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Prometheus In Suspension: Suffering And The Tragic In Aeschylus’S Prometheus Bound, Anna Katherine Batson

Senior Honors Theses

Prometheus Bound (ca. 430 B.C.), Aeschylus’s sweeping tragedy of suffering and injustice, has been the subject of critics for centuries because of its episodic structure and unique themes. Though, like much of the rest of Aeschylus’s corpus, it does not align with the criteria of effective tragedy according to the standards of Aristotle’s Poetics (ca. 330 B.C.), Aeschylus achieves the tragic by placing Prometheus in a state of suspension between his own divine nature and his affinity for humankind, a nearly unheard of stasis in a world where the chasm between gods and men was no small one. In receiving …

Hauntings In The Church: Counterfeit Christianity Through The Fin De Siècle Gothic Novel, Melissa Ann West

Masters Theses

The lengthy Victorian period, extending from 1832 until 1901, was a time of cultural turmoil. New scientific discoveries were being made daily, and Christianity was forced to deal with issues of Darwinism, occultism, and growing disbelief in God. By the start of the fin de siècle, God was an impartial deity sitting on His almighty throne, and man was nothing more than a highly evolved animal. The church, both Catholic and Anglican, did not exist to lead man toward salvation, but existed because of a dated adherence to cultural tradition.

No one genre captured the religious upheavals of the age …

The Legacy Of A Failing Father: Dysfunctional Father Figures In William Faulkner's Fiction, Travis V. Holt

Masters Theses

The appearance of dysfunctional father figures in numerous works of William Faulkner makes his struggle to relinquish his animosity for his father, Murry Falkner, a significant theme in his fiction. The dysfunctional father figures play the pivotal role in the social, financial, and psychological decline of their families as the children struggle to escape their father's influence and their dismal fate. The real-life events and situations of Faulkner and his family members serve as a source for Faulkner's fiction, and the constant disgust several of his characters have for their father figures resembles Faulkner's own feelings towards his father. By …

Poe's Poisoned Pen: A Study In Fiction As Vendetta, Charity Lea Givens

Masters Theses

Edgar Allan Poe, widely regarded as an extremely influential American writer and prolific literary critic, exacted high standards in both his writing and in the writing of those he reviewed. Though his criticism was harsh, it was a necessary part of the growing process for American literature to become a separate and distinct body of literature. However, Poe's literary criticism is not his only work that bore the stinging marks of his pen; his fiction was also a venue for Poe to express his dissatisfaction with the literary field in America. Using a combination of close reading for textual analysis …