Laurence Sterne Essays

  • Words and Names: Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    Words and names play a powerful role in Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. In Volumes I, II, and IV, language and the effect words have on the story create an important theme, which connects the three books together. Digressions inside these books build on each other. This allows Sterne to draw the reader’s attention to the problems words create, as well as the importance of original phrasing. Names and word choice, as well as the power they possess, fill these Volumes, through Tristram’s baptism

  • : Filling the Canvas: Tristram Shandy's Portrait of John Locke

    2971 Words  | 6 Pages

    understandings, will not only be very pleasant, but bring us great advantage, in directing our thoughts in the search of other things.” (Locke 2). The process of this understanding is entwined in the novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne. In the novel, a man recounts his life whilst deferring to seemingly insignificant tales of the people in it. Although the narrator has claimed the work to be a biography, he does not speak ofte... ... middle of paper ... ...tellect is,—that

  • Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy

    1716 Words  | 4 Pages

    Highlighting the reader as a character in Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy may seem trivial considering the clear use of fictional readers within the text ("sir", "madam", "lord", et al.); however, the manner in which Stern renders the reader a character, and creates the illusion of in-text participation, is far more profound than sporadic discourse with these aforementioned sirs and madams. This essay, through analysis of Volumes 1 and 2 of Tristram Shandy (with latter volumes in mind), seeks to

  • Emotionality In Hamlet By Laurence Sterne's Hamlet

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Laurence Sternes’ “Tristam Shandy”, specifically volume 1 ch: 12, holds patronage to sentimentality through a compilation of juxtaposing emotions that are exchanged between the two characters Yorick, and Eugenius. This exchange moving towards the climatic moment in the chapter where Parson Yorick’s is murdered by the ambiguous debtors who desired revenge for his sallies. However, the chapter in entirety is expressed in a particular manner. Since the time-span of the chapter itself is short, and spontaneous

  • Tim O'Brien's Zeugmatic Novel, The Things They Carried

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    reason," where the verb "conquered" is understood to also govern the final two phrases in the sentence (Crowley 203). The 18th century, an age of great rhetorical knowledge on the part of writers and preachers (and at least one writer-preacher, Laurence Sterne), is the heyday of zeugma. In "The Rape of the Lock" Alexander Pope speculates what may happen to Bellinda on a particularly ominous day: Whether the Nymph shall break Diana's Law, Or some frail China Jar receive a Flaw, Or stain her Honour

  • Free Essays - Yorick's Attitude Towards Women in A Sentimental Journey

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    If we are to read Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey, we must abandon the fixed idea about ordinary travel, which are filled with detailed descriptions of the landscapes. In Sterne's work, however, there are unique descriptions of human feelings, compared to the other ordinary travelogues. Consequently, the whole work makes readers confused at first. However, once we are absorbed in that story, we can easily follow Yorick's unique thoughts. Especially his attitude towards women is interesting

  • The Confused Males of Montesquieu’s Persian Letters, Voltaire’s Candide, Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels

    2498 Words  | 5 Pages

    going to be married to Mrs. Wadman.” —Then he will never, quoth my father, be able to lie diagonally in his bed again as long as he lives.” (Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy) The eighteenth century, what a magnificent time—a contemporary critic is likely to exclaim, and indeed it was. The century of Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Kant, Swift, Sterne, and others, whose names still make pound the sensitive hearts of many students of history, philosophy, and literature. The Age of Enlightenment

  • Little Women

    2151 Words  | 5 Pages

    Jo and Meg attend a New Year’s party, they meet their neighbor Theodore Laurence or Laurie, as he prefers to be called. He is the grandson of their rich neighbor Mr. Laurence. Jo and Laurie established the beginning of a wonderful friendship. All the girls start visiting the Laurence home with the exception of Beth. Beth being the shy one from the sisters and afraid of Mr. Laurence decides to stay home instead. Mr. Laurence finds out that Beth is a wonderful piano player. He talks in private to Mrs

  • Little Women

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    we meet Laurie, the mysterious grandson of the Old Mr. Laurence living next-door. His real name it Theodore, but he prefers Laurie because he was teased in school by the girls. The girls all spend a lot of time at the Laurences home, all excepting Beth. Because she is afraid of Old Mr. Laurence, she stays away. Mr. Laurence asks if he could have Beth over to play for him. When she does, it creates a lasting bond between them. Old Mr. Laurence loves her playing so much that he gives her a small piano

  • The Good Friar Laurence in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1301 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is only some of the wisdom spoken by Friar Laurence to young Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on the decision made by him to wed thirteen year old Juliet in such hastiness. Romeo sought after the confidence of Friar Laurence when he first met Juliet as there was no one else he could turn to, especially when the couple decided they were going to be married. There are many are many instances in the play that indicate "Friar Laurence always intended the best for Romeo and Juliet."

