul, instinct, and emotion, while the other →
Summary and Analysis of the Poem “Departmental” by Robert Frost
To offer a brief summary of the poem “Departmental” by Robert Frost and its general meaning before launching into a full poetry analysis of “Departmental”, one should begin with the important first lines. At the beginning of “Departmental” by Robert →
Essay on Divine Right in Shakespeare’s Richard II and Henry V
The divine right to rule is an important issue in both Shakespeare’s “Richard II” and “Henry V”. In each play by Shakespeare, the kings are prone to making a series of mistakes or succumbing to certain weaknesses and are judged →
Essay on the Representations of Gender in Revolt of the Cockroach People
As this essay on “Revolt of the Cockroach People” by Oscar Zeta Acosta discusses, women figure prominently in Acosta’s, “Revolt of the Cockroach People” although hardly in the sense that one might expect in a semi-autobiographical account of the turbulent Chicano Power →
Comparison of “The Republic” by Plato and “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes
There are many common themes available for a comparison essay of The Republic by Plato and Leviathan by Hobbes but one of the most salient points to be made is that they share ideological similarities. Although there is some consensus on →
