English Language and Literature Commons^™

The Many Faces Of Cleopatra: How Performance And Characterization Change Cleopatra In Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Legend Of Good Women," William Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Antony And Cleopatra, And John Dryden's All For Love; Or, The World Well Lost, Rebecca Piazzoni Chatham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, and John Dryden presented the character of Cleopatra differently, through both the written language of their pieces and their own and others’ performances of her, in order to meet the demands of their respective audiences and performance conditions. Chaucer, in “The Legend of Cleopatra,” portrays and performs Cleopatra comically. Shakespeare, in his Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, characterizes Cleopatra as a complex woman. In All for Love; or, The World Well Lost, Dryden characterizes Cleopatra as sentimental, but the performance of her on stage by female actresses added depth to the role. For Chaucer and Dryden, …

The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Daniel Gordon

Winthrop Faculty and Staff Publications

The Merry Wives of Windsor A story of LUST, GREED, and DIRTY LAUNDRY
By William Shakespeare, adapted by Daniel Gordon.

Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor uses more prose than any of his other plays, for indeed, these characters are simple folk. His setting of the countryside of Windsor also offers clues to how I might interpret this play for a South Carolina audience. To reinforce the tight-knit community or provincial common folk that is wary of outsiders, I set this production in a southern trailer park. The script and rhythms fit remarkably well with a southern twang. Knowing the …

Ophelia And The Feminine Construct, Lilly E. Romestant

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Shakespeare's celebrated tragic masterpiece, Hamlet, one of the most controversial and seminal characters, Ophelia, continues to have a heavy influence on contemporary culture today in some unexpected ways. Her prevalence in mainstream media––including film, literature, drama, and music homages––validates not only her importance now but also reimagines and reinforces her parallel importance at the time of her debut in 1603. Her association with global teenage culture, suicide, and mental illness, puts her in the unique position of being heralded, generation after generation, as an icon of depression in female youth. This can be both positive and negative, as …

Where Do They Go: Christian Faith And Belonging In Gay Literature, Samuel D. J. Ernest

Honors Projects

This exploration of Christianity, family, homosexuality, and running away in twentieth-century literature is divided into two essays. In the first essay, G. K. Chesterton’s “twitch upon a thread” provides a way of understanding the flight of Sebastian in Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh and Jeanette in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. After they escape their mothers and home communities, Sebastian’s and Jeanette’s searches for a vocation eventually bring them back to where they started, in one sense or another. Sebastian finds his place within the Church, at a monastery; Jeanette travels back to her parents’ house …

Appropriating The Restoration: Fictional Place And Time In Rose Tremain’S Restoration: A Novel Of Seventeenth-Century England, Judith Bailey Slagle

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: It was the sixties—albeit the 1660s—a time for tricksters, rakes, subversive women and sexual energy on the stage. It was a time of fun for those with the means to partake of it. The “good old days” are, of course, always better from a distance, but writers on through the twentieth century found the Restoration an apt setting for their fictions about prostitution, political intrigue, and tragic or comic historical events, especially for the cinema.

Jane Austen's Liminal Heroines: Rituals Of Personal And Social Growth, Allison V. Juda

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Jane Austen’s six novels all follow a liminal heroine through her journey of personal growth, ultimately concluding with the success of the heroine and her society. In my project I examine how this liminal plot structure works, combining anthropological theories of liminality (most prominently those of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner) with the narrative structure of Austen’s novels. The growth of the heroine through the phases of liminality and eventual reintegration into society is marked by several challenges to the morality of the heroine. Yet, these challenges are, in fact, tests for the society just as much as they …

The Palantíri Stones In J.R.R. Tolkien’S The Lord Of The Rings As Sauron’S Social Media: How To Avoid Getting Poked By The Dark Lord, Phillip Fitzsimmons

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Undead Empire: How Folklore Animates The Human Corpse In Nineteenth-Century British Literature, Charles Hoge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores representations of the human corpse in nineteenth-century British literature and ephemeral culture as a dynamic, multidirectional vehicle used by writers and readers to help articulate emerging anxieties that were complicating the very idea of death. Using cultural criticism as its primary critical heuristic filter, this project analyzes how the lingering influence of folklore animates the human corpses that populate canonical and extra-canonical nineteenth-century British literature.

