Free Will in Four Works of Western Literature
[ send me this paper ]
A six page paper looking at the issue of free will as it is developed in Sophocles' 'Oedipus Rex'; Christopher Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus'; Shakespeare's 'King Lear'; Walter Mosley's 'Devil in a Blue Dress'. Each author argues that the protagonist's free will is in fact tempered by social or cultural factors that make his free will not so free. Bibliography lists two sources.
Filename: KBfrewil.wps

Oedipus And Othello: Protagonists As Tragic Figures
[ send me this paper ]
5 pages in length. As protagonists, both Oedipus and Othello ultimately ended up as tragic figures as a direct result of their inability to alter the course of their lives. Defining this particular concept calls for one's close interpretation of what the protagonist's role truly represents; with that, it becomes quite simple to understand how the lead characters can so easily slip into the tragic state they eventually inhabit. Through their difficult and sometimes life-changing experiences, both Oedipus and Othello come to recognize what it is their own self-knowledge has gained through their struggles. When assessing the integral components that comprised each character, it is important to determine just how much of their actions were motivated by fate or free will; summation of all applicable elements will likely lead one to conclude that determinism played a more significant role. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: TLCoedip.wps

Hemingway vs. Joyce / 'Just Representations of Nature'
[ send me this paper ]
A 5 page paper examining Samuel Johnson's opinion that no literature will endure the test of time except that which reveals and explores situations and characteristics that are recognizable, that most of us share, and that are common to people across the boundaries of time and space. The paper compares Ernest Hemingway's 'A Clean, Well-Lighted Place' and James Joyce's 'Araby' in view of Johnson's dictum, arguing that Hemingway's story fulfills the requirement better than Joyce's because its theme is more easily accessible to the general reader. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: Hemjoyce.wps