English Literature Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

27201 total results

An Essay on the Character of Macbeth (2172 words, 3 pages)

The Character of Macbeth. The play 'Macbeth' is a portrait of one man, Macbeth, showing how he changes. Although we are presented with his deterioration from good to evil, we can see his human side throughout the play, which makes it a tragedy. It is the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, ... Read More

Bitter Reality Expressed in Henry Lawson’s The Union Buries Its Dead (687 words, 1 pages)

Henry Lawsons The Union buries its dead is a story which explores the procedure of a union burial for a man whose identity is unknown and whose presence was obviously barely noticed. He was stranger in town, and the fact of his having been a Union man accounted for the ... Read More

Different Meanings of Blood in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (928 words, 1 pages)

William Shakespeare was the greatest playwright of his time. One of his most well-known plays is "The Tragedy of Macbeth". In The Tragedy of Macbeth, the word "blood" appears many times throughout the play. The word has drastic effects on the characters in the play, and it's meaning changes throughout ... Read More

The Perfect Tragic Hero as Depicted in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (949 words, 2 pages)

Arguably the best piece of writing ever done by William Shakespeare," Hamlet" the is the classic example of a tragedy. In all tragedies the hero suffers, and usually dies at the end. Othello stabs himself, Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, Brutis falls on his sword, and like them Hamlet dies ... Read More

The Tempest by William Shakespeare (601 words, 2 pages)

Ariel and Caliban - Individual Destiny In William Shakespeares The Tempest, the former Duke of Milan, Prospero, is marooned on a desert island. While on the island, he catches two slaves named Ariel and Caliban. Sharply different in both body and mind, their differences in character control their ultimate destiny. ... Read More

Is the Key to Success Positive Thinking or Just Better Circumstances? (317 words, 1 pages)

People would like to believe they can accomplish everything they want in life. In reality, it is just a positive way of thinking. It would be nice to believe that a person could do anything if he puts his mind to it, this way of thinking is not reality. People ... Read More

The Beauty of Nature (246 words, 1 pages)

The theme of nature is easily seen in King Lear. There are various ideas about human beings and their relationship to nature in the play. Ideas relating to nature appear often in the play. There are fifty-seven differant animals mentioned in and the play is set in pagan Britain so ... Read More

An Analysis of The Song of Roland, a Heroic Poem (1689 words, 2 pages)

THE SONG OF ROLAND SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW Charles the Great invaded Spain in the year 778. He had been invited in by the governor of the strategic city of Zaragoza, who had promised to turn the city over to him. He entered through a pass in the western ... Read More

The Midsummer Night’s Dream (6825 words, 10 pages)

The story of A Midsummer Night's Dream was that of love. Throughout the play, Shakespeare tried to show that love is unpredictable, unreasonable, and at times is blind. The primary focus in this play was love and its relation to marriage. Shakespeare carefully and skillfully used the presence of a ... Read More

The Stranger by Albert Camus (827 words, 3 pages)

In The Stranger, Albert Camus portrays Meursault, the book's narrator and main character, as aloof, detached, and unemotional. He does not think much about events or their consequences, nor does he express much feeling in relationships or during emotional times. He displays an impassiveness throughout the book in his reactions ... Read More

Macbeth (1481 words, 2 pages)

The minor characters in Macbeth are important to the overall plot of the play. They help develop and create the situations that occur in the play. Ross starts his messenger role early in the play. He tells King Duncan that the thane of Cawdor has betrayed him and fought on ... Read More

An Analysis on the Aspects Of “Spontaneous Me” by Walt Whitman (2060 words, 3 pages)

Walt Whitman's "Spontaneous Me" (Norton 2151-2152) crystallizes his attempt to create poems that appear natural, impulsive and untamed. The natural effect is a carefully crafted technique that appears throughout his writing, hinting at a philosophy of life while seeming to simply offer observation. As in "Song of Myself," Whitman weaves ... Read More

A Personal Narrative on Learning from Foreigners (825 words, 1 pages)

As we walked along the streets, they were silently glancing around, exchanging meaningful looks. Then they started complaining about how much litter was on the pavements. They pointed at houses, murmuring "They exclaimed at how many motorbikes there were, and asked how we ever managed without cars. I was still ... Read More

A Review of Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Sharer (1007 words, 2 pages)

Know Thy Self In the novella The Secret Sharer, by Joseph Conrad, the narrator describes his insecurities and self-doubt about being a young captain. The youthful narrator expresses his self-consciousness through obvious gestures through out the story. As the captain is put under testy situations he learns more about who ... Read More

The History of Making the Oxford English Dictionary Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman (981 words, 2 pages)

The Professor and the Madman By Suzanne E-mail FlyinKatswhatthecensored.com The Professor and the Madman, written by Simon Winchester, is a biography about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Winchester, who is an author, journalist, broadcaster and foreign correspondent, has written for many magazines and newspapers distributed worldwide. In an ... Read More

An Analysis on the Characters In “Titus Andronicus” by William Shakespeare (1190 words, 2 pages)