The first chapter examines the treatment of the human corpse through burial and mourning rituals, as specific developments within these procedures provide interpretive windows into how the idea of death was quickly …

The Search For Authentic Travel In Early Twentieth-Century British Magazines, Christina Bertrand Firebaugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Edwardian travel writing between roughly 1905 and 1914 serves as a bridge between the closing of the long Victorian period, the beginnings of modernism, and the changes to come in the twentieth century. The search for authentic experience characterizes travel writing in the Edwardian era. Significant cultural, technological, and social changes caused Edwardians to examine their perceptions about possibilities for authentic engagement with other places and people in their travels. As a result, Edwardian travel writers explore various methods by which to engage authentically with other cultures. Drawing on literary theory, anthropology, and cultural studies, this dissertation examines a number …

British Fascism In The 1930s In Life And Literature, Jennifer M. Janes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Political and economic turmoil in 1930s Britain gave rise to a home-grown fascist movement led by the controversial Oswald Mosley. Literature of this period by Joseph O’Neill and Rex Warner mirrored the internal nature of the British fascist movement by depicting fascist-like societies embedded under or entrenched within the English countryside. Their metaphors of fascism rising as a solution to fear and disorder conjure the threat of fascism that was rising in Europe in that period. The metaphors are made more particularly relevant by the fact that the forces of Italian, German, and British fascism were not invasions from without, …

A Culture In Change: The Development Of Masculinity Through P.G. Wodehouse's Psmith Series, Allison Thompson

Masters Theses

P. G. Wodehouse offers a serious and sustained critique of English society using the game of cricket as he follows the lives of two memorable characters, Mike Jackson and Rupert Psmith. Yet Wodehouse has frequently been accused of existing as too innocent of a bystander to understand the underpinnings of society, let alone to offer a critique. For example, Christopher Hitchens in a review of a Wodehouse biography by Robert McCrum states, "Wodehouse was a rather beefy, hearty chap, with a lifelong interest in the sporting subculture of the English boarding school and a highly developed instinct for the main …

Revised Emblems Of Erin In Novels By John Mcgahern And Colum Mccann, Shaun O’Connell

New England Journal of Public Policy

In “Cathal’s Lake,” a 1996 story by Colum McCann, “a big [Irish] farmer with a thick chest” lives by a lake, “which in itself is a miniature countryside—ringed with chestnut trees and brambles, banked ten feet high on the northern side, with another mound of dirt on the eastern side, where frogsong can often be heard.” In By the Lake, a 2002 novel by John McGahern, an aging Irishman also lives by a lake, another enclosed space of tranquility, as is suggested in the opening lines: “The morning was clear. There was no wind on the lake. There was …

A Bard Unkend: Selected Poems In The Scottish Dialect By Gavin Turnbull, Patrick G. Scott

Faculty Publications

The Scottish-born poet and actor Gavin Turnbull (1765-1816), a younger contemporary of Robert Burns, published two volumes of poetry in Scotland before emigrating in 1795 to the United States, where he settled in Charleston, South Carolina. This selection draws attention to a neglected aspect of Turnbull's work, his writing in Scots. Drawing on advance research for the first collected edition of Turnbull's poetry, the selection includes verse in Scots from all phases of his career, including poetry in Scots published in America, together with a biographical introduction and background notes.

