Here’s a seemingly uncontroversial statement: in 1847, a novel called Jane Eyre was published; the author was Charlotte Brontë. One of the most famous things about Jane Eyre is that the male love interest, Mr Rochester, has locked his first wife, Bertha Mason, in the attic of his house.
‘There is a tide in the affairs of men’ is a line from one of Brutus’ most famous speeches in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. This speech is worthy of closer analysis for a number of reasons; it actually relates to the locality around the Globe Theatre, where Julius Caesar was first […]
The Parable of the Good Samaritan has become one of the most famous stories among all of Jesus’ teachings. Indeed, many people now only know the name of the Samaritans because of Jesus’ story from the Gospel of Luke; the parable even inspired the name of a charity in the […]
‘Inside the Whale’ is a long essay by George Orwell (1903-50), published in 1940. The title of Orwell’s essay refers to the biblical Book of Jonah, in which the prophet Jonah is swallowed by a great fish (although, as Orwell notes, received wisdom tends to substitute ‘whale’ for ‘fish’).
What is the story of Lot’s wife, and why was she turned into a pillar of salt? The short version of the story is this: while escaping from the city of Sodom shortly before God destroyed it with fire and brimstone, Lot and his family were told not to look […]