Who is the actual hero in Titus Andronicus ? Titus Andronicus was an early, experimental tragedy by William Shakespeare, produced in 1593-94 and published in a quarto edition from foul papers in 1594. The First Folio version was prepared from a copy of the quarto, with additions from a manuscript ... Read More

An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Conception of Tragedy (1808 words, 3 pages)

In all his tragedies Shakespeare represents the tragic aspect of life, the tragic fact. They have up to a certain point a common form or structure, however the question here is what is Shakespeare's conception of tragedy? Shakespearean tragedy is the story of one person - the hero (or in ... Read More

An Analysis on Odysseus’ Test for Penelope In “The Odyssey” by Homer (792 words, 1 pages)

Gentle waves lap against the Ithacian shore line as Odysseus has finally reached his native homeland. Rumors of the great turmoil that has rocked Odysseus home land and house has reached him abroad. After hearing the news, he decides to don a beggars disguise and so forth begins the great ... Read More

An Analysis of Real Human’s Complexity That is Portrayed by The Characters in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (1145 words, 2 pages)

In this world of deceptive appearances, motives, and beliefs, the ability to be able to understand the complexity of human beings is simply a not-so-common skill. When William Shakespeare wrote, The Merchant of Venice, he included characters which are neither good nor evil instead, in order to make the play ... Read More

An Analysis of The Historical Morals Portrayed by The Characters in the Play “The Mill on the Floss” by Helen Edmundson (1192 words, 2 pages)

The Mill on the Floss was extracted from the novel by George Eliot and recently adapted by Helen Edmundson for Soulpepper. The play, which is set in the Victorian era, has a historical morals attached to it. These morals tend to revolve around the female sex and in this play ... Read More

The Warning from ‘the Other Side’ (875 words, 2 pages)

The Murderous Husband There are many ways in which people have believed that they are able to communicate with the spirits, or "the other side." One of them is by what is called "automatic writing." A spirit is supposed to seize control of a person's hand and force them to ... Read More

Franz Kafka Illustrated his Life Story and Personality in His Novella “The Metamorphosis” (848 words, 1 pages)

Franz Kafka published a relatively small amount of stories in his lifetime. Almost all of them are autobiographical in nature. In this way, his novella, The Metamorphosis, could be considered an allegory for his own life. The whole idea of a metamorphosis seems to come from Kafkas life. This story ... Read More

An Analysis of The People’s Struggle to Live During The Civil War in the Play “The Miracle Worker” by William Gibson (1536 words, 2 pages)

William Gibson's play, The Miracle Worker, illustrates how people who triumph over hardships can succeed in achieving their goals. The play follows Annie Sullivan, a half-blind northern young woman, as she travels to Post-Civil War Tuscumbia, Alabama in order to teach Helen Keller, a blind and deaf little girl. When ... Read More

A Paper on the Life and Tragedy of Jack Kerouac (1310 words, 2 pages)

The Life and Tragedy of Jack Kerouac Jack Kerouac was a poet who focused on the forgotten people of the world. Wherever he traveled he found the places nobody wanted to find and turned the un-pretty into magnificent poetry. Kerouac used the people no one wanted to remember and turned ... Read More

A Paper on Knowledge in Oedipus the King (840 words, 1 pages)

Knowledge in Oedipus the King In Oedipus the King the knowledge that some characters in the play possess is very crucial in developing the plot. The knowledge in the play is the basic foundation of Oedipus future, either to remain as the King of Thebes or to be sentenced to ... Read More

An Analysis of a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (509 words, 1 pages)

The Mask of Carton In the book A Tale of Two Cites by Charles Dickens there is a man that lives two. In one life he is an alcoholic with no manners and in the other life he a completely different person he is charming and caring. This man, Sydney ... Read More

Reasons Why Sophocles Should Be Considered The Greatest Tragedian of The Greek Period (588 words, 1 pages)

So is Sophocles the greatest tragedian of the Greek period? No one could fully know this. Sophocles was an imaginative writer, and he is believed to have had a immense impact on play writing. If anyone were to read his Oedipus trilogy, they would be stunned on how amazing of ... Read More

Trouble of the Narrator Prufrock to Deal with Middle Age in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot (1310 words, 4 pages)

In T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the author is establishing the trouble the narrator is having dealing with middle age. Prufrock(the narrator) believes that age is a burden and is deeply troubled by it.. His love of some women cannot be because he feels the prime ... Read More

The Three Main Characters in The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli (413 words, 1 pages)

The Magic Circle The Magic Circle, by Donna Jo Napoli dealt with three main characters. In the story a woman named The Ugly One possesses the power to heal. The woman has a beautiful daughter named Asa. The Ugly one is a sorcerer who also helps sick people who are ... Read More

A Paper on the Importance of Community in Toni Morrison’s Beloved (828 words, 2 pages)

The Importance of Community in Beloved The immortal words, "Am I my brother's keeper?" uttered by Cain to God are answered in the book Beloved by Toni Morrison. She responds that everyone is responsible for the people around them. The community in the book is an important influence to the ... Read More

English Literature Essay Examples