The conflict between the Trojan hero and leader Aeneas, and the Rutulian Prince and the leader Turnus, of all Italian forces against the invaders, carries an epic conclusion. It is, therefore, very much significant in the whole scheme of the epic. The Aeneid is not a personal epic about Aeneas, but a national epic, a … Read more
Virgil has described Aeneas’ visit to the underworld in Book VI of The Aeneid. It has been considered the most outstanding achievement of Virgil’s imaginative and poetic prowess. The episode is the keystone of the whole of The Aeneid. Without this episode, the poem would break apart into two separate incomplete and incoherent short epics. In fact, … Read more
In the dying moment, the last words of the evil antagonist Kurtz, “The horror! The horror!” reveals his realization of man’s weakness in character and what disasters it can bring upon him. He ponders how the ultimate battle between ‘man and his greed’ he took on was flawed. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad Heart of … Read more
The story of Heart of Darkness is essentially the story of two men – Marlow and Kurtz. Of course, it is also the story of the collision between barbarian and civilization, the story of the savages of a dark country and the invasion of that country by a white man. But Marlow and Kurtz are … Read more
Heart of Darkness is based on Conrad’s own experiences in the dark country known as the Congo which is itself at the heart of a dark continent. Although the novel has an autobiographical character, it is not just a straightforward narrative of his own voyage upon the Congo River. The main story of the book … Read more
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has all the trappings of the conventional adventure tale-mystery, exotic setting, and suspense. But as judged from an allegorical point of view, it is a journey within a journey into the darkness of the human heart. Marlow, Conrad’s representative in the novel, makes a double journey – one on the surface … Read more
Desire Under the Elms is a highly realistic drama of O’Neill, the action of which takes place in the Cabot-farm-house in the New England. The main theme of the play is the variations of the word ‘Desire’. Every character in the play desires something. In the broader sense ‘desire’ signifies possessive instinct or passion. As … Read more
