Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Chaucer's Pandarus : A Character Study, Phillip Valentine Daffron

Master's Theses

Chaucer 's Pandarus has been an intriguing character for me ever since my first exposure, as an undergraduate, to Troilus and ­Criseyde. Pandarus interests me because he is true to human nature in that he is not consistently one way all of the time. Like most human beings, Pandarus has many facets to his nature; therefore, I find it distressing that many critics and students of Chaucer will not acknowledge this complexity but rather tend to want to stereotype him. If Pandarus were a simple, transparent character, then his rank in English literature would be considerably less significant. It is …

Marlowe's Cosmology, William H. Caldwell

Master's Theses

A general study of Marlowe 's cosmology may by no means be original, for numerous critics have mentioned the subject in varying degrees; however, there is a wide disparity or opinion concerning the relative importance of the subject in relation to the playwright. This study is not exhaustive; it is significant, however, because it attempts to prove by means of biographical and historical backgrounds the idea that Mar­lowe had an intellect that was always "climbing after knowledge infin­ite."

In this study there are two obvious omissions: the plays Dido, Queen of Carthage, and The Massacre at Paris. …

Shelley's Prometheus Unbound : A Critical Analysis And Interpretation, Emily Carol Braxton

Master's Theses

As a basis for Prometheus Unbound, which he completed in 1819 and which is his masterpiece, Shelley used Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Shelley used the Prometheus myth to express his own ideas about present evils and his hopes for man's future as a result of his belief that man was capable of perfectibility.

Dryden's Adaptations Of Shakespeare, Massie C. Stinson Jr.

Master's Theses

It is the purpose of this study to discuss Dryden's adaptations of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, and Troilus and Cressida. As a background for this study, Restoration drama will be discussed from the standpoint of the following criteria: relationship to Elizabethan drama; Restoration audiences, theaters, and fashion; adaptations, primarily of Shakespeare; D’Avenant, Dryden, and heroic drama; and finally, English opera in the Restoration period. The first of the five chapters in this discussion will be concerned with the items listed above. Succeeding chapters in order will discuss Dryden's adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, Troilus and …

An Evaluation Of The Autobiographical Interpretation Of Samson Agonistes, Edward P. Crockett

Master's Theses

Certainly, every reader of Samson Agonistes who is at all familiar with the circumstances of Milton's life, his thought, and the history of his times has been attracted by obvious parallels between 'the poet and certain aspects or his dramatic creation, and he may understandably assume that the presentation or the sufferings of Samson constitute intentional, hidden autobiography. To assume even the obvious, however, is something too blithely done. A little research into this area of Miltoniana will reveal to him that scholarly opinion concerning Samson Agonistes and autobiography is greatly varied and that some scholars are inclined not only …

Character And Theme In Romeo And Juliet And Troilus And Cressida : A Comparative Critical Study, Charlotte H. Oberg

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of Satan In Milton's Paradise Lost, Jeanne Saunders

Master's Theses

By 1641 John Milton had prepared a rather detailed outline for a tragic drama, Adam Unparadised. The design was to take form and grow, not as a religious drama, but as a magnificent epic poem which would "assert Eternal Providence,/And justify the ways of God to men" (I.25-26). In the original design for the drama the character and person of Satan did not constitute a basis for sustained interest. However, when Paradise Lost was finished in 1665, this was no longer the case; Satan, as an historical figure treated by the poetic and religious imagination of Milton, emerged as one …

William Butler Yeats' Contribution To The Celtic Renaissance In Ireland, Marian Marsh Sale

Master's Theses

The story of Ireland's Literary Revival is the story not only of the life and death of the Gaelic language in Ireland and the attempt to revive it as the national medium of speech, but also of the rise, during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, of modern Anglo-Irish literature, which gave to Irish letters the right to be judged independently of English literature. The formation of this new medium of national literary expression was the result of the interaction of the work of certain translators and folklorists with that of those writers who sought to restore the Gaelic …

A Study Of Chaucer's Influence On English Literature Through Dryden, Elder Blair Apperson

Master's Theses

Geoffrey Chaucer is one of the greatest poets of our English literature. If Shakespeare stands apart as our greatest, then it is John Milton who must dispute with Chaucer the honor of second place. Milton undoubtedly surpasses Chaucer in the grandeur of his imagination and the sublimity or his poetic style; but "he cannot equal him in the range and variety of his art." On one hand we have Chaucer, the grave and serious poet.always keenly conscious that "our human life is a shifting quicksand of mutability, that lasting happiness can never be our earthly portion;" whereas we have but …

A Comparison Of The Uses Of Astrology In The Works Of John Gower And Geoffrey Chaucer, George Rufus Wyatt Jr.

Master's Theses

The literary interest in astrology which had been gradually increasing during the fourteenth century in England, culminated in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower. It is not surprising that these two poets have used astrology very extensively in writing stories for their medieval audiences since the average man in the Middles Ages believed that life depended upon the influences of the seven planets in their positions in the zodiac. It is the purpose of this thesis to present a comparison of the uses of the astrological material in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower. In this …