killing of the sow, which may be a link to the ritual of religious slaughter, suggests a more judgmental view on organised religion. The endings of both novels suggest a clear sense of closure in their respective narratives. Golding employs deus ex machina to return the remaining boys to reality. It is a fire signal, a recurring symbol for civilisation and common sense in the novel, that alerts the officer to the island but not the one Ralph had intended to be seen but rather one set by the…
Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene is widely recognized as one of the greatest epic poems of the Elizabethan age. It may be also commonly assumed that Spenser’s poetry represents an archetypal convention of gender in the era. Though Spenser plays off the feminine conventions linking the figure of power, Queen Elizabeth with specific characters, for example, Una in Book I, traditional patterns of feminine stereotypes are still continually penetrated in Renaissance and Spenser’s portrayal of…
Lutheran theology echoes throughout the Pilgrim’s Progress, particularly through John Bunyan’s representations of law and grace. These are two critical ideas that Bunyan presents through his allegory. The ideas are detailed mostly in the beginning of Christian’s journey, as the beginning of one’s faith, where it is easiest to become confused on the nature of salvation. To fully grasp Bunyan’s meaning is to understand what law and grace mean, and how they relate to each other. The concepts, like…