Essays and Research Papers on French Literature

Barbara Johnson has posited the idea that autobiography is always in the process of symbolically killing the mother off by narrating the fiction as though it were the child one has given birth to and that represents the author. In Jean Jacques Rousseau's Confessions the premise of an autobiography is not in question. ...

This 7 page paper provides basic biographical information as well as to highlight this novelist's social and political views. His personal life is discussed as well as his novels. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 10 page research paper/essay, which includes a 1 page outline, pertains to Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. The paper includes Flaubert's biography, a summary of the novel, its public reception, and discussion of critical opinion. Bibliography lists 7 sources.

A 3 page paper which examines the role of religion in Gustave Flaubert’s “A Simple Heart.” Bibliography lists 2 additional sources.

A 5 page paper analyzing Voltaire's views on religion as expressed in this novel. The paper points out how the author satirized a number of viewpoints current in the eighteenth century, and concluded at the end that talking is vanity; religion lies in the doing. Bibliography lists 4 sources.

A 17 page paper on the socioeconomic issues put forth by Victor Hugo in his novel. The paper discusses what role Hugo felt religion, politics, and social planning played in the reformation of society. It also deals substantially with Hugo's role as a romantic writer, and the implications of this in his novel. No additional ...

A 5 page research paper that examines the stance of eighteenth century French playwright and philosopher Voltaire against the organized religion of his time. The writer discusses Voltaire's work and then puts it in perspective relative to the political atmosphere of that era. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

This 12 page paper examines the conflict between faith and reason in religion. Peter Abelard's works are examined in an analysis which concludes that both may and do coexist. Bibliography lists 9 sources.

An eight-page paper looking at this seventeenth century novel by Marie de La Fayette. The paper shows how the events of this unabashedly "women's novel" nonetheless contain social criticism and a clear insight into French history in the sixteenth century. Bibliography lists seven sources.

A 7 page essay that examines the stagecraft employed in these two works. While the art of playwriting has evolved and changed over the course of Western civilization, playwrights whether ancient or modern had to accomplish similar tasks in the storytelling and dramatization. The audience, in both cases, has to be informed about the background ...

A 3 page essay that discusses Jean-Paul Sartre's play "The Flies" draws upon the ancient Greek legend of Orestes, as told by Aeschylus in his classic play of the same name. However, Sartre changes the focus of the ancient story in order to stress thematic points that are drawn from his existentialist philosophy. Examination of ...

This 10 page paper provides an overview of the analysis of the history and modernization of fairy tales of Charles Perrault. This paper looks at Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Red Riding Hood, as they have been adapted over time. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

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 ...

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.

(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 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 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 ...