Essays and Research Papers on (All) Literature

A 3 page paper which examines the theme and symbolism of greed in D.H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner.” No additional sources cited.

A 4 page essay that discusses why Virgil pictures Aeneas as possessing human flaws. Aeneas, hero of Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid, is, in many ways, the epitome the ancient Roman conceptualization of virtue. He accepts the will of the gods that he should be the founder of Rome. He displays compassion for the suffering ...

This 4 page paper discusses Charles Fishman's book "The Wal-Mart Effect" and argues that the "Wal-Mart effect" is a good example of the law of unintended consequences. Bibliography lists 1 source.

A 3 page essay that argues that the main theme in both Sophocles' Antigone and Herman Melville's Billy Budd is a warning that the society that ignores humanitarian issues does so at its own peril. These narratives warn us that the society that puts punitive justice ahead of all else may be enacting a ...

A 4 page research paper that examines the conflict between Antigone and Creon, which is whose law should take precedence, humanity's law or divine law. Citing the opinions of Creon's son, the chorus, and the people of Thebes, the writer argues that Sophocles clearly sides with Antigone. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

In three pages, this paper that is subdivided into three essays considers how King distinguishes between just and unjust law, whether civil disobedience is morally wrong, and how a law can be just on its face and unjust in its application. There are no additional sources listed in the bibliography.

A 7 page paper discussing Sir Thomas More's motivations for writing Utopia as lying with the demise of fuedalism and the rise of capitalism. More roundly condemns England's lawmakers for heaping myriad new laws on the heads of the peasants, and for authoring those laws in a language not readily understood by those most affected by them. ...

A five page paper looking at the issue of righteousness in this classic drama by Sophocles. The paper argues that Antigone is in the right because her actions spring from a higher authority than the law she breaks. Bibliography lists four sources.

A 4 page essay that defends Thoreau’s position in his essay “Civil Disobedience.” Thoreau argued against adhering to the dictates of any society or obeying any law simply because it is a law. Rather than blindly accepting the authority of the state, Thoreau felt that people were obligated to obey a higher law, one that ...

A 10 page research paper concerning the first of many literary 'utopias' which describe perfect imaginary societies. The writer explores the framework of the society imaged by Sir Thomas More in the early sixteenth-century discussing such topics as the rights of the individual, the laws, and customs of More's ideal human society. Bibliography lists 6 ...

This 4 page report discusses two of the best-known American authors of the 19th century. Both Melville and Stowe were able to encapsulate many more sensibilities and awarenesses in their characters than would be readily evident in the story of an old “Negro” slave or the story being told by a “rather elderly man” about a “law-copyist or scrivener” ...

A 6 page paper analyzing Tennessee William’s use of irony in developing his characters in this classic play. Noting that Blanche’s hell is of her own making, the paper also discusses irony in her relationship to her sister Stella, brother-in-law Stanley, and Stanley’s friend Mitch. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 4 page paper explores Hawthorne's use of puritan characters in several of his stories, and argues that they are unpleasant and baleful, even though they believe themselves to be following God's law. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

A 5 page analysis of how Mark Twain, Henry James and Flannery O'Connor have each pictured how individuals have reacted to early experiences with evil. In so doing each has shown aspects of society, as implied through laws and social norms, that rather then promoting the spiritual welfare of its citizens actually work against the ...

A 5 page paper which examines the significance and importance of money in three tales from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” The tales examines are those of the Merchant, the Clerk, and the Sergeant of Law. No additional sources cited.

This 10 page paper examines this well known Scandinavian play and assesses the role of law and justice. Many aspects are discussed including marital rape, divorce, abandonment and blackmail. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

An eight page paper looking at five of London’s shorter works in terms of their expression of the doctrines of naturalism and social Darwinism. Stories discussed are “The Law of Life,” “The League of the Old Men,” “The Master of Mystery,” “The One Thousand Dozen,” and “The Whale Tooth.” Bibliography lists seven sources.

A 6 page paper comparing the treatment of women in Homeric times (as illustrated by the tribulations of Penelope in the Odyssey) with the many rules and prohibitions given to women under early Judaic law. The paper concludes that both systems effectively tie women to the house without giving them any authority over it. Bibliography ...

A 7 page paper looking at the issue of vengeance in these two novels by Tolstoy and Isabel Allende, respectively. The paper argues that in both books the authors considered their protagonists to have sinned against God or the laws of nature, and thus their punishment was out of human hands. Bibliography lists one source. ...

There have been a plethora of evaluations of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Most critiques focus on the religious organization of the Puritan society, the laws and consequences that made 'sin' a criminal act as well as socially reprehensible. The relationships between the characters has been examined in detail. This 5 page paper argues that The Scarlet ...

This 7 page paper looks at crime and punishment in England between 1550 and 1750. From the beginning of this period it was recognised that poverty and crime were related, hence much of the motivation for the introduction of the Poor Laws. The way in which control was exercised was though the association of crime ...

A 3 page essay that contrasts and compares works by Rousseau and Wordsworth and argues that they are representative of their respective eras. In his Discourse on Inequality, the French neoclassical philosophy Jean-Jacques Rousseau examines the factors that create societal inequities in order to determine if there is any foundation for inequality between human beings ...

A 5 page essay which attempts to see the world depicted in Aldus Huxley's 'Brave New World' through the eyes of John Stuart Mill based upon his work entitled 'On Liberty.' For Mill, what has been lost in Huxley's utopia is individual freedom and expression. Mill argued that the danger of society is that the ...

A 6 page paper assessing Creon's view of events and the results of his laws as ruler of Thebes. Antigone is dead because of Creon's trust in political power; grief has claimed both his son and his wife. Perhaps Creon has not taken full responsibility, for he still blames fate for a large ...

A five page paper looking at the way conflict between parents and children (specifically, between fathers and daughters) is rendered in three Shakespearean plays -- "King Lear," "Romeo and Juliet," and "The Tempest." The paper concludes that when parents are unable to understand their children, conflict ensues -- but when these parents refuse to change, ...