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The Beatles’ Revolver and the Universal
In his book The Sixties, an exhaustive history of the 1960’s, Arthur Marwick introduces his subject as follows: If asked to explain the fuss, both survivors of the decade and observers of the repeated attempts subsequently to conjure it up again could probably manage to put together a list of its most striking features, which…
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David Copperfield and the Poetic View of Life
David Copperfield is Charles Dickens’s most autobiographical work (see this short article on auobiographical elements in David Copperfield for some details). If we are to take the main character of David Copperfield as a representative of Dickens himself, we must take seriously his reflections on the nature of that character. There is one point in…
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Life Vs Death: Moral Ambiguity in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi
Both of John Webster’s great plays, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, are shrouded in ambiguity, from the motives of the characters to the morality at the heart of the plays. One of Webster’s great achievements is that this ambiguity is expressed powerfully through the poetry. This speech by the Duchess of Malfi’s…
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Culture Club: Theme for August – September 2009
August – September 2009 The theme this month is Revenge. Obviously there are many works to choose from with this theme, but I think we’ve come up with an interesting list. There’s quite a breadth of material here too, stretching from Elizabethan to contemporary works. As always, I’m looking forward to the forthcoming discussions. The…
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Knowledge of Good and Evil in Milton’s Paradise Lost
At our Culture Club discussion on Milton’s Paradise Lost, one aspect of the narrative came up as a particular problem. This was the meaning of the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’, the instrument of humanity’s fall. I think we all agreed that the tree is symbolic of something, but the nature of the…
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John Milton’s Paradise Lost: Essays, Resources and Links
The following links offer useful resources for the study and analysis of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Full text Paradise Lost, Project Gutenberg Paradise Lost, with Notes Explanatory and Critical, Edited by Rev. James Robert Boyd Paradise Lost, Milton Reading Room, Dartmouth College Paradise Lost, Electronic Literature Foundation Resources Milton, Open Yale Course, YouTube (Video) Milton,…
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Don Giovanni: Rebel Hero or Threat to Society
The character of Don Giovanni in Mozart’s opera personifies two contrasting aspects of the Enlightment: The embodiment of liberty. Don Giovanni sees himself as exempt from the laws of state, society, culture and religion. In this sense he is the Enlightenment hero, an extreme example of the idea of liberty that marks the age. The…