Essays on Historical Criticism

The story of “Theft” written by Katherine Anne Porter takes place in New York City during the 1920’s. This unnamed female protagonist discovers that her purse, made of gold cloth, is missing. As the mid 20 year old woman ponders, she realizes she had her...

The Torah: Book Review In Kaminsky and Lohr’s book, The Torah, they provide a helpful and succinct analysis of the Torah’s structure, interpretation, and meaning. Simply divided into two sections, general overview of the whole Torah and synopses of the five individual books, the work...

Othello: Iago – Manipulative, Racist, Arrogant, Presumptuous William Shakespeare’s Othello play depicts Iago as a manipulative, racist, arrogant, and presumptuous character. Concerning the trait of manipulation, Iago causes Brabantio to believe that Othello has forcefully married Desdemona. Regarding the trait of racism, Iago refers to...

In his book, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, Dominic Crossan critically and radically challenged the traditional view of Jesus of Nazareth. Crossan subjected the four Gospels into critical evaluation and he employed the method of historical criticism in his attempt to find out whether the main...

The movie, Gladiator, happens in 180 AD, during Rome’s golden age. At this time, the Roman Empire was governing over a quarter of the world’s population. It had been over 60 years since the last expansion of the Roman Empire, and the Emperor, Marcus Aurelius...

With 11 Tony Awards and over 1 million copies of its soundtrack sold, it is no doubt that the musical, Hamilton, has grabbed America’s attention since its debut in 2015. The unlikely star of the production, Alexander Hamilton, is brought back to life through the...

Schooling in the 1990s During the 1990s, more emphasis was placed on schooling for young people, particularly those completing secondary schooling. This is because the labour market required students to have higher educational credentials. Moreover, parents who had completed or prolonged schooling experiences were another...

New Historicism and “I Stand Here Ironing” Tillie Olsen’s short story “I Stand Here Ironing”, appears to be a byproduct of an oppressed, single, working-class mother. With many elements also containing feminist influences, it would make sense to take a Feminist or Post-Feminist approach to...

The movie Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson, has been highly regarded in Hollywood since the time of its release in 1995. It has been nominated for and won multiple Academy Awards and Oscars, including the coveted Academy Award for Best Picture in 1996....

Traditional Approaches Literature did not begin being studied in classes in the 1920s. The first approach to appear was the traditional approach. This may be seen as the “old” historicism in contrast to the post-modern new historicism. Historical criticism is common in the traditional approach...