Explain, illustrate and compare the ways in which the two novels do this, and their purposes in doing so. (Note: you may need to specify particular types and conventions of romantic fiction which are relevant to each novel. Any quoted passages you use should not be included in the word-count.)) 2. Wuthering Heights and Madame Bovary both gain much of their power as novels from the ways in which they use setting to frame the action, create atmosphere and convey meanings.
It is often used to represent a moral or religious belief or value. The main idea reoccurring throughout the novel is that people do not have to let their mistakes or circumstances determine who they are or what they become; it is all in how one interprets life. Many symbols may seem as just an ordinary character or coincidental object to some readers, but the symbols have a deeper, underlying meaning as will be explained throughout this research. 1.3 Statement of the Problem As the Scarlet letter is a novel of much symbolism that makes it an allegory, the researcher investigates the following two issues: Firstly, the necessity to study symbolic images in order to help the reader to a better understanding of the meaning of the novel and the message it delivers. Secondly, what are the
Explore how the theme of darkness is presented in The Heart Of Darkness and Blood River Tim Butcher’s ‘Blood River’ which detailed Butcher’s struggle through the Congo and Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, a fictional novella both explore the theme of darkness. However, due to the lapse of one hundred years in the printing of the two texts, the theme has been presented differently. Blood River- classed as a travelogue- is a first person account of Butcher’s everyday experiences as he travels through the Congo following Henry Morton Stanley’s footsteps, the ‘world’s best-known journalist’. On the other hand, Heart of Darkness is a Modernist novella which is a frame narrative that exposes the realities of brutal European colonialism that jarred with the predominant prevailing belief of the righteousness of imperialism. Heart of Darkness’s frame narrative begins on a Thames river boat with an unknown narrator.
Kurtz Analysis – Heart of Darkness The character of Mr. Kurtz in Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness is one made up of symbols and curiosity. The central idea of this novel, “darkness is the true nature of our world,” reaches deep into the veins of the story. This type of darkness will break humans, as it did to Kurtz. Through Marlow’s narration, we can see how Kurtz, who came to Africa full of hopes, deteriorated physically and eventually, spiritually. Kurtz, an ivory trader, was sent by a Belgian company into the heart of the Congo.
Furthermore, motivations of benevolence and malevolence are often inextricably linked, identical even. This philosophy of dark absurdity prevalent to the human condition pervaded Conrad’s time and even his writing. The style and outlook owed itself partially to the era of the composition; Conrad published the majority of his literature during the years 1880-1920 (Matin xix). These were troubled times that brought to light the awesome imperialism and greed of West Europe. Prominently, King Leopold II of Belgium usurped the Congo territory in which he wreaked horrible atrocities (Gondola).
There are some things in life that may seem insignificant but can end up holding the upmost importance to us. We are told to appreciate the small things in life; not to take them for granted. The same thing holds true in literature, where a character may not be present much in the story, but still plays an important role. In Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness, some of theses types of characters are present. One in particular , by the name or Kurtz, has a great affect on the story.
Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter has been read by many and interpreted in many ways. Hawthorne is one of the most known symbolists in American Literature and a study of his symbols is necessary to understand his novels. According to the Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary a symbol is “a letter, group of letters, character or picture that is used instead of a word or group of words.” Hawthorne uses a great amount of symbols to deal with the sanctities of human heart, the consequence of tragic sin and the impossibility of running away from the consequence of sin. In literature an allegory is a story where characters, objects, and events have a hidden meaning and are used to present some universal lesson. Hawthorne has a perfect atmosphere for the symbols in The Scarlet Letter because the Puritans saw the world through allegory.
Frame tale, also known as frame story or frame narrative, is a literature technique that can be known as story within a story. By using this technique, the writer will create a story at the beginning that will not generally be the main concentration of the remains of the narrative. Instead, this frame story will be used to set up another story, smaller one (or several ones), which usually has greater emphasis or importance. Heart of Darkness is Joseph Conrad’s famous novel and it had a screen adaption in 1993, which demonstrates a narrator telling a story while the protagonist is quoted so as to give the framed appearance that he is telling the story. The narrator provides the transition to the one speaking the story.
Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is open to a myriad of interpretations, ranging from the psychological to the feminist perspective. However, none of those of views on the novel are comparable to the symbolic facet of the book. Using symbolism, Joseph Conrad illustrates duality, in every sense of the word, with the characters Marlow and Kurtz, and with nature and civilization; by establishing juxtaposition, Conrad conveys how the evil and darkness in a man’s heart can further be stimulated in a dark environment, which in the case of the novella, is the mysterious Congo River. The two main characters, Marlow and Kurtz, are arguably the most prominent symbols in the story. Before elaborating on the two characters, it’s necessary to digress, and mention that the ultimate goal in Heart of Darkness is to assail the imperialism that ran rampant in Conrad’s time.
‘Heart of Darkness’ is a novel that intertwines many images of both light and dark to help describe Marlow’s journey in Africa but more importantly they serve a much greater purpose. Conrad’s use of light is significant and is symbolic of the European ‘emissaries of light’ (79) who disguise their greedy and murderous intentions in divine garbs; the epitome being the manager a ‘flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil’ (83). Equally significant is Conrad’s darkness which is man’s true capacity for evil seen through palpable forms of horror and murder throughout the story. Kurtz is neither light nor dark, he is the ‘white fog’ both light and dark at the same time or in other words a devil with a deceptive and unrestrained evil whose pulse emanates from the Heart of Darkness. Light, usually seen as an incarnation of all that is good instead finds itself depicted as a deceptive evil fueled by pure European greed, as Marlow bluntly states-‘sunlight can be made to lie too’ (152).