The Chronicles Of Narnia, And How C.S. Lewis Created Christian Fantasy Fiction, Amanda Callow

Senior Theses

C.S. Lewis was a pioneer in combining the ideas of fantasy and Christian literature, before the fantasy genre alone was even acknowledged. Christian fantasy fiction, as a fiction sub-genre, can be identified as a piece of fiction with fantastical mythology and themes, with the addition of imagery and values drawn from the Christian tradition. Christian fantasy fiction attempts to use the mystical plot elements from fantasy, with recognizable Christian ideals, and meld them in such a way that they actually reinforce each other. This thesis explains how C.S. Lewis used this new genre to allow readers of all ages to …

Jane Eyre's Masculine Crisis, Samantha Hilton

Senior Theses

Charlotte Bronte’s famed novel Jane Eyre was among the first novels celebrated by early feminist theorists in the 1960s for its portrayal of an independent and enviable female protagonist; both Charlotte Bronte and Jane have since been heralded as examples of the modern Western woman. Feminist theorists have taken to Jane Eyre because of the text’s rebellion against Victorian ideals: rather than passively follow orders, governess Jane instead follows her own code of morality. Jane is an appropriate early feminist heroine, and that, perhaps, is Bronte’s greatest achievement and Jane Eyre’s most lasting success. Feminist interpretations of the novel …

The Peace Of The Waste Land And Understanding Eliot’S Two Readings, Luke J. Chambers

The Hilltop Review

There are two recordings of T.S. Eliot reading The Waste Land in existence today, one made in 1946 for the Library of Congress, and another from 1935, recorded at Columbia University. The later 1946 recording, being the only one published, is by far the more well known. The 1935 recording is of much inferior sound quality and is difficult to find. The younger Eliot recites at times with greater energy, a quicker tempo, and with markedly different phrasing and intonation. However, quite often Eliot’s recitation is nearly indistinguishable between the two recordings. The specific moments of difference reveal a great …

A Little World In Ruins: Rosamond Vincy And The Insufficiency Of Performative Gender Roles In George Eliot’S Middlemarch, Allan Spencer

Global Tides

In George Eliot’s Middlemarch, Rosamond Vincy in many ways represents the conventional Victorian woman and takes on the limited roles that are permitted for women in her society. However, none of these proves sufficient to bestow upon Rosamond any sense of fulfillment or power, both of which she persistently desires and pursues throughout the novel. This essay explores these roles, specifically the “The Angel in the House,” who is exemplified in the poetry of Coventry Patmore, and the myth of the courtly lover, a symptom of the medievalism that was revived and romanticized in nineteenth-century England. Her performance as …

There And Back Again: The Epic Hero's Journey Through Gift-Giving, Emily J. Tomusko

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Both The Hobbit and Beowulf have a place in the hearts of many readers across the world. In this article, we will discuss the concept of Anglo-Saxon gift-giving and the importance it played in the culture. This cultural norm was present in multiple forms of medieval literature, particularly in the epic poem mentioned above, Beowulf. I believe that this precedent of gift-giving was transmitted to the citizens of the culture as a form of “medieval propaganda” that encouraged the people to abide by said cultural norm, and expressed the punishment of failing to follow through. Furthermore, I believe that …

“He Was The Mirror Of The World”: Social Constructivist Reflections In Le Roman De Silence, Hillary O'Brien

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This essay attempts to clarify the purpose of ambiguity and indecision within Heldris of Cornwall's Roman de Silence. Using the framework laid out by Judith Butler, it seeks to understand the way that the protagonist's performance of gender and class reflects the social context in which she lives.

Refiguring George Macdonald: Science And The Realist Novel, Karl Hoenzsch

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This article analyzes George MacDonald’s realist novels. It looks at how David Elginbrod, Alec Forbes of Howglen, and Lilith engage with scientific discourse and epistemological concerns of the period. These scientific and epistemological dealings include a positive evaluation of evolution, a resistance to pseudoscience and Calvinism, an endorsement of non-dualism, and an analysis of scientific models and methods. The generic classification of Lilith as a realist novel with fantastical elements is discussed.

