The presence of supernatural elements is a defining characteristic of Gothic literature, serving not only to create an atmosphere of fear and suspense but also to explore deeper themes of human psychology, morality, and the unknown. By integrating ghosts, curses, and other unearthly phenomena, Gothic novels delve into the complexities ...Read More
The presence of supernatural elements is a defining characteristic of Gothic literature, serving not only to create an atmosphere of fear and suspense but also to explore deeper themes of human psychology, morality, and the unknown. By integrating ghosts, curses, and other unearthly phenomena, Gothic novels delve into the complexities of the human mind, societal fears, and the thin line between reality and the supernatural.
Analyzing the role of supernatural elements in Gothic literature offers valuable insights into the historical and cultural contexts from which these works emerged. It allows for an exploration of how authors use the supernatural to challenge readers' perceptions and to comment on issues of their time. Furthermore, such an essay can illuminate the enduring appeal of the supernatural in storytelling and its impact on readers' engagement and imagination. Writing on this theme encourages critical thinking about the ways in which the supernatural influences narrative structure, character development, and themes, making it a rich topic for literary analysis.
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1357 essay samples foundUpdated: February 17, 2025
Through a careful interpretation of A Defense of Poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Democratic Vistas by Walt Whitman, one can gain a holistic sense of poetry, what it is and what it does, that can be applied to literary texts of all times. One...
In J.M Coetzee’s Age of Iron, Mrs Elizabeth Curren recounts the life-altering events of her last days battling cancer in a letter to her estranged daughter. The novel is set in Cape Town, South Africa in 1986-89 – a time of division, injustice and revolution....
The conflict between good and evil is a prevalent theme in literature. Graham Greene incorporates the conflict throughout the text of his novel Brighton Rock. In order to do this he uses two prominent characters, Ida Arnold and Pinkie Brown. Ida represents “good” and is...
Like character actors or members of an ensemble drama, women are omnipresent in Joyce’s literary corpus. In Dubliners, for example, women are painted and developed within a variety of character framings. The reader is exposed to woman as sister (such as the sisters Moran in...
Representations of authors’ experiences of particular landscapes hold great significance for their audiences, as they portray the multifaceted relationships between people and landscapes, such as how interactions with landscape shape awareness of identity. This is potently represented in Alain De Botton’s postmodern collection of essays...
Government is the basis of all modern civilization. If living under oppressive governmental rule was our only given option, would we be better off living in daily fear and distress, or would it be more beneficial to have no government at all? In James A....
Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s book Guanta?namo Diary is a work that deals heavily in complex themes. Questions of morality, accusations of terrorism, and descriptions of torture abound in his story, but it is the subtle undercurrent of death throughout the book that I find most intriguing....
The traditional structure and approach to literature is challenged in If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. For this idiosyncratic narrative, the main character is referred to as the reader, and the novel is told in the second person. Every other chapter...
According to Nina Baym, the heroine of woman’s fiction “brings into being a new kind of family life, organized around love rather than money. Money subsides into its adjunct function of ensuring domestic comfort” (39-40). Little Women is the epitome of this idea, and the...
In many novels that depict the story of relationship, a woman meets a man throughout the plot in social institutions such as school, at a party, at the mall, or even online. Soon this couple falls in love, and eventually decides to tie the knot;...
Theodore Roosevelt once stated that “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” Often, illusions of comfort blockade the mind and sway an individual’s ability to clearly see the moral...
The failed British invasion of Suez in 1957 has come to represent the end of Britain’s reign of military, commercial and imperial dominance in the world. British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigned in the wake of this humiliating defeat; shortly thereafter, he traveled to...
John Bunyan, as he tells us in his prefatory remarks, didn’t mean to write Pilgrim’s Progress; it all happened while he was otherwise engaged. His Apology, at least at first, takes on the word’s modern connotations. He regrets having inflicted the reader with the book,...
When Shane was published in 1949, it was considered a very unusual western fiction novel. Unlike other books at the time, the book’s hero was the title character. Still more unusual was the fact that Shane himself was not a cold-blooded killer. Instead he was...
Harry T. Moore, in the afterword to William Dean Howells’s The Rise of Silas Lapham, says, “Much of the criticism of Silas Lapham has been directed at the love-story subplot” (345). Critics of Howells are quick to point out the Romantic elements in this otherwise...
The Woman in White, with its many twists and cliffhangers, reflects the turmoil of Victorian England, which was becoming a multicultural society. London’s hosting of the 1851 World Fair, a lavish affair hosted in a massive “Crystal Palace”, reflected both this transformation and England’s pride...
Chuck Palahniuk’s Invisible Monsters Remix reflects multiple theories presented in Peter Mendelsund’s What We See When We Read. Throughout Palahniuk’s episodic novel, the reader is taken, nonlinearly, through the life of protagonist, Shannon McFarland. McFarland, a former fashion model, purposely injures her face in attempt...
Introduction The description of the Fertilizing Room is the first paragraph of the novel. The vivid imagery creates a futuristic atmosphere that focuses on the dependence of technology to control human life. Only from the yellow barrels of the microscopes did it borrow a certain...
With the close of the 19th century and the dawn of the 20th, much of the world was changing. In particular, world literature was shifting from the ideals of Romanticism to the stark realism of novels written after the Great War. At the beginning of...
“ Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts online Get my essay The group sits in the drawing room. Armstrong seems nervous; he lights many cigarettes with shaky hands. The guests use...
A ruling passion in an individual’s life has the ability to demonstrate an effect on a persons life including the atmosphere surrounding them. In the novel My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, the author traces the making of a great painter from the...
Abstract This essay examines the central issues presented in Nella Larsen’s novel “Passing” (1929), focusing on racial identity, gender dynamics, and social mobility in 1920s America. Through close textual analysis and historical contextualization, this study explores how Larsen’s personal experiences informed her portrayal of racial...
Introduction The novel Crime and Punishment, written in the mid-1860s by the renowned author Fyodor Dostoevsky, is a literary masterpiece crafted in Siberia. This novel consists of six parts with an epilogue and is characterized by a serious, dramatic tone. Dostoevsky masterfully employs a dual...
“Concentrate on other things, try to forget about it” (206), Vietnam Veteran John Wade explains. This simple tactic of forgetting the horrors and trying to push away bad memories has often been employed among veterans from many wars. Accordingly, O’Brien integrates this simple motif of...
Kevin Powers’ ‘The Yellow Birds’ is a novel concerning modern warfare and the pressures soldiers undergo during and after the war. It is also a novel about the friendship between two men: John Bartle and Daniel Murphy. They both come from Virginia, and despite not...
The Rickshaw boy was novel and written by Lao She, the main character was Xiangzi. He was an orphan farmer who worked for rickshaw puller in Beijing. He was optimistic and with the hope of his life, his dream is having his own rickshaw. Made-to-order...
At some point within people’s lives, they find themselves struggling to find who they want to be, what they want to believe and trust, and what they want to do. “I cannot tell you what to believe. Your father and your mother can tell you,...
Sometimes it can be difficult to find the perfect gift for the person we really appreciate and care for. In the short story The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry Della is really determined to get the perfect gift for Jim. It is Christmas...
Introduction When the writer Dan Brown published his novel, “The Da Vinci Code,” in 2003, it was the best seller. The first book in the Robert Langdon series was published by Simon in 2000, takes place before “The Da Vinci Code,” it does not matter...
Scott Westerfeld’s novel “Uglies” is a compelling exploration of a dystopian society where every teenager undergoes surgery to become “pretty” at the age of sixteen. In this world, the concept of beauty and conformity is paramount, and the author skillfully utilizes characterization to make his...
