While Stevensons Jekyll and Hyde is a reflection of the times in which it is set in, it also has considerable relevance for the modern reader. Do you agree?
While Stevenson's 'Jekyll and Hyde' is a reflection of the times in which it is set in, it also has considerable relevance for the modern reader. Do you agree? 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' by R. L. Stevenson was first published in 1886, during the Victorian era. The novel gives the reader a very vivid picture of the ideas and lifestyles of the people in that time. The book is a reflection of times and has considerable relevance for the modern reader. I partially agree with the fact that the book has relevance for the modern reader. Stevenson's main inspiration for 'The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' came from the life of Deacon William Brodie. He moved easily among the gentry during the day and exalted in criminal escapades at night. He was a respected member of the Town Council, and his talents as a cabinet-maker were well known and appreciated by wealthy members of society. By night he roamed the dark and dangerous streets of Edinburgh. He frequently visited many gambling and whore houses. His life was one of great interest at the time, especially after his capture. The interest in Brodie's life even inspired Stevenson to write a play about his life, this relates to the increasing interest in horror stories in today's world. The mystery of his death still lingers, while interest about his life continues to grow. In 1859, a book called 'On the
Cal by Bernard Mac Laverty - Critical Evaluation
"Cal" is a romantic-tragedy novel written by the Irish author, Bernard Mac Laverty. It is a fiction story about a young man living in Northern Ireland during the troubles of the 1970s. The writer conveys a number of significant themes through skilful writing and the novel's plot, such as guilt, hypocrisy and bigotry. In this essay, I will be focusing on the themes of the story, the purpose of why the novel was written and the author's use of imagery to enhance his writing. The events of this story take place in Northern Ireland in the 1970's. During the period of time in which this story is set in, Northern Ireland was going through what we would now refer to as being "The Troubles". This was a period of conflict involving republican and loyalist paramilitary organisations and included conflicts and violence. "Cal" is about a young adult named Cal who is living in Northeren Ireland at this time. He is a Catholic living in a Protestant area with his father, Shamie. This leads to him being the victom of many bigotry driven attacks, such as his house being burnt down and to him being insulted on his own street. He starts to fall in love with a woman named Marcella, which, from the very beginning, is a doomed relationship. This is because a year earlier Cal was reluctantly involved in the murder of a Protestant policeman, who was, in fact, Marcella's husband. Cal becomes closer
How are traditional American values portrayed in this post-apocalyptic world of Cormac McCarthys The Road?
How are traditional American values portrayed in this post-apocalyptic world of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"? Final Piece. Word Count:2081 Marco DeRosa A novel entitled 'The Road' sparks the image of a journey, not necessarily one concerning movement, but an experience, where by the time you reach the 'destination' you have either witnessed something or come-by certain things which may affect you as a person, changed the way you think or possibly had an effect on your personal ethics. For example, a mental journey, whereby somebody lives through a certain period in their life and comes out the other end with a new perspective and attitude, like in J.D. Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye'. Another type of journey is an actual physical one 'from A to B'; at the destination in this type of journey one may feel a sense of achievement and arrive at 'B' with scores of anecdotes and stories that can range from little events that make a good joke to events which may actually change you as a person. Writing about journeys like these is a genre of writing in its own right: Travel Writing, an example being John Steinbeck's 'Travels with Charley'. The third type of journey that I associate with the phrase 'The Road' is the concept of being on an open road, simply
Do you think that Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw as a ghost story?
Do you think that Henry James wrote The Turn of the Screw as a ghost story? Although The Turn of the Screw may appear to be a ghost story superficially, it can be argued that the governess's visions of what appear to be the ghosts of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are the result of a number of different occurrences. Alternatively, one may choose to believe that The Turn of the Screw is merely an account of a woman haunted by the spirits of her employer's dead servants. However one chooses to view the book, the origin of each explanation lies in the moral, social, and psychological ideologies of Victorian society. The Victorians were very interested in the supernatural, and many books were written about ghosts in different forms. Gothic novels in particular became very popular, and these, as ghost stories, contained many of the features of The Turn of the Screw - melodrama, the threat to a woman of an intimidating male figure, and the paranormal, to name but a few. In this section, I will attempt to explain how The Turn of the Screw can be seen as a ghost story. From the very beginning of the book, we are told that "Griffin's ghost ... appearing first to the little boy, at so tender an age, adds a particular touch." Douglas goes on to argue that if the presence of a child gives the story "another turn of the screw", the presence of two children ought to give the story two
Short Story Essay - Chemistry by Graham Swift
SHORT STORY ESSAY 'CHEMISTRY' - GRAHAM SWIFT In my opinion, 'Chemistry' by Graham Swift is a short story which is both well written and enjoyable to read. Swift effectively encompasses interesting characters who are quirky and distinctive. He uses gaps and silences to captivate the reader, causing them to question the motives of the characters and the ambiguous meaning of the story. The themes of isolation and loneliness covered during the story are easy for the reader to relate to. Swift uses many writing devices which work together to make an interesting and ultimately an enjoyable story. 'Chemistry' is a story that is open for interpretation to each and every reader. Although this is quite a short story, the characters are all fairly well developed, with the exception of Ralph. The narrator is a young boy who tells the story from both an outsiders' point of view and from personal experiences during the story; he is quite the observer. It is assumed that the narrator wrote this years after the events of the story, "We would go even during the winter... it must have been soon after Mother met Ralph". His childish observations are mixed with a more adult explanation "I didn't want to kill him... since death is a deceptive business". He lost his Grandmother suddenly when he was 4 years old and his father to a plane accident when he was only 7 years old. He has experienced
In the Necklace, How does Guy de Maupassant succeed in creating a story which is populated by vivid and intriguing characters?
