The Waste Land is one of the major poems of the twentieth century. Published in 1922, T. S. Eliot’s landmark work of modernism may ‘only’ be just over 430 lines or around 20 pages in length, but its scope and vision are epic in terms of historical and geographical range, […]
Tag: Themes
Hamlet: Key Themes
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) There are a number of prominent themes of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Each of the key themes we have identified in the following article, though, throws out some surprising details and interpretations, so it’s worth probing some of the play’s most important themes and subjects […]
A Short Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth
By Dr Oliver Tearle Macbeth is, along with the character of Iago in Othello and his earlier portrayal of Richard III, William Shakespeare’s most powerful exploration and analysis of evil. Although we can find precursors to Macbeth in the murderer-turned-conscience-stricken-men of Shakespeare’s earlier plays – notably the conspirator Brutus in […]
A Short Analysis of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) George Bernard Shaw held All’s Well That Ends Well in high regard, having what Frank Kermode described as a ‘perverse’ admiration for it. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called Helena, the heroine of All’s Well That Ends Well, Shakespeare’s ‘loveliest character’ while the Victorian actress Ellen […]
A Summary and Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘The Black Cat’ was first published in August 1843 in the Saturday Evening Post. It’s one of Poe’s shorter stories and one of his most disturbing, focusing on cruelty towards animals, murder, and guilt, and told by an unreliable narrator who’s rather difficult to […]