English Essays

Canterbury Tales - The Knight
Canterbury Tales - The Knight Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, written in approximately 1385, is a collection of twenty-four stories ostensibly told by various people who are going on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral from London, England. Prior to the actual tales, however, Chaucer offers the reader a glimpse of fourteenth century life by way of what he refers to as a General Prologue. In this prologue, Chaucer introduces all of the characters who are involved...

Amy Foster & The Mythology of Love
Amy Foster & The Mythology of Love In "Amy Foster", Joseph Conrad has written a great story that shows the different types of love felt between Amy and Yanko as described by Joseph Campbell in his essay on "The Mythology of Love". The relationship of Yanko and Amy is dynamic and changes as the story progresses. At first, Amy feels compassion for Yanko; she does not see the differences between him and the English people as the others of Brenzett do. However, later in the story,...

Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, there is a great interpretation of the feelings of the characters and uncertainties of the Congo. Although Africa, nor the Congo are ever really referred to, the Thames river is mentioned as support. This intricate story reveals much symbolism due to Conrad's theme based on the lies and good and evil, which interact together in every man. Today, of course, the situation has changed. Most literate people know that by probing i...

Heart of Darkness - Marlow's Lies
Heart of Darkness - Marlow's Lies A lie is an untruth. It can be a false statement or a statement left unsaid which causes someone to be misled. In life lies are told for many different reasons. In fiction they thicken the plot. In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow dislikes lies and therefore only tells two, both in extraordinary circumstances, and the lies show the following about Marlow: even though he has been touched by evil, he is still a good man himself; that he never ac...

Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, relies on the historical period of imperialism in order to describe its protagonist, Charlie Marlow, and his struggle. Marlow's catharsis in the novel, as he goes to the Congo, rests on how he visualizes the effects of imperialism. This paper will analyze Marlow's "change," as caused by his exposure to the imperialistic nature of the historical period in which he lived. Marlow is asked by "the company", the organization fo...

Shakespeare's King Lear
Shakespeare's King Lear Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear is a detailed description of the consequences of one man's decisions. This fictitious man is Lear, King of England, who's decisions greatly alter his life and the lives of those around him. As Lear bears the status of King he is, as one expects, a man of great power but sinfully he surrenders all of this power to his daughters as a reward for their demonstration of love towards him. This untimely abdication of his th...

The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby In today society, many people like to follow the current. They want to catch the wave. Which mean, it does not matter if things were good or bad, right or wrong, they just follow and do them without any thinking. Therefore, there are not too many people would like to be a normal, thoughtful nor neutral person. However, in the novel, The Great Gatsby, by Scott Fitzgerald, one of the character name is Nike Carroway, he was the good and neutral narrat...

John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck Ever since Midas' lust for gold, it appears to be that man has acquired a greed and appetite for wealth. Juana, the Priest, and the doctor have all undergone a change due to money. They are all affected by their hunger for wealth and inturn are the base for their own destruction, and the destruction of society. Steinbeck's "The Pearl" is a study of man's self destruction through greed. Juana, the faithful wife of Kino, a paltry peasant man, had lived a spir...

John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck In The Pearl, by John Steinbech, evil transforms certain humble citizens into envious savages. Evil was exhibited by the doctor who refused to treat Coyotito because his parents had no money. When the doctor heard of Kino and Juana's fortune in finding "the pearl of the world" (722), he boasted that they were patients of his while thinking of a better life for himself in Paris. Coyotito was healed when the doctor finally came to their straw hut. He deceiv...

The Pearl - Kino's Character
The Pearl - Kino's Character Kino, a poor Indian fisherman, lives on the Gulf of California with his wife Juana and son Coyotito. Their simple hut is made of brush, and the couple sleeps on mats thrown on the dirt floor, while Coyotito sleeps in a hanging box. Like others in their poor village, they depend on nature for survival. As The Pearl begins, dawn is breaking. Kino watches the sun rise and listens to the sounds of the morning. But within moments, a danger...

Reaction to Of Mice and Man
Reaction to Of Mice and Man The book that I have read that has really stayed with me is Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I really enjoyed reading it which is unusual because I usualy don't enjoy reading to much. There was something about George and Lennie's friendship that really made me think. Seeing how they were and how they shared life was really intresting. George didn't have to bother with Lennie, he could have abandoned him and gone on his own way. But he did not do t...

Ordinary Atheist
Ordinary Atheist Endangered people please make way I'm trying to live another day Ranting, raving with my voice I'm going to hell, I have no choice My life is doomed, I have no time Others are doomed too, but they follow the mime ...

