Charles Dickens’ short story The Signalman

In Charles Dickens short story, “The Signalman”, he takes a conceptual and theoretical approach as he uses critical moves to suggest a mystery within the characters and the spectres portrayed. Dickens focuses on elements such as setting and environment, ambiguity, symbolism, and conflict which are employed to intensify the supernatural effects within the story. In … Read more

Novels: reinforcing accepted morality and later, challenging it

DRAFT Aestheticism as a philosophy has not dominated English literature or our critical understanding of it. Literature has long served as a vessel for discussing accepted morality and social norms, protesting injustice, and inviting readers to consider or rethink contemporary issues. This became especially apparent in Renaissance and Augustan literature, where prose satires such as … Read more

Themes, influences and wider context of William Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time

This essay will analyse the themes, influences and wider context of William Kentridge’s ‘The Refusal of Time’, first created in 2012 and exhibited at dOCUMENT (13), Kassel, Germany. The Refusal of Time projects a barrage of Kentridge’s personal interests and themes amongst these are theatre, the origin of time zones, perception of time, Einsteins theory … Read more

Wuthering Heights (1847) and The Great Gatsby (1925): social class

Wuthering Heights (1847) and The Great Gatsby (1925) both examine the difficulties introduced when a member of a lower social class approaches the dominant social class. Fitzgerald introduces Daisy Fay (a girl from a rich upper class family) and Jay Gatsby (an ex soldier who was raised in an impoverished neighbourhood in North Dakota), following … Read more

Pride and Prejudice and The Importance of Being Earnest

Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice and Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest, present opinions on society through irony, wordplay and characterization. The central themes of society that influence both texts include the significance of hierarchy and societal class, how love and courtship is either financially beneficial or true passion and how first … Read more

The Poetics of Aristotle

Though written in a remarkably distant past, The Poetics of Aristotle extraordinarily hold value and relevancy in modern criticism and analysis of art and aesthetics. Aristotle’s views on comedy and tragedy, as well as his description of the structure and shaping on narratives can be seamlessly applied to a modern analysis of film, as well … Read more

Food in society and culture

Eating is the most important thing that people do everyday. Eating brings people together and give people satisfaction by getting away from the hunger. Every living creature will eat, but human are the only one who will cook the food. Being able to cook make the food become one of the most important cultural identification … Read more

The Key to Happiness (Pride and Prejudice)

Pride and Prejudice was written in 1797, around the same time as Marie Antoinette’s execution and Napoleon’s reign. So, it seems unlikely that Jane Austen has anything left to say to us today in 2019. But, hidden under unrequited love and prideful millionaires, Jane Austen used her books to impart morals and subtle debates on … Read more

The significant of words in letters (Pride & Prejudice)

Writing is a beautiful thing, before technology it was one of the only modes of communication. Letters that have been used for hundreds of years, people were able to update others about their lives, confess love, and express emotion. In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen letters were a common motif often used for significant … Read more

Pride and Prejudice: Allegory, Imagery, and Symbolism

Pride and Prejudice is historical fiction, it shows the reader real accounts that happened in the Regency era. The Regency era was an era where women just were there to look good, cook, clean, and help around the house. In the novel Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen uses Allegory, Imagery, and Symbolism to express the … Read more

Narrative techniques in Pride & Prejudice/The Great Gatsby: heroism in the protagonists

Through analysing the narrative techniques used by Austen in Pride and Prejudice, and Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby we develop a true sense of heroism in the protagonists, Darcy and Gatsby. Jay Gatsby, the hero of The Great Gatsby is a mysterious representation of wealth and status living in West Egg, Long Island, in the … Read more

Jane Austen’s elevated form of diction reflects the time & decorum she appears to dislike

Jane Austen is an author noted for being ahead of her time in literature by shying away from the romanticism of the time and setting the stage for the realist movement. She uses concrete, polite language, oddly crafted sentences, characterization through their effect on others, and meaningful dialogue structure. All of these elements helped Austen … Read more