How does Guy de Maupassant succeed in creating a story which is populated by vivid and intriguing characters? The story is set in olden time France when there was a very big difference in the social hierarchy and the activities of people; this had great effect on people's behaviour and character. Characters of this story are also affected in the same way. Mathilde Loisel is shown to be unsatisfied about her life, is jealous, greedy and materialistic. On the other hand, Monsieur Loisel is shown to be satisfied with his life (although of course he knows he could improve it, but he doesn't show that); he is also quite reasonable and caring. As the story progresses both their personalities change, Mathilde starts to become a better person and the husband shows more dominance and loyalty to wife. Firstly, Mathilde Loisel's identity is not mentioned until the second page and only referred to as "she" till then. This shows how her identity did not matter as neither did she, this shows how she felt like she was in the society, unknown, and how she wanted a "life of refinement and luxury instead" but was not getting what she wanted, this made her "unhappy all the time". She blamed her not being happy with her life and being born in the wrong family (to "very minor civil servants") due to an "error of fate". This shows how little respect she has for her parents, how she doesn't
An analysis of the opening of Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau
An analysis of the opening of Nosferatu by F.W. Murnau Within the horror genre of horror, vampires are particularly popular. During the silent horror films era there was another popular genre, the western. While the western declined in popularity during the 1970's, the horror film has sustained an audience for over 20 years. The reason for this is that things that are supernatural fascinate people and strangely people are attracted by the emotional effects of the horror films ability to shock, disgust and to repel. Some of the most popular films that feature vampires, both modern and old include - Nosferatu (1977) the earliest adaptation of "Dracula", a novel written by Bram Stoker , in addition to this another film in the horror sector, is Van Helsing (2005), another film featuring the infamous Count Dracula. Vampires are so popular because of their characteristics and their supernatural powers. Count Dracula was created as a novel by a writer called Bram Stoker in 1897. At the time of its creation it didn't spring up a lot of attention, when the movie came out more people were interested in it. Dracula has remained popular since, and many films have had him as a main antagonist or in some cases as a protagonist or used his name in the title to add additional effect to the movie. A lot of Nosferatus parts and bits were copied by modern titles. It is the second most used
What is the importance of setting in 'Endgame?'
What is the importance of setting in 'Endgame'? With a very simplistic plot and no apparent character depth, we may struggle to grasp how the effect of absurdism is created in Endgame. Absurdism is a philosophy which holds that human existence is meaningless and irrational and that any attempt to understand the universe will ultimately fail. Therefore we can expect that the play will contain some things that we will not understand and will think are down-right weird but still Becket wrote them for a reason and the weirdness of the play does not detract from it but adds to the ambiance of failure and meaningless existence that resonates through not only the characters and their speech, but the setting and the many worlds of the characters; visible and invisible. It is the setting in particular that frames the aspects of absurdism because Beckett has given us very little in the way of props or plot to go on. Therefore the depth he creates in not only the visual setting but the settings described by the characters in important in our fundamental understanding of the play. The very first words of the play are 'bare interior' which give us very little indication of how the setting looks and therefore gives us little indication on how the setting will effect the characters; because there is nothing there. Here is our first suggestion of the concept of zero, it is a blank room with
Language of 'Abigail's Party' by Mike Leigh.
Language of 'Abigail's Party' Emily Huntley Mike Leigh used to be one of a kind, famous for creating movies through an unusual process that involves extensive rehearsals and improvisations with his actors; a process that begins weeks before anyone picks up a camera. In each of his plays, he has depicted the often-uneventful lives of ordinary people. The results are always far from conventional. And it is through his success that many directors are now using his techniques to capture the texture of everyday life. Leigh achieves this commonness in the majority through his language, although the whole play is based on naturalism, he uses this technique to capture the essence of each characters persona. I think this technique is particularly successful, as the audience finds it easy to relate themselves to the evening unravelling before them, and manage to put themselves in the situations of the characters. Lawrence My first impression of Lawrence was that he was an well-educated, cultured man, who was simply a good social mixer but this is the aim of Leigh. He wanted the audience to believe the opposite of Lawrence and then have their thoughts 'dashed'. In a way I believe that this makes the audience feel vulnerable as if they've been deceived and they then seek comfort in one of the other characters which seem simple and honest and therefore they find themselves
Moby Dick - Outline.
MOBY DICK-OUTLINE Herman Melville lived a long and interesting life that would affect not only his literary works of art, but also our society today. Many of his most notable novels would draw from his days at sea, and from his experiences as a result of those voyages. The setting of Moby-Dick is critical to the story, and fits the time period the story takes place in very well. Most of the book takes place on various oceans, such as the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Pacific, in the early to mid 1800's. However, a good deal of the first part of the novel takes place in New England inside and around Nantucket. Some evidence of this story taking place in this time period can be conveyed through examples from the book. For example, in the seventh chapter entitled "The Chapel", the book shows specific dates in the form of plaques that are dedicated to the lives of men who have perished at sea. These plaques site specific dates such as November 1st, 1836, December 31st, 1839, and August 3rd 1833. The fact that these dated plaques represent dead men insinuates the story takes place at a later date. Also, the three-year whaling voyage that Ishmael eventually sets out on leaves on Christmas. This not only says that the time of departure was during the cold of winter, but also further supports the idea that Melville was representing his search for faith when he wrote Moby-Dick.
