Essays

The papers listed on this page deal with other works of literature not connected to epic literature, fantasy, or video games. The essays were originally written as BA and MA assignments between 2008 – 2011.

Renaissance Drama & Poetry

Shakespeare’s, Olivier’s and Branagh’s Henry V. Shakespeare’s Henry V is a play famous for its profoundly critic portrayal of war and the figures of power behind it. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the reasons why both film directors chose to alleviate the social criticism so prominent in Shakespeare’s original text. For that to be done it is first necessary to bring to light how both movies deal with the ‘problematic’ parts of the play.

Doctor Faustus and the question of salvation. The aim of this paper is to touch on the matter of the hope for salvation in Marlowe’s Dr Faustus by presenting a quick overview of the historical and religious background of the play on the time it was presumably written and also to analyse some of the answers that were given to the question at hand. I also intend to draw some distinction between the Dr Faustus in the text as it is written and the Dr Faustus in our readings of it. All the extracts given are from the ‘A’ text.

On the spirit of Tamburlaine, the Great. This paper discusses the question of whether the second part of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine is an analogous expansion to its predecessor in its overall essence, or perhaps a radically different text in its inherent representation of the same themes.

The figure of the mistress in Renaissance Poetry. The aim of this essay is to discuss the representation of the figure of the mistress through a close examination, comparison and contrasting the poetry of William Shakespeare and John Donne, paying special attention to two specific poems, ‘The Apparition’, by the latter, and ‘Sonnet 138’, a piece in the dark lady sequence, by the former.

The tragedy of Ran. This essay discusses Ran, a 1985 film by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, which is a free adaptation of Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of King Lear . the film reworks the mythological pre-Roman England by re-setting the play into the Sengoku Era in Japan (1467-1573 AD).

Other Essays

Coleridge’s daemonic poems. Many interpretations have been given to Coleridge’s poetry, especially to his so called ‘demonic’ poems. Notorious for their ambiguous themes and morals, these have received critical readings varying from the social-historical to psychological and have had critics quarrelling over the significance of some or such symbol, be it the Albatross of ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, Geraldine from ‘Christabel’ or ‘Kubla Khan’s Xanadu. It is this work’s aim to read these poems and the problems they generate under a psychological and religious light. This is a reading that is certainly not new; however it is also my intention to demonstrate how both, religion and psychology are inextricably linked in all these poems and in the mind of the author himself.

The life and strangely surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe and its illustrious creator, Daniel Defoe. This paper will briefly describe the historical context at the time of the publication of Robinson Crusoe. It will then analyse the different aspects of Defoe’s view of religion, politics, and economics in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, and examine how they surface in the novel.

Reading Heathcliff: multiple meanings in Wuthering Heights. Since its publication in 1847, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights has always caused its critics trouble, for while it is obviously a powerful novel, its ‘meaning’ is not easy to grasp. This was doubly true to its contemporary critics who saw only ‘glimpses or secondary meanings’ and ‘refrained from assigning any’ moral value to the work. This was mostly due to the highly controversial personality of its main character, Heathcliff, who I discuss in this paper.

Goodbye to All That. In this paper I examine how Graves depicts the great war in Goodbye to All That and how he weaves the tale of his life and of this time. I base my analysis on the new revised 1957 edition.

Barthes and Atonement. The Author, like any other prominent figure in society, has been subject of fluctuating viewpoints over time, few, however, have been pronounced dead. Barthes in his 1968 famous essay “Death of the Author” extravagantly declares the death of the Author and the birth of the reader. It is the purpose of this work to look at his work under the light of a text self-conscious about the theme of authorship, Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel Atonement.

The Remains of the Day and the unreliable narrator. Ishiguro’s story is set in 1950’s England and its main character is Stevens, a butler in a traditional old English house. At the time in which the narrative is starts the house’s owner is an American gentleman called Mr Farraday. Stevens, however, has served the house, Darlington Hall, since the times of its previous owner Lord Darlington to whom he had absolute devotion. Throughout the book we are made aware of the political tendencies and importance of Lord Darlington, both this fact and Stevens’ own beliefs and ideas bring about a social, political and ideological depth to the book which I analyse in this essay.

Midnights’s Children and the fractured self. It is this essay’s aim to analyse its Rushdie’s 1981 novel in terms of form, structure and language in the view of its themes. To do so, we are required to observe the novel in context, for, as Rushdie himself says , this is a book about history and politics; its narrator being “handcuffed to history”, even if it does deal with its postcolonial identity in a colourful and fantastical way.

Book review. A tale of two Indias: The White Tiger. The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga is the 2008 Booker Prize Winner novel. The book has received mixed reviews in its home country of India, undoubtedly due to it being a controversial critique of the Indian socio-cultural system. Through the protagonist’s bloodstained journey from crushing poverty to becoming a successful businessman, it attacks the subjects of poverty, servant/master relationships, the caste system and social disparity.

All the papers above are copyright to the author and must be cited according to the academic conventions adopted in the UK. For full-texts, please contact the author.