  • The Loons by Margaret Laurence

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The Loons" by Margaret Laurence In the short story "The Loons", Margaret Laurence writes the story of Piquette Tonnerre. A half-Indian girl who grows up under harsh circumstances in a society that suppresses half-breeds. The story is told through another girl, Vanessa, who comes in contact with Piquette through her father. As the title suggests the story also includes a special type of birds, the loons, and we can see an obvious comparison between the loons and Piquette. The loons are very special

  • One of Canada's Greatest Authors, Margaret Laurence

    1778 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Early Years: The Beginnings of a Writer Sunday, July 18th 1926, at 7:30pm at the Neepawa General Hospital, one of Canada's greatest authors, Margaret Laurence, was born to proud parents Robert and Verna Wemyss. Verna's father, John Simpson, was a self-made man. Born in 1853 in Middletown Ontario, John attended school, training to be a cabinetmaker. In the 1870's John, with only his change in his pocket, made his way towards Portage la Prairie Manitoba, in an attempt to unite with a cousin

  • Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet - Friar Laurence

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet - Friar Laurence Friar Laurence plays a most intriguing role in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He is a priest, and a friend to Romeo. With the absence of Montague parental scenes, Friar Laurence also becomes like a surrogate father to Romeo. Romeo seeks him out to marry him and Juliet, obviously assuming that the friar would without parental permission. The friar greets him and addresses Romeo's past love. He even tells Romeo that he mistook what he felt for Rosaline

  • Laurence Yep

    2043 Words  | 5 Pages

    Presenting Laurence Yep Laurence Yep is noted for creating vivid and complex characters based on his own experiences. Yep’s most famous work is Dragonwings. It has won several awards, including the Newbery Honor for 1976, the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award for 1976, and the American Library Association’s Notable Children’s Book Award for 1975 (Johnson-Feelings 353). The story starts at the turn of the century when Moon Shadow moves to America to live with his father who

  • The Symbolism of the Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    of the Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence Margaret Laurence's novel, The Stone Angel is a compelling journey of flashbacks seen through the eyes of Hagar Shipley, a ninety year-old woman nearing the end of her life.  In the novel, Margaret Laurence, uses the stone angel to effectively symbolize fictional characters. The term symbolism in its broadest sense means the use of an object to stand for something other than itself.  In The Stone Angel, Margaret Laurence uses the stone angel to sybmolize

  • Margaret Laurence's A Bird in the House

    2141 Words  | 5 Pages

    Manawaka. The narrative style of the stories is important, since it is through Vanessa's own eyes that we learn of her family and life - yet the eyes belong to an older, wiser Vanessa, remembering her own childhood from a future point years later. Laurence handles the narrative style quite cleverly; the experiences of the child-Vanessa are portrayed with all the innocence and naïvety and shock that first accompanied them, yet are also tainted and clarified by the wisdom of the older-Vanessa. "...

  • Tell-Tale Titles Of Margaret Laurence's A Bird In The House

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    Margaret Laurence's A Bird in the House is a collection of short stories that is rich in symbols and similes. Descriptions like "claw hand", "flyaway manner" and "hair bound grotesquely like white-fingered wings" are found abundantly in the writer's novel. The Oxford English Dictionary defines symbols as, "something that stands for, represents, or denotes something else (not by exact resemblance, but by vague suggestion, or by some accidental or conventional relation)" (reference). Yet, there

  • Analysis of the Character Hagar in Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    An Analysis of the Character Hagar in Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel The main character in the novel The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence, is a character who possesses incredible depth. Hagar is an old women who has never lost her spirit and free will. Hagar is still being faced with obstacles which she must fight to overcome. Since Hagar is a character who is not perfect, the audience is capable of relating to her. The tragic hero through his struggle and the recognition of his own shortcomings

  • Romeo and Juliet - Friar Laurence

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet - Friar Laurence To what extent is Friar Laurence responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? The Friar is answerable for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, but only to some degree. Often, because of his involvement in the lives of the lovers, Friar Laurence can be seen as more responsible for their deaths than he actually is, although in the last scene the Friar is partially responsible for the death of Juliet. However his responsibility is mild compared to the accountability

  • Comparing Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Laurence's The Fire-Dwellers

    2469 Words  | 5 Pages

    Loss of Identity in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Margaret Laurence's The Fire-Dwellers The protagonists in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Margaret Laurence’s The Fire-Dwellers are very different in character.  However, both of these women lose their identity due to an outside influence.  In each of the books, we see the nature of the lost identity, the circumstances which led to this lost identity, and the consequences which occurred as a result of this lost identity