Analysis of The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, and The Red Room
The Victorian era was a time of great change; industrialisation,
imperialism, scientific discovery. These changes reflect in the new
topics of contemporary literature.
In this essay I am going to look at the effect created by Arthur Conan
Doyle and H G Wells in three short stories, analysing how this effect
has added to the plot, setting and atmosphere.
In order to fully understand the ideas behind these short stories it
is detrimental to overcome our ignorance of past culture.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was surrounded by a London of crime. The police
force was almost totally ineffective and the idea of a super
detective, able to solve every crime was comforting to the populace.
John Dean the philosopher once said "People believe what they want to
believe." It sounds so simple yet in practice it represents a huge
part if how the human works. For example if I were to prank call
someone and tell him/her that she had won tickets for a two week
holiday in Australia, he/she would believe me because they wanted it
to be true. In relation to Sherlock Holmes, I feel the populace of the
time were trying to imagine an actual Sherlock Holmes, as a
psychological defence against the criminal life of London. Both of the
Sherlock Holmes novels I am looking at ("The adventure of the Speckled
Band" and "The Man with the Twisted Lip") were written circa 1870.
This period saw the time of Britain's most famous criminal; Jack the
Ripper. Jack the Ripper hunted the slums of London, gruesomely taking
the live of prostitutes. I think this fear is reflected in "Th...
... middle of paper ...
...fessional beggar. Although the
likelihood of a snake making the journey described and then finding
sufficient reason to murder a sleeping person is slightly unrealistic
I felt that Sherlock Holmes arrived at this conclusion with more
evidence (making it more likely) than that of "The Man with the
Twisted Lip."
After having spent weeks analysing these stories I think Wells was
trying to create more than a scary tale rather a scenario to persuade
the reader, the public that there are no such things as ghosts.
Conan Doyle, I don't think was really trying to build anything extra
form his tales. I mentioned earlier the proclamation of Queen Victoria
possible causing him to open with a red herring however other than
that I can't think as to why he wrote that tale, what sparked the
imagination to generate those ideas.
Humans are not born with a label, they are taught to adhere to certain principles after suffering judgement from others. It is often found that gender is a barrier that prevents humans from experimenting. One finds that he or she cannot partake in an activity in fear of being judged and labeled. The poem Bedecked by Victoria Redel criticizes people’s judgement on her son, as he does not conform to societal standards. Gender and their associated stereotypes are presented in the poem through mundane items, purposeful diction, and the the motif of jewels.
One of the most important elements in Richard Wright’s The Man Who Lived Underground is Wright’s careful use of sensory descriptions, imagery, and light to depict Fred Daniels’ experiences both above and below ground. Wright’s uses these depictions of Fred Daniels underground world to create incomplete pictures of the experiences he has and of the people he encounters. These half-images fuel the idea that The Man Who Lived Underground is a dark and twisted allusion to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
In Heinrich Von Kleist's The Marquise of O. and Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, the female protagonist is terribly mislabeled. The inaccuracies in treatment, administered by seemingly authoritative and knowledgeable characters -- family members and a medically certified spouse, respectively -- result in tragic deterioration of the state of mind of both the Marquise and The Yellow Wallpaper's narrator. The delineation of each character's weakness is comprised of blatant references to an applied infantile image and approaching unstable mentality. In The Marquise of O, the Marquise is thrust unwillingly into the external world; in The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is locked away unwillingly in an interior world. Though both are persecuted because of their gender, in The Marquise of O, the Marquise is troubled by the symbolic rebirth of her womanhood; while in The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator is troubled by the symbolic death of her womanhood.
When someone cares for someone else they protect them even if it means hurting them in the end. In “Of Mice and Men” John Steinbeck tells the story of two migrant workers struggling to get by in life. One of the men, Lennie, is mentally ill and is constantly getting in trouble. He likes to touch soft things, even if he should not be touching them. Geroge, the other man, has to constantly take blame for Lennie’s actions. George’s relationship with Lennie is very meaningful yet dangerous at the same time. It is meaningful because George takes care of Lennie when no one else will, whenever Lennie gets himself into trouble George has to take the grunt of the outcome, and, in the end, George has to make a decision that not only affects his life but also Lennie’s, whether it is for the good or not.
Cooper, Bernard. “Labyrinthine.” Occasions for Writing . Ed. Robert DiYanni and Pat C. Hoy II. Boston: Thomson, 2007. 345- 47. Print.
Babel, I., W. A. Morison, and Lionel Trilling. Collected Stories. New York: Meridian Fiction, 1960. Print.
...r II. The Illustrated Man is an excellent choice for a reader interested in hearing predictions of the future made far in the past. The author used the elements characterization, theme, setting, simile and symbolism in his novel. These elements were used for a specific purpose and to entertain the reader.
This book discusses the viewpoints of many expert critics through extracts of their critical essays on the novel “The Bluest Eye”. Harold Bloom states Michael Woods narrative is the best he has seen of the book, “Each member of the family interprets and acts out of his or her ugliness, but none of them understands that the all-knowing master is not God but only history and habit; the projection of their own numbed collusion w...
...thern Literary Journal. Published by: University of North Carolina Press. Vol. 4, No. 2 (spring, 1972), pp. 128-132.
Carr, J. D. (2003). The life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2nd Carroll & Graf trade pbk. ed.). New York, N.Y.: Carroll & Graf.
While reading The Monkey Wrench Gang, many images appear in one?s mind. The uses of Edward Abbey?s skill of developing characters through language, appearance, actions and opinions make this novel more enjoyable to read. The shaping of each character persuades the reader to believe that, "Oh my desert, yours is the only death I cannot bear."
Wilson, M. & Clark, R. (n.d.). Analyzing the Short Story. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.limcollege.edu/Analyzing_the_Short_Story.pdf [Accessed: 12 Apr 2014].
Tension and Suspense in The Red Room by H.G. Wells In H.G Wells’ The Red Room tension and suspense are created through the characters, the plot and the setting. The setting is typical of Gothic and Victorian ghost stories. In these times there was no electricity so use of candles for light created an eerie atmosphere. They had no modern technology like televisions for entertainment so they used books and story telling.
Klinkowitz, Jerome and Patricia B Wallace. The Norton Anthology of Americal Literature. Seventh. Vol. Volume D. New York City: Norton, 2007, 2003, 1998, 1994, 1989, 1985, 1979. 5 vols.
Throughout time, mankind has forged stories and legends to explain the unknown. As years went along the stories and tall tales were passed down to each generation. Each recount of the inherited stories are always told differently, how the story was told usually depended on the person and their particular region of habitance. Thus leading to hundreds of different versions of a single story told throughout the world, written and told by different people. Not only are these stories told as pure entertainment, they serve as wise life lessons and set examples for children when they were eventually introduced to society. These stories are so prominent in human history that even to this day the same stories that were told to children centuries ago