Essays and Research Papers on British Literature

A 6 page essay comparing Steven Martin's film adaptation of Silas Marner, ‘‘A Simple Twist of Fate,'' with the original classic novel by George Eliot. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 3 page paper on these two stories by Thomas Woolf and Graham Greene. It observes that in both these stories, whatever we call 'good' in our society is methodically dismantled by something we can only call 'evil.' No additional sources cited.

A 10 page analysis of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. First published in 1955, it didn't gain popularity until the early and mid 1960's. Set on an idyllic unnamed island, undisciplined boys are stranded there after there plane crashes on the island. The major theme of the work is that mankind ...

A 5 page paper discussing comic aspects of Marlowe's play. The expectation for a subject that amounts to a discussion with demonic forces is that of being completely somber, even to the point of being tragic. No observer could realistically expect there to be lighter moments in the three-way battle for Faustus' soul, ...

A 6 page paper on the ethical dimension of Ben Jonson's satire. The paper asserts that virtue is impossible in an atmosphere driven by envy and greed. Bibliography lists six sources.

A 7 page paper on a seventeenth-century Restoration comedy. The writer argues that against a backdrop of seeming wittiness and lightheartedness, Behn presents the darker condition of libertine ideals in her time. No additional sources cited.

A 5 page character analysis of Winnie in Samuel Beckett's infamous play entitled 'Happy Days.' The writer feels that she represented the self-transgression of loneliness and the mundane emptiness that life can have. Several quotes from the play are used to support this thesis.

An 8 page research paper discussing the Gothic fiction genre. The writer gives specifics on the criteria for Gothic fiction, and details how Bram Stoker's Dracula fits into this genre. Bibliography cites four sources.

A 3 page paper discussing the great Gothic horror story of 'Carmilla' by Sheridan LeFanu (1814-1873). The story, along with Gothic tales such as 'Dracula' has been one of the inspirations for vampire stories and movies for the past century. Bibliography lists two sources.

An 11 page discussion of the move from the Romantic into the Modern World (transitions from Romanticism to Realism) with a comparison & contrast of Sir Isaac Newton and William Blake complemented by a discussion their differences and similarities. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 6 page paper that looks at the life and works of Rudyard Kipling, -- focusing upon the Jungle Book. The writer attempts to show that the Jungle Book is not just a combination of stories for children. Instead, Kipling, while creating stories that appeal to children, created a compilation of stories that ...

A 7 page essay briefly examining the life of the author of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and how his life and times affected how he recast the ancient struggle between good and evil that thrives in the heart of every man. Bibliography lists 6 sources.

A 5 page paper that describes the importance of Gulliver's voyage to Lilliput as a basis for the other voyages in the story. This paper explores the political irony, the emotions and reactions expressed by Gulliver and the way in which the physical and intellectual are contrasted and the way that these important themes ...

In this 5 page essay the writer discusses the first half of Book I of Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels,' explaining some of its major satirical points, with reference to political and religious events in Swift's day. No additional sources cited.

A 5 page paper examining how Jonathan Swift satirizes both the rarified Houyhnhnms and the brutish Yahoos in Book IV of Gulliver's Travels. The writer concludes that just as man was not created to be bestial, he was not created to be completely rationalistic, either. To be caught in either trap robs man of the ...

A 5 page paper that considers a comparison between the societal and political structures of 18th century England with the satirical representation of the Land of the Houyhnhnms. No additional sources cited.

a 5 page paper looking at Swift's essay 'A Digression Concerning the Original, the Use, and Improvement of Madness in a Commonwealth', from A Tale of a Tub. The paper shows how Swift satirically distinguishes madness from sanity, determines the cause of madness, and finds a function for it in a healthy society. Bibliography lists ...

A 20 page paper looking at the various types of irony in the Western literary tradition. Surveying the use of irony by over a dozen writers, the paper determines that irony developed in two major strains: the humanistic and the fatalistic, with Swift embodying the first type and Conrad the second. Bibliography lists 16 sources.

A 12 page paper examining the importance of the ability to recognize evil in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, specifically The Prioress' Tale and The Pardoner's Tale. The paper argues first that anti-Semitism is a significant issue in the Prioress' Tale, and that her anti-Semitism is just as dangerous as the amoral avarice of the Pardoner because ...

A 5 page paper showing how Chaucer illustrates the themes of spiritual order and disorder in the first section of the Canterbury Tales. The paper concludes that this tension between human disorder and spiritual order resolves itself in the recognition that God's plan is worked out in each human being. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 5 page essay which analyzes the description of the Prioresse given by Geoffrey Chaucer in the General Prologue to his historic work The Canterbury Tales. The writer argues that the Prioresse is hypocritical about her love of earthly pleasures while the Wife of Bath is open and honest.

A 5 page paper examining the fabliau genre as it is developed in Chaucer's 'Miller's Tale.' The paper gives special attention to the question of what makes the tale funny, and whether these effects are still funny today. Bibliography lists 3 sources.

('A Sociopolitical Analysis of Satire's Timeless Consistency'). 6 page analysis of Lord Byron's play/satire 'Don Juan' and its thematic timelessness. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page paper looking at Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' and Lord Byron's 'Prometheus' in terms of their treatment of the motif of the victim. The paper observes that while Byron's Prometheus's punishment is unjust but willingly accepted, the punishment of Coleridge's Mariner is deserved and he learns from it. ...

A 7 page paper analyzing characters & themes in Agatha Christie's classic book. No additional sources cited.