In The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell says about Algernon in Act 3, “He has nothing, but he looks everything. What more can one desire?” (Wilde, 1899, p. 2332) She seems to be saying that looks (or appearances) are more important than reality; in other words, it’s a desirable quality for a person to…
Category: Literature
A Study of Aristotelian tragedy in Oedipus
The great Greek myth of Oedipus continues to be integral to the Western literary canon even today. Starting from 5th century B.C., various ancient writers of the Hellenistic era made references to Oedipus in their works. The best known version of the Oedipus myth comes from Sophocles’ trilogy of Theban plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus…
Symbolism in Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich
The poem Diving Into The Wreck by Adrienne Rich is full of symbolisms. The very notion of performing deep sea diving in order to explore the colossal wreck of an ancient ship is symbolic of how the author is treating the subject of past. At her hand is the book of myths, which is full…
Summary & Themes in The African Child by Camara Laye
The novel was originally written in French and later translated to numerous other languages including English. Mostly autobiographical, the novel paints a colourful picture of life in Africa. There are the typical ingredients of African wildlife, traditional tribal culture, belief in hoodoo or black magic, etc. But each of these facets to the novel presented…
The Bagavad Gita: Q & A
In refusing to fight, what is Arjuna calling into question? Arjuna is troubled by various facets of his war mission. The first and foremost is the killing of his kin and kith. Across the battle line in Kurukshetra stand his cousins, uncles and former gurus. How heartless one needs to be to be able to…
Do characters in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird construct their own identities?
To Kill a Mockingbird is a masterpiece of American fiction. One of the reasons for this success is its handling of a pressing social issue, namely, racial prejudice. Secondly, the work is structurally layered, allowing readers numerous interpretations. For example, the book can be studied for its socio-economic indications under the Marxist critical framework. It…
Hamlet by William Shakespeare: A short overview
The play Hamlet is one of the most enduring and psychologically complex of Shakespeare’s oeuvre. The title in full is The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and it indicates the profound mental turmoil and loss that the protagonist experiences through the play. Over the centuries, various interpretations have been offered for describing Hamlet’s mental…
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri: An expository essay
The Divine Comedy is a classic Christian theological text that uses strong poetic imagination and allegorical allusion. Though originally written in Italian between 1308 and 1321 AD, the book is widely translated and its themes are drawn upon by generations of writers since. Written in first person narrative, the comedy is about the imaginative events…
Jubilee by Margaret Walker: The Symbolic Importance of the Lady in Black and of the Two Lovers
An important theme in Jubilee by Margaret Walker (Walker 1-490) is freedom. The three important characters in the story, Vyry, Randall Ware and Innis Brown, are constantly engaged in the quest for freedom. This entails not just their political liberties, but also the freedom to choose one’s marriage partner and the freedom to configure interpersonal…
The Purloined Letter: An Analysis
Edgar Allan Poe is a master of the short story form. All the skill and craft required of a short story are evident in The Purloined Letter. This short detective fiction is about displaying the cleverness of the investigator (Auguste Dupin) in solving a case. As is the norm in this genre of fiction, “the…