Literary Insights: Characters and Structure in Oedipus Rex and The Divine Comedy
Oedipus Rex: Characters and Structure
Key Characters in Oedipus Rex
Oedipus
The son of Laius and Jocasta, Oedipus was abandoned at birth due to a prophecy. Unknowingly, he fulfilled this prophecy years later by killing his father, Laius, the King of Thebes, and subsequently marrying his mother, Jocasta, thus becoming the new king.
Creon
Jocasta’s brother, Creon assumes a significant role in the events, particularly after Oedipus seizes the throne. He is portrayed as a passive yet capable man, adept at
Literary Rebels: Female Independence in Victorian Fiction
Challenging 19th-Century Female Roles
In the 19th century, women were expected to be quiet, obedient, and primarily focused on marriage and family. Literature from that era often depicted women as gentle, selfless, and emotional. However, some visionary writers also crafted female characters who defied these conventional gender roles, presenting a more complex view of womanhood. Two compelling examples are Estella from Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and Catherine Earnshaw from Emily Brontë’s
Read MoreLinguistic Foundations: From Comparative Philology to Applied Linguistics Theory
Comparative Philology’s Impact on Language Teaching
Comparative Philology significantly influenced language teaching, particularly until the 1950s. Its impact was most evident in the grammar-translation method, which centered on translating one language into another, mirroring the traditional approach to ancient Greek and Latin.
Grammar-Translation Method: Focus on Rules
This method emphasized the importance of teaching grammar, vocabulary, and rules, often at the expense of communicative competence.
Read MoreMedieval Romance: Knights, Legends, and Literary Evolution
Medieval Romance: A Literary Evolution
Romance, a genre that emerged in the mid-14th century, primarily features heroic adventures in prose or verse. These narratives are set in distant times and places, removed from everyday life. While love is not always central, it can appear as a secondary element. Many medieval romances incorporate supernatural elements, with knights battling mythical creatures or wielding magical weapons, exemplified by King Arthur’s Excalibur or Beowulf’s enchanted swords
Read MoreKey Avant-garde Movements and Spain’s Generation of ’27
Avant-garde Movements: Origins and Impact
The avant-garde movements are artistic currents that sought to reject previous conventions and forge new paths. They began in Paris with Futurism, challenging the subjectivism of romanticism and traditional realism.
Futurism: Embracing Modernity
Originating in Italy in 1909 with Filippo Marinetti’s manifesto, Futurism advocated for the rejection of emotional, individual, and romantic themes, instead admiring the technical advancements of the era.
Cubism: A New
Read MoreMedieval Spanish Poetry: Romances and Learned Verse
The Romance: Medieval Poetry in the 14th Century
Medieval poetry continued into the 14th century with the emergence of the romance. These compositions, of variable extent, were written in eight-syllable lines with rhyming assonance in pairs. The earliest romances are known as the old romances.
The origin of this genre appears to be in the fragmentation of medieval epic poems, where each hemistich became a caesura in verse.
The oldest romances date back to the 15th century. While poetry was part of
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