Essays and Research Papers on (All) Literature

A 7 page paper looking at the characterization, construction, and most importantly, the theme of Moliere's famous play, noting how the theme of hypocrisy is supported by the characterization and the play's construction. Bibliography lists four sources including the play itself.

A 6 page paper on Moliere's "Tartuffe"-- a controversial 17th century play in which the author (among other things)-- attacked a certain secret society of religious fanatics who tried to gain admittance into homes and control the personal and intimate lives of all the members of the family. The writer discusses various sociopolitical issues from ...

A 10 page paper on the difference in the amount of autonomy afforded women in these two classic works of French literature. The paper observes that while we would expect sex roles in seventeenth-century Moliere to be more restrictive than in eighteenth-century Voltaire, precisely the reverse is true; a penetrating analysis postulates the reason for ...

A 6 page report on Jules Verne's 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' in which the writer analytically examines the story's reliance upon general scientific knowledge. Key characters and subplots are explored in great detail and a supporting bibliography lists 4 critical sources.

A 4 page paper discussing the role of women in Moliere's 'Tartuffe' and Ibsen's 'A Doll's House.' In examining the personalities of the female characters we examine Nora, from 'A Doll's House,' and Pernelle, from 'Tartuffe.' Where Nora is a weak individual who feels a need to blame others for her misfortune, Pernelle is a ...

A 5 page paper looking at the way social influences in the nineteenth century limited women's options by limiting their boundaries to the home. The paper shows that many women who would have loved a purely domestic life could not have it because the financial support on which they were supposed to rely -- men ...

(work is also known called 'Hois Clos') In this 8 page paper, the writer argues that the concept 'Hell Is Other People' is the primary theme of this classic existentialist drama ('No Exit' is a one-act play by Sartre) and it is just as resonant today as it was more than fifty years ago. Sartre's ...

It is commonly believed that the theme presented by Jean Paul Sartre in his 1944 play, No Exit was 'Hell is other people'. By exploring the other writings of Sartre one can begin to understand that the concept he was elucidating in the play was the exact opposite of the externalization of negative emotions. ...

A 10 page paper that provides an overview of Sartre's existential beliefs as they are related in two of his plays: No Exit and The Flies. This paper relates other works of Sartre, including Being and Nothingness, in order to investigate his ideas of existentialism. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 9 page paper examining the significance of the protagonist's sensation of nausea throughout this book. The paper concludes that for Sartre, the nausea symbolizes his protagonist's ultimate recognition of life's futility. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 1 page summary of Sartre's short story. It reflects Sartre's interest in the ultimate lack of causality in life through the depiction of the 'last night' of a group of prisoners condemned to die in the morning. The narrator in fact does not die, but he might as well have, because he has psychologically ...

A 5 page paper discussing whether the three condemned characters of Sartre's play would have had a more productive life in More's 'Utopia' or Voltaire's 'Eldorado' (from 'Candide'). The paper concludes that despite the fact that the most famous line from 'No Exit' is Garcin's exclamation that 'Hell is other people,' Hell is really in ...

A 4 page paper discussing the short story, The Hunger Artist. The writer analyzes Kafka's tongue in cheek style and humorous look at the life of a starving artist. No additional sources cited.

A 4 page essay on the underlying struggle between heart and mind in Greek mythology. The writer makes comparisons between this theme's existence in 'Prometheus Bound' and in the play 'Hippolytus.' It is noted that Prometheus and Phaedre are both prisoners and that it is their own human condition that causes them to suffer such ...

(trans. "Time of Silence"). In this 7 page essay, the writer evaluates Santos' novel as an important literary advance which signaled the abandonment of the older, linear works of Spanish provincialism. The story is analyzed with relevance to the author's own life and times. Very well-written. No other sources are cited.

A 10 page paper discussing the work of writer Isabel Allende. All types of love in her writing include a significant component of loneliness. The writer of this explores Allende's premise of loneliness and its role in love. Bibliography lists 11 sources.

This 6 page paper argues that the short story 'Emilie Plead Choose One Egg' by Haitian writer Paulé Bart-n, offers both a diagnosis and a cure for the ills of Caribbean culture. The story, in featuring a strong-willed woman and an ineffective, irresolute man, reveals the effects of colonialism on the Caribbean psyche, and offers ...

A 7 page essay discussing the difference between art written for art's sake and art written for life's sake. It particularly discusses Flaubert, Ibsen, Dostoevsky and Yeats, and examines how each of these authors fit into the Romantic tradition of the artist as both spokesperson and iconoclast, and how each of these works discussed ...

a 5 page paper comparing Harold Krebs in Hemingway's 'Soldier's Home' with the narrator of 'Bartleby the Scrivener' by Herman Melville. The paper concludes that both these characters have a difficult time risking confrontation, and, despite the fact that one character is a soldier returned from the front and the other a successful lawyer, neither ...

A 6 page paper discussing the reality of the settings and details in these three novels. The paper points out that verisimilitude is very important in fiction, because only when the reader is grounded in reality can he suspend disbelief sufficiently to be drawn into the story. Bibliography lists one source.

A 6 page paper on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as well as Le Morte D'arthur by Thomas Malory. The paper argues that both works are romances, although they reflect the tradition in different ways; the medieval romance genre is defined, and then both stories are analyzed to show how they fit the tradition. ...

A 5 page paper examining the way these three authors -- and their detectives -- purport to involve the reader in the solution of the crimes but in fact deflect his attention from the very clues he needs. Novels covered are Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, John Dickson Carr's The Emperor's Snuff Box, ...

A 4 page paper looking at the presence of existentialist thought in this short story by Jean Paul Sartre. The paper argues that for Sartre, the lack of causality in human life, together with the lack of a beneficent force in the universe, forces every human being to forge his own meaning -- something the ...

A five page paper comparing Maya Angelou’s “The Heart of a Woman” with James Baldwin’s “Go Tell It on the Mountain” in terms of the protagonist’s quest for identity. The paper argues that both writers are driven by a strong sense of personal quest -- Baldwin to find himself through the context of his faith, ...

A 6 page work looking at this unusual yet seminal period in Edith Wharton’s life -- her life in France at the outbreak of World War I, and the stories that arose from this experience. Wharton’s literary efforts to raise public awareness about the French people’s plight contributed toward her earning the French Legion of ...