Houynhnmland in Gulliver's Travels
Houynhnmland in Gulliver's Travels Gulliver in Houynhnmland One of the most interesting questions about Gullivers Travels is whether the Houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rationality or whether on the other hand they are the butt of Swift's satire. In other words, in Book IV, is Swift poking fun at the talking horses or does he intend for us to take them seriously as the proper way to act? If we look closely at the way that the Houyhnhnms act, we can see that in fact Swift does n...

I Was Alone
I Was Alone I was alone in a world of hate a world where difference was a thing to hate a world where everything was as "God planned" and what wasn't was branded and banned I went along like I believe...

The Storm
The Storm Nature's tears, the pounding rain, Cruelly mimic my resounding pain. Opaque clouds conceal her soul, But mine is open, a bottomless hole That never heals, can never be cured, Love dies inside, so rest assured I shall no longer flood the land With endless droplets wiped by hand. Wait! Suddenly ...

My Gift To You The World
My Gift To You The World My gift to you is somewhat strange, it's hidden and silent, alone and unheard, but it still lives beneath the darkened sun, it's love and hope and joy and sight, it's knowing what's right and wrong, it cried for life, and I heard it cry, I've tried to lift its spirits high, to let othe...

The Street Car Named Desire
The Street Car Named Desire In the Street Car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Stanley Kowalski displays his brutality in many ways. This classical play is about Blanche Dubois�s visit to Elysian Fields and her encounters with her sister�s brutal and arrogant husband, Stanley Kowalski, and the reveling truth of why Blanche really came. Stanley Kowalski is a very brutal and barbaric person who always has to feel that no one is better than him. His brutish and ferocious acti...

Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson certainly took his place in the history of American Literature . He lived in a time when romanticism was becoming a way of thinking and beginning to bloom in America, the time period known as The Romantic Age. Romantic thinking stressed on human imagination and emotion rather than on basic facts and reason. Ralph Waldo Emerson not only provided plenty of that, but he also nourished it and inspired many other writers of that ...

Death of an Innocent
Death of an Innocent I went to a party mom, I remembered what you said. You told me not to drink, Mom, so I drank soda instead. I really felt proud inside, Mom, the way you said I would. I didn�t drink and drive, Mom, even though the others said I should. I know I did the right thing, Mom, I know you were always right. Now the party is finally ending, Mom ,as everyone is driving out of sight. As I got into my car, Mo...

The House on Mango Street
The House on Mango Street In The House On Mango Street Esperanza reveals personal experiences through which the reader is able to determine what kind of person she is; her views on life, how she views herself, as well as how her poverty affects her view of life, her view of her future, and how her poverty currently affects her place in the world. The vignettes show different aspects of Esperanza�s identity as it evolves and changes progressively throughout The House On Mango S...

Bio of David Lawrence & Analysis: Snake
Bio of David Lawrence & Analysis: Snake David Herbert Richards Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England on September 11, 1885. His poem Snake was written while he was living in Taormina, Sicily in 1920. The poem is actually derived from an experience there(Groliers). In all, Lawrence published 11 novels in his lifetime, 5 volumes of plays, 9 volumes of essays, and several short story collections. Of these, Snake was one of his most famous poems. The poem can als...

The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter Adultery, betrayal, promiscuity, subterfuge, and intrigue, all of which would make an excellent coming attraction on the Hollywood scene and probably a pretty good book. Add Puritan ideals and writing styles, making it long, drawn out, tedious, wearisome, sleep inducing, insipidly asinine, and the end result is The Scarlet Letter. Despite all these things it is considered a classic and was a statement of the era. The Scarlet Letter is a wond...

Wife of Bath
Wife of Bath Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in 1340 (Fuller 12). Geoffrey Chaucer's fortunes were closely bound with these of John Of Gaunt, the son-in-law to the Earl of Derby (Fuller 12). Around the year 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer was charged with rape by a woman named Cecily Chaumpaigne (Williams 28). It is most likely that a distinguishable character, such as Chaucer would not have been guilty of this charge. However, the word "rape" probably referred to abducting rather ...

Canterbury Tales - Wife of Bath
Canterbury Tales - Wife of Bath The Wife of Bath is a very envious women, who desires only a few simple things in life.She likes to make mirror images of herself, through her stories, which in some way reflects the person who she really is. This is all proven_through the many ways she portrays her characters. The Wife of Bath desires the obvious in life, but what she most desires above all is being more powerful than her man, her spouse, and her lover.In a relationship...

Canterbury Tales - Wife of Bath
Canterbury Tales - Wife of Bath Chaucer portrays the Wife of Bath as if she is a hypocrite, although, beneath the words, there is a great deal of wisdom involved. The approach that I take, is the view that this tale is advice for women to take. This tale teaches women that there are times one should be a feminist and times you should not. If a women would be a feminist all her life, she probably wouldn't get anywhere in her life or with any man. If a woman were not to have a f...