English Literature

The main theme of this drama, Medea is that of revenge with love as the motivating factor. The play indicates how dreadfully Medea contrives her plan of vengeance. From the killing of the new bride and the bride's father her revenge began, and with the killing of her two children and by leaving her husband in destitute she succeeded in her attempt of revenge. Her revenge is excessive, perverse, and nihilistically potent. The theme of revenge in Medea is like saying -" what goes around comes around " in the sense that Medea has a strong desire to take back at Jason for what he has done to her. From the beginning of the play we see Medea's desire of taking revenge. "Oh, may I see Jason and his bride Ground to pieces in their shattered palace For the wrong that have dared to do to me'' Medea is a barbarian girl who had sacrificed everything for Jason. Medea's search for revenge commences after her husband, Jason, leaves her to gain pow...

Achilles vs. Hector in the Iliad In the Iliad, both Achilles, who fights for the Greeks and Hector , who fights for the Trojans display heroic characteristics and they try to win glory in battle. They each have certain strengths and weaknesses, which are evident at many times throughout the conflicts described in the Iliad. These two characters have obvious differences in their approaches to fitting the heroic mold to which they both try to conform. However, despite their differences and the fact that they are fighting for opposing armies and meet each other with hatred in battle, they also have numerous similar traits which logically lend themselves to a comparison between the two men. Achilles, a half god and a half beast, Achilles is the son of Thetes, a goddess who always extended her helping hand in her loving son Achilles at the time of his need. On the other hand, Hector is an ordinary man and his armour is not made by Vulcon. Achilles has all the marks of a grea...

Beowulf as an Oral Epic Beowulf is an oral epic circulated from mouth to mouth in an oral tradition and later written down by trained clerics. Though Beowulf was recorded in Old English, it can easily be assumed that its roots are to be found in the mostly oral traditions of the ancient Germanic tribes that roamed and settled much of Western Europe . However, Beowulf has formulaic characters, words, ideas and other stylistic features for which we can term Beowulf as an Oral Epic. One of the most important characteristics of Oral Epic is that its author is unknown . Because of its circulation from mouth to mouth, it becomes very difficult to find out the actual author or authors. In Beowulf, we see that the author is unknown. Whether one or more authors were involved in the production of this epic is hard to determine. The very first word of this epic indicates that it is an oral epic. The epic opens with the word ' attend' which is normally used by speaker when h...

Theme of Justice in Agamemnon   Aeschylus's Agamemnon, the first play of the trilogy, calls our attention to a central concept of justice; Justice as revenge. From the killing of Agamemnon and Cassandra and also from the prophesy of Cassandra (that Clytemnestra will be killed due to her action) we find a clear concept of Justice. That Agamemnon is killed for his and his father's action and that Cassandra is killed for her betrayal to god, Apollo and Clytemnestra and Agisthus will be killed for killing Agamemnon and Cassandra are the acts of Justice. And justice is done in the form of revenge.   "The scale of justice falls in equity: The killer will be killed."   The Chorus reveals the ultimate truth that no killer will be escaped and justice will be given for equity holding the rules of Greek days long tradition of justice. In the Pre-Olympian religion "the function of the furies was to punish three major sins: blasphe...

Error: Identification, Description and Implication An individual language user's deviation from standard language norms in grammar, syntax, pronunciation and punctuation are sometimes referred to as errors. In the case of an error, the person giving the wrong response simply suggests he does not know what the right answer is. According to Pete Corder, one of the pioneers in the field, "Errors are deviations from correct usages resulting because a learner does not know the relevant language rule yet." "The condition of having incorrect or false knowledge" (dictionary. Com). H D Brown (1994) defines error as "noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker reflecting interlanguage competence of the learners ". (Principles of language learning and teaching, 3rd edition.) Edge (1989) says "an error is what a learner can't self correct" (mistakes and correction. London . longman.) Dulay and Bur...

Qualities of a Good Test Tests are procedures for measuring ability, knowledge, or performance while testing is the use of tests, or the study of the theory and practice of their use, development, evaluation, etc. A good test has some characteristics qualities. Traditionally tests have been designed to assign the students some grade for their work. But, ill -conceived traditional tests, as Rivers (1968) observes, "reveal what the students do not know and what they have not been taught." A good test should indicate the student's learning as well as his weaknesses. It also guides the teacher showing the effectiveness of his teaching. According to Rivers- ''each test is not an end in itself, but a means to the ultimate end of effective language mastery.'' Three most important characteristics of a good test are reliability, validity and practicality. A test is reliable to the extent that it produces the same result under the same circumstan...