Essays and Research Papers on British Literature

A 6 page paper which examines the significance of the island location in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. No additional sources cited.

A 6 page discussion of the historical background and circumstance which prompted Shakespeare to incorporate witches into his play. Contends that the use of witches as secondary characters in the play serves to emphasize not only the theme of the play but also to emphasize the importance of Macbeth himself. Bibliography lists 3 ...

A five page paper analyzing Mark Antony's speech in William Shakespeare's play. The paper shows how easily the public's mood can be manipulated by skillful oratory and mass hysteria. No additional sources.

A five-page paper analyzing the many instances in which the title character of Shakespeare's classic play postpones decisive action. The paper asserts that in the long run, this procrastination causes more injustice and hurts more people than an early decisive action would have done. No additional sources.

A 7 page paper which examines the influence of the Christian church and biblical scriptures on the tragedies of this period, those of William Shakespeare in particular. Bibliography lists 9 sources.

A nine page paper looking at the psychological reasons William Shakespeare's Hamlet begins to mistrust people -- such as Ophelia -- who have never given him any reason to do so. The paper shows that he feels embittered and emasculated by his inability to avenge his father's death. Bibliography lists six sources.

A 6-page paper comparing and contrasting the characters of Orlando and Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It and their relationship to the other characters of the play. Lists 1 source.

9 pages in length. A complete review of the Merchant's Tale (from the Canterbury Tales) -- covering an overview of the story, the character of the merchant himself, wording, Chaucer's use of sarcasm, and the Tale's religious implications as well. No Bibliography.

A 6 page paper on the character of the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The paper particularly centers around her feminist arguments justifying both her aggressiveness and her sexuality. Bibliography cites 4 sources.

A 5 page essay which examines how Chaucer's expert use of physical description contributed to his characterization of the Wife of Bath. The writer shows how Chaucer's description laid the basis for the Wife's characterization and helped establish her as a cultural icon which has endured for over 600 years. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

A 6 page paper providing a chronicle of women's social and legal status during the period of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The paper looks at two of Chaucer's women in particular -- the Prioress and the Wife of Bath -- examining both their social roles and the way those roles were perceived in their own ...

A 3 page essay that points out that Chaucer used the characters of the Prioress and the Wife of Bath to say a great many things about how medieval society viewed women. The writer demonstrates how Chaucer contrasted the character of the chaste Prioress against that of the lusty Wife to satirize the Church's characterization ...

An 8 page comparison of these two stories from Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales', in terms of the respective storyteller's views on marriage. The paper argues that the tales chosen by each storyteller perfectly embody their own situations in regard to marriage; and both deviate substantially from the cultural norm of the times. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

A 5 page paper which compares the relations between man and woman depicted in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse and Geoffrey Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Tale' from The Canterbury Tales. Bibliography lists 2 sources.

In 5 pages the author discusses a portrait of two of the pilgrims from Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales.' In Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales' the Parson and the Plowman are related. They have many things in common, such as religion, poverty, honesty, contentedness with their lot in life, diligence in their professions, plainness, and simplicity. ...

A 10 page research paper that examines two of the narratives in Chaucer's masterpiece The Canterbury Tales. While both tales appear on the surface to deal with religious issues, it is also possible to see alternative meanings within both stories. Some critics have speculated that Chaucer couched subtle criticism of both the church ...

An 8 page paper looking at these two vignettes from the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer in terms of their use of irony. The paper shows that the irony developed in the Nun's Priest's Tale is light and fun because of its subject matter and treatment, while in the Pardoner's Tale the irony is darkened ...

A 5 page overview of the various tales with descriptive analysis of Chaucer's characterization and his depiction of society. Writer uses various critical sources to support ideas; Bibliography lists two collective entries.

A 6 page discussion of setting, theme, and characterization in several of the tales. No Bibliography.

A 5 page paper analyzing the characteristics of the author of this fourteenth-century work, using a combination of historical records and an intuitive reading of his most well-known book. Seven sources cited.

In this 6 page essay, the writer describes how we can infer much about an author's society & era from the stories they wrote and the way they were presented. The two examples cited are 'The Pardoner's Tale' from Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' and 'Every man' by Malory. Issues concerning wealth, social class, etc;-- are discussed ...

An 8 page paper analyzing the way evil is portrayed in The Canterbury Tales and The Divine Comedy. The paper concludes that whereas Dante sees evil as being a catastrophic impediment toward man's attainment of the divine -- and thus something to be taken very, very seriously -- Chaucer sees its human manifestations in what ...

An 8 page paper examining the way women are portrayed in Shakespeare's and Chaucer's works. The paper concludes that both these authors treat women with singular well-roundedness, exhibiting a deep understanding of the female psyche. Bibliography lists 5 sources.

Medieval Europe in the 1500's was a bastion of Christian incipience. The times were such that the rewriting of pagan tales to include the Christian thought of the day were common, even unconscious. Geoffrey Chaucer's tragic poem 'Troilus and Criseyde' is no exception, though written with more subtlety and understanding of human interaction with divine ...

A 6 page paper on the protagonist of this little-known work by Geoffrey Chaucer. The paper observes that not only is the work a gentle parody of Dante's Divine Comedy, but Chaucer also parodies himself through the persona of the egotistical narrator Geffrey. Bibliography lists 3 sources.