Tragedy and Denial in Long Day’s Journey into Night
Long Day’s Journey into Night, written by acclaimed American playwright Eugene O’Neill in 1941 and published posthumously in 1956, is considered one of the masterpieces of modern American drama. Deeply autobiographical in nature, the play unfolds over the course of a single day in the Tyrone family’s summer home—a space that, far from being a peaceful refuge, becomes the stage for a painful familial disintegration. O’Neill explores universal and relentless themes such as drug addiction, accumulated
Read MoreTop Girls Analysis: Gender, Class, and Thatcherite Britain
Caryl Churchill’s Postmodern Feminist Masterpiece
Top Girls, a masterpiece by British playwright Caryl Churchill premiered in 1982 at the Royal Court Theatre in London, is one of the most influential pieces of postmodern and feminist drama of the twentieth century. Directly inspired by the 1979 election of right-wing conservative Margaret Thatcher as the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the play critically examines sexual politics, abuses of power, and the individual sacrifices
Read MoreEssential Literary Terms and Narrative Structures
Language and Literary Devices
- Literal Language: Describes things exactly as they are, without exaggeration or metaphor.
- Connotation: The emotional meaning connected to a word, beyond its basic dictionary meaning.
- Metaphor: A figure of speech that describes one thing as another to show similarity.
- Personification: A literary device where something non-human is given human qualities.
- Animisation: The attribution of animal-like characteristics or behaviors to humans or objects.
- Synecdoche: A figure of speech
Romantic Period Literature: Essential Authors and Themes
Literature in the Romantic Period
In Romantic literature, the principal change from previous traditions is the emphasis on imagination rather than rationalism, following the transition from the Enlightenment. Only through imagination can we achieve and perceive the sublime, a vital concept in Romanticism.
Romantic literature was highly critical of society and questioned societal norms. Authors debated political oppression, freedom, gender roles, and nostalgia, which remains one of the most relevant
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey: Satire and Gothic Parody
The Meaning of the Title
Northanger Abbey refers to the castle-like building that the Tilneys own. With a title like this, it seems like the whole book would take place there. The book was published after Austen’s death, and her brother decided to title it Northanger Abbey. Austen was leaning towards naming it Catherine, after the protagonist.
One possible explanation lies in the book’s content. Northanger Abbey satirizes popular novels of the early 1800s, known as Gothic novels. Gothic novels, incidentally,
Read MoreNorthanger Abbey Character Analysis and Literary Themes
Character Analysis: Northanger Abbey
1. Catherine Morland
A seventeen-year-old raised in a rural parsonage with many siblings. She is open, honest, and naïve about the hypocritical ways of society. Catherine was a plain little girl, and her parents never expected very much from her, though she has grown more attractive as she has entered her late teens. Catherine loves novels; she is especially obsessed with Gothic novels set in castles and abandoned abbeys and hopes to experience some of the thrills
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