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In just poem analysis
In just poem analysis
The study of poetry analysis
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Many works of literature provide responses to much debated topics. Opinions are brought forth by means of rhetorical devices and supported by some type of accepted truth. In two such pieces, The Republic by Plato and “A Defense of Poetry” by Shelley, Plato expresses a belief about poetry that Shelley disagrees with and responds to. Through rhetorical devices such as metaphors and symbolism and the use of deductive logic and Socratic writing, Plato provides a strong, very supported argument while Shelley’s long sentence structure, analogies and metaphors are weak in comparison.
The way in which Plato uses deductive logic to express his opinion allows him to fully develop his ideas without making assertions that are incredible. Plato begins with the idea of the ultimate “maker of the bed”, which he refers to as G-d which is easily accepted by the majority of an audience. Plato believed that there is only one who “makes the essence of the bed,” (44) the single idea and therefore that is the truth. From there he goes to the carpenter. “There is another (bed) which is the work of the carpenter.” (44) And finally Plato defines his thesis through metaphor. He uses a metaphor that compares the work of a poet to a mirror. “Turning a mirror round and round – you would soon enough make the sun and the heavens, and the earth and yourself, and other animals and plants, and all other things of which we were just speaking, in the mirror…but they would be appearances only.” (44) The way in which the writing is interactive with two people creates contradictions, which challenge Plato’s beliefs, yet they are still proven throughout. “Why not? For the duller eye may often see a thing sooner than the keener.
“Very true, but in your presence, even if I had any further notion, I could not muster courage to utter it.” (43) While this Socratic writing helps Plato to make his argument even more concrete, Shelley uses essay form to portray his ideas somewhat in response to beliefs like those of Plato.
Shelley’s writing differs in form from Plato’s in that Shelley’s is more straight forward and seems almost as if it were meant to be preached. “Reason is to the imagination as the instrument to the agent, as the body to the spirit, as the shadow to the substance.” (429) The analogy that Shelley uses portrays that reason is the basis of the imagination, implying that poetry holds truth, yet it is an idealized truth, which is determined by Plato in The Republic to be essentially false.
We are able to see their impulsive nature and desires that must be satisfied in the end. The works of Mary Shelley are an excellent example of not only romanticism, but also the impulsive behavior depicted in human nature. Shelley has become such an influential
This paper seeks to address the literacy and stylistic issues presented in two texts. Specifically, an extract from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Wilfred Owens’s Dulce ET Est. Decorum. Initially, the paper will outline the prevailing social and historical contexts associated with the two texts. The principal purpose of this work is to address the themes common to both texts. For this to be achieved, an initial investigation and critique of both authors use of language will also need to be looked at.
It is apparent that in her story Mary Shelley chose to convey a symbolic meaning concerning the scientific pursuits of her era, but the question remains: what was her intended message? In her 1818 preface, Shelley writes, "I have thus endeavored to p...
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, illustrates the Romantic idea of the sublime naturalworld as an emotional experience for the characters of the novel. Within the text, Shelleyutilizes an allusion to the John Milton’s biblical story, Paradise Lost, to make a parallel betweenthe characters. Within the passage, the monster compares himself, as well as his creator, Victor,to the characters Adam and Satan. He comes to realize that he is more similar to Satan;ultimately, leading him to his reign of terror and the revenge he wishes to impose on Victor. Themonster realizes that he is similar to Adam in Paradise Lost in that they both do not want to bealone. The monster also realizes that there is good in the world that is deeply contrasted with
...egarding the narratives in both texts, the audience concludes that the events did not occur as depicted, and that multiple characters are guilty of fabricating or altering parts of their accounts. Thus, both Shelley and Branagh utilize the problem of epistemology to reflexively opine about the truth of reality in general; using only characters that are not truthful and spin tales about themselves, Shelley and Branagh both suggest the subjective nature of reality. After all, they seem to suggest, what import does the truth carry anyway if nobody cares enough to tell it?
A longstanding debate in human history is what to do with power and what is the best way to rule. Who should have power, how should one rule, and what its purpose should government serve have always been questions at the fore in civilization, and more than once have sparked controversy and conflict. The essential elements of rule have placed the human need for order and structure against the human desire for freedom, and compromising between the two has never been easy. It is a question that is still considered and argued to this day. However, the argument has not rested solely with military powers or politicians, but philosophers as well. Two prominent voices in this debate are Plato and Machiavelli, both of whom had very different ideas of government's role in the lives of its people. For Plato, the essential service of government is to allow its citizens to live in their proper places and to do the things that they are best at. In short, Plato's government reinforces the need for order while giving the illusion of freedom. On the other hand, Machiavelli proposes that government's primary concern is to remain intact, thereby preserving stability for the people who live under it. The feature that both philosophers share is that they attempt to compromise between stability and freedom, and in the process admit that neither can be totally had.
