Harold Bloom

As expressed by Salman Rushdie, “Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination, and of the heart.” For centuries, science and philosophy have grappled with the great mystery of our inner lives; literature, however, has defeated this, with its capacity to provide one of the most accurate records of human consciousness. In acknowledgement of the…

Gray believes that “Edna’s awakening allows her to resist the various “interpellations” of the dominant patriarchal ideology and experiment with both alternative and oppositional roles” (Gray 53-73). Throughout the story, Edna discovers her newfound freedom by experimenting with the roles of two characters: Adele Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. In addition, Edna also experiments with an oppositional role in which she is both “freely sexual and autonomous” (Gray 53-73). During the summer…

states that literary style of the play is many times resembling to the Checkovian way of portraying the characters, for instance as seen in Checkov's The Cherry Orchard, where similar themes are introduced (the passing of an old time and lamenting on the past). Abbotson explains that Stella is the one similar to Checkov's characters who passively takes the events (50). Then, there are many similarities with Checkov's plays, like the expressionistic way of showing elements that serve the purpose…

In the poem, Out of the Sea, Early by May Swenson, the subject is the love of nature. The speaker tells a story about how beautiful the sun rise is by comparing it to things that have never been imagined before. The speaker however, is a more complex character with different outlooks on the ocean. The way the speaker delivers his tone is through a calm voice, representing the ocean that he or she is conversing about. Based upon the word choice, we can infer that the speaker is a sailor that…

It is said that crime doesn’t pay, but it can punish. Society often comes to the false conclusion that if a criminal is not prosecuted under the law, then they do not receive any punishment. But this is not true. The inescapable suffering trapped inside a wrongdoer can cause more issues than is believed. “The Black Cat” is a tale of the woes which plague a man as he goes insane from paranoia of his wrongdoings. In addition he has an alcohol problem and undergoes a traumatic transformation as he…

sake nor a mix of hero and villain. Despite having killed the former King Hamlet and later plotting with Laertes to kill Hamlet, Claudius never seems like a significant threat to Hamlet. Simply put, “Claudius…is hopelessly outclassed by his nephew” (Bloom 386). While Iago destroys Othello’s world and Edmund helps bring about the destruction and deaths of Lear’s entire family, Claudius, at best, sets Denmark into some turmoil that hardly rivals the chaos of King Lear and Macbeth and is constantly…

The incapability of an individual to search beyond the initial presentiments of another leads to false assumptions about that person, and the assumptions made are generally of a pessimistic nature. Once character traits are associated with someone, it is practically impossible to overcome the stereotypes; because people have had those notions ingrained into them with an intensity that does not die with a generation. Harper Lee wrote a famous literary classic that depicts such a theme with a…

Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian has attracted the analysis of many scholars over the past fifty or so years for its an apologetic narration on how the American west was truly won. McCarthy’s narrative is inundated with senseless violence, metaphor, historical reflection, stories, and symbols; all of which, when combined, effectively create a modern interpretation of America and its national identity. This narrative is poised for “analysis and interpretation on the idea of the post-modern…

Nature’s Morality Embedded In Romanticism Since the beginning of creation man has always strived to learn more about himself and the world around him. One of the most prominent ways that man can connect with their inner self and find peace with the world around them, is to write and read different types of poetry. Starting from the streets of Athens with the philosophical and artistic minds of the Greeks, poetry quickly moved East, hastily engulfing the entire globe because of it’s ability to…

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, Claudius establishes himself as responsible for the death and destruction of many characters through the heinous act of murdering his brother, King Hamlet. Early in the play, a ghost, who resembles the dead King, appears to Hamlet and tells him the truth about his death. He was in fact murdered by Claudius. Hamlet becomes vengeful and begins to take on an act of lunacy. After Hamlet discovers the truth of his father’s death, his need for revenge…