“Natural Slaves” in Shakespeare’s “Tempest” and Aristotle’s “Politics”
[ send me this essay ]
A five page paper looking at these two works in terms of their treatment of the concept of the “natural slave.” The paper concludes that if by “natural slave,” Aristotle meant that one’s fitness to rule or serve is based on one’s aristocratic or menial birth, Shakespeare would have disagreed with that. But he would have agreed that certain people just don’t make good leaders and would be better off in a supporting role. No additional sources.
Filename: KBtemp3.wps

Classism in Woolf and Stoppard
[ send me this essay ]
A seven page paper discussing social class and its impact on the lives of characters in Virginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own,' 'Orlando,' and 'To the Lighthouse,' and Tom Stoppard's 'Arcadia.' The paper observes that many of Woolf's feminist arguments and all of Stoppard's intellectual ones would have had no meaning to working-class people of the nineteenth century. No additional sources.
Filename: KBclass.wps

Tom Stoppard's 'Arcadia' / Interpersonal Conflict & Doom
[ send me this essay ]
A 6 page paper on Tom Stoppard's brilliant but cerebral 1995 play, which takes place in two different centuries, using the same set. It contrasts the relationships between Septimus and Thomasina, two characters in the twentieth-century part of the play, with Hannah and Bernard in the twentieth century part, and shows how they develop against a poignant sense of a paradise doomed. No additional sources cited.
Filename: Arcadia.wps

Tom Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'
[ send me this essay ]
A 6 page essay exploring how the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead reflects specific aspects of life: 1. humans as social animals and 2. how the individual finds his or her place in society. The confusions and feelings of what am I doing here and why am I doing it are emphasized.
Filename: Rosencra.wps

Tom Stoppard's 'The Real Inspector Hound'
[ send me this essay ]
A 5 page paper looking at Tom Stoppard's play in terms of whether it has any significance beyond pure escapism. The paper suggests that in this play Stoppard explores the degree to which we as human beings blur the boundaries between illusion and reality, between who we are and who we think we are. Bibliography lists one source.
Filename: KBstoppa.wps

Aristophanes / Serious Humor
[ send me this essay ]
A 9 page paper showing how there was a serious purpose behind Aristophanes' comic works. The paper looks at two works in particular -- 'The Clouds' and 'The Birds' -- and, using some analysis by Aristotle and Freud on how comedy works, examines how Aristophanes used the force of comedy to show his countrymen the foibles of their own character and the world they lived in. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
Filename: Aristo.wps

Feminism in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Lysistrata”
[ send me this essay ]
An eight page paper looking at the issue of feminism in these two plays by William Shakespeare and Aristophanes, respectively. The paper argues that both writers mocked women -- in “Lysistrata” because they were too unfeminine, and in “Midsummer Night’s Dream” because they were too irrational -- and shows how both plays call for a return to an ordered society at the end. No additional sources.
Filename: KBlysis.wps

The Use of Food in Aristophanes' The Acharnians
[ send me this essay ]
This 5 page paper provides an overview of the use of food in Aristophanes' The Acharnians and defines the importance in terms of the political messages in the play. This paper argues that the use of food not only defined class differentiations in the play, but was used to underscore the revelations of victory and the celebratory aspects of the play, all of which were used to convey the power of the victor. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: MHAchar_

Heremakhonon, Cane, and The Chosen Place, The Timeless People
[ send me this essay ]
A 4 page paper describing the themes and narrative styles of these three novels (authors are Conde, Toomer, & Marshall). Bibliography lists the 3 books.
Filename: Caribw.wps