There are moments in literature when the portrayed symmetry is perfect and complete, revealing an ideal image or message to the world. Yet there are others, invariably, when symmetry is only partial and images appear merely quasi-symmetric, revealing a message of its own. In these moments, where there is an evident aim toward perfection, but…
Category: Critical Analyses
Protestant and Catholic Providence in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
William Shakespeare possessed a remarkable ability to vigilantly observe conflict, comprehending the eminent pain on every side of it, and express multiple perspectives through his interpretation. He demonstrates this empathetic perspective within each of his tragic plays so that the audience can experience the agony of the protagonists, and at the same time, completely understand…
Unpleasant Imagery and Voice in Jonathan Edwards’ Sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
Jonathan Edwards was a man of deep religious conviction. His theological and philosophical opinions display in him a desire to offer the world controversy and a depth of insight uncommon at the time. This desire is particularly evident in his work, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. This text was originally presented as…
Symmetry and Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw
Symmetry is a difficult term to justly define when dealing with subjects other than physical imagery and visual experience. In such examples, it is merely the matching of one image to another close beside. However, in literature, philosophy, and thought, it becomes a much more complicated subject to identify. Such is the case with the…
Distorted and Distant Hope: Denial versus Acceptance in Tennyson’s “Mariana” and “Tears, Idle Tears”
In the wake of his closest friend, Arthur Hallam’s passing and even prior to it, Alfred, Lord Tennyson created many literary works that either centered on a theme of loss and grief or that held hints of it subtly beneath their surfaces. From this textual focal point, Tennyson demonstrated not just a struggle to accept…
Lady Bertilak’s Temptations in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Temptation is evidently a common theme that appears throughout medieval writing. Reasons for this frequency likely reside in the influence of the Christian church—the clergy’s emphasis on humanity’s sin and shortcomings to create for the church dependency and revenue through indulgences. It could also be representative of the value system at the time. Knights were…
Edenic Marriage Bonds in Frankenstein
There is a longstanding conception, although deformed and reformed many times throughout history, that woman is the completion of man, the fairer, gentler part, without which mankind would only be half of what it was made to be. John Milton’s Paradise Lost expounds on the biblical creation of humanity, underlining within the text that God…
Jealousy in Paradise Lost
It is widely known through biblical ideology that the cause of Lucifer’s fall was due to pride within his heart. Pride untamed can only give way to more vice, and that particularly in the form of jealousy. It was pride that led him to be envious of God’s great position, and this jealousy led him…
Thoughts on Nabokov’s “Transparent Things”
When understanding a novel becomes an impossible task, it then becomes the task to find the simplest meaning possible within the text. Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Transparent Things offers such a task to its readers. Not only is it very difficult to follow the plot through the abnormal narration, but it is also nearly impossible to…
Philip Larkin’s “Wants” through the Veil of “Aubade”
One can find from reading only a handful of Philip Larkin’s poetry that the man had a rather negative view of the world and distain for many aspects of life. It is a popular idea that artists sacrifice their joy and innocence to offer the world their thought-filled words and work. As they venture down…