English Literature

The question of whether or not Hamlet is a hero, is as perplexing as Hamlet himself. Hamlet, though possesses some incredibly heroic qualities; he is the chiefest bloom of the realm and the princely paragon of the state, yet the difficulty of this question is apparent when an audience considers that Hamlet can be seen as both hero and coward often in the same scene. The same character that lacks courage to carry out the revenge, also strives hard to be sure of his father�s murderer�s guilt and ensures that the revenge itself should be appropriate. His actions and often inactions do not allow a single interpretation of his character, often leaving the audience unsure of which Hamlet they are watching. It would seem that Hamlet�s most cowardly behavior is in his treatment of Ophelia. He loves her yet is willing to manipulate her, as Gertrude, Claudius and her own father Polonius do. When he is free from the pressures of the royal family, and before the death of his father, Hamlet is able...

One of the most prominent features of the literary style of Jane Austen is her frequent use of irony. In fact, in no other book is her use of irony more pronounced than in Pride and Prejudice. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen employs a variety of irony, verbal, thematic , situational, and dramatic. The title of the novel contains a hidden strain of thematic irony.  Jane Austen subtly introduces an inversion in the thematic foibles, �Pride� and �Prejudice� and the characters they belong to. It is Darcy who is supposed to have the pride and Elizabeth who is supposed to have the prejudice. But in their misunderstandings with each other, they accuse each other of excessive pride and prejudice.                                                 ...

�Pride and Prejudice� was first written in 1797 under the title  �First Impressions� . It was later revised and published under the title �Pride and Prejudice� in 1813 . First impressions do play an important role in the novel. Elizabeth is misled in her judgment of both Darcy and Wickham. Her attitude towards both the characters is only a result of the First Impressions. But if we study the novel deeply, we find that �Pride and Prejudice� is an apt title. The first impressions only last for the first few chapters of the novel while pride and prejudice permeate the soul of the novel. The novel is about the pride of Darcy and the prejudice of Elizabeth caused by their mutual misunderstanding. Earlier in the novel, Mary describes Pride as ��a common failing. Human nature is particularly prone to it� . Mr. Darcy stands as the most obviously proud character. Wickham tells Elizabeth that he has a �filial pride� and we tend to agree with Mrs. Bennett�s complaint that �...

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels of Jane Austen due to its multi-dimensional versatility of themes. Andrew H. Wright remarks: � She (Jane Austen) develops themes of the broadest significance, the novels go beyond social record, beneath the didactic, to moral concern, perplexity and commitment� One of the most important themes of Pride and Prejudice,  love and marriage, is also the central theme of the novel. The oft-quoted opening sentence of the novel demonstrates this basic theme: �It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife� It is true that the chief preoccupation of Jane Austen�s heroines is getting married and life is a matrimonial ceremony for them. Pride and Prejudice dramatizes the economic inequality of women, showing how women had to marry undesirable mates in order to gain some financial security. Marriage was a significant social concern in Jane Austen�s time and she was fully co...

Jane Austen as a novelist has stringently set her limits which she seldom oversteps. She was amazingly aware of which side her genius lay and she exploited it accordingly without any false notions of her capabilities or limitations. As Lord David Cecil points out, she very wisely stayed "within the range of her imaginative inspiration." Her imaginative inspiration was as severely limited as, for example, Hardy's or Arnold Bennett's. Her themes, her characters, her background setting -everything has a well-etched range within which she works, and works exquisitely. Jane Austen herself referred to her work as �Two inches of ivory.� In a letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, Jane Austen wrote, �Three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on.� Although she works on a very small canvas, yet she has widened the scope of fiction in almost all its directions. Her stories are mostly indoor actions where only family matters are discussed. However, her...

Hardy�s �femme fatale� , Eustacia Vye is perhaps one of the most alluring and fascinating characters in The Return of the Native . Hardy presents a complicated and enthralling character of Eustacia vye, a genuine woman as opposed to an idealised one. Although Hardy gives proud, selfish and egotistical potrait of Eustacia, yet he masterfully creates a scenario in which she appears a tragic figure. Whereas  Clym may be �the nicest� among Hardy�s characters, it is the eccentric Eustacia Vye which is the centre  of the novel. Even in the Hardy�s introduction of her, there is plenty to dwell upon. The first time her existence  is mentioned, it is through the idle gossip of the locals. She is described as �very strange in her ways� , some of them accuse her of being a witch. Unlike Clym, whom the heath folk can at least fathom in part, Eustacia is beyond their comprehension. Her whole personality has a sleepy, dreamy cast to it. Though she is beautiful in an exotic way, i...

Hardy�s The Return of the Native is a novel based on unpractical idealism and  incompatible relationship between two major characters � Clym Yeobright and Eustacia Vye. Both of them are poles apart in character: The former is a plodding idealist, whereas the later is a fiery sensualist. Where Eustacia�s vision is a projective dream of the world, Clym�s is an introspective dream. Where she is a �the raw material of a divinity� who wilfully creates the objects of her world, Clym, is the enslaved sovereign of the kingdom of his mind. The conflict between these two antithetical modes of perception is inevitable from the outset; both fail to see the other at the commencement of the relationship.  When the story begins, we are not introduced with Clym who has been in Paris at that time but returns soon to the heath and it is the return that drives the plot of novel. Clym Yeobright is the tragic hero of Hardy�s novel. He is young man of thirty three and he is attractive enough to ...

O ne of the most prominent figures in Hardy�s The  Return of the Native is not a human character, but the physical landmark- Egdon Heath. The heath's central role is obvious from the beginning. The novel opens with an extensive description of the heath at dusk. Hardy begins by saying: �A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment� . Even though the main story focuses on the relationships between Eustacia Vye, Clym Yeobright, Wildeve and Thomasin, the Heath is the central figure. Many of the events occur on or around Egdon Heath, and equally as important- all of the characters have their own special relationship with the heath.It is  �A Face on which Time makes but little Impression� . The nature of human beings is fleeting and insignificance as compared to the permanence of the heath. Avrom Fleishman in "The Buried Giant of Egdon Heath" regards Egdo...