Temptation, Sin, And The Human Condition In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Maria Cusimano

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is colored with religious overtones. His play incorporates elements of religious beliefs of Renaissance England. Aside from its historical basis, Shakespeare’s Macbeth alludes to stories from Scripture as well as Renaissance religious practices and beliefs, particularly regarding witchcraft, prophecy, and the dangers of sin. Through this myriad of sources, Shakespeare offers a vivid and grotesque depiction of a man demise due to his involvement with sin, offering a profound caution to his audience of the dangers of temptation and sin.

Erichtho’S Mouth: Persuasive Speaking, Sexuality And Magic, Lauren E. Devoe

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Since classical times, the witch has remained an eerie, powerful and foreboding figure in literature and drama. Often beautiful and alluring, like Circe, and just as often terrifying and aged, like Shakespeare’s Wyrd Sisters, the witch lives ever just outside the margins of polite society. In John Marston’s Sophonisba, or The Wonder of Women the witch’s ability to persuade through the use of language is Marston’s commentary on the power of poetry, theater and women’s speech in early modern Britain. Erichtho is the ultimate example of a terrifying woman who uses linguistic persuasion to change the course of nations. Throughout …

Examination, Exertion, And Exemplification: Wives Of Anglican Clergymen In Jane Austen’S Northanger Abbey, Sense And Sensibility, And Mansfield Park, Lauren K. Sauzer Dunn

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Jane Austen’s Anglicanism shaped her works, especially her novels Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, and Mansfield Park. Austen is didactic regarding the future of the clergy of the Church of England through the clergymen in these novels (Henry Tilney, Edward Ferrars, and Edmund Bertram, respectively), but her didacticism is clearest through these characters’ wives, Catherine Morland, Elinor Dashwood, and Fanny Price. Mansfield Park and the marriage of Edmund and Fanny are the most explicit exploration of Austen’s view of what was necessary for the future of the Church as it continued changing in the nineteenth century.

Re-Writing The Irish Gender Paradigm In Seamus Heaney’S "Oysters" And Eavan Boland's "How It Once Was In Our Country", Kristy Snow

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Targeting Nonconformity In Elizabethan England: Colonial Rhetoric As A Tool Of Religious Differentiation, John Corum

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Christopher Marlowe’ early modern plays were unequivocally controversial and often seen as testament to his presumed atheism. However, these assumptions focus on the depicted conflicts using religious terms, sometimes overlooking the geopolitical implications of the portrayed demographics. In this project, I argue Marlowe examines not only the religious institutions of early modern England, but also the moral compromises necessitated by England’s colonial endeavors. Through close readings of The Jew of Malta, Tamburlaine, and The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus as well as contributions from various scholarly perspectives, I conclude that Marlowe’s analysis critiques the treatment of religious minorities as …

Absolving The Sin: Redemptive Feminine Figures In Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife Of Bath's Prologue" And John Milton's Paradise Lost, Rory Griffiths

Theses and Dissertations

Geoffrey Chaucer and John Milton have been ceaselessly studied in isolation to one another, but undergraduate students must begin to study them in conjunction. Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath’s Prologue” serves as social critique of medieval misogynist practices that allows students to study social practices as they study his language. Milton’s Eve in Paradise Lost reflects the religious and social instability that marked the Interregnum of the English Civil War, allowing Eve to embody the culture’s desire to return to a virtuous Church. Students will learn to examine the space of the authorial paradox, primarily the questions of authority that …

Performing Marriage In Shakespeare: The Tempest, Robert B. Pierce

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Shakespeare Disenchanted: From Chivalric Court To Elizabeth's And James I'S Courts, David George

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Commedia Dell’Arte Influences On Shakespearean Plays: The Tempest, Love’S Labor's Lost, And The Taming Of The Shrew, Amy Drake

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Selected Papers of the Ohio Valley Shakespeare Conference

No abstract provided.