...ilton's "Paradise Lost" to her advantage in this book. Drawing on Christian beliefs and a societal reverence for the epic gives "Frankenstein" a comparison that draws out moral limitations in our humanity. Although many moral limitations can be detected from each of the characters, the limitations I focused on were, in my belief, the most specific to Shelley's overall romantic and gothic state of reasoning. In this era, and even today, the thought of human limitation gives people a better understanding of our place in the world. The individual ego creates a dangerous place for many of us, a place Shelley describes through Victor Frankenstein's creation. Above all, I think Shelley's story relates human limitations and public progression to remind society that we have an obligation to remain in admiration of our creator, nature, and the miracle of our own existence.
...here are similar aspects to each writer's experience. Engaging the imagination, Ramond, Wordsworth and Shelley have experienced a kind of unity; conscious of the self as the soul they are simultaneously aware of 'freedoms of other men'. I suggested in the introduction that the imagination is a transition place wherein words often fail but the experience is intensified, even understood by the traveler. For all three writers the nature of the imagination has, amazingly, been communicable. Ramond and Wordsworth are able to come to an articulate conclusion about the effects imagination has on their perceptions of nature. Shelley, however, remains skeptical about the power of the imaginative process. Nonetheless, Shelley's experience is as real, as intense as that of Ramond and Wordsworth.
Romantic writer Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein does indeed do a lot more than simply tell story, and in this case, horrify and frighten the reader. Through her careful and deliberate construction of characters as representations of certain dominant beliefs, Shelley supports a value system and way of life that challenges those that prevailed in the late eighteenth century during the ‘Age of Reason’. Thus the novel can be said to be challenging prevailant ideologies, of which the dominant society was constructed, and endorsing many of the alternative views and thoughts of the society. Shelley can be said to be influenced by her mothers early feminist views, her father’s radical challenges to society’s structure and her own, and indeed her husband’s views as Romantics. By considering these vital influences on the text, we can see that in Shelley’s construction of the meaning in Frankenstein she encourages a life led as a challenge to dominant views.
The idea for the novel of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein came to her one night when she was staying in the company of what has been called ‘her male coterie’, including Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Shelley. Mary Shelley’s whole life seems to have been heavily influenced by men. She idolised her father, William Godwyn, and appears to have spent a good part of her life trying very hard to impress both him and her husband. There seems to have been a distinct lack of female influence, her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, having died weeks after her birth, being replaced by a neglectful step-mother. These aspects of her life are perhaps evident in her novel. The characters and plot of Frankenstein were perhaps influenced by Shelley’s conflicting feelings about the predominately masculine circle which surrounded her, and perhaps the many masculine traits that we see in novel were based upon those of the male figures in Shelley’s own life. In this essay I will attempt to show some of these traits.
Shelley’s allusions display the creatures anguish of being alone in the world and how it causes him to feel: “ Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence… I was wretched, helpless, and alone.” (93-94), this allusion is crucial because it shows the reader just how awful the influences of solitude are on the creature and how his circumstances have caused him to become grieved and destitute. Another illusion similar to before take place when the monster compares himself to Satan: “Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” (94), the monster now resents the people of the cottage because they are able to converse and associate with others while the creature is forced to stay secluded from all contact. Allusions such as these enforce Shelley 's purpose of depicting the calamitous effects of solitude on the mind. By now the reader should understand that men need to be around others like themselves because all creatures desire to have a group into which they
Plato relied on the ability to reason in his attempt to explain the world. He produced his ideal world based on reason, since such a world lies beyond the realm of the five senses. Plato ignored his senses because he believed his senses only revealed the imperfect forms of the ordinary world.
We have two great philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. These are great men, whose ideas have not been forgotten over years. Although their thoughts of politics were similar, we find some discrepancies in their teachings. The ideas stem from Socrates to Plato to Aristotle. Plato based moral knowledge on abstract reason, while Aristotle grounded it on experience and tried to apply it more to concrete living. Both ways of life are well respected by many people today.
While immersed in its beauty, Victor and his creation escaped worldly problems and entered a supernatural bliss. In short, Shelley presents nature as very powerful. It has the power to put the humanity back into man when the unnatural world has stripped him of his moral fiber. In comparison to the pure beauty of nature, the unnatural acts of man are far more emphasized; therefore, the reader is clearly aware of man’s faults and their repercussions. Unfortunately, not even the power of nature could balance the work of man: “the cup of life was poisoned forever.”
Frankenstein often dealt with many hardships in his life and although some of them were a result of his own actions, he believes nature was the escape path to bliss or at least some form of serene solitude. According to Matthew Brennan, this was also Mary Shelley’s way of escaping the grief and pain that she felt throughout her life. Brennan states, “Through this projection, Mary Shelley releases herself from the censorship the conscious mind places on painful memories and starts to work through her unresolved grief” (Brennan). In addition to Mary Shelley being a Romantic writer herself, it seems that she is a Romantic character as well. Mary Shelley’s use of exquisite description and the sublime in her novel truly set it apart from the other Romantic writings of that